catch up..

I'm very slack with this blog.. feel free to comment if you want to inspire me along... Anyway, we are currently at El Questro Station. We arrived yesterday and have a few more days here before we head to Home Valley and along the Gibb. I expect that we will be out of range for a few weeks as we travel.. not that being in range has helped my blogging anyway..

I'll whip through a few shots of our experiences from Alice.. we are about to go on a sunset lookout tour so I think there will only be a few updates here.. 

Let's go..

Devils Marbles

Such a magical spot, we camped here overnight.

Adelaide River - Crocodiles

This is a very touristy thing to do but seeing the crocodiles up so close was something else. They certainly are large and fearsome. I'm glad we did this as it has put a very healthy respect and fear of these creatures with our family. 

Kakadu

We visited Ubirr where there is aboriginal rock art, this place had a magical feel to it. I think I understand why it was used to pass on the stories from generation to generation. 

Taking a boat cruise between Kakadu and Arnhem Land was special as the guide told many stories of the local cultures and rituals.  

Nawurlandja Lookout - again it is just an amazing view of Kakadu National Park, such beauty. 

Kubara walk - this was a walk that really tested everyone. It was hot and long, certainly not a walk that everyone will write home about.. but there were a few things to see and we had lunch in the cool of the water pools. 

Litchfield

- one of our favourite parks thus far. Cascade falls, Florence Falls and the whole park is spectacular. 

 

We are having a great time. Settling into "the van life"... 

The Gibb River Road awaits more of our exploration... out for now..

TC

Mummy Monday

 

Waking up before the sun (and children) I ran the pound walk around Orminston Gorge, it was another magical start to the day. It did involve crossing the creek near the end which meant a swim! The water was fresh, I did not expect that I’d need to swim so left my shoes and running kit on and took my backpack off to hold just in case. Then it got deeper and deeper with me needing to swim and hold the pack up to keep the contents dry, I’d never swam with shoes before… quite strange.

I took a slight deviation off the pound walk to climb to the lookout and witness the sunrise. There was a friendly chap that arrived and took a photo with his camera for me and sent it to me later..

https://strava.app.link/8XQPPGgnwzb

We were meant to be out of the camp by 10am, but this did not go exactly to plan… the kids are not the most compliant, in the morning. Leaving a little late meant we were going to need to bust it to Alice in order to meet Prue. Now that I was outvoted big time the kids played Taylor Swift in concert on the ipad whilst connected to the car stereo. I had to practice my patience and compartmentalisation so they could enjoy the gig…

We made it a little late to the airport and it was super awesome to have Prue back in our company.

We were fortunate to have The Earth Sanctuary open for us to stay, due to the connection of Nick and Clare Dry. Clare’s twin sister Annie and husband Tom run the sanctuary and allowed us a secluded patch of land to park up. It was great to settle in the centre of Australia.

 

Orminston Gorge

 

After I managed to get the kids all packed up and we set off for Alice Springs with a planned camp in the McDonald Ranges along the way. We had news that Prue would be flying into Alice Springs on Monday 24^th arriving a little after midday, we were all super excited. Monday quickly became “Mummy Monday”, it’s very cute to see how they cope with such circumstances.

We took off and had breakfast on Ginty’s lookout, which was a beautiful place to stop and enjoy a very simple weet-bix and crunch. I had an iced coffee stashed in the fridge that was “extra strong”, keeping the time on the road to a maximum. Our adventure was on the 4WD only track (The Mereenie Loop), which was not too bad except for some pretty serious corrugations. We saw some wild brumbies, camels and donkeys along the journey. Stopping at Tylers Pass Lookout to check on the van as we were back on bitumen, we discovered the anderson plug from the van to the caravan had come loose and broke. This meant no power to the fridge in the van, so needed a fix. Luckily I had packed some spares, so fixed the issue and got the fridge cranking again. At Tylers Pass I asked the kids where they would like to camp and they decided Orminston Gorge, which turned out to be a great spot to camp.

Wo-“Man down” – Yulara to Kings Canyon

 

As the run I did was so good I managed to convince Prue she should do the same, and she woke up early enough on the 20^th to experience the magic. Unfortunately I woke to a text from Dave requesting for me to call him as the news of Cilla was not great. Prue had been informed of Cills cancer and very bad condition when we left Pimba. The news really weighed heavy on Prue, she has a deep connection and love for her sister. Dave let me know that it was important Prue saw Cilla as her condition was not looking good so we put Prue on a plane from Yulara to Melbourne so she could spend time with her. With everything unknown, we decided that the kids and I should keep moving and hope that we would reunite with Prue in Alice Springs.

The kids and I drove to Kings Canyon and stopped for three nights to keep the travel down and my job a little easier. We did the 6km Kings Canyon rim walk, and I was super impressed with how all three of the little people loved and lapped up the walk. Certainly the only children on the walk that we saw. We took lunch and water and snacks of course and of course I ended up like a pack horse at times but they also shared the load (from time to time).

 

The children loved the Kings Canyon Resort where we parked the van, they had a favourite dirt pile to adventure on. They also took a large interest in a very friendly dingo that would visit on sunset and of course they enjoyed a lemonade at the pub after the walk. Dad enjoyed a couple of frothies too..