northern territory: kakadu, gagadju, ubirr

The lookout provides an insanely awesome vantage point across the wetlands at Ubirr and in to Arnhem Land. We took our picnic dinner up the hill to watch the sun set on another day. 

B said that he always does the "thumbs up" so people know it's a good place to visit. 

After our very disrupted sleep the night before we bunkered down with sticky tape across the window seals. We bombed the inside of the van with a generous spray of mortein in the afternoon which we usually avoid but bought especially. It was a huge relief when we all woke up after sunrise the next morning. 

The free ranger-lead talks throughout Kakadu provide insight in to this sacred place. There's also weaving workshops run by local women. We caught up with Ranger Glen at Ubirr and joined him on a 2.5 hour long visit to the art sites. 

In addition to the history of the ancient artworks we heard a lot about the hard work that the community put in to have Gagadju recognised as a national park and eventually as a World Heritage Area. 

A figure with swollen limbs is depicted in the image below. It is said that swollen joints are a common side affect on the body after exposure to radioactive material. You may or may not remember that the Jabiru Uranium Mine is located in Jabiru. This image is thousands of years old. 

This is the place where locals say the Rainbow Serpent left its imprint in the rock after creating the surrounding parts of Kakadu. It may not be convincing to everyone but right across the world people have creation stories. 

northern territory: darwin

We initially thought we'd just duck in to Darwin, meet Ma and Grug and head back out of town but we needed to restock the fridge and get a few odd jobs done. Standing in the Optus shop for three hours isn't my idea of fun but it had to be done! 

Free Spirit Caravan Park had been recommended to us by travelling friends and with three pools, jumping pillow, a free kids club and usual amenities it was a comfortable place to stay. Whilst it was a bit of a drive in to town it was close to the free and awesome YMCA water park in Palmerston! I should have done my research because our dearest girl didn't meet the height minimum of 110cm for the big slide (but she may or may not have got two slides in before we realised). 

Rapid Creek Markets is a foodies heaven and you can buy anything from the freshest Asian fruit and veggies to soups, homemade rice noodle and egg noodles for your own cooking. There's herbs and Asian desserts. Our daughter asked that I bring back a pineapple and a mango. I also grabbed veggies, a bright sweet watermelon. And I had the tastiest laksa for brekky. 

On the way to Darwin we met a grey nomad couple who suggested we go to Mindil Markets. "Take your own chair. Take your own drinks and take your own food," they said, "then you don't have to buy anything." Instead we took our picnic rug, our drinks bottles and ate this feast of treats from across the globe. We had Thai, Vietnamese Japanese Sri Lankan Greek and Indonesian! We love that we can sit back in an Aussie city and experience our country's diversity.

J had himself volunteered at the foreshow. That's him holding the ladder just before the entertainer juggled flaming machetes. Truly. He thinks he's going to take up a new vocation. We're not convinced. 

western australia : lake argyle

Lake Argyle is one of those places that is raved about by visitors but not a place I need to return to. It wasn't unpleasant but there are just so many other beautiful spots in the world. Perhaps we just don't see the charm in large dams. 

J, however, did enjoy his kayak on the Ord River along with freshies, whistling kites and a white-breasted sea eagle whom was very interested in the lone kayaker. 

The steps down to the lake from the resort are poorly maintained and very wobbly. The rest of the family jumped in from the aging pontoon though and assured me it was considerably warmer than the infinity pool of which the resort is famous for. 

northern territory : kakadu, arnhem land

We wanted to see Kakadu and Arnhem Land. It's a part of Australia we've seen on doco's and featured in films but we came with fresh eyes, not really knowing what to expect. Once again a part of this country has been forged in our hearts as a treasured place. 

We pulled in to Merl campground at Ubirr late in the day which is never a good sign of things to come. It was too hot to cook in the van (high thirties) and mozzies were already starting to take their place against the fly screens so we bunkered in for a mezze platter. 

The kids are still adjusting to the 1.5hr time difference with Western Australia and getting them to bed early is proving difficult. The heat coupled with hundreds of mozzies getting in somewhere wasn't a good combination for getting to bed early or having a good night. And we didn't. I think we had four hours sleep that first night between smashing the little blood-filled blighters and tending to hot thirsty kids. 

We were easily distracted from our mozzie bites and the elements once we looked out of the van at Merl. It is a stunning place to wake up set amongst the pandanus palms. We pre-booked our permit in to Arnhem Land and tour to Injalak Hill and it was an early, hazy start to cross the East Alligator River by 8:30 in the morning. 

Roland was our guide up Injalak Hill. It was a privilege to see artworks on the walls of the rocks dating back 20,000 years. Here lies evidence of the longest continuous culture on the planet. Our short time on Earth and contribution to the world pales in to insignificance. 

The artworks here depict foods and other plants and animals endemic to the area including long-necked turtle, barramundi, mullet. Legends told and retold over thousands of years are also painted here. 

Here you can see the palette and the canvas. These grind holes, used to grind rock in to ocre paints (from about 50km from this site) are literally thousands of years old. 

There are three brothers - making up Injalak (Long Tom Fish) Hill, Leech Hill and Magpie Goose Hill. These places are sacred sites for the locals. 

Our tour finished at the Arts Centre which houses a large number of artworks by local artists and sales are used to fund the running of the centre and community workshops for tourists. We bought a beautiful painting of a barramundi by

?? Glen 

who uses only ocres in his paintings. It has its place in our caravan now. 

northern territory: litchfield national park

You can enter Litchfield from the north nearer to Darwin or the south through Batchelor (formally known at Rum Jungle). A little shout out to my uncle here. His sister, my mother, used to threaten to take him to Rum Jungle and leave him there. It's not as bad and scary as you might think Uncle. (I'm hoping I've allayed his childhood fears.)

Wangi Wangi Falls is the national park run campground but we pulled in to the last site at 11am. Once again, if you want a site, you've got to think and act like a grey nomad. Pack your van and head off at 5am to ensure a site. 

Wangi Wangi Falls is accessible from the campground and day carpark. We happened to be there over the Darwin long weekend and watched as cars circled the campground in the hope of scoring a site. Sadly many campers also took the opportunity to light their own campfires despite warnings not to do so. 

We swam at Wangi a few times over the weekend and met a lovely ex-Darwin family with grown up children who had travelled extensively through Australia when their kids were young. They are now grown up and fondly reminisce about those times. They were visiting Wangi and, more significantly, Giants Pocket because it was a place their son wanted to see again. It's not nearly as big as he remembers. 

We hope that when our children think back on the adventures we've shared together they also think fondly of them. 

Florence Falls walk includes about 130 stairs right down to the bottom of the falls. It was a beautiful beit challenging walk but there were barely any complaints from the little people. P did come a cropper and landed on her back after slipping from a large rock. She was as brave as could be but it gave her and I a shock.  

One morning before breakfast the kids and I did the walk from Wangi Wangi up to the lookout at the top. We loved looking out through the treetops and J and the kids repeated the whole loop later in the day. 

western australia, northern territory: lake argyle to litchfield national park

There are a few rest stops between Lake Argyle and Litchfield that aren't too rough. We did venture in to Mary River rest stop one afternoon only to be mightily disappointed wit the countless vans (over 100 camped in total) who were clearly set up for a stay longer than the 24 hour maximum. Sadly individuals had left their rubbish by the bins only to have it blown about the place by the wind. It's stories like these that will have people like them complaining when free camps are closed for good. A council somewhere has to pick up after these grubs. 

Late one afternoon we pulled in to the Mathison Rest Area just as a few grey nomad couples were stirring their camp oven stew. It looked and smelled amazing and they were really accomodating of our loud and tired family. I loved that these guys, who'd been on the road together for a couple of months, use their camp ovens each night and combine meals. 

I can't even remember what we ate for tea that night but we watched on in fascination (& envy) as they topped their stew with a damper mix (in scone sized drops) 22 minutes before it was due to come off the heat. When the lid came off each diner was treated to a hearty stew and a perfectly cooked scone to soak up the juices! Brilliant!!

I coined the meal "Quarantine Stew" as it can easily be made the night before you're due to pass through a quarantine checkpoint with whatever fresh veggies are remaining and would otherwise be confiscated. The name was quickly aquired by our new friends.

We got away from Katherine later than we had intended. We needed to restock but the springs in town were such a welcome relief from being confined to the car. 

As usual we planned our stop as we were pulling in and, again, it was late in the afternoon. We weren't the last to arrive at Bridge Creek Rest Area though and the kids soon made friends with some backpackers whom they shared a game of Connect 4 with after dinner. And the rumours are true - Lawrence the rooster is a friendly host. I'm sure he's still crowing for a mate.   

western australia: purnululu

Purnululu (commonly known as the Bungle Bungles) has a number of great walks some of which are suitable for walking with children. 

Access to the walks is a 1.5-2 hour drive from the highway on a rough dirt road. I decided to take the older kids (4yo and 6yo) while Mummy and Little A stayed behind at the Bungle Bungle Caravan Park.

The big kids were really keen to go bush walking and were very excited to be camping in a tent. Our daughter was up and ready to go first thing!

The kids and I drove in early in the day to allow enough time to walk to the impressive Cathedral Gorge and The Domes. 

The walk was quite achievable for the kids although the heat of the day got to them as we walked in the creek bed towards Cathedral Gorge. A lovely couple from The Channon (Northern NSW) encouraged and distracted the kids for the final stretch! The cavernous gorge was impressive and the coolness offered by its shade and still pool most welcome. I marvelled at its grandeur while the kids settled into building a dam in the sand by the pool.

On the return walk along the rocky creek bed the kids played in a deep rock hole full of stones (& two dried cane toad carcasses). 

The rock hole became the main scene of the evening bedtime story where the kids met a new character, 'Knotty' the Numbat, who led them to a secret door in Cathedral Gorge and a mysterious world underground!

We had erected our tent at the Kurrajong Campground adjacent to some other families. Alas being school holidays they were on a short trip and we wouldn't cross paths again unfortunately!

A few minutes star gazing through the tent ceiling was all the kids could manage before dozing off into a slumber that only a bush walk and a tent can provide.

The morning light streamed through the tent walls and soon I had two very energetic kids jumping on me! After a breakfast of muesli with warm milk and banana, school journal writing for B, and a play with several kids who gathered at our camp, we set course for Echidna Chasm.

The walk through the stony creek bed up towards Echidna Chasm was a little challenging for little feet although they've conquered far worse of course. A couple of hundred metres into this first walk of the day P was convinced that she was teetering on the edge of exhaustion but they soon thought up some games and before we entered the cool, dark labyrinth P had collected four long sticks to carry on her merry way! We weaved our way through the mighty fracture, two sheer rock walls towering either side above us and although P's sticks frequently jammed between the narrow sides of the gorge and despite my gentle persuasions that we could always pick them up on our way back out she insisted that she really must continue to persevere to the very end, around boulders, past other walkers, up the ladders. Upon reaching the final cavern and while B attempted to scale the sheer rock walls, P dropped her bundle of sticks as though it were common house dirt and began inventing another game. 

We shared a couple of oranges before evacuating ourselves from the tortuous intestines of the Echidna. It was a magnificent finale to our Purnululu adventures and although I had no idea what to expect and didn't plan it that way I feel it was a wise decision to do the southern end of the park first and leaving the impressive Echidna as our last stop.

We didn't muck around getting on our way back to 'our roaming home'. We know very well where the best cook, cooking and catering is in this vast brown land and we were famished!!

Although it didn't stop us taking a break from the rough 50km road about half way for a cup of tea and a spot of cow shit cricket! Oh and two separate trips off piste to dig a hole for number twos that didn't exist five minutes before when I had asked!!!!

western australia: windjana gorge to fitzroy crossing via tunnel creek

It's a short drive from Windjana Gorge to Lillimooloora Station, the site where Jandamarra shot his friend, the policeman Richardson in order to free his people and from where he fled in to the Gorge at the onset of the three year battle which claimed many of the Banuba people and finally Jandamarra himself. 

The police outpost is now in ruins. Just standing at the station gives you a sense of the distances Jandamarra travelled. 

We love the boab trees right across the Kimberley and the red red dirt. 

Tunnel Creek is a thirty minute drive on the dirt and is where Jandamarra hid from police during the resistance. Sadly this is the place where the black tracker, Mickey, tracked and finally shot Jandamarra. 

In places you wade through knee deep water in the tunnel in the dark. To add to the adventure a few freshies inhabit the waters, which I was not aware of until J pointed out the bronze eyes staring at us! 

They stared. I might have squealed. And then they disappeared under the very water I had to wade back through! Did I mention it was pitch black?

 

Ironically we happened upon the huge muster of Brahman on the Leopold Down Station which is situated between Tunnel Creek and the highway. It was an impressive sight to see the cattle thundering around the rocks and boabs followed by a man on a motorbike while a helicopter hovered about jerking in one direction and then the next. 

Can you spot J, all of six foot three in this huge boab? We lept from the car (leaving the kids to ponder our excitement) when we saw this great specimen. We could only wonder how long it's been there!

western australia: broome

Amanda and Gavin and their two kids from Sydney met us in Broome for a holiday! When they told us they wouldn't be in Broome until late June we had to think how we'd fill in the nine weeks from Perth to Broome up the west coast. Thanks to them we slowed right down and were able to really enjoy some places along the way! 

Our eight night stay in Broome soon became twelve because we were having such a great time. There's so much to see and do and it was fun being with old friends! Miss P's new friend, Pippa, also celebrated her fourth birthday with a pool party in the caravan park which was fun!

What a visit to Broome without a ride along Cable Beach on these guys? Camels are roaming free throughout the top from the days when Afghani cameleers travelled through. Some are captured and spend the rest of their days giving joy rides to tourists like us! 

The Malcolm Douglas Wildlife Park was another attraction on our list. The kids were given the chance to hold these little salties before a croc-feeding tour. It was incredible to see how primitive these creatures are.  

We were in Broome at just the right time to see the dinosaur footprints off Gantheaume Point and the staircase to the moon. Both were far more impressive than we'd expected. 

The first night we ate dinner from the markets at Town Beach while we watched the moon rise. A great place to watch the second night of the staircase is at the Mangrove Hotel who put on food and music. 

I also had a good long browse through the collection of books published by Magabala Books in town. They publish books, fiction and non fiction, for all ages by Indigenous authors and I came away with a handful of great resources. 

The Cygnet Bay showroom (one of the only three farms in Australia) holds free demonstrations. You can watch a pearl being extracted from an oyster and a talk about pearl farming. We really enjoyed this. 

If you do want to buy a Broome pearl then you may be buying a pearl from Broome but it's worth checking if the pearl was produced in Australia. I was surprised to learn that the majority of south sea pearls sold in Broome are from overseas! 

The Japanese cemetery is worth a visit in town. 

A little deli/cafe down the road from our accomodation at Cable Beach Caravan Park (which we recommend) was The Zookeepers Store. They sell a small selection of gourmet foods. The coffee was good (not great) and a mug came in a cup not much bigger than a regular cup size. Their food, however, was most impressive with housemade calzone, sweet pastries and goodies. 

The Blue Buddha Sanctuary next door to Cable Beach Caravan Park is a must if you like your yoga! My friend Miranda and I enjoyed our early yoga mornings followed by Zookeeper calzone!  

If you're in to your sports you should check out websites for local games. We caught a couple of games of AFL with the local teams in town. Those tall lads can jump! 

The markets are held the grounds of the courthouse every Saturday morning. There's the usual wares you'd expect at a market in Broome - sarongs, pearls (imported), jewellery, some fresh produce and a variety of food. I bought myself two gorgeous dresses from Unfurl. 

The two dads took themselves out on a fishing charter one morning and came back with quite a catch! I think there were four fish caught between them including two snapper and this impressive Spanish Mackerel. We enjoyed fresh fish and we'll be eating it from the freezer for weeks to come! 

The Cable Beach Caravan Park is just around the corner from the beach so when our little one was waking up at 5:30 we rode him down to the beach in the trailer. 

It was my birthday while we were in Broome too so my husband hailed a pedicab and they rode he, Baby A and I down to the beach for sunset. Our kids watched movies with our friends, the Wrights while we were treated to a night out. Thanks Em & James!!

western australia: windjana gorge national park, gibb river road

We "did the Gibb" about seven years ago when I was pregnant with our first born. I remember the corrugated road up to Mitchell Plateau and having difficulty having a conversation in the car. The road conditions vary depending on when the grader has gone through and how much traffic the road has endured. We decided that, despite the caravan being an off-roader, we'd leave it in Derby if we were to do the Gibb and that its just too special to miss Mitchell if we were to start the journey. It became evident, as we headed up the coast towards Derby, that we wouldn't do the trip this time and we'd wait until the kids are older. Two to three hours driving a day is best for our family with a break around the two hour mark. There are usually toilet stops in that first two hours too so it's slow going. 

We returned to Windjana Gorge though. The few kilometres from the turn off to Windjana was the toughest but it's so worth it. The tracks are well trodden by the thousands of visitors who, either privately or on tour, enter the National Park each year and whilst more people are visiting, the area has not lost its intrgue.The gorge is impressive and it's an equally beautiful place to go to sleep as it is to wake up in! 

The campground has had the addition of showers and toilets since we first visited and it cost us $24 per night.

Windjana Gorge is the setting of a three year campaign of Indigenous resistance to white settlement by the Banuba people, lead by Jandamarra. The establishment of this area for pastoral purposes came at a great cost to the local Aboriginal people whose sophisticated societal structure was decimated by those who were forging economic growth in Western Australia and the nation. Ironically that economic growth was dependent on free Aboriginal labour on those pastoral stations. 

Jandamarra's journey from being rejected by his family after an internal dispute to working for the constabulary and then fighting for his people is detailed in two books, Jandamarra and the Bunuba Resistance by Pedersen and Woorunmurra. A children's book, Jandamarra, has been written by Mark Greenwood. Our children engaged with this history and staying at Windjana Gorge took on a deeper meaning for them. Of course there were many questions asked and the discussions were sophisticated as they processed what had occurred here and across Australia. We could have told our kids stories like this one (and we will continue to) but it's experiences like this which will etch their understanding in to their beings. I am grateful to be able to both experience this (as a person, a mum as a teacher) and give my kids these experiences too. 

happy first birthday!

Our oldest celebrated his first birthday with friends and family at the park opposite where we lived in the city in Sydney. Our daughter had a combined pirate party with her brother in our backyard for her first birthday. Our youngest turned one at Middle Lagoon at Cape Leveque and he also had a party to celebrate the momentous occasion. 

Arlo was surrounded by new friends we've met on our travels, the Nelson- Hauers, Kate, Roo and their family of four kids and surrogate grandparents Gail and Terry. The camp site was decorated with homemade bunting and balloons. Arlo had a little help opening a few pressies that his grandparents and great grandmother had sent too. Thank you so much Jo for the photographs!

Thanks Gail and Terry for the bubbles! 

What's a party without games? The kids played pass the parcel and had a treasure hunt. The kids had to read and follow the clues throughout the campground. The final treasure was an....

ice-cream cake! A yummy treat for a stinking hot day! I made a carrot cake with cream cheese icing for the adults (but a few of them tucked in to a slice of both!) 

Happy Birthday Little Manny. You mean the world to us and you've brought us endless love in the first year of your life. Thank you for all that you bring to our family. 

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