Day 36 - Victoria River Road House

We headed off from Kakadu today to Victoria River Roadhouse for an overnight stop and then onto Lake Argyle.   We were feeling very happy with ourselves as we didn't get eaten alive by any midgees at Kakadu. Many people had told us about how bad the midgees were and we were ready for them. When the Bricks were travelling through Western Australia last year Simone got 80 bites in one night and she was itching for ages and said it was unbearable.  Mum has been making us take Vitamin B tablets every morning (and they are huge) because she had been told that the midges and mosquitos don't like the taste of skin with Vitamin B in it. We have also been putting on some ointment that we bought that is called ""the local sandfly and mozzie stuff". We are not sure which is working and are too afraid to stop one incase we get bitten. We have seen lots of people with bites and they look really sore and itch for about a week and they can get infected and leave scars too.
I forgot to  tell you all about the "croc siting" in my last post. When we were in Darwin and were waiting to get driven into the city, mum was reading the local paper and i was looking over her shoulder. I couldn't believe what i saw. There was a headline that said "Wangi Falls closed due to croc siting". I nearly fell off the edge of mums chair. We were only there the day before and were swimming in Wangi Falls. I was really nervous about swimming there and took ages to get in and dad kept telling me there is no crocodiles in the Falls and stop being a WOOS. We met some people the next day and they said that they caught a two metre salt water crocodile and dad promised me that it would have only been a fresh water crocodile and they don't eat humans. I could have been eaten by a croc and I don't think i will trust Dad again.
We stopped at Pine Creek for lunch and mum did her usual tasty salmon wraps and we fuelled up and headed off again. We arrived at Victoria River Roadhouse at 4pm and after setting up the van we went for a cool drink on the deck.

Victoria River Roadhouse

We met another family from Vermont which is were dad used to live when he was at primary school. Dad knew some of their friends from his school days and they were travelling for a term too.

Our Camp Site for the Night

We had another Beef Rendang in the thermo for a quick dinner and then got our phones out and used the star discovery app which shows us where all the different stars are up in the sky.  My favourite group of stars is the southern cross and i love  how bright the sky is up here with all the stars. I will miss seeing these beautiful stars when we get back to Mt. Martha and wish I could describe to you how beautiful it is but I don't know enough words to describe it. It feels like a different sky with thousands of lights with the blackest background.

 We also saw some helicopters fly in to the Road house that afternoon which were from the remote cattle stations and the young guys come in on a Friday night for a night out at the bar and then fly home the next morning. That is a long way to come for a night out but i suppose it must get very lonely out on the stations for young people. Dad said it would be interesting doing a breath-test on them.

The Chopper from the Cattle Station

Day 33, 34 & 35 - Kakadu

Kakadu is 170km from Darwin and is another World Heritage List Site in Australia. Aboriginals believe spirits shaped  Kakadu during the dawn of creation known as Dreamtime. These spirit Ancestors travelled across the country creating landforms, plants, animals and the Binij/Mangguy people. The tracks left by these Ancestors are known as dreaming tracks.

Our Campsite in Kakadu

These ancestors created laws to live by, they defined kinship, created language and taught the people how to look after their country and become the custodians of the land. Mum and Dad wanted us to learn and  understand more about how the Aboriginals lived and are connected to this  land so they took us on a Special Safari tour so we could experience it for ourselves.
We went on a day and evening tour with a guide and a  local Aboriginal lady called Patsy. We had to drive to  Yellow Water and then we were taken out into the National Park on a Safari Truck where Patsy taught us how to find food in the bush. We learned how to find bush carrots by finding a vine with special flowers on it and following it down to the ground, where she would dig the carrot up with her digging stick.

Dad Searching for Bush Carrots with Patsy

This was very hard to do as the vine was very thin and fragile and would break if you pulled it to hard and then you lost it.  Patsy also showed us how to find water chestnuts which were also called brown onions but were only the size of my thumbnail.
We found these by breaking up the dried mud in some waterholes with hammers which was really hard work as the mud had set like a rock. This made me very thirsty but we were lucky as mum had some water and museli bars for us.  Aboriginal women and children would spend hours walking around in the bush everyday searching for food to feed their families while the men were out hunting for kangaroos, turtle, snakes and other types of meat.

Patsy also showed us how to find green ants. They make their nests in leaves and live high up in the trees, you then pull the branch down and get the nest in your hands and bang your hands together to smash the ants up. We tasted them and they taste like lemons, when we were eating them some of their legs were still moving. Charlotte tried a special wood grub but I didn't try it as it looked disgusting and she said it wasn't that nice.

Charlottes's Wood Grub that she ate

I really liked the plum fruit, it looked like an olive and it was about the same size, Patsy said that one of these little fruit had the same amount of vitamin C as six large oranges, mum said to eat lots of these so we did. I was really surprised how much food you can get from the bush, but it takes a long time to find it, especially if  it was for a family and you wouldn't know it was there if Patsy hadn't  shown us. We drove out between two wetlands and we set up for dinner, Dad had to make fire by spinning two sticks together very quickly in his hands, when it started to smoke  we added a birds nest and blew on it and it turned to flames.


Making Fire

Charlotte and I plucked some Magpie Geese (that had been shot that morning) that were hung by their feet in a tree, they were then put in a large piece of paperbark that Dad helped Patsy pull off a tree .

Charlotte and I plucking the Magpie Geese

The Aboriginals use paperbark for lots of different things like, blankets, floor coverings, shade, shelter and wrapping their babies in. Patsy also showed us how to make paperbark bowls which you could transport water in.

Cutting the Paperbark from the Tree to wrap our dinner in

When the fire had enough coals we put the bush Vegetables, Magpie Geese, some Buffalo Meat and Wild Ducks and wrapped them in the paperbark, then placed some coals over the top.

Patsy burnt the left over feathers off the Magpie Geese

Our dinner for the night before we covered it with Paperbark

While the food was cooking we learnt how to make string out of the leaves from the palm branches, they would then use this string to make dilly bags to carry things in, they could colour the string by dyeing it using crushed up berries and flowers.

Patsy teaching us how to make string from the palm trees

 We also learnt about Calendar plants which told the Aboriginal people of the changing of the season and when different foods were available. When a particular yellow flower would come out in bloom, this meant that the Crocodiles and the Turtles had laid their eggs and it was time to hunt for them so that they could be eaten.  They apparently taste very nice and the Aboriginal people really love them but I have tried crocodile meat and I didn't like it so i am thinking that i wouldn't like the crocodile eggs either and I also wouldn't want to get caught by a crocodile stealing her eggs.

When our dinner was ready we sat down and watched the sunset over the wetlands, it was absolutely amazing and their was thousands of birds taking off and landing on the water and it looked spectacular. We then headed back to the town where Patsy gave us some torches so we could shine them out through the Safari truck so we could see the night life.

Mum and Dad in the Sunset over Kakadu

We then had to drive back to Jabiru in the dark where we nearly hit a wild pig and drove through lots of fires and smoke.


I really enjoyed learning from Patsy all of the techniques that the Aboriginals used thousands of years ago to survive in the bush and have a much better understanding of their culture and how they survived in the outback.

Our last day in Kakadu we went on a trek visiting ancient aboriginal rock art sites. We had a fantastic tour guide who explained what all of the different rock art meant and all of the aboriginal stories behind them.

The Aboriginal Rock Art

These sites are very sacred to the aboriginals because this is where they held special ceremonies and initiations. Did you know Kakadu's rock art represents one of the longest historical records of any group of people in the world? At the end of our art walk we climbed a 250 meter rock ledge and sat down to watch a superb sunset over the Nadab Flood Plains.

It felt like we were on top of the world and the colours were like a kaleidoscope and it was absolutely breathtaking, but the most amazing thing was that there was about 80 people there and  no one was talking... it was complete SILENCE. When Tess Hansen visited Ubirr and watched the sunset she said to David 'this must be the most beautiful spot in the world.' And I agree with her.
 

Ubirr Sunset

Day 28, 29, 30, 31 & 32 - Darwin

Today we headed into Darwin and we stayed at the Free Spirit Caravan Park. This park is amazing. It has three pools and was lovely and green with lots of shady palm trees. We stayed here for five nights and mum and dad both said that they wished we could have stayed longer. Our friends from Tassie were here too so we had lots of time swimming in the pool which was lots of fun because it had a waterfall.

Adele, Little George, Charlie and Me at the Pool in the Caravan Park

Dad and Big George

We also added a member to our family called Edward. Dad had finally got the son he always wanted. Dad is so happy and he said his life is complete now that he has Edward on board and he will be travelling with us for the rest of the trip.

The Arrival of Edward Engel

The Proud Father

Edward Engel is apparently not just a car fridge he is a special edition gold anniversary gift for life. Dad loves going out to Edward and checking what temperature his beers are at and I think Dad loves his Engel even more than mum loves her Thermo. Dad got lots of extra things with his Engel because it was it was the 50th Anniversary since they made the Engel. He got an Engel cap, Engel wallet, Engel torch, Engel fishing bag, Engel stubby holder, Engel outdoor light and he said mum was even lucky too because he also got a set of 6 high quality food containers that he is going to give to her. She couldnt keep the smile off her face.

We also had our Prado serviced in Darwin and we were all very impressed with the customer service at the Toyota Dealer. When we pulled up a lady was waiting with cups of  "real coffee" for us and some hot chocolate for Charlotte and I. We had a courtesy car take us into the city and he even gave us a little tour of the places to see. We booked into a special DUCK -A-BOUT tour which was an old army duck that takes you around the streets of Darwin showing lots of historical sights ( we saw three houses that survived cyclone Tracey!!) and then we drove straight into Darwin Harbour and then we became a boat.

The Duck A Bout

It was a bit strange and Charlottes eyes nearly popped out of her head because I think she thought we were just going to sink but we floated ( which I was happy about too). Charlotte and I got to drive the army duck in the harbour and it was so pretty looking back at the beach.

The Skippers

The colour of the water was amazing, it was so blue and I just wanted to dive straight in but you cant swim in the ocean at Darwin because there is too many dangerous things in it that can kill you.

A Family of Outback Feet

There are saltwater crocodiles, sea snakes, sharks, stonefish, stingrays and stingers. When we were cruising around the Harbour we saw three people that were wadding in the sea up to their knees and our tour guide called them "croc bait", she said they were definitely  tourists because the locals NEVER go in the water, even up tp their knees. There are twenty croc-traps in the bay and they catch one everyday of the year and last year they caught 380. I didn't want to swim in the bay after she told us all this information and was happy to be in boat.

We visited the Darwin Museum and went to the Cyclone Tracy exhibit. Cyclone Tracy hit on Christmas morning in 1974 and 71 people were killed and the highest winds that were recorded were 240 kms an hour. Cyclone TracyIt destroyed more than 70% of Darwins buildings and 80% of Darwins houses. It was the most compact Cyclone on record in the Australian basin with gale force winds only extending 48 kms from the centre and was a category 4 cyclone.

The Cyclone Tracy Museum

It was sad seeing how much devastation it caused and I cant believe it happened on Christmas morning. Mum and Dad both remembered hearing about the cyclone when they were little kids and mum was only 6 and dad was 10.  It is hard to believe that they could rebuild the city to what it looks like today. After cyclone Tracey all buildings and houses are built under special rules so that they can survive cyclones. All the roofs have to be screwed on with special screws ( they are not  allowed to use nails)  and they are only allowed to use certain materials. Dad explained to me other things that they have to do too that we don't have to do when we build a house in Victoria. There was a small room that you could go into that was the recording of the sound of the wind and all the houses getting blown apart that was taped by a man during Cyclone Tracy. It was so loud you could even hear it from outside but I didn't want to go inside because a man told us it could be very scary for children because it was deafening.  Dad went in and Charlotte  stepped inside then stepped out after 5 seconds because it freaked her out and she said she really didn't think it was good for little kids to listen to either. We met a lady who was only 6 months old when the cyclone hit and their house was flattened and her family left Darwin and had never been back. She came back to show her daughters where her old house was ( not that its there now) and said that is was very strange to be back after hearing lots of sad stories during her childhood about that Christmas Day. I am so glad that we don't get any Cyclones in Mt. Martha.

We also visited the War Museum and learnt about the Darwin bombings during World War 2. Dad  and mum really enjoyed this and there was lots of interesting  things to see and listen to.

Private Charlotte

I am going to do a special project in my journal about this because I thought it was interesting to learn how they used to fight wars and I am glad that I we don't have wars like this anymore. There was lots of sad stories about how many people died and mum ánd dad were really surprised that the Japanese dropped more bombs dropped on Darwin than they dropped on Pearl Harbour in Hawaii. 

The Bell that fist rang to warn of the Japanese Bombing

When people saw the planes first flying over Darwin they all thought it was just more Americans arriving to help the Australians but it was the Japanese who had come to bomb Darwin. Darwin was a big Army and Navy base and there were lots of ships in the harbour which were used for sending the  soldiers to the battlefront and by bombing Darwin the Japanese could stop the Australians from sending anymore soldiers.

Later that day we went to the Mindil Beach Markets and caught up with our Tassie friends again. There was lots of food, craft things, jewellery, clothes and lots more. Mum bought some tie-dyed dresses and I bought some earrings and I also got a tattoo. It is a henna one like the one Andy got in Thialand and it lasts about 3 weeks. Charlotte bought a special little thing that you put in your mouth and it makes you sound like a bird. It was really cool and she whistled away all night while we walked around. Dad was very bored and only cheered up when we got to the surf club area and got some beers.

Me getting a Tattoo

We then went down on to beach ( with hundreds of other tourists) and watched the sunset. It was so spectacular and so red but I was a bit nervous going to close to the water when I was taking the photos because I kept thinking about saltwater crocodiles that the lady told us about. I didn't want to become croc-bait. I think we will leave Dad behind when we go to the next market because we could have seen more and spent more time there and he looked so bored with it all.

The next day we went to the wave pool which is in the middle of the city. I really enjoyed all the waves and we spent hours just catching waves and there was about 8 different types of waves that it can make. We had boogie boards and rings that we could use and I wish we had one of these in Mt. Martha because it was so much fun. We loved Darwin and I would love to come back here again one day.

Me & Dad at the Wave Pool

The Surf at the Wave Pool

Day 25, 26 & 27 Litchfield National Park

We headed off for Litchfield National Park today which was only about a 3 hour drive. When we got there Rowena and George had saved us a great spot under a shady tree. This was a much smaller park but mum and dad loved this one. It had a huge windmill and some horses in the next paddock that we fed carrots to.

The big Windmill

Feeding the Horses

 Litchfield National Park is a 1500 square kilometre  Park that has many stunning waterfalls and lots of magnetic termite mounds.

This is the Second biggest Termite mound that i have seen

The Termites doing their work

It is very important to the Koongurrakun, Mak Mak Maranunggu, Werat and Warray Aboriginal people who believe their ancestral spirits formed the landscape, plants and animals in the park. We went for a walk to Wangi Falls which was beautiful. The water was freezing and I was a bit nervous about getting in because the signs said that the Park Rangers try to make sure there was no salt water crocodiles in the falls but people swam at their own risk.

Wangi Falls

There was freshwater crocodiles in there but everyone says that they don't eat humans but I didn't trust them. We also went to another Falls called Florence Falls and we all thought that was better than Wangi. It was prettier and it wasn't as packed and I swam right out to the waterfall with Dad. The noise of the waterfall was very loud, the water felt like little rocks hitting us on the head. Swimming in the  falls were very refreshing and I still find it weird that we are out in the middle of such a big dry country and then we come across these beautiful cool waterfalls.

Me, Dad and Charlie in Florence Falls

I met a girl called Mary and her family who were staying at our caravan park who lived on the Gove Peninsula in a town called Nhulunbury. This is a mining town that is right on the north-west tip of Arnhem land.

Charlotte, little George and Darcy

Her mum Sue is a remote Nurse and her dad Allan works for Rio Tinto in the mines and they originally came from Sydney. She also has a little brother Darcy. Mary is in grade six too and she has no shops in her town and it takes two days to travel to the next town. Mary has a best friend who is Aboriginal and her father owns Arnhem land. The aboriginal family have "adopted" Mary and gave her a skin name which means she is welcome anytime at their homes. It is a big honour for a white person to be invited into a clan and  I really enjoyed listening to her stories. Marys hair is so long, it is even longer than Pippa's and I put a braid in it for her.

Me brushing Marys hair

 We all sat around Georges fire pot that night and mum and dad had a great time listening to Sue and Alan tell us stories about living in such a remote place. In the wet season they get so much rain that they cant even get out of their town as the roads are all underwater. I swapped email details with Mary and I am going to keep in contact with her, she was really nice and we used some special purple chalk to dye some of our hair that night. It looked like Mrs Tuemans but it was purple not pink. Mum said it should stay in for a few weeks so I am going to try to keep out of the pool to make it last as long as possible. We also met some another lovely family from Broome  (Nat and Robbie) and we are going to catch up with them when we are at the Cable Beach Caravan   Park. She was also a nurse too so mum and Sue had a good time laughing and swapping stories around the fire. Robbie is a policeman like Rowena so everyone had lots to talk about. We had a very late night so all slept like logs.

Our shady site amongst the palms

On our last morning there we got up to pack and mum noticed her laundry bag was missing. We looked everywhere but couldn't find it. When we spoke to Rowena that afternoon she told us about a lady who she caught taking the pegs off her line and that another lady had also had her bucket taken. Mum said that she was obviously updating her laundry kit and that we should probably be a bit more careful about what we leave out.  When she took the laundry basket she even took some dirty  clothes that were in it, I hope none of mine where in there but we cant remember what was actually in it.We are off to Darwin tomorrow and it is only a short drive so it will be an easy day.

Day 22, 23 & 24 - Katherine

We spent 3 nights in Katherine and stayed at the Big 4 Low Level Caravan Park. This is my favourite park so far because it was lovely and green and had a HUGE pool. We spent a lot of time with our friends relaxing by the pool and had some very restful days . Mum had a sore back and Rowena knows how to do some Swedish massaging so mum laid down on the grass and had a lovely long massage. It was sore after it but was a bit better the next day. You will never guess who we met up with at this caravan park. Our friend George was getting a hair cut from a lady who runs a hair dressing business from her caravan and I went over there to see him and Sue our dance-fit teacher was there. She has been living at the caravan park for 7 months and is working as the cook in the caravan restaurant. She has a Winnabago ( which is a big truck/caravan ) and lives right near the restaurant with her partner. Sue is a fantastic cook and everything on her menu is made from scratch. We had some dukkah with beautiful bread and oil and it was delicious and the dukkah was even home made.  She also has her own herb and vegie patch out the back and we went to her restaurant twice for dinner. Sue told mum she could use some herbs out of her garden if she want to. Her basil and rosemary were fantastic and mum used some on pizzas.

Me & Sue (with her Katherine Tan) comparing Six -Packs & Charlie

We got a special table right under the big fig tree ( that is all lit with fairy lights and looks beautiful at night) and Sue gave Charlotte and I an extra big serve which was really nice of her. Her desserts were delicious too. The lemon merengue pie was so high and mum said the pecan pie was the best she had ever tasted. 

Dinner under the big  Fig Tree

Hmmmm Yummy Love this Platter

Sisterly Love under the big Fig Tree

Our friend Rowena sings in a band back in Tassie so she got up and had a sing with the band. Charlotte, Adele, George and myself all got up and had a sing into the microphone too. The guys were a bit too slow for Ro because she wanted to rock and roll a bit and they were a bit too old for that.

Charlotte's special Chip Stick, she made it herself

Sue asked us to say hello to everyone at St. Mac's so HELLO EVERYONE FROM SUE. I told her that Clare is doing a fabulous job at keeping all the kids fit and that we are all still enjoying our dance fit classes.

We had planned to go to the Katherine Gorge on our last day there but when we got up in the morning there was no movement from Charlottes bed and she was tucked under the blankets and when I woke her for breakfast she didn't want any. This is very unusual so mum checked on her and she was really hot and had a very sore throat. We rang around to try to get into a doctor because we were going into Kakadu for the next five days and there wouldn't be any doctors up there. We had to end up going to the emergency department at the Katherine Hospital because it was a Sunday and all the clinics were closed. It took hours to see a doctor but it was worth it because she got some antibiotics and Dad didn't mind because he just watched the footy on the t.v. When we got out it was too late to go to the Gorge and Charlotte just wanted to go back to bed so that was a little disappointing that we missed out on seeing it but we will just have to come back another time.
  
Charlotte lost her third tooth in Katherine, she has lost one a week since we left and she thinks that she will be rich as the Tooth Fairy keeps coming each week. We are calling her Gummy now.

I

Tooth number Three, i'm making money