Darwin

Darwin has been amazing! Surprisingly there has been so much to see & do here that we’ve stayed a fortnight. We’ve visited some amazing free waterparks – Palmeston, Leannyer & Darwin City Lagoon were all fantastic fun. Another highlight was the Mindel Sunset Markets which we visited twice it was so good! We highly recommend the banana & Nutella crepes – a special treat after 6 weeks of no desserts! Kieren & I loved the Asian food available here too and the sunset over the water was simply stunning.

Miss E in her tropical birthday dress   

     

The NT Museum & Art Gallery was also sensational – we spent a half day there. They had fantastic exhibits on flora & fauna of the NT, different habitats, “Sweetheart” -  a ridiculously large crocodile,  the most dangerous animals/insects/sea creatures (Mr J’s favourite part!) and a very informative section on cyclone Tracey. This even included a sound room of an actual recording of Tracy. They also had an exhibition of NT News front covers - mostly dedicated to crocodiles.

The only thing we’ve been disappointed about is the fact that you can’t swim in the stunning turquoise ocean – thanks to the estuarine crocodile – it seems such a tease. But we've visited the sandy lagoon, seen crocodiles in the Adelaide River, visited "window on the wetlands" to learn all about wetland ecology and so much more. We also got our city fix and shopped for things that have broken over the last 6 weeks (SHOES!) AND I got my first real coffee since Adelaide and drank it Child-free for one hour thanks to my awesome, thoughtful husband! (And he got to go to the pub to see the State of Origin!). 

Housekeeping on the road

Just so you don’t think we are lazing around all the time, this post is about the realities of life on the road. Some days it’s plain HARD. Shopping is not as easy especially with a caravan in tow and the kids are eating SO much with all the physical activity they are packing into each day. We have had constant problems with keeping our fridge and esky at appropriate temperatures. At one point, our entire freezer defrosted everything without our knowledge. We had a lot of cooking & eating to do that night. Then had to live on noodles until we could reach a supermarket a few days later. Cooking is always interesting with VERY limited bench space but we've become used to that. We miss not having an oven – I even bought a cake from Coles the other day and the kids screamed in delight!

It is very cramped with 6 people in a space similar to one large room. Sleep is sometimes interrupted by heat, mosquitoes, noisy neighbours (or howling dingoes!), children toileting at all times of the night and tempers often fray after a bad night. This is teaching us a lot of patience! The best tip someone told me was “be very specific with what you need” – that might seem obvious but has saved our family harmony on many occasions. For example, with 3 people doing dishes beside the kitchen sink, one has to ask ‘please move to the left so I can put this dish away’ rather than assuming someone will know where you need to get into and shouting ‘get out of my way!’. This is a good learning curve for Mum & Dad too!

Here is a photo of us doing washing. We had 7 days’ worth of clothes and no coins to operate the washing machine so had to hand wash and wring the entire 2 loads. This was a good lesson in historical housekeeping given we’d visited a homestead the day before where 5 children lived and worked by themselves in the 1920’s in very basic conditions. It certainly makes us appreciate the luxuries of home even more!

Basic toilet & shower amenities are also another luxury we miss. Our kids have a rating system for the amenities we encounter now! So far the rest stop pit toilets have been the lowest at a 2/10 (dirty pit toilet with no water complete with redbacks!) and Darwin Big4 ensuites have scored the highest (ahh just like home).

Basic necessities like water become important. We turned up to a campsite last week and discovered they only had undrinkable water – our tanks were empty so Kieren had to race into a town and buy water. We had to move on the next day to find water. It makes you appreciate how important water sources were for the early pioneers.

Homeschooling. Need I say more. Teachers and fellow homeschooling mums – you have my utmost respect! We are blessed with 4 very bright and curious children but even they have their days where they just. don’t. want. to. do. anything. Trying to keep their journals up to date has been a never-ending task, and can be very frustrating when you know they are capable of so much more (picture one sentence in 3 hours!) Trying to balance learning on the road with formal schoolwork is a constant seesaw ;)

But even with all these difficulties, this is the best thing we could have done. We will never forget this time together and all the special moments we have enjoyed. As I sign off before another day of packing up/unpacking and travelling to a new location, I’ll leave you with this video of what can happen when kids are contained in cars too long. Introducing crazy Miss T (and this was toned down for the camera ;) !) So if everything turns pear-shaped - just listen to 'Cosby Sweater' and you'll soon be smiling....

Kakadu

We headed off from Katherine, filled up with petrol at Pine Creek and promptly headed off in the wrong direction for the next hour or so! That will teach us for trying to rely on mobile phone navigation when there’s no service!! Back to old paper maps for us! After a slight (2-3 hr detour) we were back on the route to Kakadu. We have to say that we were pretty underwhelmed driving in through the national park. We didn’t see any wildlife, only dry scrub. A ranger later told us that even if you drove ALL of the roads through Kakadu, you would only see about one percent of the park. So over the next 4 days we got out and got into some amazing areas.

Day 1 – Art sites: we visited Nourlangie which is known for its amazing wet season caves that have been inhabited for thousands of years, and art sites. We had our lunch at Cahill’s crossing beside the West Alligator River. We saw a road-train & vehicles crossing through the river which has a massive tidal current stretching 100km upstream from the ocean! Some fishermen were lure-fishing there – we thought they were mad considering we could see a massive crocodile in the vicinity! We also visited Ubirr which were even more amazing. We also walked up to the lookout at Ubirr which is the northern-most point accessible for tourists – you have a 360 degree view of the wetlands which are a vibrant green. Today we also struggled with the heat and MOSQUITOES!

Day 2: Yellow River sunrise cruise: what an amazing way to start the day! We watched the sun rise over the billabong with wild brumbies frolicking across the grass. Then we cruised down the river to see SO many different types of birds: kingfishers, cormorants, finches, egrets, jabirus, Sea eagles, jacana (pictured - Tessa's favourite), whistling ducks and so many more. We also saw 2 huge crocs – cleverly camouflaged against the muddy bank. A water buffalo was also hidden near the bank whilst a large water monitor (lizard) decided to be our boat mascot and ride with us the entire way! It was certainly worth the cost to see so much wildlife that you wouldn't see from the road. Master J was also very impressed with the buffet breakfast that was included! (so were we – first time in history we didn't need to feed Mr J lunch!) Brunch was followed by school work – yes, we still have to complete a few hours a day! We followed this up with a swim in the nearby resort which they kindly allow us bush-campers to use!

Day 3: Jim-Jim Falls: we got ready early and headed out to Jim Jim falls. The last 10km saw some fun 4 wheel driving on a single lane track through creeks, sand and over humps. I think Kieren and the kids enjoyed that a little too much!! We saw another water buffalo (he was madly trying to get out of Kieren’s way lol!) Jim Jim falls was meant to be a 900m bushwalk although it took us about 3 hours. The boulders to climb over were ENORMOUS! Little Miss T had to be carried over some of them. But we were rewarded with an amazing swimmable beach and falls that were still running into a stunning plunge pool. On our way back we saw a metre-long golden tree snake which was eating a frog. We had hoped to get to Twin falls as well but ran out of steam & time after the massive boulder walk. We didn't want to run into Mr Water Buffalo in the dark! On our way back we dropped into the aboriginal cultural centre which had lots of great information. Master J was particularly amazed that there used to be 200 different aboriginal languages in use in Australia but now there are only 50. There are 4 language groups just in the Kakadu area.

We got back to our caravan to find another triple bunker caravan with KIDS!! This is a rarity we have discovered so this evening and well into the next morning the 7 kids played & schooled together. Unfortunately this family are travelling the opposite direction to us but we swapped tips & will perhaps meet in Melbourne at the end of the year! Thanks for a fantastic 16 hours Ward Family J

Day 4: After school work we slowly packed up and headed to Darwin through the haze of smoke. Apparently the past 24 hours had reached the perfect temperature for controlled burns. A little off-putting to see fires burning alongside the highway with no one in sight (at least for this Victorian!)

So long Kakadu – hoping to see this interesting place in the wet season sometime!

One month down!

Here's a snapshot of our month & budget. We've travelled through 2 States & 1 Territory. We have driven over 4000km. We have met countless grey nomads whose knowledge & tips we have greatly appreciated (for the most part!), and only a few other travelling families.

Miss T has completed her maths for the year - that's right - in ONE month! Mr J has completed 3/4 of his! We have visited some amazing national parks and natural wonders of our beautiful country including Uluru, Kata Tjuta, King's Canyon, Devil's Marbles, West Mcdonnell Ranges, Kakadu and Nitmiluk National Parks. We have also visited caves, schools, cultural centres, zoos and museums as part of our home-schooling. Miss A has been heard saying that if she takes in any more learning her head will explode!

We have stayed in 16 different places and now have our van set up/pack up down to about an hour (depending how long it takes to say goodbye to newfound friends!)

We have spent as much on fuel as on groceries. Wow - groceries and fuel are EXPENSIVE in central Australia - I really feel for the communities that have to pay these prices on a daily/weekly basis. For example a cheap loaf of white bread has cost me $5 in remote locations and fuel (diesel) has been over $2/litre.

We have spent under $700 this month in accommodation - with 3 free camps, 7 National Park stays, 11 showgrounds or cheap accommodation (the cheapest being $5/night!) and 9 nights in a caravan park. We are hoping to find a few more free camps in our next stint!

But our biggest achievements this month have been the social & emotional results of having time together as a family and resting. Miss T's stuttering has dived from a 6 down to a 2/10 mostly due to her anxiety decreasing. Appetites have increased, Miss E has had NO asthma or hayfever at all :) (yippee!!) and we have seen such a great increase in outside creative play. The kids have only watched 2 movies in a month with little to no other screen time. Kieren & I are also feeling refreshed and not so permanently tired.

Here's a picture of our map in our caravan - the black line shows you how far we've traversed this amazing country of ours! Next review - Kakadu :)

Alice Springs to Katherine

Alice Springs

After King’s Canyon, we headed onwards to Alice Springs. Not the friendliest feeling town, with our first encounter of police-guarded liquor stores, paid public toilets, locked down camping grounds etc. This was very different to the country towns we have passed through. I sent Kieren off with the kids to do my shopping in peace, forgetting that coming out of the shops I didn’t have the carkeys. I was harassed for money quite a bit so ended up sitting hidden beside our 4WD surrounded by shopping bags until Kieren arrived! Note to self: shopping as a family is sometimes a good idea!

We stayed at the Showgrounds again which gave the kids ample space to ride their bikes and watch the horses adjisted in the grounds. We felt very safe here as it was quite a way out of town and we were locked in from 6.30pm-7.30am.

The next day we caught up on some schoolwork – this is what school looks like for us:

Yay! Dad’s rock as school teachers! Then we went to see The School of the Air for Central Australia. We got to see their fortnightly assembly and a few other classes! We also met 2 of the students the next few days in the National Park we next visited.

We came back to Alice Springs to restock and do some work (the only phone reception available for a long while! Not happy Optus!) This time we bit into our budget and took the kids to “The Desert Park” – kind of like an Australian outback zoo. We had an absolutely fabulous afternoon learning all about birds of prey, nocturnal desert animals & reptiles, and the more common animals such as emus, kangaroos & dingoes. Invaluable education for the kids – particularly when we realised there were probably only 2 other families there that day, so ranger talks were fantastically interactive.

Thorny Devils - Miss T's favourite!

West Macdonnell Ranges – Ormiston Gorge.

Sandwiched between our Alice Springs stops was an amazing trip to the national park 1.5hrs west of Alice. We stayed at Ormiston Gorge for 2 nights and completed the Gorge Pound Walk on the second day. This was another 7km walk, but a lot harder than King’s Canyon, as the last 1-2km are climbing (literally) over dry boulders through the gorge to the end waterhole. The view from the lookout over the pound (valley surrounded by mountains – a natural stockyard for mustering) was amazing.

We saw pure wild dingoes drinking from the waterhole and heard them howling at night. We also visited the nearby Ochre Pits where aboriginals used to obtain ochre for ceremonial use/or trade it with other tribes. The other fun part of this trip was meeting 2 other families! We’re all heading similar directions too so will no doubt have some more adventures together.

 

Ochre pits

The race to Devil’s Marbles

We’ve realised that sometimes caravanning is a race in the sparsely populated outback. If you get to the next stop when it’s full, that can mean driving past dinnertime or having to stop by the side of the road with Roadtrains rushing past all night at 130km/hr. So this time we were prepared. We left Alice early and had all our food packed in the car to minimise rest stops. Even so, we arrived at Devils Marbles at 2.30pm with only a few caravan spots left! Luckily another lovely family got the last spot next to us amidst all the grey nomads. So we had a wonderful time hiking around the stone formations and then the kids played together whilst the adults talked (and listened to the state of origin of course).

The sunset was spectacular and so was the sunrise the next morning. It was sad saying goodbye to our newly made friends as all of us had so much fun!

Longreach Waterhole, Elliott

In Tessa’s words: This was magic. Possibly one of the most captivating places of natural beauty I have ever seen. The road in is horrid – sandy and corrugated – we had fun testing out the 4WD for the first time (nothing like trying 4WD first towing a caravan!) But the end was well worth it -  A 200km lake with birdlife like I’ve never seen before. It is a pelican nursery where they teach all the young hatchlings to fish & fly, as well as many birds of prey, cormorants, ibis, cranes, finches, wrens, wagtails, etc. It had us mesmerised (and Miss E got to try out her birthday binoculars!) We were also able to have a campfire at night which was so relaxing. Unfortunatley (or not!) it didn’t have any phone reception so we had to leave the next day even though we all wanted to stay here for a week. Thanks for the tip Aunty Anne & Uncle Rog!!

Mataranka – Bitter Springs

Our next stop was near the site of the filming of “We of the Never, Never” – anyone remember this movie? It suddenly became tropical here – complete with welcome thunderstorm. We were able to visit the local springs where you float down a spring-fed creek at a beautiful 34 degrees amidst turtles & fish. Very memorable!

Katherine Gorge & Edith Falls

Today’s walks were small (2 x 1 km) but very hot! Luckily we got to swim at the waterhole at Edith Falls as Katherine Gorge swimming (Nitmiluk) was closed due to croc sightings.