31 July - Mt Bundy Station

31 July 2016 – 181 114

Mt Bundy Station

Today we drove north from Katherine to Adelaide River, with a short stop off in Pine Creek.  We are staying at Mt Bundy Station, which is a brahman cattle and quarter horse stud, that also has a caravan park, with a large unpowered camping area. 
https://mtbundy.com.au/ 
This afternoon we visited the Adelaide River War Cemetery – it is a humbling sight.
https://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/2023510/adelaide-river-war-cemetery/ It is beautifully maintained, as it should be; and includes a section for Darwin’s civilian casualties of WW2, as well as the graves of Australian, British and Canadian service men and women.  On returning to our camping area, we headed for a cold swim in the pool – it probably wasn’t all that cold, but compared to the 36 degrees they call winter here, it seemed cold.  Hayden had his first horse ride this afternoon (half an hour) and enjoyed it - see the before and after photos below.

Mum

30 July - School Day

30 July 2016 – 181 094

School Day

This morning I slept in until 7:30am, I finally got a decent block of sleep, with much less coughing overnight – I think everyone in our vicinity will be grateful.  Today Hayden had a school work day, Maths, History – more research on John McDouall Stuart, and Christian Studies – research on Rev. John Flynn.  After school was finished for the day we went to Katherine Springs for a swim again – relaxing!

29 July - Drew’s Birthday, Top Didj, FA18’s and Thermal Springs

29 July 2016 – 180 947

Drew’s Birthday, Top Didj, FA18’s and Thermal Springs

First up this morning was Top Didj Aboriginal Cultural Experience.
 https://topdidj.com/
This was run by a man named Manuel who grew up in East Arnhem Land living a traditional life.  He talked first about his life, the pluses and minuses of the changes taking place in aboriginal culture, both for himself personally and also for aboriginal people in general.  Sadly, I think he is correct in saying that the aboriginal culture and law he grew up with is dying. Manuel then performed on the didgeridoo and the clap sticks. Then we were taught about the Dalabon method of painting – looking at the technique it is possible to tell where each method comes from, eg dot painting is from the desert, the number of white lines in each group of cross hatching is determined by the tribe the artist belongs to.  The paintings we did were done with acrylic paint on canvas, we did use a small paint brush for the first part in black, but after this we used brushes that were made from the centre of a particular reed.  These were used more by laying on the canvas and pushing and dragging at the same time rather than stroking as with a regular brush. Next up was fire starting using two pieces of softwood and some kindling, Hayden gave it everything he had, but just did not have the muscle power yet. 

The last item on the agenda was spear throwing using a woomera – Hayden was quite good!  From here, we rushed back to the van for Hayden’s appointment to Skype with his class – both he, the class, and the teacher all seemed pretty excited and enjoyed it immensely.  The next Skype session will be a mystery Skype, where the class has to work out where we are.  After lunch we headed to Cutta Cutta Parks, but decided against a tour as from the information available it appeared very similar to the one we did in Tasmania, just warmer.  So, instead we drove to the Katherine Airport and were lucky enough to have a FA-18 Superhornet come in, bank around a full circle and then land, passing about 30m above our heads – it was very very loud and very fast.  We relaxed in the afternoon at Katherine Springs, which originate in the Cutta Cutta Cave system and come out near the Katherine River at 32 degrees Celcius. http://www.ourterritory.com/katherine_nt/hot_springs.htm I cooked up Beef Parmigiana with vegetables for Drew’s birthday dinner, I hope he enjoyed it!  Happy birthday my love!

Mum

Week 6 from Hayden

Week 6 from Hayden (10yo boy)

23/07/16
20km walk, it was boring! I hated Trephina Gorge Nature Park, it went up up, up, up, down, up, down, up, up, down, up, down, down, down, down, down, up, down, flat, flat, flat,...

24/07/16
Today we drove from Trephina Gorge to Alice Springs, and bought firewood.  Then we drove to Devils Marbles

25/07/16
Today we drove to Tennant Creek for a car service and Mum to get a special asthma puffer.  Then we drove to Dunamurra.

26/07/16
Today we drove to Mataranka Springs and setup and went for a swim.  I found a cool half built shelter near camp.  I am rebuilding it.

27/07/16
Today we went and had a swim at the Springs after we packed down.  Then we went into the town and looked at a war museum. Then we drove to Katherine and stayed at a place called Manbulloo.

28/07/16
Today we did a school day.   Then we went down to the Katherine River and had a look.

29/07/16
Today was Dad's birthday.  Mum and I went to Top Didj and did aboriginal art, making fire, spear throwing and I got to hold a baby wallaby, it was SO CUTE!!!  Then we went back and skyped 5K (5K if you are reading this, I think it was funny how you went crazy when we got it working, say Hi to Dec, Nate, Jhett and Cooper please).  Then we went to the airport and a FA-18 Superhornet flew over head 30m above us and landed, it was noisy.  Then we went and had a swim at some heated springs, there were three sets of rapids!

28 July - School, Car Service, Maintenance

28 July 2016 – 180 935

School, Car Service, Maintenance

This morning Drew took the car in for its 180 000km service at the Toyota Dealership in Katherine. They were kind enough to drop him back out at our accommodation, as well as to advise us that there was an additional four hours of work to be done under recalls from Toyota – one was about the towbar bolts giving way, definitely needed to know about that one. https://www.katherinetoyota.com.au/enquiries/service-booking/ So we will be carless for most of the day.  Hayden had a school work day, I did washing, journals and other equally exciting tasks; but mainly just rested.  Drew collected the car this afternoon and there were no unexpected surprises thankfully.  Then, horror of horrors, Drew WASHED the car!  It does not look like our car now, but I am sure we will fix that before we get another opportunity to wash it. 

In the late afternoon light, I ventured down to the Katherine River to take some photos; it is really pretty and looks like a beautiful swimming spot except for the no swimming, crocodiles sign.  Another early night for me, but finally on the improve.

27 July - Elsey National Park and Mataranka

27 July 2016 – 180 780

Elsey National Park and Mataranka

This morning I took some photos of the cool shelter Hayden spent some of yesterday creating from natural materials.  After packing up we headed to Bitter Springs in Elsey National Park for another relaxing float. https://nt.gov.au/leisure/parks-reserves/find-a-park-to-visit/elsey-national-park Drew and Hayden snorkelled, and found a school of small fish as well as the great variety of plants; unfortunately, they could not find the turtles Drew had seen yesterday.  Mataranka was our next stop – it is a very small town.  We visited the Museum of the Never Never which had some interesting items; Mataranka was a significant base during WW2, but was considered just outside the “war zone”. 


The Rainbow Springs at Mataranka Homestead in Esley National Park were a little disappointing; they are not as warm as Bitter Springs, all the edges are paved like a swimming pool and you can’t float along, but rather just stand in the water much as you would in a swimming pool.  I am sure it is still relaxing, but after the natural beauty of Bitter Springs I found it disappointing. https://www.matarankahomestead.com.au/ I did enjoy looking at the Elsey Homestead replica that was built at Mataranka Homestead for the filming of “We of the Never Never” in the 1980’s. 

Katherine, our next stop, was only about an hour’s drive.  We stopped off at the Tourist Information Centre to collect some information on the area.  We have camped for the next few nights at Manbulloo Homestead Caravan Park – this is a cattle station about 10km from Katherine.  Hayden really enjoys seeing the horses, cattle and dogs. It is quite hot, but there is a constant breeze which helps a lot. https://manbulloohomesteadcaravanpark.com.au/
Mum

26/07/2016. Bitter Springs for a swim.

Once we arose we had a shower and packed up. I couldn’t get the gas stove working this morning, sigh, something else I may have to fix. We drove to Biter Springs Cabins and Camping grounds at Mataranka. Once we setup we walked to the springs and had a float down the stream twice. The water was hot and crystal clear and made our skin feel lovely. We returned to the van and I worked out why the gas stove not working (safety switch was on, as I had a van window open and the stove cover was not fully open.) I felt stupid, but so very glad the gas stove wasn’t broken. We returned to the van to update journals, look at the next few days, and have Hayden show he was still sick and tired. However, after dark I decided we should have a fire in the raised fire pit provided. We added Hayden’s “Mystical flames” which made many different coloured flames for 30 minutes.

26 July - Elsey National Park, Bitter Springs

26 July 2016 – 180 567

Elsey National Park, Bitter Springs

This morning we were unable to get the gas stove to light to make breakfast, so we had cereal. We packed up and headed north along the Stuart Highway to Mataranka.  We are staying at Bitter Springs Cabins and Camping, which is located on a Mango farm adjacent to Elsey National Park. https://www.bitterspringscabins.com.au/ https://nt.gov.au/leisure/parks-reserves/find-a-park-to-visit/elsey-national-park When we got here the gas stove was once again working, weird! After lunch we headed to the Springs to float in the warm clear water.  Using goggles to see everything on the bottom was great, as there were heaps of plants and the water was extremely clear.  After being carried on the current to the end of the spring, you can climb out the stairs, walk back and go again.  Very relaxing! When we got back to the camper, the gas stove would not light! Drew worked it out – when the window above the stove is rolled down it is pushing the stove lid slightly forward, activating the safety cut off – Yeah! Nothing requiring repair for this one. We have booked the car in for a service in Katherine on Thursday, so will need to leave here tomorrow afternoon.  This afternoon we went for another relaxing float (can’t really call it swimming when you only have to stay afloat and let the current carry you!)  This evening we had a fire with the “Mystical Flames” Angela had given me before we left.  They produce very pretty coloured flames, in beautiful shades of blue, green, magenta and purple; and last about thirty minutes – Thanks Angela!

Mum

25/07/2016. We broke everything, including Tracy.

Up early to see the sun rise, however the sun didn’t rise until later than we thought! Tracy again took a good number of photos. We packed up and headed towards what we hoped would be Daly Waters for the night. However, after one hour we knew the car was in trouble, so we stopped at Tennant Creek. After a bit of mucking around we had an auto electrician replace the alternator. As you can guess many, many dollars spent. But to make the day harder Tracy at the same time visited the hospital as she had breathing issues after the virus infection we all recently had. With the car fixed and Tracy given the medical attention and medicine needed, we hit the road at 3pm. 6 hours later than we had hoped. We stopped at the Attack Creek memorial for a photograph for Hayden.  We drove until 6:50pm, where we stopped at Dunnamurra and stayed the night in the van park. Due to the time of night, we purchased dinner at the Wayside Inn, and it was pretty nice, and gratefully eaten after an epic day.

25 July - Dramas!

25 July 2016 – 180 110

Dramas!

This morning I got up early to take some photos of the Devils Marbles in the dawn light – very pretty. https://nt.gov.au/leisure/parks-reserves/find-a-park-to-visit/karlu-karlu-devils-marbles-conservation-reserve After packing up we headed north with the plan to go to Daly Waters for the night.  Unfortunately, the car was making a dreadful whining sound that kept getting worse, even though it seemed to be running fine.  When we got to Tennant Creek, we decided to find a mechanic.  The first mechanic was “interesting” and told us to come back in an hour and a half.  Drew then found another mechanic who was available immediately in a very busy looking workshop.  Opinion – idler bearings (hopefully) or alternator (prefer not, more expensive and may not have parts in Tennant Creek).  So they replaced the idler bearings – and the noise was still there.  This mechanic then spent a considerable amount of time on the phone trying to track down an alternator (either Prado or Hilux as some can interchange) in Tennant Creek.  Eventually he found someone with one in stock and sent us directly to him.  We dropped off the car with the auto electrician and were told he would be two to three hours.  I had been sick for the last few days and steadily getting worse so we took the opportunity to see if the general practitioners in Tennant Creek could fit me in – they could, in eight days’ time!! However, the receptionist suggested I go around the corner to the Tennant Creek Hospital Emergency Department. https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/australian-health-services/23019742/tennant-creek-hospital-emergency-department/services/tennant-creek-0860-schmidt This was much, much quieter than my previous experiences with Emergency, it seemed more like a no appointment medical centre – I am sure they have their crazy times though.  The doctor confirmed what I expected, bronchitis with asthma – so I was given the necessary prescriptions, which we filled and started immediately. Usually it takes a few days before they really make a difference.  When we finished at the hospital, the car was ready; so we set off north again. We stopped at Attack Creek for Hayden to look at a John McDouall Stuart memorial and see where one of the expeditions turned around. https://nt.gov.au/leisure/parks-reserves/find-a-park-to-visit/attack-creek-historical-reserve We stopped for the night at Dunmurra Wayside Inn for the night, all exhausted. http://www.barklytourism.com.au/dunmarra.html We did the most minimal set up we have ever done and then purchased dinner in the Wayside Inn – Chicken Parmigiana for Drew and I, and a hamburger for Hayden – the food was a good sized serve and good quality.  Then more asthma puffers for me and off to bed.  A very tiring and expensive day!

Mum

24/07/2016. On the road north.

Up to pack up the van and drive to Alice to fill up with fuel. Then to Bunnings to buy firewood and some foam to see if we can reduce the dust entering the van. Let’s hope that what Tracy and I have dreamed up in our head works. We then drove up to Devils Marbles and setup in time to watch the sunset, with Tracy taking a number of photos as per the norm. The car’s fan belt is starting to screech, so I am hoping it is OK until we reach Katherine, where I hope to have the car put in for it regular service. 

24 July - Karlu Karlu / Devils Marbles

24 July 2016 – 179 635

Karlu Karlu / Devils Marbles

This morning we packed up and headed into Alice Springs to refuel before heading north.  We stopped on the Stuart Highway at the John McDouall Stuart memorial as this is the explorer Hayden is researching for history.  We then drove onto Karlu Karlu – Devils Marbles Conservation Reserve. 
https://nt.gov.au/leisure/parks-reserves/find-a-park-to-visit/karlu-karlu-devils-marbles-conservation-reserve 
These are beautiful and majestic!  The owners of the land and N.T. Parks and Wildlife request that people do not climb on the boulders; a fair request that is unfortunately largely ignored. I spent some time wandering between the boulders and photographing them.  It is once again quite amazing how much the colour appears to change in different lights.  This is a lovely sight, but the way it is treated by people is extremely disappointing – there were people all over the boulders, rubbish all over the place and people who were quite comfortable declaring that they had no intention of paying the camping fees ($3.30 per adult, $1.60 per child or $7.70 per family per night – very affordable) – if this is the way places like this are treated they will end up closed with none of us being able to access them – Think people, please.

Mum

23 July - Trephina Gorge Ridge Walk and Chain of Ponds, East MacDonnell Ranges

23 July 2016 – 179 635

Trephina Gorge Ridge Walk and Chain of Ponds, East MacDonnell Ranges

This morning we got up early and set out at 7:30am to walk the Trephina Gorge Ridge Walk.  At the beginning of the walk this was marked as 9km, 4 to 5 hours one way.  After half an hour walking we reached a sign stating 6 hours 30 minutes one way.  Another half hour on we reached a sign saying 6 hours 10km one way.  So either I am going the wrong way or the signs are rather odd.  At the end of the Ridge Walk we had a choice of continuing along the ridge for 30 minutes, or descending into a gorge for 60 minutes to reach John Hayes Rockhole.  We opted for the descent into the gorge and were rewarded with the beautiful “Chain of Ponds” which were very aptly named.  This involved some walking up and down the sides of the gorge, but well worth it.  We had a picnic lunch at John Hayes Rockhole, which was lovely. 

This was just under 5 hours, and 12km after we commenced our walk.  So some of the signs were correct and some were not.  We then walked 4km of 4WD drive track and 4km of dirt road back to our camp area (2 hours).  The remainder of the afternoon was spent relaxing and enjoying the view from the van – a red cliff wall lit by the afternoon sun, glowing!
https://nt.gov.au/leisure/parks-reserves/find-a-park-to-visit/trephina-gorge-nature-park

Mum