Wave Pool Day!

I set my running stuff out last night to be sure that I had minimal excuses in the morning.I did a lovely 5k around the waterfront area. I am recovering from an uncomfortable sinus cold, so a slow 5k was good enough for me. Not to mention that it was pretty warm at 7:30 am!

 Darwin has a waterfront that is more crocodile than human friendly.  They have wisely oped to put in a fabulous outdoor wave pool to give people somewhere to hang out.

 The kids just loved the experience.  Surprisingly BigC was all over the boogie boarding.  He spent HOURS in the water perfecting his technique.

 We had a great base and all took turns in and out of the water.

 BigC was more than happy to get me out and show me the tricks.

 At times the waves were actually taller than Dave!

 BigC found a nice shaded area to hang out in fo the last hour or so.

We used different sunscreen today and both kids have varying degrees of burn on their arms. Monkey's looks like it might be rather painful as the evening goes on.  We got our Rocky Mountain Soap Company burn soother stick on both kids straight away, so hopefully this on last long.

Adventure Tours Day 5-Litchfield part 2

The second falls of the day was Florence Falls.  Dave and Monkey quickly swum out to the middle of the falls.  What an amazing spot! 

 BigC stayed back and played in the smaller rock pools.

We stopped quickly to see Tolmer Falls.  They are preserving the local endangered bat habitat so it is not permitted to get close to the water.

 We stopped for lunch at Wangi Falls and went for our final swim.  We all swam out to the falls and played in the water together.
 I have spent the last few days sharing my vast knowledge of crocodiles in my posts. I've gone on and on about how freshwater crocs are in the waters that we've been swimming in and talking about how that doeant worry us as they are not scary or aggressive. I'm really, really glad that I did not see this sign until we finished swimming!

Then, sadly, we hopped in to the bus for our drive back to Darwin.  Everything we brought with us is FILTHY. I. Can't. Even.  Tonight will be a night of divide and conquer.  Dave will run out and find something to cook for dinner and I will pour the contents of our luggage directly in to the washing machine at the hostel.

To keep up with our carefully charted wine countdown we brought 3 bottles of Mudgee wine with us on this 5 day tour.  We are bringing 0 bottles home.  We have 2 more bottles stored in Darwin. Dave wouldn't let me bring more than 5 bottles of wine with us on this trip.  It is a 16 day trip with children.  5 bottles seems woefully insufficient.

Adventure Tours Day 5-Litchfield

We started our last day early in our tents listening to the pouring rain.  It had not rained in 7 months and the locals were thrilled!!  It stopped by the time we got up.  The boys fed our leftover bread to the neighbourhood cows.We stopped off to see some really cool termite mounds. The landscape is absolutely full of these things!  

This one is particularly impressive as you can see by the sign.

We got the obligatory family photo in front of it.

Then we started off on our tour of the Litchfield waterholes. The first one was Buley Rock Hole and was pretty cool.

 Dave and the kids loved hopping in.  Monkey and Dave were the first two brave souls.
 BigC wasn't far behind them!

Adventure Tours Day 4-Katherine Gorge

After almost getting in to a fight with our camping neighbours last night we woke up this morning and headed to Katherine Gorge for a river cruise.  BUT before that happened the only couple on this trip without kids went for a helicopter ride over the gorge and he proposed!  

The water in the Gorge is low at this time of the year so our boat cruise involved three different boats as well as a bit of walking from one boat to the next.

The wet season is coming and will sort out the water levels.

We had a picnic lunch and then went to Edith Falls for a swim. I love this sign.  A quick summary: "look, no guarantees but we are reasonably certain that there are none of the nasty crocodiles in here. Good enough by Aussie standards. Swimming is open, have fun!"

  I need to clarify something here about the crocodiles.  We ARE swimming in crocodile infested waters.  They are fresh water crocodiles. They are apparently "shy" and "more scared of me than I am of them". I sure hope so.  I was definitely hoping so today when Dave, Monkey and I swam across to the waterfall in the photo below across all of that deep water!
Tonight as we pull in to camp, BigC is watching the rail line that we are driving next to.

Adventure Tours Day 3

This photo shows an absolute highlight of this tour for me! This photo shows a freshwater crocodile swimming up a creek in Yellow Waters and just hanging around. We could see her swimming with her tail swishing from side to side.  It was so cool to see her out there in her natural habitat.

 Next we drove to Gumlop and went for a (very crazy) hike straight up the side of a hill to a fabulous natural infinity pool.

 When one is hiking in Australia it is very common to be doing so without the luxury of paths and guardrails.  It really makes you wonder how half of these places were discovered in the first place! (The aboriginal people have always known about them).

 The swimming was exceptional and the views were amazing!

 It looks like Monkey is on the edge of the world.  What an incredible place.

 You can see the craziness of the "path" that we were walking on.  Luckily no one fell.

 Dave and the kids have been playing UNO to while away the travel time as we travel from one incredible place to the next.

Adventure Tours Day 2-Jim Jim Falls and Twin Falls

Today the 4x4 part of the adventure got started.  BigC was over the moon to explore the back bush area while bouncing all over the trails.  We drove through water 60mm deep.   Apparently a couple of weeks ago a bloke with a hire car drove it through this creek and drowned the car.  I'm not sure that the rental car insurance covers you when you make decisions like driving your car down a 4x4 trail and eventually drowning it...

This is what happened to our vehicle through the creek. Luckily it didn't slow us down much as we have a plethora of tyres on this thing!

This ball thing helps the park rangers at Twin Falls determine if there are saltwater crocodiles in the water. They soak it in fish oil and then put it in the water. Small indents mean that freshwater (will attack you, but won't kill you) are around. The large indents mean that a salt water crocodile (will kill you and eat you without thinking twice) is in the area.

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So we (and the bloke in the hire car) were headed to an incredible area. Due to the whole crocodile situation, they no longer allow swimming in the area.  Instead we take a quick boat cruise up to a great hiking trail. In the wet season, or just "the wet" since Aussies shorten EVERYTHING, there is an incredible waterfall here. However, the entire area is under water (allowing saltwater crocodiles to enter) and you can only fly over the falls.  Australia is a fickle girl.

In the afternoon we hiked up yet another perfectly reasonable and not at all safe by North American standards path that led to an amazing water hole.

They are "pretty sure" that there are no saltwater crocodiles in here so we went for a swim.  BigC was the first to realize that this rock could be climbed.  They spent the better part of an hour climbing up and then sliding down the front in to the water.

What a blast!

 I didn't get any photos on the way back. BigC managed to get off the track and unfortunately used his climbing abilities in the process. By the time he realized he was missing we were all pretty worried about him.  He started hollering and Dave and our guide climbed straight up several meters to rescue him.  Poor thing got some green ant bites for his trouble.

The tents on night 2 are 2 person tents so I buddied up with this guy for the night.

This is the view from our tent.  I may never leave this place!

 we ended the night with marshmallows around the campfire and then collapsing in to bed absolutely exhausted.

**only after we were settled in to our next campground did our guide let us know that a death adder snake had recently bitten a woman at this campsite.  That was why he had explicitly told us only to walk on the trails and not cut through any leaf covered ground.  What usually happens when you get bitten by a death adder?  Guess.  She apparently made it through, most do not.

Adventure Tours Day 1 part 2

Here is a better shot of one if the crocodiles In case you couldn't see her well enough in yesterday's photo.  She is likely a "freshie" or a freshwater crocodile.  She is unlikely to attack a human.  If she did attack a human they would live to tell the tale after a trip to the hospital to get some antibiotics (crocs have nasty bacteria apparently).

 We hopped back on the bus and went to Ubirr to see amazing rock art done tens of thousands of years ago by aboriginal people.  First we stopped to see if we could spot some crocs.  This sign is the only protection that is provided.  Just stay back or get eaten fools.  There, due diligence complete.  Fend for yourselves!

 Rock art:

 All of the males high up in Ubirr.

 The 365 degree views were outstanding!

 I didn't climb as high. I sat and contemplated in God's amazing creation.

We slept in four person tents in a permanent camp.  It was lovely.