17th - 25th August 2009

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We spent four days at Litchfield National Park free camping at Wangi Falls campground










We walked 3.4 km to Tjaynera Falls and back (also known as Sandy Creek) where Brian had a swim in the plunge pool. Helen was suffering from crocanoia so decided to watch.

On the Sandy Creek road this water crossing was our deepest so far - no worries (even without a snorkel)! 500 mm

The next day we visited Florence Falls and Buley Rockholes, a set of cascading water holes where you can sit and have a natural massage.

There were several black footed wallabies playing chasings at Florence Falls

The plunge pool at Florence Falls - quite safe apart from some small "freshies"

From Litchfield we headed to Kakadu National Park, stopping off at Fogg Dam on the way which is a wonderful wetland area, but unfortunately we couldn't walk across the dam because of a big estuarine croc ("saltie") in the area.

A sulphur crested cockatoo in the caravan park in Jabiru.

Brian on the Bardedjilidji walk (2.5 km)

We then did the Manngarre rainforest walk (1.5 km).

We stopped at Cahill's Crossing which is the causeway across the East Alligator river leading into Arnhem Land. There is a viewing platform there which is a very popular place to watch the crocodile activity, especially at high tide. The Whistling Kites have fun too competing with the crocs for the abundant fish at the causeway.




Whistling Kite catching a large fish (mullet)

This croc crossed from one side of the causeway to the other. We estimate he was about 4 metres long.

Croc catching a fish - fun to watch

Ditto

High tide at the crossing - between 600 and 800 mm and cars were still crossing with crocs laying in wait on either side

Low tide at the crossing.

We would have crossed but you need a permit to enter Arnhem Land






After Cahill's crossing we drove on to Ubirr which is famous for its aboriginal rock art dating back thousands of years

View into Arnhem Land from the lookout at Ubirr over the Nadab flood plain

The climb to the lookout

This blue faced honey eater was very friendy and sat on our awning rope







We moved from Jabiru to Cooinda, home of the famous Yellow Water cruise, which we didn't take as we decided we had seen enough crocodile activity at Cahill's Crossing (for free)

We took a walk from Cooinda past Home Billabong (pictured) to Yellow Water

This sign was just near the viewing platform at Home Billabong - no wonder Helen is paranoid!

Sunset at Yellow Water

The viewing platform at Mirrai Lookout, a steep 2km walk (return)








We did a one night free camp at Gungural so that we could drive into Gunlom Falls, 37 km of gravel road that we had heard was not suitable for caravans. As it turned out be could have taken the van, but too late by then. We spent the day at Gunlom which is a magical place with a waterfall plunge pool at the bottom and wonderful plunge pools at the top of the falls (after another very steep 2 km climb), but certainly worth the effort.

The original infinity pool at the top of Gunlom Falls

Brian having fun in his very own hilltop pool - it doesn't get much better than this!

The plunge pool at the bottom of Gunlom Falls

9th July - 14th August

We spent 9 days in Kununurra which we really enjoyed - lots to see and do. We then headed straight to Darwin with just two overnight stops as we had organised to fly back to Perth for 12 days - I needed a Grandma fix. We had a great time in Perth mainly catching up with the family, but didn't enjoy the cold weather. We needed a few days after returning to Darwin to thaw out. We were in Darwin for another week, and then travelled south about 80 km to Tumbling Waters caravan park, near to Berry Springs.




Hidden Valley national park in Kununurra

Ivanhoe crossing which used to be the main road to Wyndham

Some people have a death wish - there are crocs in that water

Brian at Ivanhoe Crossing

We took a two hour flight out of Kununurra which went over the Argyle Dam, Lake Argyle, Purnululu and the Argyle diamond mine.

Our Cessna

Ord River dam

Bungle Bungles

Argyle diamond mine

Lake Argyle

Ord River irrigation scheme - Stage I

We did a river cruise which first took us by coach 70 km to the Ord River dam where we transferred to a boat which took about 48 people and had two Yamaha 5.7 litre 4 stroke outboards and the boat was capable of 65 km per hour, but we were only doing 55 - still fun!

Overlooking Lake Argyle

On the boat cruise down the Ord River to Lake Kununurra

We stopped for afternoon tea along the river - fresh pumpkin scones and carrot cake - very good. This natural rock formation needs to be viewed at a particular time of day - hope you can all work out what it looks like.

Sunset over Lake Kununurra at the end of the boat cruise - great day

We visited a wetland area just south of Wyndham called Parry's Lagoon which was fantastic. Lots of bird life and a small saltie. We spent about 2 hours in the bird hide here.

Whistling ducks taking off - the noise was awesome

A great boab tree

We arrived in Darwin on 20 July before flying back to Perth on 22 July. We were able to store the car and van at the caravan park.

On return to Darwin we visited a lot of the WWII museums, etc. There is a lot of history and we were amazed at the actual number of bombings that Darwin suffered



The Aviation Heritage Museum housed a B52 bomber which virtually took up the entire hanger (which was purpose built). There were lots of smaller planes and memorabilia surrounding the B52. Well worth a visit






WWII oil storage tunnels under Darwin. By the time they were completed the war was over

The diesel in this tunnel would get us around Australia a few times - 38,475 million litres

While we were in Darwin there was a welcome home parade for the Defence Forces from Iraq, Afghanistan and East Timor. Steve and Ann, a couple we met on the road, were in Darwin as Ann's son had just returned from Afghanistan and he was in the parade. It was the first welcome home parade for our Defence Forces since WWII.

From Darwin we headed about 80 km south to Tumbling Waters caravan park - very peaceful and we are enjoying it. We booked for 3 days and ended up staying a week. Nearby is the Territory Wildlife Park which is absolutely fantastic and worth a visit - we spent over five hours there. Also nearby is Berry Springs Nature Reserve which is a natural spring forming three separate pools - water is the perfect temperature for just cooling off and the setting is very beautiful. We have spent a couple of days there floating around on our noodles - a great invention.

This is a man made monsoon at the wildlife park - hoping we don't experience the real thing

A small Wedge Tail Eagle at the wildlife park

Brian under the waterfall at Berry Springs











Ditto Helen








Heading off to Litchfield National Park tomorrow, then Kakadu and Katherine.

We will try to blog a bit more regularly, but from here to Queensland we may not have a lot of coverage.