DOWN THE WA COAST

We drove from Broome to Pardoo Station - a working station just north of Port Hedland. We had to drive down 13km of fairly bumpy dirt road to get there and the car, van and bikes on the back all got covered in red dusty dirt. The station has around 80km of ocean frontage which we went to have a look at the next morning. We were quite surprised at how beautiful and unusual the beachfront was. There were thousands of very white, unbroken shells up in the rocks. The kids also had a lot of fun spotting crabs.

The tide was out a long way, and Tara decide she'd try to walk out to the ocean.

The boys were very excited to see a beach volleyball court at the station.

We had another long day in the car the next day before stopping at Robe River rest area. It was quite a nice spot for a rest area, and one of the few rivers we'd seen with water in it for a while. The sunset was quite beautiful.

The next morning we woke up to find we had a flat tyre on the caravan. I got the boys to do a bit of schoolwork while Darren changed the tyre.

I'm a bit over the red dirt out here. It gets into everything. I couldn't believe the colour of Brodie's feet!

Our next stop was Cape Range National Park near Exmouth. There are limited camping spots at beaches along the national park and we were told we were lucky to get a spot. At peak times, campers are lined up early in the morning to try and get in. The days are still very warm, but the nights are getting cooler which is nice.

Casey found what we assumed was a snake skeleton in the sand dunes.

We were all excited to have two emus wander through our campsite. It's the first time we've seen emus for the whole trip.

The waves broke a long way out from the shore because of the coral reef. Darren took the kids out one at a time to swim out around the reef with their goggles on to look at the fish.

The colour of the water was quite spectacular.
On the way out of town, we saw two emus in the main street, and then another emu and her two babies crossed the highway.

DERBY AND BROOME

We stopped at Derby for two nights. It's very quiet up here at this time of year. Most tourists have left because it's just too hot - up into the high 30's. It's quite an amazing place with tides up to around 11 metres. It's still croc country so you don't go anywhere near the water's edge, but the wharf overlooking King Sound is a nice spot to watch the sunset.

This is taken near the wharf the next day. The water had come up a long way.

Another popular spot to take sunset photos is at this boab tree.

From Derby we drove to Broome - a place I had been looking forward to seeing. Cable Beach is the real tourist spot and it's easy to see why. The sand area is huge and you can actually drive down onto the beach - even if you don't have a 4wd.

We had a bit of drama on our first night in Broome. The kids had just gone to sleep and I had turned the tap on to do the dishes, when a strange noise started to come out from under the sink. Next thing I knew, smoke was pouring out from the cupboards and quickly filling the van. I started grabbing the kids and getting them outside while Darren checked out what was going on and turned the gas off. He discovered the hot water system had caught on fire after the pilot light didn't go out when I turned the tap off. So we don't have any hot water until we get a replacement hot water system in a few days, but I don't care. I'm just glad we're all okay.

The next day we discovered a frill-necked lizard near the shower block that wasn't walking very well. He was obviously injured. One of the other residents picked him up and we took him to the office where they rang a wildlife group to come and get him.

That night we drove the car down onto Cable Beach to have a picnic dinner and watch the sunset.

One of the popular tourist attractions here is a camel ride on the beach. We saw three different groups of camels walking up and down the beach. We didn't go for a ride, but the kids got up close to one of the lead camels.

FROM NT TO WA

After three nights in Kakadu, we drove west from Katherine and stayed the night at the Victoria River Roadhouse. We were surprised at how beautiful the scenery was around that area. This photo was taken first thing the next morning which is why the kids look half asleep!

This is just out the front of the Victoria River Roadhouse.

The next morning we reached the Western Australian border. We were very excited, but it was a bit like entering a foreign country. We had to stop at a checkpoint and hand over all our fruit and vegetables. We had to unlock the van so officers could check all the cupboards and fridge. We also had to hand over a jar of honey.

Just over the border, we stopped at Lake Argyle for the night. The lake covers a huge area, and is of course near the Argyle diamond mine. I told the kids to keep kicking up stones in the hope they'd find a diamond....no luck!!

The pool at the caravan park was amazing. It is called the infinity pool because it seems to just blend into the lake and the scenery behind.

The next day we had a big drive in the car before stopping at a free camp site, Mary Pool, between Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing. We didn't get there until dark and were a bit worried when we had to drive a little way off the highway and across a concrete roadway covered in water. We were relieved to see a few other campers already there. I took this photo as we drove out the next morning. The water across the road wasn't deep......

....but from this angle anyone would think we were in dire straits!!

We stopped for lunch at the Boab Tree rest stop before heading on to Derby.

KAKADU

We arrived in Kakadu on Tuesday and it's all that I had imagined it would be. We have been on a few walks and lost litres of sweat! It's very hot. The first night we stayed at a campground to save some money, but it was so hot in the van with 5 bodies that it was difficult to sleep. The next night we moved in to a caravan park in Jabiru - a big pool and power so we can run the air con all night. Much easier to handle!
The photo above is climbing up to Nawurlandja (Now-oo-larn-ja) Lookout.


Burrunggui (Boo-rong-goy)

Rock art at Nourlangie

Bardedjilidji (Bar-de-jill-eed-gee) walk

Bardedjilidji translates as "where you walk" or walking track.

Walking up to the lookout at Ubirr (Oo-beerr).

The lookout at Ubirr

Marmukala (Mar-moo-car-lar) wetlands

The heat is obviously getting to me - I put all these photos in the wrong order. The last photo shows a little head which popped up out of the dashboard in front of me as we were driving into Kakadu. Darren had told me that a lizard jumped out of his golf bag as he was packing it into the car. He left the doors open in the hope it would find its own way out. It didn't! It crawled out and was trying to get out through the windscreen. We pulled over and ushered it out the door, safe and well.

GOODBYE DARWIN

The week began with Brodie's 7th birthday. He had been counting how many sleeps for over a month!

We got him a foosball table - a small, tabletop one, which I had calculated by its measurements would fit nicely into the space under the lounge. Of course the measurements did not include the handles sticking out! Anyway, he's happy - and I'm sure we'll find somewhere to keep it. His favourite present was a set of rhythm sticks.

The daily afternoon storms are really setting in now. An odd thing we noticed is that up here most buildings don't have gutters on the roof. Unless you have a rainwater tank it's pointless. The rain comes down so fast that gutters can't hold it. It creates some impressive waterfalls off the rooftops.

We spent one afternoon visiting the old Fannie Bay Gaol. It was really interesting, but there was quite an eerie energy about the place.

Tara checks out the shower and toilet block.

A couple of the remand block cells still had beds set up in them. It must have got so hot in there as the building is just a big tin shed.

A visit to the gallows resulted in endless questions and some challenging discussions on the drive home!

So the time has come when we must say goodbye to Darwin. The saddest part about that is leaving Darren's cousins Liza and Bernie and his wife Fiona. They've made our stay here so much fun. Yesterday they came out to the caravan park for a bbq, and we set one of the tvs up outside so we could watch Bathurst.

Our last day was spent packing up and getting ready to head off in the morning. Gary, who runs the caravan park, is also a Collingwood supporter, so we've become good mates. Casey sweet-talked him into letting him drive the buggy this afternoon. If you're ever in Darwin, remember the Oasis Caravan Park - an awesome spot! We'll miss it. Tomorrow it's off to Kakadu.