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.

Between Alice Springs and Daly Waters, July 31-August 6

We stayed a few more days back in Alice and this time caught up with our travelmates Joe and Leanne (both teachers).
We were keen on hearing about their work experience at a school near Tennant Creek.
I went with them to N'Dhala gorge and Trephina gorge on the east Mac Donnell ranges and liked it so much that I convinced Manfred to stay an extra night in Alice and go and see those 2 gorges again. The drive to N'Dhala gorge was a 9 km 4WD track but it was well worth. We saw some aboriginal rock carvings all along the walk.

After we left Alice and on our way north, we stopped at the Ebenezer roadhouse to look at some local aboriginal craft.
We spent the night at a UFO place called Wycliff Well. Nina and Annabelle enjoyed feeding the rabbits and watching the emus and its chicks, but no sign of UFOs that night!

The next day we stopped at Devils Marbles again and spent a bit more time there to look at the amazing granite stone formation.

Someone recommended the Mary-Ann dam just passed Tennant Creek to us so we decided to have a picnic there.

After one night at Banka Banka homestead, we drove to Daly waters, village famous for its historic pub. We had a nice BBQ barramundi dinner there with country music entertainment.

Kings Canyon, July 26-31

 
The 7kms rim walk of Kings Canyon and the scenery were fantastic. Manfred and I liked the walk so much that we both did it twice.



We took turns to mind the kids as we didn't take them on the walk with us.























We caught up with our Canadian traveling mates Lisa and Shaun who stayed at the same caravan park. It was great to see them again but also sad to see them go as it was our last catch up. They were heading to Adelaide next and back to Canada in September.

Ayers Rock (Uluru), July 21-26

Our stay at Yulara campgrounds was very enjoyable although very cold.
I liked Ayers Rock (Uluru) a lot and Manfred found it amazing again (it was his second visit). Nina and Annabelle liked it too; Annabelle kept on repeating "I can see a big rock".
Manfred and I took turns to walk around the rock (9 kms).
I went on a sunset tour and learnt about some of the stories about the rock and bushtuckers. Nina and I joined a little lesson about aboriginal painting and each of us created a little painting on canvas. Nina enjoyed it.

Sunsets at the rock are amazing. It changes colour depending on the time of the day.







We also visited the Olgas, another amazing rock formation and did a nice walk.

Between Barkley's Homestead and Alice Springs, July 13-21

On our way to Tennant Creek we stayed at Barkley homestead roadhouse.


At the caravan park in Tennant Creek, there was a bushtucker man who entertained a little crowd around a fire: he told stories, poems and showed a few bushtuckers (lemongrass and others). We warmed up with some lemongrass tea and had some yummy damper he had cooked in a camp oven. The next day I was very proud as I managed to find some lemongrass in the bush and made some tea with it.

After a nice picnic at Devils Marbles we drove as far as the Ti Tree roadhouse. The girls were quickly surrounded by peacocks: they loved it.

 

We spent the next few days at Alice Springs. We liked our visit at the Desert park where we learnt about the flora and fauna of the outback.
It's worth a stroll at the Todd Mall (pedestrian zone) as there are many aboriginal paintings to look at in the galleries and shops.We had a look at the west Mac Donnell ranges (Simpsons gap, Standley chasm, Ormiston gorge, Ochre pits, Ellery creek big hole).
Those ranges are great. A must See if you visit Alice!