Darwin

We finally arrived in Darwin and it is hot!  Very hot!  We were not very comfortable, and we found ourselves having to plan the day to either be in air conditioning or at the pool.  No air con in the van made things a bit tough.  Saying that, it was nice to have a big (well bigger) city fix, with lots of things to see and do.  We went for a steamy walk around the botanical gardens one morning and found a great kids play area where they use plants to make little tunnels and alleys for the kids to run, a massive bird cage thing, and interesting paths with different mosaics.  The tropical plants were great to see, and the boys had a roll down a big green hill, and we strolled through the rainforest!

  

Thats where bananas come from!

The birdcage high in the trees- a slide is the quick way down!

Flynn found the bikini stand!

We checked out all the markets around Darwin, including the Mindal Market.  We enjoyed the fantastic food, and there was such choice!  We are very spoilt in Melbourne with choice, and Nick and I have been hanging for some nice Thai food since we left.  The mango smoothies were yummy, and the entertainment was great.  We checked out an electrified didgeridoo band which Aidan loved- he charged up the front and had a dance.  We then went to a busker show with lots of fire twirling and crazy outfits.

...........and snow cones

Our first rain in months- a temporary relief from the heat

Aidan checking out the Darwin waterfront- no stingers or crocs!

Berry Springs

We went for a swim at Berry Springs which is just out of Darwin.  We weren't in the water long and Nick and I both got a bite from some very friendly fish.  People told us that they give you a little nibble, which we disagreed with, it was definitely a bite!  So we didn't swim for very long and Berry Springs turned out to be a bit of a fizzier!  The next day we heard on the radio that they had pulled a 2m long saltie out of the springs, and the parks person mentioned something about needing to step up their crocodile management!  We were quite happy that the fish were biting on the day we visited!

Croc hunting!

Cool sticks around here!

Birthday Boy

Cage of death (man lowered into croc cage)

We celebrated Flynn's third birthday in Darwin.  He was excited to have a digger and dump truck.  We went to Crocosaurus park for his birthday which was fantastic.  Every half an hour there was demonstrations of the animals, feeding and the opportunity to touch and hold.  It was great for little kids and the exhibits were easily seen by little people!  We finished the day with a swim and a bit of birthday cake.  For the more adventurous or stupid adults, there is the cage of death.  The day after we visited, the cage of death fell into the water when a cable broke and some of the glass sides broke.  Luckily there was a back up cable to drag the people out.  Also luckily, the crocs are so used to people going in and out of their cage that they dont even bat an eye lid!

Olive python

Flynn holding baby croc- they are very cool to touch!

Aidan loved the croc

I think he liked the cake!

We have been trying to get some work in Darwin, and I was offered a job that was advertised as providing accommodation, but unfortunately that didn't happen.  With accommodation expensive in Darwin and the caravan not being an option for the wet season, we decided to head out to Litchfield National Park.  We stayed just outside a little town called Batchelor, which is a really lovely, green, pretty town.  It is very peaceful out here and cooler than Darwin.  We are much more comfortable.  We were going to stay two nights and ended up staying a week.  This was mostly because both boys were quite unwell, between them they had school sores, a chest infection, an ear infection and conjunctivitis.  Poor little things!  Flynn as usual had his high temps which dont come down easily, and he started refusing all fluids.  The health care here is amazing.  I was about to take him to Darwin late one night, but they have an after hours Remote area nurse service which was fantastic.  They are able to prescribe drugs and they kept a close eye on him and started some antibiotics.  (At no charge to us!)  Both boys have bounced back now and hopefully Mum and Dad can catch up on a bit of sleep!

In the meantime we have got a caretaker position for the Batchelor Museum, where we have accommodation in air-conditioning in exchange for some work on the property.  So we have found a gorgeous, safe place to stay for the wet.  More about it next time- stay tuned for the Batchelor tour!

Kununurra to Darwin

Mirima NP

 We spent a few days in Kununurra relaxing at the caravan park.  The park is next to a man-made lake that is pretty, with lots of birds and turtles.  We saw our first fresh water crocodile here and whilst being told they are harmless, we kept our distance!  We took the boys croc spotting after dark, which involves shining the torch in the water and looking for their red eyes in the torch light; we saw quite a few.  We had a few jobs to do including getting the flat tire fixed, and we discovered that the plug that connects the electrics from the car to the caravan had melted.  This meant that we lost a bit of food in the fridge (which is struggling to work in the heat anyway).  My handy husband was able to fix it himself; he bought the parts and with a little instruction from a very nice neighbour, it was fixed!

Croc in the lake

We have been getting up very early here as it is light before 5am; there is something strange happening with the time zone here!  But this means that we can get up and going before it gets too hot (9am!).  We headed into the Mirima National Park, which is literally right in the middle of the town.  It was very strange to do a walk and feel like you are in the middle of the outback, then come around a corner to have a birds eye view of the town!  We also went to Ivanhoe Crossing and watched people fishing for barramundi.  We tried to have a nice relaxing sunset drink at Kelly's knob which overlooks the town and surrounding area.  It was a completely stupid idea; Flynn was trying to scale the cliff, Aidan was painting the dip everywhere, there was a local aboriginal family having a rowdy party down below with non-child friendly yelling happening, and the bush fires in the area made a thick smog so the sun disappeared before it reached the horizon.  It looked so odd and took me a while to work out why the sun was cut in half!  So we aborted the sunset drinks and fed the kids dip in the car for dinner.  The weekend market at Kununurra was fun, lots of nice produce grown in the region as they have access to heaps of water from the Argyle Dam.  The mango smoothy and iced mango shaving stall was definitely the most popular, we visited them twice!

Mirima lizard

Ivanhoe Crossing

Half a sun at sunset

Start of the Gibb River Rd

 We drove out to the Gibb River road, which for those that don't know, is a very long and badly corrugated dirt road that goes pretty much from Wyndham to close to Broome.  All along it is some of the most incredible country with beautiful gorges.  You really need to have a tent or camper trailer to do the Gibb River road and we decided it was a bit difficult for us with our little boys.  We did however take a day trip to the El Questro station.  We went to some amazing hot springs called Zeberdee springs which we all found really relaxing and we soaked for almost two hours.  Flynn was relaxed and checked out the stones, tadpoles, fish and dragonflies.  We had some lunch under a big shady tree at the station, then headed off to Emma Gorge.  It was far too hot to take the boys for a walk through the gorge, so I headed off and Nick snuck into the resort pool with the boys for a couple of hours.  I was so glad that we didn't take the boys.  It felt like a long walk in the heat and the track was very rocky.  Once further into the gorge I was rewarded with some much needed shade and a swim in the most beautiful natural pool that I have ever seen!  I couldn't take the grin off my face as I floated and stared up at the gorge walls, the waterfall and the tiny drips falling from the ferns high up.  It was so cool and refreshing and beautiful!

Zeberdee Springs

Emma Gorge

Emma Gorge

Flynn's first water slide

Argyle Dam wall

 Next stop was Lake Argyle, which is a huge dam, built in the 70s, and allows for irrigation throughout the Kimberly.  It felt like a strange place to me, it was strange seeing such a big body of water in a landscape that looks so dry with the red rocks, paperbark trees, spinifex and boabs.  We had a really relaxing time here because there isn't much to do, the caravan park was great, it has an infinity pool!   We met a really nice family who are travelling with two kids (one named Flynn).  We were camped next to each other and we were both yelling out 'Flynn come back' at the same time!  Lets just say the two flynn's have similar personalities!  The kids had a great time playing together and Nick and I got to know the lovely Jo, who is a singer/ songwriter and we enjoyed hearing her play-  thanks for the CD Jo, we love it!  We went spotlighting for animals with the boys and unfortunately we saw heaps of cane toads, it is unbelievable that they have made it all this way to the Kimberley.  It seems they are a big problem.  We also saw a snake, so that was the end of spotlighting and Mum and Dad always take a torch for late night trips to the loo now!

Cane toad

Dam wall

Infinity pool

Aidan loves the water!

Finally in the NT

It felt like a long way to Katherine in the heat, we had a stop over at Timber Creek, which was very average.  So hot, thank god for the crap pool!  We got eaten by mozzies, the fridge is not coping in the heat and everything is going off!  They fed some crocs out the back of the caravan park which was pretty interesting.  The scary thing was that we were looking at this slimy river and it looked like there was nothing in it, then out of nowhere came about 15 crocs.

Croc feeding- Timber Creek

Flynn a bit stunned by croc feeding!

Katherine hot springs- look we're all smiling!

After an issue with the car battery and yet another flat tyre, we arrived in Katherine.  It is hot hot hot!  So the days are centred around swimming and finding shade.  We had a great time catching up with Trish (friend who has moved here) and we visited the hot springs, the Saturday market and just had fun hanging out.  We took the boys to Edith Falls for a swim and picnic.  It is a 'crocodile management zone' so it was safe to swim, but we didn't stay in for long- just couldn't relax!  

Edith Falls

Nick being brave at Edith Falls!

Flynn and Trish

Bunny at the market

Aidan was loving the mango!

Katherine Hot Springs with Trish

Flynn played with these boys for ages!

One of our 'toilet frogs'!  They surprised us jumping about at night, and sitting on the toilet seat!

We have arrived in Darwin and are feeling the heat but coping ok so far.  The fan is on 24/7, the flies are bad and the fridge isn't coping, but so far Darwin seems great!