Family arrives to visit us at Darwin



Crayfish on a Croc.

03/07/12

This morning we caught up on washing & cleaning. At about midday we headed out past Berry Springs & had lunch at a local Pub that we heard had nice food. There was a fresh water croc in a enclosure with crayfish in the middle of the pub, and it was amazing watching the crayfish crawl all over the croc. We then came back to Berry Springs & we all had a lovely swim in the crystal clear warm springs. You could float from one end of the springs down to the other. Aaron loved being in the blow-up Big Red Boat.

04/07/12

Today was the day for Aaron to get his 1 year old needles. We are about a week early, but we will be travelling again then, so we decided to get it done here. We just made an appointment at a local GP Clinic & also with a Child Health Nurse. While he is fine in most areas, we are concerned that he is still not crawling, but the lady gave us some ideas to help encourage him. When the needles went in he cried for a little while, but was basically fine. We all took it easy for the rest of the day.

05/07/12

Today was another fairly easy day of resting & relaxing. In the afternoon we went grocery shopping.

Andrew, Susan, Matthew & James

Susan, Andrew, Matthew and James Monaghan Fly in  06/07/12

It is the much anticipated arrival of Craigs’ sister and family as they come up to visit us from Brisbane. The plane arrived at midday, and Braydon could hardly wait to see his good buddy Matthew. It was great to see them again, and with their semitrailer load of luggage which somehow fitted into their hire car, we headed back to the caravan park to get settled in. We had already moved the caravan again to a different site, and Craig set our tent up that they were going to stay in. We had some lunch and the kids played on the jumping pillow. We then went for a drive into the centre of Darwin, and to Stokes Hill Wharf for dinner. We had a lovely dinner of Steak and Barra while watching the boats go by and the fish swim by the underwater lights that are mounted in the water under the wharf. It was just a perfect night relaxing and catching up in a lovely location.

07/07/12  Berry Springs

We headed off to Berry Springs this morning, and after a picnic lunch we had a beautiful swim in the warm springs. Susan and Andrew loved the crystal clear water in the picturesque location. We called in to the Palmerston Water Park on the way home so the boys could have a play on the waterslide.

08/07/12

Today was an earlier start as we drove into the centre of Darwin to go to the Aquascene Fish Feeding Sanctuary. This is  a place where the fish come in from the ocean at high tide every day and you can hand feed the fish. We all had a nice time feeding bread to the fish as they swam past. Unfortunately Matthew was not feeling the best as he probably picked up the vomiting bug that we had the week prior to them coming. We then headed to Casuarina Beach for a BBQ lunch before heading to the local shopping centre to do some birthday shopping for Aarons’ birthday. It was time to visit the Sunday Mindil Markets. We arrived at 5pm and had a look around the stalls at the market, which are not quite as big as the Thursday night markets, but still good. After a good look around it was again time to have happy hour on the beach and watch the sun go down. Braydon and Matthew had a great time playing on the sand dunes while we all relaxed. After a bite of dinner from the markets, we headed home after a big day.



Mindil Markets watching the Sunset (Happy Hour)



Andrew and Matthew

Litchfield National Park (second time)  09/07/12

We packed up the tent and caravan and left the FreeSpirit Resort Caravan Park at 10am. While it was a beautifully well maintained park, it was the most disorganised caravan park we have ever been in, with the front office seeming to not have a clue what was going on, and mucking everyone in the park around. Unfortunately everyone had to put up with it as all the caravan parks in Darwin were fully booked. We picked up some basic supplies and headed back to Litchfield National Park so Susan and Andrew could have a look around. It is such a nice place we are happy to see it again. We decided to stay at the Litchfield Tourist Park, costing $32 a night, which is just outside the National Park, as we wouldn’t have got a position at Wangi Falls as it was too late in the day. After we set up camp and had some lunch, we headed up to the Buley Rockhole, which is a lovely series of cascading waterfalls which go into plunge type swimming holes. We all went for a swim as the water looked so nice; a little fresh but you soon got used to the temperature. After an hour or so, we headed to Florence Falls, which is only about 5km down the road. We chose to walk down the 150 steps to the waterfall this time (& walk the track back), and again had a swim at this magnificent spot. Di, Aaron and James looked on as the rest swum around and under the waterfall. It was about 5pm & getting late, so we headed back to the cars. On the way home Craig called in to stop at the National Park toilets at The Magnetic Termite Mounds. On entry he found a 2.5m snake in the cubical, so chose to give the toilets a miss.

Tolmer Falls

10/07/12

This morning was a leisurely start with bacon and eggs, and after breakfast the guys did the clothes washing. We left camp around 11am and headed back into Lichfield National Park where we called into Tolmer Falls. It was an easy 400m walk to a lookout where you see a beautiful 50m high waterfall and crystal clear pool. The water at the base of the falls looked very inviting to have a swim, but this is one spot where you can’t swim. After a few photos we went back to the car and headed to one of our favourite spots, Wangi Falls. It was quite a warm day, so we couldn’t resist all going for a swim in the cool but pristine water. After a good swim and a play in the waterfall and warmer plunge pool, we headed over and had an iceblock bought from the mobile canteen. On the way back to camp, which was 52km away, we stopped in to visit the Magnetic Termite Mounds.

Kakadu National Park (second time)  11/07/12

We left Litchfield Tourist Park about 10am, and headed for “The Windows On The Wetlands” Information Centre. After a quick look around, the Monaghans and Braydon went and had a quick bite of lunch as they were going on the Jumping Croc Cruise at 1pm. Prior to the cruise they had a snake demonstration, & Braydon got to hold a python which he was very pleased about. They all came off the tour with big smiles on their faces, as they got to go on a smaller boat than us and had a real close up experience with a croc. Braydon was lucky that he could do the cruise for a second time. We then headed for Jabiru to the Kakadu Lodge Caravan Park again and set up camp for the night. Dianne cooked a cake ready for Aarons’ 1^st birthday tomorrow.

12/07/12  Aaron’ 1st Birthday

Our boy Aaron turned 1 today, and it was good to have some extra family, the “Monaghans”, to help celebrate this special day. It was a bit strange not celebrating this milestone with the usual family and friends, but these are the negative things when you do a big trip like ours. For morning tea we cut the birthday cake and opened up the presents. Aaron loved the cake, eating it all up in record time. We then all headed the 40km or so to Ubirr Rock, and had a look at the landscape and rock art again. We called in to Cahills Crossing to see if we could see any crocs like last time, but there were none to be seen. On return to the caravan park, we all had a swim in the lagoon style pool and had a special happy hour for Aaron. We skyped and phoned family at night to make it a special day, and replied to some Birthday texts and emails. It is great how there are so many ways you can keep in touch when you are so far away from home.


Ubirr Rock

Katherine  13/07/12

We left Jabiru at around 10am and headed down to Pine Creek for a bite of lunch. After lunch we drove the remaining 100km into Katherine, stopping for Diesel as soon as we could. I had been travelling the last 70km with the fuel light on, but still had 10 litres in the tank when I filled it up. When we arrived at the Big 4 Katherine there were no powered sites left, so we took an unpowered site for the night. We all headed to the restaurant for dinner and had a listen to their nightly musician. The weather has started to heat up in the last few days, and you can feel the humidity in the air.

14/07/12

With limited groceries we decided it was Macca’s for breakfast, which made the kids very excited. On the way home we called into the shops to get some supplies while Susan and family went for a swim at the Katherine Hot Springs.  We moved on to a powered site this morning as well. In the afternoon the Monaghans’ went on the 3 Gorge tour of Katherine Gorge. We cooked a roast meal for dinner as this was the last time we will be dining together. And in the evening - Bang, Crack, Pop........oooops.

Braydon and cousin Matty

15/07/12  Susan, Andrew, Matt
hew and James leave us to go home

We started the day with a special leaving breakfast of bacon and eggs. After packing up all their gear, we couldn’t resist heading to the Katherine Hot Springs for one last swim together before they hopped back in their car for the 300km drive back up to Darwin. It has been great to spend 9 days all together, with the boys all having a great time playing together (Matthew and Braydon anyway). We had great weather, but we also had a stomach bug go through all of us over the 9 days, which put a little bit of a dampener on how we were feeling, but luckily enough it did not stop us from doing or seeing anything.

 Once back at camp it was time to have a good clean up around the caravan, do the washing and wash the car. We got a call from the Monaghans to say that they had arrived in Darwin and they had been upgraded to the second top floor of their resort with views over Darwin Harbour. From tent to luxury apartment in one day, they were a happy family.

16/07/12

We caught up on some odd jobs like washing the caravan and Di did some paperwork. Craig changed the fuel filter on the car as the light on the dash was indicating the filter needed replacing, and the guy at Toyota said that there is some dodgy fuel getting around as there are heaps of cruisers coming in with the same problem.