Keep River National Park

13th - 15th July, 2010

Days 208 - 210

This quiet, fairly small and not well known national park was a real treasure chest of beautiful bush walks, lots of interesting rock formations, a variety of wildlife and some incredible aboriginal rock art. It's a place of transition from where the wetlands of the Top End meet the arid desert of the East Kimberley region. So much so that on one side of the path is the red dust and on the other is the white desert sand.

James loved this place, we think because it was so dirty and dusty, so we stayed for his birthday. The big 5 year old had a party and we cooked popcorn, pikelets and his cake in the camp oven.

We woke to the sounds of the kids wanting to climb rocks, training for all the gorges we'll see very soon.

Some local rock art

Baby gecko

Happy birthday Jimmy Bear!

Rent a party

Katherine
8th - 10th July 2010

Days 203 - 205

We reached Katherine, via Adelaide River and Pine Creek , ready to set up camp for the first time in 9 weeks. We pulled into the park at 4.30pm and were swimming in the pool by 5.15pm, not bad, bit rusty, but not bad.

We checked out Katherine Gorge and marvelled at the sheer height and immensity of the gorge rockfaces. We would have loved to canoed down it, but not sure if the tour company would allow us to put 2 1/2 kids in each canoe. Maybe next time, the kids are too good as croc bait!

We spent the afternoon swimming in the hot springs (we rate them as the best springs we have been to so far) wandering the grounds of Blythe Homestead and checking out other sights Katherine has to offer.

Katherine Gorge

Boys

Katherine Hot Springs

Woke to the sounds of a very very early rooster with a relentless cock-a-doodle-doo.

Last Days at Lee Point Darwin
2nd - 8th July 2010

Days 197 to 203

Bittersweet to be getting ready to leave Darwin, but its time to move on, still lots to see.

We enjoyed Cracker Night with friends down on the beach on July 1. Amazing, you can still let off your own crackers for that one night a year, brought back childhood memories.

Wayne celebrated his end of work time with a fishing trip with the guys from work, out to Corroboree Billabong for some fishing. A wild weekend had by all, but no fish !! Ask him about fishing out a guy from croc infested waters.

There was a lot of school holiday activities on that we took the kids to. Some cultural experiences around the suburbs and fun programs in the city. We checked out a guy building these amazing sand sculptures down on the waterfront. The photo doesn't do it justice. We also revisited places that we really liked and sorted out a new water tank, generator and air springs for the car, ready to hit the road again.

We had a fantastic day out at Litchfield National Park, swimming in Florence Falls and Buley Rockholes, standing amazed at the magnetic termite mounds, taking the 4WD track down to The Lost City to see some amazing rock formations, walking down to Tolmer Falls and the spectacular Wangi Falls.

Florence Falls

The Lost City

Fortescue Falls

Sunset in Darwin

Sand sculpting by the Foreshore

Firecracker Night