Uluru

From Jabiru, we 'blitzed' it to Devil's Marbles. We spent a night at Mataranka & floated down the Bitter Springs - we were all a little 'windy' but didn't see any snakes, nor, unfortunately, was there any Aboriginal kids to teach us new 'tricks'. It was a lovely way to wash away the 'dust & toils' of our travels though! We left at dark to travel our longest distance to date - 650 odd kms to Devil's Marbles. It was an amazing place! The rock formations made you really think that some 'supernatural being' had been playing with the rocks, got bored, and had left for more interesting pastimes! There were two slight 'inconviences' - the heat (about 40 degrees when we arrived & the very smelly loos!). We took 'shelter' in the rocks until it cooled a little & then explored the incredible terrain. We had another early start to reach Alice Springs. I wouldn't quite call it an 'oasis in the desert' but it is certainly surrounded by the 'barren' McDonald Range & sits in the 'valley' of these ranges. The ranges have more to offer than the town - depending on your preference of course! We saw Simpson's Gap, complete with the highly camouflaged Rock Wallaby (cute wee marsupials they are!). We had picked up John's sister, Jill, by this time, so our party consisted of the Tidy family, Nanny & Jill - great to be travelling with others who are keen to see 'virgin territory' as much as we are! We left Alice Springs & took some time to reach Yulara (the township that has been built to service Uluru & Kata Tjuta - The Olgas). We saw Dinky, The Singing Dingo at Stuart Well & made camp in time to see the sunset over Kata Tjuta & Uluru - spectacular! Today we have walked & run around the base of Uluru (John, Nic & I ran the 10.6kms & Jill, Nanny & Catherine walked it). It is truly 'amazing'. Difficult to describe Uluru - it is a huge rock, it is amazing to watch the colours change from sunrise to the late afternoon & sunset, but it is more than that - if you haven't yet been - you need to - especially if you are Australian or now call Australia home or if you want to see one of the 'world wonders'!
We didn't climb Uluru - for a few reasons - it is not encouraged in any way, it is bloody steep and the climb was closed! It will be your decision to climb or not when you visit (unless it is made for you).
We had a short walk into Kata Tjuta but sadly our time constraints didn't allow a more thorough walk - but, we've found with our travels, that you do what you can! We had a truly awesome day!
I have to mention that we again 'treated' ourselves to an original Aboriginal painting - we even got to meet the artist - fabulous! and what a souvenir of our trip in Qld & NT!
So tomorrow we are back to Alice Springs - to drop Jill to the airport on Thursday, then to Mt Isa, to drop Nanny to the Airport to Brisbane early Oct & we will be making our way to Cairns - where we will find jobs & look after my sister, Liv & her hubby, Ben's, house until we make our way home.
Not thinking about home & the real world yet but if any teachers who read this & who know of any work for 2013 - let me know!
Love you all - trust your lives are as fulfilling as ours are!

Kakadu

We are staying in a caravan park in Jabiru, in the Kakadu National Park. It is a lovely park - the best place in the township (which sadly is not much of a town). It services the Park & also the Uranium Mine just out of the town. That is a strange juxtaposition of industries - a uranium mine of all things & this beautiful, natural, 'wild' landscape!
We treated ourselves to a flight over the Park - it was spectacular, although the sky was very hazy with smoke from the many burn-offs. What an amazingly diverse landscape - from forests, rivers (full of crocs!), huge rocky outcrops & plateaus to vast wetlands. It was definitely the best way to see Kakadu. I can only imagine what it looks like in the wet with waterfalls, raging rivers, etc. We'll have to come back one day to see that!
Yesterday we did a 'jumping crocodile' cruise on the Adelaide River. That was a great experience also - we saw a number of crocs, both big & small. They are scary creatures & everyone up here is very wary of them (with good reason when you see them up close!).
Kakadu NP has some similarities to Litchfield NP but is also very different. Nanny is enjoying travelling with us but feeling the heat - as are we all - it was 37 degrees today!
Before our flight at 5 pm, we went to a weaving activity at an area in the park called Merl. Two Aboriginal ladies from Arnheim Land showed us how to strip pandanus fronds, crush up different roots to give yellow & brown dyes & demonstrated how to weave a bracelet. The stripping was very skilled - all us tourists struggled with it! You boil the pandanus with the dye in a billy over a fire to get colour into it. John & Nic were the fire-makers. The 'funniest' part was that a lady from Wombye (near Amamoor for you Kiwis) was the person who showed us how to weave!
So, we are now back at our campsite getting our dinner of chicken & salad ready. Thankfully the temperature has dropped & a warm breeze is gently blowing. Goodnight all, hope all is well in your respective homes!

Tipperary & Darwin

We stayed at Tipperary Station 5 nights. We had hoped to get some work there but it did not happen, so we relaxed, caught up on a few chores (ie. cleaned out Bruce due to the 30 odd kms of red dusty road we travelled along Tipperary's driveway) & did a day trip to Litchfield National Park. We also visited a crossing over the Daly River. Didn't see a croc but in the Litchfield NP we saw a buffalo near a waterhole & a small 'freshie' on the bank of a rock pool we were about to swim in!
Tipperary is an incredible place & very difficult to explain. It was originally built as the private zoo of a billionaire Warren Anderson. He built an amazing 'town' or 'resort'- like facility - there are many homes, communal kitchen, single people quarters, swimming pool, tennis courts, basketball court, recreation club, sheds, workshops, equestrian centre - school - you name it, the place has it. There are now approx 70 staff that work there (some on contract) but you hardly see anyone. The facilities seem to be slowly deteriorating. Tipperary is now leased by AAco who are only interested in making money! Our friends who have recently taken over as managers are still trying to 'get their heads around the place.
It was an interesting experience staying there!
John & Nic were able to spend a day in a road train - I don't think either will be taking up truck driving as a career - they found it rather tedious only being able to go slow on the dirt roads & didn't enjoy 10 hours of being shaken up by all the corrigations but they were glad to have experienced it!
We enjoyed Litchfield NP - stopped at Wongi Falls, had swims at the Cascades & Surprise Creek Falls - it is beautiful & so great to have these gorgeous, freshwater, SAFE swimming holes!
We stopped at Berry Springs (another lovely swimming hole & picnic area) on route to Darwin & got to Darwin Thursday afternoon - just in time to head to the famous Mindil Beach Markets - they were great! So much & such a variety of food stalls & art & crafts! The best part was eating your delicious food on the beach while watching the sun setting. It was spectacular! An amazing huge pinky-orange orb hanging in the sky that quickly disappeared once it got to the horizon. Ever since I read about that in the kids book "Are We There Yet?", I have wanted to watch the sunset at Mindil Beach - yay, I got to do it!
We are really enjoying Darwin - it is a groovy city!
We visited the 'Defence of Darwin' Military Museum which was a very informative experience about the WW11 bombing of Darwin - didn't know there were a total of 64 air raids by the Japanese!
Today (030 hours) we picked up my Mum from the airport & spent the day sightseeing, visiting the Darwin Museum (another great experience - no 'old stuff', rather info about Cyclone Tracey, fishing, aboriginal art & stories, 'Sweetheart' - the massive boat-eating croc & local fauna (the many poisonous creatures were morbidly fascinating) & to top the day off, we went back to the Mindil Markets to eat & watch the sunset again!
Tomorrow we're off to Kakadu!
Thanks for a great time Darwin!

Northern Territory

We left Camooweal before sunup & were treated to a spectacular sunrise not long after crossing into the Northern Territory (marked by a sign to say you are entering the NT, a 130 km speed sign & info about alcohol). A shame we had Bruce on the back as would have been fun to 'legally' drive 130!
We called into a couple of Roadhouses - that's all there was for many hundreds of kms. Fuel at the Barkly Homestead was $1.97/ litre - the most expensive to date.
We stopped in Larrimah at Fran's Teashop & had Devonshire tea with Fran - a real character! The Pink Panther Pub, nearby to Fran's, was a crazy place full of interesting things, animals & people.
We kept travelling for two days until we reached Mataranka where we stopped for two nights at a great campground near Bitter Springs. These springs feed a small river where you can float down a hundred metres or so in lovely warm water (32•)! A group of Aboriginal kids came to tell us that they had seen a snake entering the water a way down from us & they were getting in to swim near us. That was good for me - I firmly believe in listening to local knowledge! So instead of floating down the river, some of the kids tried to teach us how to blow 'pancakes' under the water. You had to submerge to the bottom lying on your back, block your nose & pucker & blow your mouth in such a way that a perfectly formed ring floats to the surface of the water (much like a smoke ring if you know about such things). We just couldn't get it! I couldn't even stay submerged! It was very amusing & I was impressed with how hard & long the Aboriginal kids tried to teach us! We just had to give up eventually!
After two nights we continued North to Katherine. We stayed in the Nitmiluk National Park & walked to a lookout & did a two gorge boat tour on the Katherine River. There are 13 gorges in total. It was beautiful but not quite worth the $70 per adult ($40/ ch) they charged. The Park is owned by the Jawoyn people & Parks & Wildlife lease it back. The Jawoyn own the tour company & make a 'motsa'!
We braved a swim in the designated swimming area in the Katherine River but it was quite freaky when you can see a huge steel trap for the salties on the opposite river bank - as you can imagine, we all tried to scare the .... out of each other - & very nearly succeeded!
The next night we stayed at Edith Falls, in the Northern part of the Nitmiluk NP. The Edith river feeds many lovely rock pools which are safe for swimming - apparently only fresh water snakes here! Thank goodness we didn't see one nor a 'stray' croc! We swam & walked to a lookout & rock pools up river - really lovely!
And so now we are Tipperary Station.
Again, apologies for lack of captions to accompany pics - the scenic ones are of Katherine River or Edith Falls, both in the Nitmiluk NP, or they could be Bitter Springs.