DARWIN

We were only going to stay in Darwin for three nights, but we were having such a great time we decided to make it a week. At the end of the week we paid for a second week, and will probably now stay until after Brodie's birthday on October 4.
We visited the military museum and the kids learnt about the bombing of Darwin during WW11, which was far more extensive than I realised.

It's really hot here, but not unbearable. We have the air-con going all night so we can sleep, and during the day we spend a lot of time in the water. The caravan park has a nice pool, but our favourite place is this water park. There are three big waterslides, a huge lagoon pool, and an adventure area a lot like Buccaneer Bay at Wet n Wild on the Gold Coast. The big difference is it's absolutely free!

The adventure area even has a big bucket that fills up and then dumps on everyone. Tara was about one centimetre too short for the waterslides, but she still claimed this was the best day of her whole life!

Another great spot to take the kids for free is the Darwin Museum. There is an exhibit on Cyclone Tracy which includes a dark sound booth where you listen to an actual sound recording of the noise of the cyclone. It is quite frightening. You walk out of the booth into an area which shows what some of the destruction may have looked like.

The museum also has a kids' room where they can get 'hands on'. The boys particularly like the animal bones.

No, this freshwater croc is not alive - and hopefully it's the only one we see!

Another Darwin experience is the Mindil Beach Sunset Markets every Sunday and Thursday. There are live bands, fire twirlers and buskers, and so many different food stalls. We thought the Roadkill Cafe was amusing, but we didn't eat there!

On Friday we took a day trip down to Litchfield National Park. The first stop was at the magnetic termite mounds. They are all pointing north-south to control the temperature of the mound.

The next stop was Buley Rockhole. It is a series of small waterfalls and rockholes, and a popular swimming spot. The water was beautiful, and a lot cooler than the pools up here which can be quite warm at times.

Our last stop for the day was Florence Falls. The plunge pool at the bottom is another very popular place to swim. You get down there via 135 stairs.

Tara enjoyed paddling amongst the rocks and watching the small fish. She eventually built up the courage to go swimming in the deeper water.

Darren and the boys swam across to the other side and jumped in from some of the lower rock ledges. Some people were jumping from quite high up - a couple even jumped from the top of the waterfall. The boys then swam under the waterfall. I don't think I've ever seen them so excited!