13 to 13

Rob slept in and Bron, Jack and Em were out the tent door by 20 past 7 and it was already 28 degrees. We headed to the small suburb of Parap for their weekly Saturday morning market. It was a small shopping strip, similar to the likes of Elwood village. Running down the centre were brightly coloured stalls. There was the most amazing fruit and veg - 3 mangoes for $1. It was apparent that a lot of locals did their weekly shop there. Asian stalls were creating mouth watering treats in front of our eyes, you can't get much fresher than that! We each had a freshly squeezed juice, which were magnificent and then meandered our way throughout the stalls. There was clothing, souvenirs, amazing art and craft and the flower stalls were incredible. I ... read more

Day Twenty Seven A REALLY early start for some 13s this morning. Rob, Jack, Ro and Jemima were up at 4.45am and ready for some fishing on the open seas. They were hopeful of a big catch. More later. The rest of us went into Darwin for some souvenir shopping. The adjective most used was ‘tacky’ and we laughed a lot about suitable recipients for some of the more atrocious souvenirs. For example: Stuffed Cane Toads holding mini bottles of Jim Beam; kangaroo scrotums; crocodile-hand back scratchers; koala purses; Aboriginal baby dolls; platypus salt and pepper shakers; wallabies made out tiny white shells; stationery sets complete with singing birds; koala air fresheners; and cane toad head key rings. We were so overwhelmed by bad merchandise made in China that we had to sit down for a ... read more

Morning everyone. It was an early get up courtesy of Ro this day. He wanted to get up early and beat the heat. That didn't really work though, it was hot at 7am already. A quick brekky and another pack up, or should i say, the last pack up for the mums and kids. The flies were atrocious, sticky and there seemed to be hundreds of them. The Bushmans and Tropical Aeroguard had no effecct whatsoever, i even wondered it they helped to attract them. The dirt was black so by the end of the pack up so were we all. Black and stinky. Hit the road and off to the Magnetic Termite Mounds about 6 ks from our camp. They were enormous and looked like an old cemetary in the bush. They were cornered off ... read more

Packed up the Kakadu campsite and left the National Park with a heavy heart. One more swim in the Cooinda pool cooled us down before the long drive ahead. The road out of Kakadu is a long one since the park covers more than 20000 square kilometres. We drove through beautiful flood plains, over the alligator river in many spots, through groves of different trees and termite mounds and grey rocks. We drove nearly into Darwin and then back out again and down to Litchfield National Park. We have heard such good things about this place and cant wait to get there. We drive into the park and around to Wangi Falls, a superb spot, only to be told that we cant really stay there as ‘they’ will be demolishing the facilities soon. So we dip ... read more

Hi all,Bron here. A day behind but we lost connection. Anyway, here goes nothing. Up early (nothing new yet) and headed to the cultural centre here at Cooinda. The Kakadu info brochure indicated a snack bar ( we presumed coffee) but no. We also presumed that it would be air conditioned, wrong again. But, the information was fantastic. It was based on the culture of the local tribes and included artifacts, movies, photos , fantastically set out but incrediby stifling. As i am blogging (Ken this is for you) Ro is taking photos and rob and i are not particuarly impressed. Maybe they will end up on the blog, who knows. Anyway back to the resort for that long awaited latte and we then head to the Yellow Water Cruise. An hour and a half of ... read more