Darwin museum & art gallery

Sunday morning we decided to take ourselves to the museum & situated in a beautiful spot with wonderful ocean views. The aboriginal art work was fantastic & really interesting to look at. We then moved on to the museum part & it was so well done. There were stuffed snakes etc & the presentation of everything was amazing.

Quite a large building & easy to get lost!

We found this monster & quite an interesting tale & certainly wouldn't want to have seen home alive.

Amongst the display's were these dresses from a lady who makes paper & thought these were stunning.

We also saw an excellent display on cyclone Tracey & certainly was a devastating time for the people of Darwin. We found the coffee shop & it was very nice as was the coffee. Love Bev & Allan.

Darwin delights

Thursday 14 th July,

We decided that as the wind had dropped we would go to the Mindil Markets which are held twice a week. A very large crowd & no organisation but quite amazing how it worked. Everyone parked their cars leaving space for the next person & then we did the short walk to find a place to set up our chairs. Alcohol was accepted & everyone found a picnic spot & settled in to wait for the sunset. There were many market stalls with food from every country & hard to make a decision on what to eat.

It wasn't all tourists either & looked like many of the locals come to enjoy the night too.

As it got nearer to the sun setting the crowd started to move on to the beach to get the best spot!

It was a superb warm evening & a wonderful to experience something like this.

After Allan took this photo a line appeared down the screen on his new camera but thankfully not on any of the photos so next morning it was back to the shop where they happily gave us another one. Later we drove out to the biggest shopping mall in the N T but didn't enjoy it at all. Parts were very tired & it was very busy with school holidays & the worst Woolies I have ever shopped in . Getting out of the car park was another story & won't be a repeat visit . There seems to be many smaller shopping centres for us to shop at before we move on again

The above tree was in the city centre & certainly some different varieties around. The airport which is shared with the airforce is in the centre & everything is spread out in all directions around it. Quite different to anywhere else but a nice place. Love Bev & Allan.

Darwin!!

Wednesday 13 th

After exactly 6 weeks & about 6,000 klm's we drove the last 87 klm's from Batchelor to arrive at the Hidden Valley caravan park. We were here around 10.15 am but John & Sue had a turn at getting a tyre replaced at Beurepairs so were behind us. Really tight park but have a concrete slab a tiny grass patch & an ensuite that we don't need. Our neighbours have been a couple from Maitland NSW with three red headed boys! They are out all the time & flew here for a month & hired a motor home &  the cost must be horrendous!

Allan & I went for a walk in the very humid afternoon & spent most of our time in Harvey Normans air con drooling over all the goodies. Seems to be a semi industrial area so not a lot to look at.

The next morning John drove us into the city centre to find the camera shop so we could make a purchase as the charger for our camera has not turned up anywhere. Probably on the bench at home!

Ian from Melbourne had done some homework for Allan on what to buy so didn't take long to buy the camera. We walked around the shopping block & reminded us of Bangkok with lots of bars & eating places. We then walked on to the waterfront which has in more recent times been redeveloped into an extremely nice area. We had a yummy coffee & watched people in the wave pool.

There was a very brisk breeze which kept the heat down & the locals thought it was quite cold!

John the took us to Cullen Bay where their was a marina & some very expensive homes overlooking everything.

Very nice wandering around & not too busy either. This crocodile was friendlier than most.

Decided to celebrate our arrival in Darwin with a lunch time drink.

It was about 10 klm's from the park to the city centre & two roads to choose from although one had lots of roadworks. All good . Love Bev & Allan.

Three nights in Batchelor

Sunday10 th July

Very hot 34 degrees on arrival at Batchelor but a large park with lots of trees although didn't effect Allan's Foxtel. Every night at 5.45 pm food is put out for the birds & quite amazing how the different breeds knew which food was theirs.

Monday11 th
  We set off to the Litchfield National Park & first stop was the magnetic termite mounds. These were a much paler colour to the ones we had seen in their millions over the previous couple of weeks.

The photo is not of the magnetic ones but a larger type which seem to be prevalent to this area. There were a few people around here but from then on it became hard to find a park at the next stops. Many people took advantage of the waterfalls to swim in.

Very nice picnic tables on the way to the falls here so we had our coffee before moving The above photo was Buley Rockhole. We then drove to Florence Falls & took photos looking at the falls as a long walk down & masses of people.

Next stop was Wangi Falls & a very nice spot with lots of room to picnic. After taking photos of the falls we did a walk & ended up on a platform amongst the tree tops. Thankfully some seating to catc our breath as lots of steps but easy going down.

It was very hot returning to the car to collect our chairs & picnic lunch but found a shaded place & really enjoyed just sitting there relaxing.

The round trip was about 120 klm's & a most enjoyable day . Allan spent the next morning cleaning the car & caravan & later we walked to check out the "town" of Batchelor which was a General store pub & takeaway. We went to the pub for happy hour & decided to eat there as well. Our pizza was excellent & John & Sue enjoyed their meals too. Really enjoy being able to walk to have dinner out although a courtesy bus is great too. A very pleasant stay & once again good to be on a grass site. Love Allan& Bev.

Day 2 & 3 in Katherine.

 John suggested a trip out to Cutta Cutta Caves so we set off on the 30 klm drive. Unfortunately by the we'd queued behind a large group we got told to wait until the next tour which was over two hours away! Not impressed as no mention on any blogs that this could happen so back in the car to Katherine. We had a nice coffee & decided we were happy not to have shared the cave experience with many small children. It was a very warm day so had a quiet afternoon.
  The next morning we got up & had a swim in the hot springs around 8.15 am & were quite surprised at the number of others with the same idea. We were lucky & had a pool all to ourselves & was quite enjoyable.

                                                                   

We drove into town later for fuel & it was so busy at the Caltex station with caravans & motorhomes queued out on the road . We looked at some markets but very dusty underfoot & not much on offer. The mall was very busy & Woolies was a nightmare so it was a quick shop. A superb day & 34 degrees so very pleasant sitting outside for happy hour. A very nice looking caravan called " Hollywood" attracted our attention but the vehicle to pull it with had every man green with envy. It was a F 250 ( think) but all new & shiny with a throaty roar but the back passenger side door had a nasty ding which rather spoilt the " look" . I loved the fabulous red towels hung on the line which went so well with the flashy image of the whole rig. Everyday we see hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of motorhomes & caravans on the road & must be a multi million dollar industry. Every caravan park has been packed & is the same going over to Broome & Perth & no doubt Qld as well. 

Tomorrow we move on to Batchelor for three night. Love Bev& Allan.

Katherine

6th July

We got away early & better scenery with more trees & even saw some beef stock. We couldn't get in the park until 11 am as the sprinklers were going on the Grass!!
 A very nice park with around 36 sites & we have a concrete pad & my clothes line is on lawn! Caught up on chores & then drove to the info centre where we booked a gorge tour & did a shop at the very busy Woolies. It made a nice change to have happy hour outside on a very warm night on concrete instead of dust.
  The next morning Allan & I drove the 30 klm's out to the gorge & then walked to get on the boat. John & Sue did this tour before Xmas as part of their Ghan trip. We heard all sorts of screeching & looked up to find flying foxes or bats above us.

    We boarded the boat & set off on a wonderful 2 hour exploration of two of the gorges . There are about 13 all told & many people do walks in this area some of which are 4-5 days!

There was a guy fishing & many others in kayaks enjoying this place. We had to get off the boat at the end of the first gorge & walk about 500 m past some rock art .

It was very nice & easy to walk as well to our waiting boat. Unfortunately a little boy decided he didn't want to board & his poor parents were so embarressed as he vented his feelings. It did make trying to hear our captain rather difficult & several around us thought the child should be left behind or given a good smack! However he did settle down & we got to enjoy things again. Some people were having a swim & a huge black bird swooped into their unattended kayak & started eating their food!

The second gorge was even better & we heard many interesting facts about how it all came about. We did see a freshwater crocodile but unfortunately the phone died so we missed out. A new camera & phone are on the list for Darwin.

We arrived back & went into the excellent building which had a restaurant, gift shop & sat on a great deck to have a coffee. The entire morning was run very efficiently & lots of tours happening every hour. In the wet season the water comes up another 8 m & where we walked between the boats is well underwater. They then use a power boat for the tours which goes over the top of these areas.

We finished the day will dinner at the Country club where everyone was impressed with their meal & a very pleasant evening. Love Bev & Allan.

Mataranka

July 4 th.

Few problems with the last blog & lost the end at Dayly Waters. We were eating our dinner & listening to the music when they made an announcement that a caravan was on fire. We all stayed put but there was a lot that ran to check! The couple who had been sitting at the next table were the unfortunate ones. The lady was cooking toast & the toaster went up in flames & the microwave so they couldn't sleep in the van. Not good.

The next morning there was a mass exodus with the huge number of campers hitting the highway & we really were in a convoy that morning. We arrived at the Mataranka Homestead early & again a busy place. Nice large sites but very dusty although later in the day they put water on the roads in the park which helped. I did lots of washing as we had both power & water , intermittent phone & still no Foxtel. Allan had called Foxtel & their response was a text to say they were sending a technician to Julliby! Allan managed to cancel that as it was the box we had with us that had the problem & the one at home was fine.
We went for a walk later to the Hot Springs but quite crowded so decided not to venture in. We carried on looking for Stevie's Hole thru a large lot of palms but the lost the shade & it was really hot . We finally arrived but this was rather off putting.

It was a swimming spot but crocodiles have now taking a liking to it& didn't want to share with them.  
The temperature was in the early 30's & heaven after our cold month. The next morning we did go in the pool & it was very nice & a beautiful stating amongst the palms.

We drove into Mataranka on Tuesday morning as we needed a top up of fuel & they have tried to make the tiny township interesting but the local pub was revolting & no way would you set foot in there. A quiet afternoon in the sun & then happy hour at the Homestead which was most enjoyable. Beautiful spot to sit & listen to music & the food looked fine but we had our own much later.

It was a pleasant two night stay but certainly couldn't spend 9 weeks there like our next 

door neighbours. The water isn't great & our electric jug became very furry after two days! Love Bev& Allan.