Purple Mangoes and Jumping Crocodiles

That title sounds like a good name for a book doesn't it? Maybe I'll write that book someday......

It also sums up very nicely the highlights of our drive from Darwin to Kakadu.

After passing a sign telling noting the start of the 'Wetlands Region' we pulled into the first wetland we could find (Fogg Dam) to view our first water lillies, egrets and, in the distance, the famed jabiru.

There was no visible crocodile threat at that first stop, but there most certainly was at the second. We parked next to the murky, muddy Adelaide River and leapt on board a jumping crocodile cruise.

Prior to this cruise we had only seen 'salties' in captivity or stuffed at museums. They looked scary enough, but it's easy to become blase when you walk past five in a row behind glass screens. Seeing them in the wild left us with a sense of horrific awe at just how massive and threatening they are.

There were twenty people on what felt rather like a giant tinny as we cruised up the dirty water and the crocodiles started following along, attracted by the noise of the motor. It was quite amusing at first until the guide pulled up on a muddy bank and asked us all to remember the size of the small heads we'd seen following us. Suddenly, with no noise and just a couple of bubbles this HUGE 6.5m crocodile pulled itself out of the water and onto the bank. It's head may have looked small in the water but the size of its body was like a dinosaur. It must have been as wide as Dylan is tall at its biggest point.

One mean looking crocodile - this wasn't even the biggest one

To give you a sense of scale, that pork
chop was the size of the male guide's hand

With firm instructions not to put our arms or heads past the edge of the boat, the rest of the cruise involved crocodiles being tempted by pork chops to jump out of the water. It's pretty impressive to see a creature of that size leap into the air. This cruise was a definite hit.

It's all fun and games until someone
loses their head

This is a much more happy looking
croc for Evie and Max to pose with

After the adrenaline rush wore off, a quiet pit stop was in order. On the basis of a brochure found earlier in the day, Suzy Q turned into an abandoned-looking, rustic country block and we all wondered whether this was going to be one of those stops where you later wished you had kept going (we call them zero out of tens).

Sometimes it's so nice when first impressions are wrong!

We walked around the back to a new, wide open verandah with ceiling fans whizzing overhead and overlooking bushland. A friendly lady served us mango cheesecake, mango smoothies, and mango icecream, all home made.

Savouring a delicious coffee, I perused WikiCamps for a place to stay for the night and noticed a camping symbol right near where we were stopped. No, hang on, I looked again, not near, it was in exactly the place we had stopped! Turned out the owners are happy for people to camp on their block and have a toilet and shower block set up for use. So we arrived for a coffee and ended up staying the night. We even got to purchase homemade pizzas (the mango chicken was yum!) for dinner and enjoy them with a glass of wine with our hosts.

A lovely discovery that shows that not planning everything is not a bad thing at all!

Darwin - Fun in the Sun

What a lovely few days we've spent in Darwin. I can safely say that it's high up on our favourite capital city list.

It started on a bit of a low note for me when I realised that we were a week too early for the famous Mindil Beach Markets. Apparently we're at the very end of the 'wet' season and not everything has geared up ahead of the 'dry'. Well we haven't seen a drop of rain since Point Samson in the Pilbara, but I'll accept that a group of Canberrans night not be fully qualified to debate the seasons in the Top End. Although I will note that plenty of locals have commented on how 'cold' its been as the nights have dropped down to 22 degrees!

Anyway, I turned my radar skills away from the weather and towards the brochures and found the Parap Saturday morning markets for us to visit instead. Wow - the best markets ever, and officially declared by us as better than Salamanca. It was easily accessible, the perfect size for wandering, had a great variety stalls and the food, oh the food! Darwin's asian influence was alive and well and the fragrances and tastes were amazing. My laksa was prepared in front of me as the old nanna sat at the side beating out the ingredients for the curry paste in a huge mortar and pestle. We also ate crepes, chicken satay, spring rolls (Lukas declared these the best ever), mango smoothies and tropical fruit salad.

As most of you know, fresh, local food is one of my passions and Parap hit the spot exactly. On the way out we bought fresh fruit, eggs and vegetables and got turkish pide for dinner. And I just had to go back for one more visit to the lovely nanna who pounded out some papaya salad for us as well.

We could have finished our Darwin adventure there and then and been immensely satisfied. But the fun stuff continued with the waterparks. The beaches at Darwin look beautiful - calm, turquoise waters sparkling through the days of sunshine - and it's quite strange to see them completely empty thanks to the crocodiles. Obviously the city feels the lost opportunity of beachtime fun and has created huge, interesting and mostly free waterparks to compensate.


The newly established waterfront precinct provided as with a quiet sandy lagoon, as well as a wave pool which we were really keen to try out. It's basically a beach without the sand (my dream!) and with waves that pump out at quite a rapid rate for twenty minutes then stop for another twenty for recovery. It's really fun but quite exhausting in the waves. Lukas even felt a bit seasick while riding his inflatable tube across the swell!



The tube waterslide park was also fun and easily sucked up a few hours one afternoon.















And then there were visits to the Museum and Art Gallery of the NT to learn about the cultural and natural environments as well as a great exhibition on Cyclone Tracey and the Darwin Military Museum with a multimedia exhibition on the bombing of Darwin and old military vehicles to explore.

Throw into the mix a crocodile and reptile park in the heart of the city with huge 'salties' and an opportunity to 'fish' for juvenile crocodiles with meat on a string and you have some exhausted but very happy travellers - everyone of us found something that we just loved - I'll leave it up to  you to work out all of our favourites!

The only downer? I've searched everywhere and haven't been able to find Crocodile Dundee. How could such an aussie classic be off the shelves? Oh well, the kids' education will just have to wait.

Gorges and waterfalls - cruisin' around the NT

Well we've made our way up to Darwin, arriving last night at our city caravan park. We haven't made it into town yet as Suzy Q is up the road having her scheduled service today.

Florence Falls - Litchfield National Park:
probably the most spectacular so far and we
could swim at the bottom

On the way here, we got ourselves a bit more acquainted with the NT scenery. Stops at Nitmiluk (Katherine) Gorge, Leilyn (Edith) Falls and Litchfield National Park gave us a good insight into the amazing river and gorge systems around here. We've had lovely walks and swims along the way.

Edith Falls - we swam in this lovely pool

Swimming at Buley Rockholes -
Litchfield National Park

Wangi Falls - we did a 3km walk here

Nitmiluk Gorge

Exploring the region has also given us a good insight into how many inviting rivers and waterholes we WON'T be swimming in, with the majority of places surrounded by very subtle signs:

We haven't seen any 'salties' in the wild as yet, just a few freshwater crocodiles which people keep telling us are harmless, but I think we'll keep watching safely from a distance. 

A day at Territory Wildlife Park was declared our best wildlife experience since Dubbo Zoo.

A beautifully presented park run by the NT Government where you can get an up close understanding of the Territory's varied natural environments.

Favourites were the jabiru, the jacana, watching barramundi feed and of course the big saltie.

The weather's hot but the overnights have started to cool down a little, providing some relief. And thank goodness, all has been good with the airconditioning since Broome!

Oh and a couple of random finds - I love these! In Batchelor, a tiny town just outside Litchfield National Park, we drove past this:

a replica of a 15th century Bohemian castle. It's cool because it's so random.

And who could resist photographing this in the pub at the town of Adelaide River:

it's the water buffalo that starred in Crocodile Dundee, stuffed and standing proud at the bar. Of course the kids have no idea what Crocodile Dundee is so I'll by them the DVD in Darwin and let them indulge in a bit of quality Australian cinematography(!) given that we've just been visiting the region in which it was filmed (I did the same with Red Dog when we were in the Pilbara, but I suspect they may find this one somewhat more kitsch!)

And so the chaotic adventures continue in the Top End.

Bye Bye WA - Hello NT!

Our last stop in Western Australia, after 10 weeks of lovely touring, was Lake Argyle. We came here for one reason only: around Perth, the kids saw a brochure for a 'resort' at Lake Argyle that had an infinity pool. The advertisement worked, because they hadn't forgotten about it over many thousands of kilometres, and so we found ourselves pulling up at reception hoping that the pool was as good as the pictures.

And this was one of those times when even the brochure doesn't do justice to the reality. How's this for a pool?

Yes this is real - it's not off the internet - I took this
photo at sunset!

And here's a middle of the day
look at the same magnificent view!

We pretty much did nothing but swim in it and admire the view for two days.

The big boys had fun playing with their underwater camera and Evie and Max just loved looking over the edge to figureout where the water went!

The best part was that the 'resort' included a caravan park and so we only had to pay $40 per night to stay there.

I'm pretty sure it's the only time we'll get away with such an amazing pool for that price.

Add this one to your must-do list people!

Thank goodness there was the lure of something pretty exciting just down the road, otherwise there may have been rebellion when it was time to leave.

We had one last early morning swim, packed up Suzy Q and drove the very short distance to the Northern Territory border - yay!

After two-and-a-half months in WA, it was time to say goodbye and embrace another state (or territory in this case) on our adventurous quest.

Lukas on the border trying to wobble out
his loose tooth before NT. Dylan lost
two teeth at Lake Argyle and Lukas wanted
to do the same after losing his first right
at the beginning of WA.

It was pretty well agreed that WA rated high on the 'awesomeness' scale and that NT has a lot to live up to.

We pondered aloud the possibilities as we passed through a couple of 'blink and you'll miss them' towns with not a lot going on and three very ordinary memorials (a concrete lump, a replica of a wooden fence and a big stone) that made Lukas wonder if maybe they don't put effort into memorials in the NT because no-one comes to see them!

The biggest excitement of the first couple of hours was to find out that the speed limit is higher in the NT and we can (legally) go faster than we ever have before!

Being the adventurers that we are, we decided NT was a good place to have our first ever camp at a roadhouse. These have been fairly deliberately avoided along the way as they generally seem to be run down, dusty and not targeting the young travelling family market.

But the Victoria River Roadhouse in the NT gave us a lovely first experience so maybe there will be more roadhouse camping to come. There was a not-rough-at-all bar (I even had a XXXX Gold like the locals and they lent me a stubbie holder!), there were kangaroos, there were helicopters taking off, there was a beautiful river where Dylan, Lukas and I saw a wild hog, a turtle and fish, and there was a family of frogs that climbed out the hot water tap when Lukas and Max had their shower which pretty much made Max's day. 

Victoria River at dusk.

Our second night in the NT is at Nitmiluk National Park where we've stopped over to have a look at Katherine Gorge in the morning. Watch out Top End, here we come!

PS - An update on Lukas' tooth: no luck on the border and it's still in place. Tooth fairy...watch this space.

The Kimberley - scenery overload

The photos at the end of my last post coincide with the title of this one as, since we first headed into the Kimberley from Broome, the camera has been snap-snap-snapping away at all the amazing scenery. It feels quintessentially Australian in this part of the country, and the heat, flies and bugs just add to that feeling!

We've visited a couple of indigenous art galleries and learnt about the Wandjina, a creative being unique to the art of the Kimberley, and admired the beautiful artwork from this region.

We didn't see this one, but here's a sample from the
land of Google to show you what Wandjina look like

We saw the best stars I've ever seen while camped at a roadside rest area about an hour from Kununurra. Even Max was quiet for at least 60 seconds as we just stared, mesmersied, at the millions of lights twinkling down on us.

Our free campsite in the Kimberley

We drove on a small (sealed) portion of the famous Gibb River Road to hike into Emma Gorge. 1.6km of rocky paths and scrambling through a gorge with red, towering cliffs was rewarded with a beautiful pool at the top which we dived in to for the ultimate in refreshment. And Evie, the little bushwalking queen she's become, walked every single step all the way back.

We photographed red mountains and gorges reflected in beautifully still, clear water.

Geike Gorge at Fitzroy Crossing

Sleeping Buddha at Kununurra

The Bungle Bungles

Ready for takeoff

We took a flight over the Bungle Bungles and marvelled at their dominance of the landscape. As we're not driving a 4wd we couldn't drive into this famous spot but didn't want to be in the Kimberley and not see the Bungles.

A flight seemed like a good, quick option to do so.

What a cool-looking jetsetter

In hindsight, probably not the best way to spend money, we were crammed into a tiny plane which was not quite what the kids were expecting: Lukas felt sick despite having a travel sickness pill, Max fell asleep as we had to get up so early, Evie was pretty reluctant but managed a smile when she peeked out the window and saw the Bungles, Dylan's favourite part was the take-off and landing!

Oh well, at least we can add that to our list of vehicles we've travelled on this trip. Apparently all that is left is helicopters, hovercrafts and motorcycles!

Lake Argyle

More Bungles

 And here's the view from our caravan park last night:

Our first crocodile in the wild....

a 'freshie' so apparently we didn't have to worry!

On the road again.....

Yes, for those who were wondering, Suzy Q is now fixed and we're back on the road again.

It's funny actually, we were all pretty excited to start driving again. The novelty of being in the same accommodation in the same location had worn off after a few days.

So we yelled 'so long' to Broome out the motorhome's windows, crossed our fingers that the airconditioning and fridge would be working properly, and zoomed up the highway through the gateway to the Kimberley.

Our first views of classic Kimberley scenery made us feel excited to be here. More Kimberley updates to follow.

Boab trees! The unusual beauty of
 these trees strikes me each time I see one

The famous 'prison boab'

The quintessential Australian red ranges - we must be in the Kimberley

Passing time in Broome (a long post!)

Our first sort-of disaster struck on our first night in Broome when Suzy Q's airconditioner broke. We didn't know it was the airconditioner at the time, just that whenever we plugged into power at the caravan park we tripped the safety switch and shut down our power and the power of the unlucky people plugged into the same power pole.

We got it diagnosed the next day after a very hot and sleepless night and an even hotter two hours in the dusty dry workplace of the recommended repairer. The diagnosis was bad - the airconditioner was broken and it was the most expensive and hardest part to replace that would have to be ordered from Melbourne. And this was on the Thursday before Easter: so no chance of anything happening before Tuesday.

As the repair man said to us (in an attempt at consolation) 'it's not 9-11 or a giant tsunami', but the thought of 38 degree heat in a motorhome with six people and no airconditioner for a week in Broome was getting pretty close to my definition of 'not happy Jan'.

Thankfully the motorhome company agreed and said they'd pay for us to stay somewhere (after their first offer of buying us a fan was flatly rejected!). After a mad dash to the visitors centre pleading for accommodation over the peak Easter period, we managed to find some last-minute-pretty-average-but-has-airconditioning-and-a-pool accommodation.

Phew.

So we've spent more time in Broome than anticipated, and we've found more things to do than we probably otherwise would have. Here's a list of our top time-wasters in Broome:

Hello crocodile territory!

1) A visit to the Malcolm Douglas Crocodile Park scared us sufficiently not to swim anywhere for the rest of WA and NT unless there's a sign explicitly stating there are definitely no crocs! Evie, Max, Dylan and I had the inglorious pleasure of being splashed by two crocodiles fighting at the daily feeding and covered (I mean covered) in muddy, green crocodile slime.

Big decorator crabs

2) Lots of time at Cable Beach hunting for giant crabs and taking photos of sunsets.

The beach is very beautiful but feels like peak hour around sunset when everyone with a 4wd seems to want to drive onto the beach and three camel gangs traipse up and down.

We did a camel ride, cliché-y and touristy yes, but fun nonetheless. Max enjoyed it so much he fell asleep while sitting on my lap riding!

Photographing the sunset

A shadow shot of Phoebe, Lukas and Max
on board our camel Goliath

Cool reflections on the sand

3) Learning about pearls and the pearling industry. We held the world's fifth biggest pearl and looked at the biggest through a glass case. We also saw a $1000 pearl being harvested straight from the oyster and were allowed to hold it! There are a lot of pearls in Broome, but only on the strip created especially for tourists, creating a very clear distinction between this part of town and the rest.

The history of the industry is interesting and visits to the old pearl luggers and Japanese cemetery provided a good insight into the Broome of old. The visit to Paspaley provided a good insight into jewellery I will never own, but I think they're pretty used to people walking in just so they can say that they have (who me?!?!)

 (Warning, there is a graphic image of oyster insides below, but we thought it was really interesting to see where the pearl came from!)

Pearls, pearls everywhere! I'm pretty sure
these must be the rejects!

We saw this oyster opened and the beautiful
pearl contained within

The $1000 pearl freshly harvested

Dylan in an old pearl diver's helmet

The Japanese cemetery contains the graves of hundreds of
Japanese men that died during the pearling days of the 1800s
and 1900s

4) Watching a movie at the Sun Cinema - the world's oldest operating open air cinema. Opened in 1916 it's survived floods and cyclones and still screens movies in the open air. A great place to view some history as well as a movie. We watched a very cultured screening of Spongebob Squarepants!

5) Viewing a natural phenomenon: 'Staircase to the Moon'. In the dry months if the timing is right - a full moon and a very low tide - the rising moon creates a lovely light effect. This is also captured in our favourite book 'Are We There Yet' and Lukas and Evie were very keen to see it. We saw a huge red moon rise off the horizon and the shadow it cast was pretty remarkable. I didn't get any good photos of it, I'm going to blame the camera for not having a 'moon rising' setting but suspect it was probably because I couldn't hold it still enough in the dark! Look at this link though to see what it looks like: http://www.visitbroome.com.au/images/images/Staircase-To-The-Moon.jpg

So we've found lots to do but it's been a week now and all in all we've had enough of Broome. Apparently our airconditioner part is on a truck somewhere and should be arriving tomorrow. So, fingers crossed, we'll be able to continue our journey heading towards Darwin in the near future.