July 9 - 14

Day 99 – July 9 – NT / SA Border -> Coober Pedy

We saw lots of wedge tailed eagles beside the road – still following the Stuart Highway south. Back in South Australia again, driving through the SA Outback.

The countryside looks like a lunar landscape – desert plains and mounds of white rubble from the opal mines. It was so windy – tumbleweed blowing across the road!

Arriving in Coober Pedy it felt like we were on the movie set of Mad Max – corrugated iron houses, rusty old utes, dust and not a blade of grass or tree in sight. We went to the most helpful Visitor’s Centre in Australia – not only did they have good maps and information on local accommodation and attractions but they managed to find us the last underground accommodation available in Coober Pedy for the night – the ‘Underground B&B’. We were lucky that they had a cancellation, so we stayed in a luxury, cosy, modern B&B built underground in the side of a hill. No windows and the ceiling and walls were just the bare rock, painted white.

We went to the Old Timer’s Opal Mine where we went on a self-guided tour of an old 1916 mine shaft which had been deserted and then rediscovered in the 1960’s when someone was extending their underground house! We saw a demo of a rock ‘blower’ (which actually sucks dirt out of the mines) and went ‘noodling’ through some rock remnants and found some tiny slivers of opal.

We had dinner at the famous John’s Pizza Bar – awesome pizzas and we bought some yummy deserts to take with us to have at home. We relaxed in our cosy B&B, had a spa (luxury!) and watched DVDs. Feels like a holiday from our holiday!

Day 100 – July 10 – Coober Pedy

Day 100! How about that – 100 days on holiday. It’s almost over now – we’re sad but looking forward to getting home.

We love the B&B so much we have decided to stay in Coober Pedy for the day and have another night here. The rooms were pitch black when the lights went out, and the only noise we could hear was the wind (quite strong outside) whistling down the pipe vents. Easy to sleep in here, as there is no light to come in through any of the windows!

We did some more noodling but didn’t strike it rich. We then did an excellent tour at ‘Tom’s Working Opal Mine’ – for two hours they explained the mining process from the start – pegging a claim, drilling the holes, mining underground and finally the sorting and selling of the stones. We got to use diving rods which they use to locate the seam of rock containing the opal (we were very sceptical but it actually works!), the kids got to ride on a winch partway up a shaft, and we even learnt how to make explosives! Apparently making explosives has become a lot more difficult and costly after 9-11 – probably not a bad thing…

We saw the Coober Pedy golf course – not a blade of grass in sight. Apparently the course has reciprocal rights with St Andrews in Scotland – quite different courses! We went into an underground church, and went to a little indigenous art gallery where we bought a small painting of Uluru as a memento of our trip.

Luke lost his second tooth for the trip! The tooth fairy will be busy..

We had a great BBQ back at the BBQ and watched DVDs again.. Onwards home tomorrow.

Day 101 – July 11 – Coober Pedy -> Woomera

The ‘Lonely Planet’ says of Coober Pedy “…with swarms of flies, no trees, 50 degree C summer days, sub-zero winter nights, cave-dwelling locals and rusty car wrecks in every second front yard, you might think you’ve arrived in a post-apocalyptic hell hole.” But nonetheless we found it to be a fascinating and intriguing place and the people to be very friendly, generous and funny. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay here.

Before we left the B&B we visited Ken’s opal shop and bought a few colourful samples, ane he generously threw in some freebies. He also showed us some magnificent black opal that he just found a month ago – very rare – that would be worth about $30,000!

Driving south through the Woomera Prohibited Area we passed a road train which had jack-knifed and the 3rd carriage had rolled onto its side. Unfortunately a dozen cattle carcasses were strewn across the road.

We visited Woomera – an almost deserted little town, population 300 with a pool, a theatre and a bowling alley - the site of the rocket testing facility from 1947-1980. We visited the interesting rocket museum and saw displays of original rockets, missiles, bombs and satellites.

We stayed the night at a roadside stop in a huge dusty area on top of a hill where you could see for miles over the lunar landscape. The kids played AFL while we prepared dinner. We ate outside in the dark and watched the road trains approach from the distance and roar past. Then we sat and watched the stars in the huge sky – we saw three planets, half a dozen satellites as well as a couple of shooting stars.

Day 102 – July 12 – Woomera -> Silverton

We continued driving past landscape that looks more like the Nullarbor than the Nullarbor does! We saw sheep, lambs, emus and flocks of galahs. We drove into the lush pastures and rolling hills next to Port Augusta – but then moved quickly into the flat arid land of east South Australia, and on into NSW.

We drove over the 39 dips between Broken Hill and Silverton (only 20km away!), and on another 5km to Mundi Mundi lookout, which has views so expansive that you can see the curvature of the earth. We had a quick look around the old mining ghost town of Silverton, and camped for the night at the local campground.

Day 103 – July 13 – Silverton -> Cobar

We were woken by a strong gale blowing, along with rain. Luckily we were nicely cocooned in Winnie!

We had a look around Broken Hill in the morning at various mining sites, art galleries (including Pro Hart’s art gallery – great art), and mineral museums, finishing with ice cream spiders and warm milkshakes at Bell’s milkbar.

We drove through continuous heavy rain along the Barrier Highway and stayed in a rest area 50km west of Cobar.

Day 104 – July 14 – Cobar -> Sydney (HOME!!!)

We left before dawn to cover the last 800km to Sydney – keen to get home! A much better day for driving today, lovely and sunny. The kids spotted kangaroos, goats, sheep and cows. There is a lot of water lying on the flat lands and flowing through the creeks after yesterday’s downpour. We finished off the spelling homework – and tried to teach Erin to say ‘aich’ instead of ‘haich’.

In Bathurst we detoured briefly to Mount Panorama – and drove Winnie around the racetrack. Bruce even stopped the motorhome on pole position and revved the engine a few times! It was a struggle driving up the motorhome however, and we certainly broke no speed records.

We finally arrived home at 6:30pm, in the dark after striking various traffic jams through Katoomba. We felt strange and nervous to arrive home – we even contemplated bypassing Mosman and continuing onwards on another adventure…

One day we’ll definitely go on another adventure to see the parts of Australia we didn’t get to on this trip. Stay tuned for the McKinnon’s next adventure…

July 4 - 8

Day 94 – July 4 – Curtin Springs -> Yulara

Leaving Curtin Springs we saw five camels in the wild – appropriate because Ben’s camel in Broome was named ‘Connor’ after Mt Connor where he was caught – maybe this was Connor’s family?

We saw our first glimpse of Uluru when we were still 50 km away! The kids were very excited.

We booked into the Yulara campground and then went to the Cultural Centre, and did a lap around the rock. It’s hard to believe the size of it! It looks huge even from a few kilometres away. From a distance the rock looks smooth and symmetrical, but up close you can see all the indentations, pot holes and ridges that make interesting shapes and patterns. Saw lots of people climbing it – it looks so steep! Bruce and Michelle can’t believe they climbed it 14 years ago (before the local indigenous people requested you not to climb). It’s interesting to watch the colours change as sunlight and shadow passes over the rock.

We drove out to Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) – an equally impressive rock formation. We had lunch at the picnic area then commenced the arduous Valley of the Winds walk. We hiked 7.4km in 3 hours amongst the huge domes of conglomerate rock, up steep lookouts with awesome views then back through the valley. By the end of it we were pretty tired. We went back to the same picnic table to watch the sunset over the Olgas but since the sky was completely covered with cloud, the sky only changed from light grey to dark grey. We had bacon and egg rolls while we waited and then two minutes before sunset, the clouds parted and the rocks glowed a beautiful bright orange, long enough to take a couple of photos.

Day 95 – July 5 – Yulara

We woke an hour and a half before dawn to head in to watch sunrise over Uluru but heard raindrops on the roof as the alarm went off in the dark. We continued on regardless and saw the rock emerge from the darkness, but hardly a spectacular sunrise. Erin and Luke had prime viewing position on top of Winnie! Bruce did some running repairs on the bikes in preparation for our 10km ride around Uluru.

When you walk or ride around Uluru you appreciate how huge it is 3.5km long and 10km around the base. We were glad to be riding our bikes as we’re not sure we would have been able to walk that far after yesterday’s hike. It was very cold but thankfully the rain held off. It was such a serene place with very few people doing the walk. We saw a lovely gorge and a waterhole and lots of interesting rock shapes – even some like Wave Rock in WA. The kids had lots of fun racing around on their bikes. It is amazing that the aborigines have lived here for 20,000 years but the only evidence is a few examples of rock art.

Back to the cultural centre to thaw out with hot chocolate and soup. Then we spent the afternoon relaxing in the motorhome in a prime parking position where we could watch Uluru and where the boys could play in the dirt. Sunset was a non-event but we enjoyed the view nonetheless.

Day 96 – July 6 – Yulara -> Kings Canyon

We attempted to see the sunrise again this morning but yet again we were provided with grey skies completely covered in cloud. Oh well! We had one last look at the waterhole and a drive around Uluru. On the first day the kids were saying ‘Wow!’ and ‘Amazing!’ but today we could hardly get them to look up from their books.

We stocked up on food at the expensive Yulara supermarket then drove out to Kings Canyon. Lovely views of cliffs and escarpments greeted us. We stayed in an unpowered site at Kings Canyon Resort. Still freezing! About 3 degrees C overnight. Brrrrrrrr….

Day 97 – July 7 – Kings Canyon

We treated ourselves to a sleep-in after the last 2 pre-dawn wake-up calls. We then went into Kings Canyon and did the 6km Rim walk. It was freezing and cloudy the whole day so we kept our jumpers and beanies on. We made it up the steep ascent at the beginning then enjoyed a leisurely 4 hour stroll through the beehive domes at the top and down to the waterhole at the Garden of Eden, then back across the top with amazing views of the sheer cliff face.

To celebrate the end of our planned sightseeing activities we treated ourselves to a yummy dinner of pizza and burgers in the Bistro. We overheard someone say that on Tuesday Yulara had a maximum of 6 degrees C. No wonder we felt cold!

Day 98 – July 8 – Kings Canyon -> NT / SA Border

Still overcast and cold. We did 2 small walks this morning, the Kings Creek walk and Kathleen Springs walk, both in the same national park as Kings Canyon. Both leisurely strolls around creek beds and beneath red cliffs. Very pretty.

We sadly said good bye to the last of the national parks and headed south, staying at a rest stop on the NT / SA border.

June 27 - July 3

Day 87 – June 27 – Devil’s Marbles -> Alice Springs

Can’t believe how cold it was last night! We needed jumpers and sleeping bags – very different to Daly Waters the night before.

We continued down the Stuart Highway, with a brief stop at Wycliffe Well – the UFO mecca which has frequent sightings. Seems that most of the news clippings shown report sightings by the owner of the roadhouse – strange… We also stopped at Mount Stuart, the geographic centre of Australia, and we took a photo as we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn (for the 2nd time, on the way south this time).

We arrived in Alice and checked into MacDonnell Range caravan park – heaven for kids with jumping pillows, playgrounds, a basketball court, a TV and games room, go carts and pools (although much too cold to swim!). We’ll be here for an indulgent 4 nights at $71 per night! It’s completely packed so we expect crowds wherever we go from now on.

Day 88 – June 28 – Alice Springs

Ah! The joy of caravan parks. Last night, our neighbours who were 1 metre from where we were sleeping decided to start playing music at 10pm just when we were going to sleep! The sound went straight through both walls. Give us the peace and quiet of a national park any time.

We spent a very pleasant day in Alice, we went to the Reptile Centre where the kids had lots more goes holding snakes, bearded dragons and lizards. Then we went to the RFDS to hear more about the flying doctors. We also went to a didgeridoo workshop where we were taught how to play – not very successfully – although Erin made the best sounds. We walked down Todd Mall and visited a book shop where we walked away with six more books.

We have had some interesting public toilet experiences… We had to pay 50cents to use some public toilets! We’ve never had to do that any where else in Australia. They also had some automatic silver ones where things opened, turned on and flushed automatically – the toilet even talked to you and played music while doing your business!

Day 89 – June 29 – Alice Springs

We drove out to the East MacDonnell Ranges today – a very easy drive from Alice, with the attractions between 10 and 80km away. We stopped at 2 mini gaps in the ranges – Emily Gap and Jessie Gap. Nice rock art at one and lots of tiny zebra finches near a waterhole at the other. We continued on to Trephina Gorge, and were stopped just short by a creek crossing just a little too challenging for us. We got out and walked the rest of the way – along the creek bed for 1 km then through the gorge for another 2 km. There was a lovely white sandy creekbed, red cliffs, white river gums and rock holes. The kids were intrigued by wild melons growing along the side of the road – some as small as grapes, others as big as watermelons. We also saw a little perentie lizard near a rockhole.

Back at the caravan park the kids went on the ‘Pinnacle of Terror’ – they had to climb up a platform 8m high, and attached to a harness and rope, jump off!

Day 90 – June 30 – Alice Springs

Another cold wet miserable day! We didn’t think we would see rain in the middle of Australia, but here it is. We rugged up with jumpers and raincoats and went to the Alice Springs Desert Park, where we spent six hours there doing a self guided audio tour through various Desert environments: sand country, woodlands and desert rivers. We saw a bird of prey show with owls, falcons and kites, and saw lots of desert birds and reptiles. We also listened to a very interesting talk on Aboriginal survival in the desert by a local aboriginal man.

Day 91 – July 1 – Alice Springs -> Glen Helen

Another wet, cold miserable day. Maximum of 11 degrees! Yes we know most everyone reading this blog is experiencing this weather all the time at the moment but we’re supposed to be on holidays! Not supposed to be like this in the desert.. apparently it only gets like this two or three times a year – just lucky I guess.

To escape the rain we chose some indoor activities today. We started at School of the Air and saw an excellent DVD and presentation. We then spent a few hours at the Cultural Precinct, which encompasses an Art Gallery, a museum and aviation museum. At the Art Gallery we saw some beautiful watercolours by Albert Namatjira as well as many other aboriginal paintings. We also saw an exhibit of beanies as part of the recent Beanie festival. At the museum we saw the usual displays on natural history but we also watched a very detailed DVD on the life and controversy of TGH Strehlow – the caretaker of many Central Australian aboriginal artefacts.

We drove past the West MacDonnell Ranges shrouded in cloud and drizzle to stay at the Glen Helen resort. We were treated to an amazing 10 minute firework display to celebrate Territory Day. The kids said it was the best firework display they have ever seen. Their comments: ‘sweet’, ‘sick’, ‘totally awesome’, ‘wicked’.

Day 92 – July 2 – Glen Helen -> Alice Springs

We woke up to a clear day, but still freezing. We put on jumpers and beanies to walk along the sandy bank of Glen Helen Gorge. By the time we got to Ormiston Gorge it had warmed up to a nice day. We did a two hour walk up along the gorge rim and down back along the river bed. We heard our voices echo against the sheer cliff. At the Ochre Pits the kids had fun grinding ochre, making paint using spit and painting rocks like aboriginal children. At Ellery Creek Big Hole the water was so cold the fish were all dying! We walked along a rocky creek bed to see Standley Chasm, and we saw 2 cute rock wallabies at Simpsons Gap. All in all a very full and enjoyable day in the West MacDonnell ranges. We decided to stay in Alice Springs again tonight so we can go to the show tomorrow.

Day 93 – July 3 – Alice Springs -> Curtin Springs

What a FUN morning! We spent four hours at the Alice Springs Show. The usual assortment of rides, sideshows, show bags, stalls, animals and events but a lot smaller than the Royal Easter show in Sydney and a lot less people. We were the first ones on the Dodgem cars and had fun banging in to each other. We bought showbags, licorice and corn and watched some rodeo events and car races.


We saw six wedge tailed eagles feasting on road kill on the way to Curtin Springs. Luke was startled when collecting firewood in the scrub by an emu which raced up behind him.

June 23 - 26

Day 83 – June 23 – Edith Falls -> Katherine Gorge

When Ben woke up this morning he said ‘After breakfast I’m going to do my aboriginal things’ – meaning digging in the dirt, collecting rocks and breaking up sticks. Funny what the kids take away from our various adventures!

We drove to Katherine Gorge in Nitmiluk National Park, and checked into the campground next to the gorge. The kids enjoyed playing in the campground swimming pool – which we were glad to have since the gorge is closed to swimming due to risk of salt water crocs. After lunch we went on a 4 hour, 3 gorge cruise. After a frustrating long wait in a queue with hundreds of people leaving on various cruises, we finally got on our boat twenty minutes late. We had a very pleasant ride through 3 gorges past numerous freshwater crocs (no salties!) with short walks in between the gorges with aboriginal rock art thousands of years old.

We wished we could have paddled canoes here – it would be very peaceful without all the other people. The best part of the cruise was visiting a beautiful tall waterfall near the 3rd gorge – in the middle of nowhere, with a deep clear pool. We swam and sat under the fall and relaxed.

A good cruise but we’re all cruised out now. Don’t think we can take another beautiful rock pool and waterfall! That night we ate pizza at the café while the kids swam in the pool, and listened to Greg and Julia Evans sing covers from the 70’s (we don’t think it was Greg Evans from ‘Perfect Match’…)

Day 84 – June 24 – Katherine Gorge -> Mataranka

Bruce and Michelle went for a 1 hour walk up to the Katherine Gorge lookout while the kids stayed and read in the motorhome. The rest of the walks were all quite long and too much for the kids.

We left the Gorge and visited the Katherine museum on our way back into town. We had yummy Devonshire teas and mango smoothies at the café, and watched an excellent DVD on the 1998 floods in Katherine as well as the 1st plane (a Gypsy Moth) used by the Royal Flying Doctor Service. While we were at the shops getting groceries and supplies we overheard on the radio that Australia has a new Prime Minister! We are completely out of touch… Michelle and Erin are proud that we finally have a female PM.

At our last stop in Katherine we had a swim at the Katherine thermal pools, but they were too crowded and murky for our liking. We travelled on to Mataranka where we much preferred the Mataranka Hot Springs.

Day 85 – June 25 – Mataranka -> Daly Waters Pub

We went for a 2.5km walk along the creek in Elsey National Park to Stevie’s hole, but we didn’t swim. It had the obligatory crocodile warning sign, with murky water, a strong current and no other people. Not so brave this morning! We walked back to Mataranka Springs for another warm soak, before we briefly visited the replica Elsey Station Homestead from the movie ‘We of the Never Never’.

The last few days we’ve had no mobile reception (either on Bruce’s phone – Optus or Michelle’s phone – Vodafone). Only Telstra works, so Michelle has been rediscovering the frustrations of pay phones – remember them?

This comment is for Grandpa – we have had a few people comment on all the bikes on the back of the motorhome, but this morning a lady actually took a photo of them! She said she wanted to show her daughter who was planning her own AA trip. Grandpa should patent his design!

We visited Bitter Springs before we left Mataranka, another great thermal spring fed creek. We jumped in one end and drifted 100m down to the end with the current. We did this a few times and even tried swimming back up against the current – hard work. The water is so crystal clear…

We arrived at Daly Waters pub at 3:00. We had an icecream and a drink and checked out the interesting decorations (badges, t-shirts, banknotes and even bras!), and had a game of pool. The place was packed in the evening. We avoided the bar and the hideous music and had our own BBQ and a game of Trivial Pursuit. So hot tonight – the boys took off their shirts so they could get to sleep.

Day 86 – June 26 – Daly Waters Pub -> Devil’s Marbles

We left before dawn for the long drive south along the Stuart Highway. After a few unmemorable stops for fuel / morning tea / lunch / afternoon tea / etc, and seven hours later we arrived at the Devil’s Marbles. On the way the kids alternated watching Brady Bunch in the back and watching the endless scenery in the front.

We stayed at the campground at the Devil’s Marbles and spent a few pleasant hours scrambling over rocks and exploring lots of nooks and crannies. It was cool and windy, which meant no flies!

We ate dinner outside watching the sunset in the west as a beautiful full moon rose in the east. Can’t believe it has been a whole month since the staircase to the moon in Broome! After dinner the boys played AFL until it was too dark to see the ball, and then we played scrabble before bedtime. Much cooler tonight – as we are over 500km more south than last night, you can really feel the temperature drop.

PS. Check out who's doing the washing up!

June 19 - 22

Day 79 – June 19 – Adelaide River -> Kakadu

We entered Kakadu National Park, the biggest national park in Australia – 20,000 square km. First stop was a view onto the wetlands at Mamukala, where we saw waterlilies and birds. We visited Bowali Visitor Centre near Jabiru, which provided excellent info about Kakadu, plus an air-conditioned room where we could watch various films.

We got to Ubirr in time to hear some good ranger talks. We learnt about Aboriginal families and kinship systems, aboriginal dreamtime stories and saw and heard about the excellent rock art. We climbed to the top of Ubirr Rock to get superb views over the plains and the Arnhem Land escarpments. We watched a lovely sunset (along with hundreds of other people not as serene as we had hoped), and you can easily get a sense of why this area is so special to the Aboriginal people.

We stayed at Merl campground right next to Ubirr – and we were invaded by swarms of mosquitoes. They even managed to find their way inside the motorhome (despite our best efforts), so Michelle stayed up to midnight catching them.

Day 80 – June 20 – Kakadu

We filled up with petrol at Jabiru, and quickly saw the crocodile-shaped hotel. We then drove down to Nourlangie to hear more ranger talks about aboriginal culture, and saw more rock art. We also saw a large rock shelter which has been used by aboriginals to camp for over 20,000 years (not used now – too many tourists!). We went for a walk up to a lookout nearby with beautiful views over floodplains, billabongs and escarpments.

We are finding that many roads and walks are still closed due to the unseasonal rain, and we’re also going to miss seeing some of the waterfalls at places such as Jim Jim and Twin Falls.

In Cooinda we visited the excellent Warrandjan Aboriginal Cultural Centre – lots of info about aboriginal beliefs and customs. We saw lots of interesting quotes from local elders about their life in Kakadu – some of them conflict on issues such as local uranium mining, where the environmental impact on one hand is somewhat offset by the positive impact on jobs for the community. We spent the rest of the afternoon lazing by the pool at Gagadju Lodge.

Day 81 – June 21 – Kakadu

An early start today for a 6:45 cruise along the Yellow Water wetlands. We saw the sunrise over the wetlands and flocks of hundreds of birds – geese, egrets, ducks, an azure kingfisher, kites, sea eagles, bee eaters and more. We saw half a dozen crocs and even saw a dead saw fish that had been killed by a croc 2 days ago – 100km from the ocean and 30km from the brackish water of the Alligator River. Included in the price of the tour was a hot buffet breakfast back at the hotel!

After lunch we did an amazing tour with ‘Animal Tracks Safari’ – a 7 hour tour from 1:15 to 8:15 into a remote buffalo station in Kakadu. Our driver Greg was joined by our aboriginal guide Patsy who showed us around the property, hunting for bush tucker. Patsy was a little shy at first but soon warmed up and displayed a cheeky sense of humour, telling us lots of stories about her people. We are water lily stems, and Patsy made necklaces for Erin and Luke from the lily flower. She chopped into a palm tree with an axe and we ate palm heart. We ate the flower of the rosella plant and it tasted like ‘War Head’ sour lollies. Patsy even crushed a green ant nest in her hands and offered dead ants for a snack. Erin and Bruce tried it – it was very sour, tasted like concentrated lemon juice. We learnt how to identify and dig up yams / bush carrots. We collected pandana leaves and paperbark (for later making rope and cooking on the fire).

This was all very exciting and fun until at one stage all three kids started screaming and jumping up and down – they were all covered in green ants and being bitten!

We travelled through the bush, next to the electrified fences on the buffalo farm. Eventually we came to a clearing near some beautiful wetlands where we camped for dinner. Patsy and Greg made fires and cooked a delicious meal of buffalo, barramundi, bush carrots and damper with golden syrup and billy tea. The buffalo and barramundi were cooked in a bush camp oven, using hot stones under paperbark, buried under hot coals for about half an hour. Beautiful!

On the tour we saw a dingo, a buffalo, a wallaby, lots of whistling kites, a cane toad and a water python in the wild. The tour was very simple but we had a fantastic time – definitely one of the holiday highlights!

Day 82 – June 22 – Kakadu -> Edith Falls

We left Kakadu this morning – it is definitely a huge national park, and takes a long time to drive through. It’s amazing to think that via the roads you can only access 2% of the park area.

We arrived at Edith Falls at 1:30 and were lucky to get one of the last couple of camp sites. We had a quick dip in the main plunge pool at the base of the falls. It’s huge! It’s too far to swim to the falls themselves. Very pretty and not many people. We then went on a hike up to the top of the falls to another pool and waterfall. This was even prettier and lovely to swim in, and we could get close to the falls themselves. It’s interesting – we have made sure that we and the kids are always careful in these falls – never jumping in due to the risk of rocks under the surface. However, we saw a French family with young kids climb up rocks next to the waterfall, and jump about 4m into the pool. We were amazed – one of the kids was scared witless but his father made him jump…

The walk back down to the campground was beautiful – lots of pretty birds and plants.

June 15 - 18

Day 75 – June 15 – Darwin

Sightseeing in Darwin today. The kids wanted to go to a crocodile park, so we chose ‘Crocosaurus Cove’, right in the middle of Darwin. The kids wanted to see the ‘Cage of Death’ – to the point where they were pestering us to pay for them to do it. The cage was a perspex box which was lowered in turn into four crocodile pens. The crocs were big, but to prove their intelligence they took no notice of the pens being lowered into their water – maybe they took interest the first few times but no doubt they realise that the juicy humans inside can’t be obtained no matter how hard they try. Now they are totally disinterested, which makes the whole exercise pretty pointless… especially at over $100 for the privilege.

A better experience was ‘fishing for crocs’ using meat for bait on the end of a fishing rod over a pool of 40 juvenile crocs. That was great. Then the kids swam in a glass-walled pool right next to the same croc pool – so from the outside it looks the kids are swimming with the crocs. We also saw a reptile presentation where a python ate a dead rat, then we all got to hold various snakes and lizards. Luke loved it – he is always the first to queue up to hold a snake.

We then walked through the WWII Oil Storage tunnels, built to hold fuel after the original fuel tanks were bombed by the Japanese in 1942. By the time the tunnels were completed the war had ended so they were never used. They were huge!

We finished a great day by having take-away at Stokes Hill Wharf – Barra burgers overlooking a pod of porpoises (the kids now being dolphin experts said they weren’t dolphins) playing in the bay.

Day 76 – June 16 – Darwin

We fed fish at Aquascene in the morning – where the fish come in near to shore at high tide to be fed by countless tourists like us with an inexhaustible supply of bread. Huge milk fish, bat fish, catfish and others come into shore to take bread out of our hands – unbelievable how many there are.

We had some time out at the caravan park – Bruce did the grocery shopping, Michelle did some holiday planning and the kids did some homework, played on the bouncy pillow and played in the pool.

In the afternoon we went to the excellent NT museum. We saw a stuffed ‘Sweetheart’, the 5m crocodile that terrorised a community in NT before he was caught in the 70s. They also had a great display on Cyclone Tracy (amazing!), as well as some good examples of aboriginal art plus various stuffed birds and animals.

We enjoyed a pre-birthday dinner for Luke at the Sailing Club, right on the beach watching the sunset (not as nice as Michelle remembered six years ago when she visited Annette in Darwin. Darwin has changed since then, a big new development at the waterfront). Darwin is still a lovely city – cosmopolitan yet also very relaxed.

By the way - check out the street near our caravan park!

Day 77 – June 17 – Darwin (LUKE’S BIRTHDAY!!!)

A very excited birthday boy woke us all at 7:15. After cuddles in bed he opened presents (books, watch, DVD) and the kids played on the bouncy pillow. Then after breakfast we lounged around the pool and had chocolate birthday cake and sang happy birthday.

We planned to spend the afternoon at a water slide park but when we got there we found out that the filter wasn’t working so the slides were closed (Bummer!). Instead they had a small playground open with a garden sprinkler for the kids to run through…

So plan B – we went into town to ‘Wave Beach’ – an artificial beach with a wave machine. Actually lots of fun – the kids stayed in the water for two hours and emerged exhausted with blood shot eyes.

Then off to Mindil markets – great! A huge selection of delicious food. We tried satay prawns, mango smoothies, butter chicken, fried rice, prawn tempura, snow cones and lasagne. We wanted to try the amazing desserts but couldn’t because we were so stuffed. When it was time for sunset, thousands of people stampeded down on to the beach. Nice sunset but too many people!! We saw a fire eater / juggler in action – fantastic show. Hope the kids don’t try it at home! We bumped into Joyce and Charlie Hughes who were up here on holidays. Small world… they said Uncle Warren was here last week!

Even though Bruce had forbidden the purchase of wooden puzzles at the markets.. we bought three. Also bought some anklets (more ?!?!). We would have loved to kept looking – great stalls – but we were all exhausted.

We got back to the caravan park late and found a big green tree frog on the road. Erin and Luke tried to move it but it wouldn’t budge so we carefully drove around it. Unfortunately the car behind us wasn’t so careful – the kids heard a loud ‘pop’, and found a green and red mess on the road. Poor Erin was very traumatised and almost inconsolable.

Kids in bed by 9:00 and for once, everyone went straight to sleep..

Day 78 – June 18 – Darwin -> Adelaide River

Great day! We went on a ½ day fishing trip with ‘Fish Darwin’ out in Darwin Harbour. The fishing started slowly but in the 3rd spot Erin caught the first (saddle back snapper) and second (red snapper) fish of the day – for the whole group (12 of us). It was a good day for the McKinnon family – we caught a lot more fish than the other 7 people on the boat. Ben caught four, Luke four, Erin six (!), Michelle four and Bruce three. It was almost embarrassing when the kids were hauling in the fish and the other big blokes on the boat weren’t even getting a bite. We tossed them all back in except for 1 big Jewfish which we took away for our dinner. We stuffed it with butter, garlic and coriander and cooked it on the BBQ. Yum!

We left Darwin after lunch on the boat and headed towards Kakadu, stopping to see a jumping croc cruise on Adelaide River. It sounded quite touristy, but we chose the one which was the smallest tour operator further up the river. Only three other people on the boat. The big crocs were literally 1m from us as they lunged out of the water to snap at some meat on a pole. We saw about a dozen crocs ranging from 6m (Big Scotty) down to less than 1m. The little crocs were amazing, they could get their back legs out of the water. A lot of fun, probably much more than we could have had with the bigger tours.