Between Turkey Creek and Broome, Sept 16-20

We had a great sleep at the Turkey creek caravan park, which made up for the previous uncomfortable sleep at the Bungle Bungle.
We said good bye to the lovely family we met at the Bungle Bungle as we were heading opposite directions.

On our way out I had a look at the Warmun art gallery, which seems to be a well-known contemporary aboriginal art gallery. More info on www.warmunart.com.
Nice paintings!

Our next destination was Fitzroy crossing. The caravan park had lot's of space, which was nice for change, and the girls had fun cycling down the hill from the amenities block down to our caravan.



On our way out we drove to Geike gorge where I went on a cruise. I loved the cruise. It was another gorge but this time a different one as it is a reef!
We saw a lot of freshwater crocodiles, which was great.

Here is some info I found on Kimberley Australia travel guide:

The mighty Fitzroy River has carved a 30 metre deep gorge into the remains of the ancient limestone barrier reef that existed here in the Devonian period*.
*The Devonian is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic Era spanning from 416 to 359.2 million years ago.

When the Fitzroy is in full flood during the wet season it covers the whole national park. Those floods rise over 16 metres up the gorge walls and the continuous rise and fall of the water has left the bottom of the walls bleached white, an intriguing sight which makes Geikie Gorge very popular with photographers.

Off to Broome after that! Back to a bit more civilization! Yippie!

Bungle Bungle in the Kimberleys, Sept 15-16

Our next destination after Kununurra was Turkey creek (Warmun being the aboriginal name).

We left the caravan in storage there for 1 night as we planned to camp at the Bungle Bungle (Purnululu national park).
The 4WD to the Bungle Bungle was quite scenic, but also bumpy and long (about 2.5 hours!).
What an amazing rock formation!

We got there early enough to do one walk before setting up camp. We walked to the Echidna gorge (chasm). You can see how the rock split at some point creating a narrow chasm.

We had a memorable camping experience at the campgrounds that night. I dissuaded Manfred from setting up our big tent for just one night andconvinced him to setup the fly screen tent only. However, as we were putting it up, it started to rain so we threw our tent top/roof on it but with the wind and the weight, it started to collapse slowly...only to get more and more wet...with the girls underneath...

In the meantime I had a saucepan with water on the stove but the water didn't seem to boil!!! So I gave up the idea of cooking and decided to feed the girls and us some cereals. 

We all ended up eating in the car and also sleeping in the car! What a night! It brought back some memories of our flight to Europe.
The girls slept through the night actually so that was good. Only Manfred and I seemed to wake up with sore necks:-)

The next day we had a look at the Cathedral gorge and did the Dome walk. We met a lovely family with 2 kids from Perth (Manfred had met them already where we stored the caravan) and
ended up doing the walks together, which was lovely. The kids walked and walked without realizing the amount of steps they did as they were having so much fun.
What we saw that morning was well worth it.

We then left the Bungle Bungle and tackled the long drive back to Turkey creek. We all ended up staying at the same caravan park.

Emma gorge and El Questro in the east Kimberleys, Sept 11-14

We drove all the way to Wyndam to have a look at the Five rivers lookout. Amazing view of all the rivers. It was very hot when we were there.

We then made our way to Emma gorge where we stayed for 3 nights. We booked a cute little pre-erected tent luckily with power for a fan as the days were hot.
What a setting! We were right in front of the walk to the gorge.

The walk to the gorge was about 3kms return and was very nice. Although it was hot, the girls walked very well, the track was pretty tough for those little legs. We took our backpack baby carrier for Annabelle, which was a good idea. The gorge was quite similar to Jim Jim falls in Kakadu.
The water was cold but it didn't matter at all, on the contrary it was the perfect temperature to cool off after the walk.

The next day we explored the El Questro gorge. Manfred like that walk better than Emma gorge but I found it more challenging with the many rocks.
The girls still walked amazingly well. We got to the lower gorge and I had a nice break and a little swim with the girls, while Manfred challenged himself by walking to the upper gorge. We couldn't have brought the kids there.
There was apparently quite a lot of challenging climbing involved. The upper gorge looked great from the pictures he took.

One morning there was a nice surprise for the girls in our tent: a green frog. And guess what? She was in the toilet!
We managed to get her out of there and all wondered how she had ended up there. We released her into the bush again and the girls had fun watching her. Guess where she went to? The water pipe! Where she had probably come through to end on the toilet...

We took the Toyota on a very nice 4WD track to the saddleback lookout. The lookout was nice but I think I enjoyed the drive to it more.

The Chamberlain gorge that we accessed by boat cruise was also well worth going to. We got tons of great information about the area, and crocodiles in general.
The girls liked feeding the Archer fish and they giggled everytime one of them spitted some water out! That was funny!
I liked the sparkling wine too. It gave a good atmosphere on the boat.

We finished the day with a nice dinner at the Steakhouse of the El Questro station.

The 3 days in the east Kimberleys were very nice despite the heat.
Before we left the region we went for a dip at the Zebedee hotsprings: a little heaven with palm trees and bath water.

Between Katherine & Kununurra, Sept 7-11

It was time to say good bye to the northern territory and head slowly direction WA.

The drive was very scenic. We had a picnic at the Gregory national park, which was nice but hot!(40C +).

We stayed at Timber creek, which was just before the border. We had to make sure we didn't carry anymore fruits, vegetables, honey and nuts.
Although we had a big fruit salad for breakfast, we still had a few vegetables so I found it handy that the lady at the croc tour booking office next to the caravan park was taking fruits and vegetables donations.
She was giving them to families in need.

The tiny Timber creek caravan park actually had a popular tourist attraction: crocodile feeding at 5pm!
All crocs were small freshwater crocs and there were quite a few of them. The lady from the caravan park was holding a stick that had a line with a piece of meat at the end. Somehow I thought she would just thow the meat in the water.
So everyone who wanted could have a go at feeding them. I will never forget this snap sound when their mouth snapped the meat!
Quite loud! I think we now have a bit more respect for the freshies.

We crossed the border without trouble. Luckily I didn't forget any fruits or vegetables in the caravan. Phew!


Our first outing from Kununurra was the lake Argyle, apparently 54 times the size of Sydney harbour!
We didn't go on a cruise but went to the lookout and had a lovely picnic by the Ord river.

We also had a look at the Ivanhoe crossing where at a certain time of the year you can see crocodiles feeding on the many barramundis that migrate downstream. Must be impressive to see!

We left our caravan in storage for 3 nights at the zebra rock gallery as we were planning to visit the east Kimberleys.

Mary river & Darwin, August, 26-September 7

On our way out of the Mary-Ann river caravan park we drove to Fog dam but it started raining so we went straight back to Darwin and thought we would go back on a better day.

At the end of August it was sadly time to say good bye to Karen and Dushi.

Jonas spent another 5 days with us after they left. We stayed at Howard Springs again, which Jonas was very pleased about. He could play squash a few more times!

We did an outing on the Adelaide river to do the jumping crocodile cruise. We all enjoyed watching the big crocodiles jump to try and catch the meat that the lady on our boat was offering them. We could all watch safely from behind the window of the boat. The girls also had lot's of fun on the boat!

We also went back to Fog dam and did a lovely walk through different types of vegetation (palm trees, paperbark trees, etc). I heard and spotted a yellow snake but not sure what type he was.

Early September we had to say good bye to Jonas. It was great to spend time with him and I am glad that Karen and Dushi got to meet him.

Cooinda in Kakadu, August 23-26

We stayed at Cooinda lodge caravan park, nice park with big pool. The next 2 days, we took turns to do go on the early yellow river cruise (Jonas and Manfred one day, Karen, Dushi and I the next day).
We did the 6.45am cruise. The sunrise was amazing, we saw a few big crocodiles and great birds. We loved the cruise.

On the agenda was also the Jim Jim falls. The 4WD was quite long but very nice. Karen had a go at driving too.
The walk to the falls was quite challenging, with the big rocks to climb. We didn't take the girls to the end so again we took turns to look after them and go there.
Not an easy walk indeed but well worth the effort! Beautiful spot.

We didn't make it to the twin falls afterwards. We were too late to take the little ferry. Shame. The twin falls look amazing too from the postcards/pictures we saw.

We visited the Nourangie rock too: nice walk mostly in the shade. We saw some great aboriginal rock paintings around the caves.

On our way to Ubirr we went to the Cahill crossing to try and spot crocodiles. It's a great spot indeed. We saw quite a few big ones.

Ubirr was the highlight of our visit in Kakadu. Amazing rock painting, beautiful lookout at the top (onto the wetland, Arnhem land). We were there shortly after 5pm and a ranger did a great talk
about the art and the area. We stayed there till sunset. It got quite windy suddenly and it looked like it was going to rain but it luckily didn't.
It's a great place to be at sunset.

In the evening we had dinner at the restaurant by the pool of the Jabiru lodge. We had a yummy dinner!

On our way out of Kakadu we stopped at the Mamukala viewing platform. The platform is in the shade, which is great and there is some detailed information about the 6 different wetland seasons and what happens to the nature.

After we left Kakadu, we went to the information platform "window on the wetlands". It's great for the kids, very educative.

That evening we stayed at Mary-Ann river caravan park. We all cooled down in the little swimming pool.

Dushi spotted a snake in the bush right next to the tent, we couldn't identify what it was...My sister had trouble falling asleep after she found out!

Katherine gorge, August 20-23

After Litchfield, we drove to Katherine gorge where we stayed for a few days. The caravan park at the gorge was pretty basic but surprisingly had a huge pool and entertainment in the evening.

We rent out canoes for half a day. Manfred went with Jonas while the rest of us looked after the girls and the next day, I went with Karen, Dushi and a travelmate whom I paired up with.
It is a beautiful spot and we even saw some aboriginal rock paintings.

The next day we drove to Katherine town and enjoyed a swim in the hotsprings (just 5kms outside the town) before doing some food shopping for our next few days in Kakadu.

Litchfield, August 18-20

We had a great time in Litchfield. It was great to have some family with us. The girls had a lot of fun with Jonas, Karen and Dushi. The first gorge we saw in Litchfield was Florence gorge: busy but nice. Then we had a quick look at Bluey rock hole, very nice too.
In the evening light, we drove to the Magnetic termite mounds. The termites were huge! The girls liked them a lot.





















Wangi falls was my favourite spot: beautiful falls and swimming hole. Very picturesque.

We did a bit of 4W driving to get to Sandy creek waterfalls but the girls fell asleep in the car when we got there so only Manfred and Jonas walked the 1.7kms to see the waterfalls.
Manfred found them very nice too. The rangers did some backburning and on the way back we were driving past the bushfires, so close to us, so impressive.

We finished the day with a quick look at the Toma falls lookout.

Darwin, August 9-18

We made it to Darwin a few days before Jonas, Manfred's son, arrived. We stayed at Howard Springs caravan park, which we liked a lot. Perfect timing! Enough days to get the caravan serviced and do a bit of a cleanup.
On 12th Jonas flew over from Germany and the jetlag didn't seem to affect him much during the first few days. Lucky him. Must be his young age (nearly 14).
It was hot there so we went to the wave pool in Darwin a few times. The kids loved it!

We did an outing to Berry springs, which was very enjoyable: warm water, great picnic spot. What a great swimming place, so close to Darwin!

A rodeo was on in Darwin, we got tickets and saw our very first rodeo! Nice experience.

While Manfred and the kids went to the wave pool I had a look at the aboriginal art fair that was on for a few days. There was a great variety of art, from different regions, a lot to choose from if you wanted to buy one. Quite a few artists were there too, which was great to see.

We had a look at the famous Mindil markets after enjoying a sunset on the beach. There was an amazing choice of food and the markets had a lot to offer: clothing and accessories, gifts all kind,
aboriginal art. The markets are on twice a week for a few months.

The Darwin festival was on when we were there although it was the end of it. I went to see a show (chooky dancers) with a few friends (travelmates) at the intertainment center. It was brilliant!
You can see part of their show on Youtube if you search for "chooky dancers-greek dance". They are also playing in the film "Bran Nue Dae" so they are getting very popular.

On the last day of the festival there was some aboriginal dance at Mindil beach, just before sunset and the same day the markets were on, so it was quite busy that day.

On 17th my sister Karen and boyfriend Dushi arrived from Bali. We took it easy that day and we left Darwin the next day to start our adventure with the family! Yippie!

Mataranka & Douglas Springs, August 6-9

We stayed at Mataranka for a few days, small township about 106 km south-east of Katherine.
We enjoyed swimming in the natural thermal pools in the nearby Elsey National Park.

 
The town is also well-known as the setting for the autobiographical story "We of the Never Never" by Jeannie Gunn, who wrote of her hardships and experiences on Elsey Station, a remote Australian farm, in the early 1900s.

On our way north, we had a look at Edith falls. Nina and Annabelle had a quick dip only as they found the water rather cold (no wonder after a few days of swimming in the thermal pools!). Manfred went in the water with them and got bitten by a fish!

In the evening we setup camp in a quiet caravan park about 8 kms away from the Douglas hot springs nature park. We saw an albino kangaroo that evening (very rare!). There were some thermal pools nearby and in one area there was a crocodile trap! Obviously not the most safest and relaxing place to swim! Manfred and I had a quick and nervous look at the pool and trap out of curiosity but we left the kids in the car.

We had fun bathing in the warm waters where the hot springs join the Douglas river. The girls loved the place as it was nice and shallow. Annabelle did some crazy jumps off the river banks into the warm waters, no fear.
You can't really swim too close to the actual hotsprings, as water temperatures can exceed 60 degrees C.