10 August - NT Parliament House, RFDS and Bombing of Darwin Exhibit

10 August 2016 – 182 196

NT Parliament House, RFDS and Bombing of Darwin Exhibit

This morning we did a tour of the Northern Territory Parliament House. https://parliament.nt.gov.au/about/tours-of-parliament-house

It is a beautiful building designed to cope with cyclones and using natural light very extensively with lots of small windows and highly reflective walls and floors.  They have also used road base compressed and highly polished to be like a brown granite – it is amazing what they have achieved with this, you would never guess it was road base.  The outdoor area has the most amazing views of the harbour and is beautiful. The State Library is in Parliament House, it has a beautiful quilt made from patches signed by individuals who were in Darwin during WW2, who returned for the 50th anniversary. https://dtc.nt.gov.au/arts-and-museums/northern-territory-library/a-territory-story-exhibition/darwin-commemorative-wall-quilt

We then walked back to the car via the Wave Pool – for those living on the Sunshine Coast this looks pretty ordinary, you can’t ride the waves, just bop up and down in them – but given there is no swimmable surf beach for a very great distance I can see its appeal to locals.  After a picnic lunch, we visited the Royal Flying Doctors Tourist Centre and Bombing of Darwin Exhibit. https://www.rfdsdarwin.com.au/  This was a true multi-media experience.  As well as the Royal Flying Doctors aircraft to look through, there were various holograms with touch screens to tell you about their role in the RFDS. 

There were also two holographic movies that lasted about 20 minutes each, one on the foundation of the RFDS and one on the Bombing of Darwin from a US naval officers perspective.  There was a large open area with rails that showed a short presentation of the bombing of Darwin with an aerial map inside the rails and a land based view of the harbour on a screen.  The coolest part though was a virtual reality headset experience of the bombing of Darwin – this included sound, 360 degree vision, and the seat shaking and vibrating etc.  Very realistic!  This took Hayden several goes to manage as the reality of the visual movement tended to create motion sickness. I think after the last few days he understands that war is not glorious, that while men do very courageous things during war, the destruction, terror and loss of life that goes with it are devastating.  Another evening listening to planes take off and land as part of Exercise Pitch Black. https://news.defence.gov.au/media/media-releases/exercise-pitch-black-2016-aircraft-arrivals

9 August - Darwin Military Museum and Defence of Darwin Experience

9 August 2016 – 182 165

Darwin Military Museum and Defence of Darwin Experience

Today started with a Mystery Skype session with Hayden’s class – they could only ask yes or no questions and had to locate us using maps.  It went fairly well. We then spent the morning and early afternoon exploring the museum. http://www.darwinmilitarymuseum.com.au/ The Defence of Darwin Experience was very well done (http://www.defenceofdarwin.nt.gov.au/), this involved a film, which brought home just how terrifying it must have been to have almost 200 Japanese Zeroes fly over dropping bomb after bomb.  The aftermath must have been quite horrific.  Thankfully most civilians had already been evacuated from Darwin after the bombing of Pearl Harbour two months prior.  When we had reached brain saturation point with the information, we headed to the 1934 Qantas Hangar – it appears to be a fairly standard igloo style hangar, but it has survived WW2 bombing and Cyclone Tracy, so it must be quite solidly constructed.  Next stop was the end of the runway at the airport to watch lots and lots of military planes land one after the other; we saw FA18’s, F15s, F16s and a C130 transport plane.  We also saw civilian jets take off, Cessnas land, Lear jet land.  There were many, many people parked near the perimeter of the airport watching.  Today we bought a cheesecake as a very belated birthday cake for Drew and I.

8 August - Crocodylus Park and Zoo

8 August 2016 - 182 152

Crocodylus Park and Zoo

Today was about wildlife, very much a day for Hayden.  We arrived at Crocodylus Park just after opening time and had a look around some of the crocodile exhibits. 
https://www.crocodyluspark.com.au/ At 10am we listened to a 45-minute talk on the saltwater crocodiles and watched them be fed.  This was designed to show the height and speed of their jump.  I was surprised at how “fake” the crocodiles appear when they are at rest, one could very easily mistake them for a statue or stuffed crocodile even after watching them for ten or fifteen minutes; they are incredibly still! After the talk, we each had the opportunity to hold a one-year-old saltwater crocodile.   Hayden enjoyed this talk so much we went back again for the 2pm version.

We looked at the different types of crocodiles from around the world, as well as their relatives, alligators.  We enjoyed watching a variety of monkeys be fed, they particularly like bread and fruit.  We had the privilege of seeing a pair of two-week old Marmoset monkeys with their mother, who was understandably protective.  We also saw several other varieties of monkey, lions, Bengal tigers, emus, ostriches, dingoes, kangaroos, meerkats, cassowaries, Timor ponies, and more.  I was surprised just how solid ostriches are, they are much larger than emus (I thought they would be of similar size) and appear much stronger.  While we were at Crocodylus Park we saw more than twenty military fighter planes fly overhead after taking off, and then come back later in group formations – probably practice for the flyover planned for Thursday.

7 August - Darwin City Adventures

7 August 2016 – 182 102

Darwin City Adventures

This morning we had a sleep in after our big day yesterday.  Our first adventure for today was the Darwin Esplanade, exploring the various WW2 memorials along the waterfront.  It is hard to imagine such a beautiful spot being the scene of such destruction.  Darwin Esplanade is one of my favourite places. 
http://www.tropicaldarwin.com/The-Esplanade-Darwin.htm Next port of call was the Tourist Information Centre where we were able to get information on the activities and camping in Kakadu.  We spent a couple of hours exploring the city centre – it as certainly changed a lot in the last twenty years; a lot more chain stores and food outlets and a lot less of the individual operators.  After a picnic lunch, we headed to Stokes Hill Wharf.  The tides in Darwin are enormous, about 10m so it is quite interesting to see the wharf at different times of day. https://www.waterfront.nt.gov.au/darwin-waterfront-precinct/stokes-hill-wharf/

We also explored the WW2 Oil Storage Tunnels – these were built of steel and concrete to form large underground tanks to store oil in after the bombing of Darwin, however they were never actually used. 
http://www.ww2tunnelsdarwin.com.au/ 
Last stop for today was the Mindil Beach Sunset Markets.  https://mindil.com.au/The decision making on what to have for dinner was just as hard as I remember.  We opted for Hong Kong Chinese and spring rolls and dim sims.  It is such a pity we can’t have one of everything.

6 August - History, Food and Waterslides

6 August 2016 – 182 023

History, Food and Waterslides

Early start today to be in the city by 6:30am.  We were all keen to do Darwin Parkrun – two laps of the esplanade, a really pretty course.
http://www.parkrun.com.au/darwin/ 
We then headed back to the caravan park for a shower.  Next stop was the Parap Village Markets which had some lovely handmade items as well as heaps of delicious smelling and looking food. 
https://parapvillagemarkets.com.au/
Hayden and I settled on fruit crushes – Hayden had cranberry juice, passionfruit, blackberry and blackcurrant; I had milk, cherry, raspberry and blackberry – the amount of berries put in was amazing, about ten centimetres in the blender, then juice/milk.  They were really yummy; next time I think I would have cranberry juice instead of milk and it would be even better.  Stop three was the Fannie Bay Gaol which was used from the 1880’s to 1970’s. 
https://www.magnt.net.au/fannie-bay-gaol This was quite interesting; the buildings had been well designed to minimise the heat.  Stop four was the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory – there was an extensive display on Cyclone Tracy, it never ceases to amaze me the sheer scale of destruction and how little was left intact; the natural history items were well displayed and allowed you to get quite close while still being behind glass. https://www.magnt.net.au/ Stop five was the George Brown Botanical Gardens where we stopped for a picnic lunch. https://nt.gov.au/leisure/parks-reserves/george-brown-darwin-botanic-gardens After a nap we went to the Leanyer Recreation Park – this is run by the YMCA and is a free pool, children’s playground, children’s water park and three water slides. https://nt.gov.au/leisure/sport/find-a-sports-facility/leanyer-recreation-park Lots of fun was had by all.

Week 7 from Hayden

Week 7 from Hayden (10yo boy)

30/07/16
Today was a school day.  After that we went swimming in the springs.

31/07/16
Today we packed down and drove to Pine Creek and bought the book, The Gnole.  Then we drove to Mt Bundy Station, I went on a 30 minute horse ride around the station.  We also had a swim.

01/08/16
Today we drove to Butterfly Gorge.  On the way there we went through a really tough 4WD patch.  It was worth it though because the rock pools in the Gorge were amazing.  Then we went to Douglas Hot Springs, it burnt me.

02/08/16
Today we drove to Wangi Falls in Litchfield National Park.  We had a swim at the rock hole there.  it was cold at one of the waterfalls at the rock hole, but the other one was really warm.  I slept in the tent for the first time on the trip.

03/08/16
Today we went to Walker Creek and had a look around.  Then we went to the Tin Mine and got a tour from one of the park rangers.  Then we went to the Cascades and had a swim, it was cold.  Then we went to Florence Falls and had a swim.  I went under one of the waterfalls.  When we got back I could see the wild fire.

04/08/16
Today we went to the magnetic termite mounds and did the tour there.  I found out they only eat grass and that red ants invade the older termite mounds.

05/08/16
Today we packed up and drove to Berry Springs and had a swim, it was warm.  Then we drove to Darwin and stayed at a place called Hidden Valley Resort and Tourist Park, it is big.

5 August - Darwin, here we come!

5 August 2016 – 181 838

Darwin, here we come!

Again this morning everything was covered in ash, there was even ash floating inside the car when we were loading it to depart.  Unfortunately, the Lost City is still closed due to the fire, so this will have to wait for another trip.  Instead, we headed for Berry Springs, another warm spring flowing into a creek and large deep waterholes. https://nt.gov.au/leisure/parks-reserves/find-a-park-to-visit/berry-springs-nature-park  When we put our togs on we found that even our togs smelt of smoke!  The Springs were beautiful to relax in and we all enjoyed a soak.  This travelling is a hard life, I am getting calluses from my thongs!!  After a picnic lunch we drove to Darwin – we are staying at Hidden Valley Tourist Park which is next to the main Naval Base at Coonawarra. https://www.hiddenvalleyholidaypark.com.au/ We did a complete setup, including Hayden’s tent as we will be staying here for more than a week.  We then did some urgently needed grocery shopping and treated ourselves to chicken and gravy rolls for dinner followed by chocolate ice-cream.

4 August - Relaxation

4 August 2016 – 181 767

Relaxation

This morning everything outside was covered in very fine ash; however, the fire did not appear to be significantly closer.  We went to a Ranger talk this morning on Termites – he explained the differences between the different types of termite mounds observed within the park.  The cathedral termites feed on grass and build cathedral shapes mounds up to 5m high. The magnetic termites are only present in the top end and build there mounds in floodplains with a north south orientation that can be confused with strong magnets.  They also eat exclusively grass.  The wood piping termites eat trees out from the inside, creating didgeridoos.  The road to the Lost City is still closed due to fire, so again unable to do this.  Instead we had an afternoon nap, followed by a swim at Wangi Falls.  The fire has moved much closer and the ash is raining down onto the waterhole, with significant smoke.  We can now hear the wild fire from the campground. This evening the rangers came around to reassure everyone that we were safe to stay and there was a significant fire break between us and the fire.  Throughout the night I could hear trees falling and the sounds of the fire.
https://nt.gov.au/leisure/parks-reserves/find-a-park-to-visit/litchfield-national-park

3 August - Litchfield National Park Exploring

3 August 2016 – 181 662

Litchfield National Park Exploring

https://nt.gov.au/leisure/parks-reserves/find-a-park-to-visit/litchfield-national-park
This morning we went to Walker Creek and had a short walk to the first campsite – these sites are quite small and not exactly flat but would definitely be peaceful.

The ranger, Wendy, did a talk regarding the history of the Bamboo Creek Tin Mine (on site) which operated from the 1900’s to the 1940’s.  It would have been a very hard and isolated life.  After this, we headed to the Cascades where we climbed up the creek to look at the great variety of waterholes.  We selected a small but deep hole with a small waterfall flowing into it as our own private pool.  The waterfall gave a lovely shoulder and back massage. 

We had our main meal in the heat of the day, so that we could stay out in the cool of the late afternoon.  After lunch we headed toward Lost City, but unfortunately the road was closed due to the wildfires burning.  The ranger this morning said they have now had about sixty percent of the park burn from the wildfires – that certainly explains the sheer amount of smoke. 

Due to this change of plans, we headed to Florence Falls.  It was nice, but nothing spectacular.  Apparently people regularly jump from the walls into the waterhole – I was not surprised to hear that there are fatalities most years, as the waterhole was difficult to swim around in due to the large sharp rocks beneath the surface.  Buley Rockhole was a series of rock holes with small cascades in between.  The top rock hole was at least ten foot deep, and it was quite pretty. 

Our last stop for the day was Tolmer Falls.  Due to construction, the direct walk to the lookout was closed and we did a 2.5km walk that wound through the forest.  The falls are very tall and the water looks extremely deep.  There is no access down into the base of the gorge – the terrain would make this very difficult and it is also home to two species of rare bats.  Another very full day.  My thoughts on Litchfield National Park are that the park is extremely dry and not particularly attractive.  It does have some beautiful water holes, however I much preferred the National Parks around Alice Springs for general scenery so far.  These evening we could see a large wildfire burning on the ridge beyond Wangi Falls that lit up the sky in an orange glow with large flames shooting high into the air.  This is the closest I have been to a large fire and I am happy for that to remain the case.

2 August - Wangi Falls, Litchfield National Park

2 August 2016 – 181 557

Wangi Falls, Litchfield National Park

We woke up to a 5:30am alarm and packed down.  We wished to camp the night at Wangi Falls in Litchfield National Park, and had been advised that there are only a small number of caravan sites and they fill very early, so wished to be there between nine and ten am in the hope of getting a site. https://nt.gov.au/leisure/parks-reserves/find-a-park-to-visit/litchfield-national-park  As we ran out of gas this morning we stopped off in Adelaide River to replace it – and they had run out.  So we headed to Batchelor and stopped there to replace it – and they had run out – but they were able to refill our bottle, problem solved.  We arrived at the Wangi Falls campground just before 10am and were able to find a site, close to the falls and the amenities – yeah!  When I went to pay for the site there was a sign stating that camping was free as the ablutions were not working – toilets seemed fine and I don’t think showers will be a problem with the amount of swimming we plan to do.  After setting up camp we headed over to Wangi Falls for a swim (we had to walk 300m, what a walk J) – the water was cold in some spots, cool in some and had a hot layer on top in others.  We swam across to the far side to climb up into a warm rock hole, and then to another area to go under the waterfall – it was very noisy and strong.  After lunch we had an afternoon nap – it is a hard life – before going for a walk (about 2km) up over the top of the escarpment above the waterfall, and another long swim before dinner.  There is a lot of smoke around as there has been a wildfire burning somewhere on the Tabletop Track for the last few days, closing that track.

1 August - Butterfly Gorge and Douglas Hot Springs

1 August 2016 – 181 340

Butterfly Gorge and Douglas Hot Springs

A two-hour drive, one hour of it a 4WD track covering 17km, took us to Butterfly Gorge Nature Park.  https://nt.gov.au/leisure/parks-reserves/find-a-park-to-visit/butterfly-gorge-nature-park The track had a few hairy spots where we hit the bash plate on the car, and several water crossings which came over the running boards. 

 Butterfly Gorge does not look like anything much from the car park, or even from the lookout walk.  Once you descend into the gorge it opens out into a large, very deep waterhole that has cliff faces on one side and sand on the other.  It is possible to swim across the gorge and then climb up into the next waterhole, swim across it (it is a lot colder than the main one) and then climb again up to another large, very deep waterhole.  We spent quite a while enjoying each waterhole. The rock faces of the gorge were incredibly smooth from the passage of water over many years, and had some beautiful colours in them.

 Next stop was the Douglas Hot Springs where we ate a very late lunch and then spent a couple of very relaxing hours lying in the shallows. https://nt.gov.au/leisure/parks-reserves/find-a-park-to-visit/tjuwaliyn-douglas-hot-springs-park  The water where it came out of the spring was far too hot to be comfortable, but a little way downstream it joined a creek filled with cold water.  Sitting just upstream of the junction the water was mainly warm, with occasional bursts of hot or cold water depending on the water currents and other people’s movements in the water.  There were many small fish that would come and nibble at the bits of dead skin on your feet, elbows etc.  I could have spent all day lying here, just serene!  In a smooth section of the dirt road, we gave Hayden his first ever driving lesson – he appeared to enjoy it. On the road on the way back toward the Stuart Highway we saw the largest piles of hay bales I have ever seen, they were really, really high. 

We also encountered our first corrugated bitumen road – it appears that anything and everything can be corrugated in the N.T..

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