GROUNDHOG DAY

Hi everyone, jump aboard the Wood Express as we sail through Lake Argyle, have a groundhog moment, surprise our Brissy family and friends, and fly over the Bungle Bungles!

I'm having a nice local WA red as I write this so strap yourself in it's going to be a long one.
I know it's been a while and what a few big weeks, I left you at Darwin and we were heading to WA. I have to say it is really exciting to think we are on the other side of the country, a state which I never thought I would reach. So we reach the border, and no mishaps with any flat tyres, yay! As soon as you hit WA it changes in landscape straight away as if they have drawn a line in the sand.

I have a fascination with these beautiful boab trees, they are everywhere, in all shapes and sizes and are thousands of years old. We were told if you take a seed home it might actually grow in our QLD climate, I'm going to give it a go, although rattling around in the caravan they might get a bit of a shock after a few months.

So I'm babbling, had a few free campsites on the way which they are plentiful here. When I talk Free I mean on the side of the road, after a long day driving pull up sites, which we find in the Camps 5 book. Lake Argyle was one of those places which caught our eye being a manmade lake, interesting!!! What a top place, it was found by the Durack family a cattle family from Qld, that went through drought and heard there was water, so after 18mths of droving and a lot less cattle than when they started, they arrived in WA. So after each generation they finally made Lake Argyle with the help of some investers and government, made one of the biggest manmade lakes in the world. We thought it was a must to go on the sunset tour, and we certainly weren't dissappointed, seeing lots of local bird life, rock wallabies and a croc or two. Lake Argyle is 900sq km's or to put into persective 19 Sydney harbours, it has an overflow each day of the amount of water Adelaide go through in a day. The campsite was amazing with the infinity pool overlooking the mountains and the lake we couldn't get enough of it. The days were a beautiful 28c and the kids painted aboriginal rock art onto the sanstone rocks there and painted boab seeds, that was our art lesson for the day, pretty cool huh!

Now I don't want to get all hippy on you but the kids are so happy and peaceful and have really become their own little people, it is lovely to be able to be part of this whole wonderful experience. Spencer is even writing stories and reading as many books as we are about our aboriginal culture. He has even started his own aboriginal art book, this, from a kid that hates drawing and writing!!!

So sadly leaving Lake Argyle we thought we would hit diamonds at Kunanurra, yes girls it was exciting! Unfortunatley you can't go through the Argyle mine, only on a very expensive private tour. This is the place of the pink diamond, they only get a half a glass of pink diamonds a year so they are extremely rare and very expensive, so my plans were dashed, at $100 000 a diamond, thought that was too many free campsites to make up. But my beautiful husband turned to me and said"Well it is our 10 year anniversary". I was in heaven
so I was very lucky and got an amazing anniversary present! No girls not a pink diamond, but the next best thing white diamonds!

I know you're all waiting for the groundhog moment, we get a call from the caravan people saying that the awning that was ripped is waiting for us at Darwin. Nooooooo! So back to Darwin to get the awning replaced and other repairs and I really didn't want to stay in hot hot Darwin. So the kids and I decided we would surprise my sister having twins and go back home to see the babies and catch up with everyone. And of course so the kids could get their Nana and Grandad fill! So congratulations Kerri and Craig on the arrival of Olivia and Ashley. The kids are so good with travelling now, they just take it in their stride, they are little troopers. A big sad good bye to everyone and in no time at all we are back trucking, back to WA.

So after a couple of big days on the road we arrive at our destination - El Questro! This wilderness park is in the fringes of the Kimberlys, so if the Pentacost Ranges wasn't enough you hit this amazing countryside. I know I keep saying it but each place just gets better and better. WA is spectacular and with the boab trees only in the northern part of WA it will be a real shame when we leave this magnificent area. The ranges here are so big every corner is like driving up to Ayres Rock they have that beautiful red colouring and with the blue sky in the background, you can't get enough. So we stayed 4 days an extra 2 than what our itinerary had planned, think we are getting into trouble, how does  next year sound on getting back. Just kidding! We were lucky enough to get one of the private campsites and at the same price $34/night we thought that was pretty good. We had our own waterfall and stream and some cattle saying hello and some wild brumbies passing through,  it was a nice back yard for a few days. With camp fires every night and the stars so bright we were really spoilt. There is plenty to do here, go 4 wheel driving, nature walks or hot spring swims or a gorge walk, what to pick. So we did a bit of everything, go the Branco track, Pigeon Hole track

and the incredible Emma Gorge which the kids walked about an hour to get to and was rewarded in the end by a beautiful waterfall and a very cold swimming hole. LOVE EL QUESTRO WE WILL MISS YOU.

There is the well known 4 wheel drive track to Broome, the scary, but challenging GIBB RIVER RD, everyone we had run into said you have to do it, well after a long corregated unsealed road to El Questro and the van taking a bumpy run we decided to get real and say no to THE GIBB. I know we are wimps but with low food supplies and no more time for repairs on the van we decided to take the easy boring way to Broome via the Bungle Bungles. Turkey Creek here we come, now this place is only designed for o/n stays, there is completely no reason to be here other than to fly over the Bungles. And at $200 a go, Michael and I thought it would be best if we went and not the kids, which was a good thing, I think the kids might have had an issue with a vomitting factor. AMAZING I will let the pictures speak for themselves. The Kimberlys just go on forever!!!

Michael and I are hanging out for sand between out toes,  I have to say I'm over the dirt and the flies. Not that the flies are really bad, I haven't pulled the head net out yet, but I need some beach action. Everyone is saying that Broome will be booked out, so we have a few spots to stop off  before then, maybe a crater to check out and another gorge and then I will be relaxing with a G & T  at the beach watching the sun go down. So I'm getting back to my wine and I will catch you next time on the Wood Express.

TAM'S TIPS

BE FLEXIBLE!!!!Scarlett has been really sick and had to go to the Darwin Hospital for a urinary tract infection which put us a bit behind. On the mend now.

BUDGET SMUDGET!!! Sometimes you have to just have those moments and go the extra expense and blow the weekly budget for an amazing experience.

TIME OUT!!! Living in such small quarters there are moments where you just have to disappear.

IT'S NORMAL! I think it's ok to have a melt down here and there it's only natural.  Has only happened a couple of times but it's ok.

WEEK 7 - SWEATY DARWIN

Hi from the hot and stinky travellers!

HOT, HOT, HOT TOO HOT DARWIN!

I'm sorry is this some sort of in house joke, the temp on the news says 32c, well I am here to tell you it is definitely around 40c. While you are all rugging up down there we are sweating our patooties off up here. Because of the late wet season up here it is still raining which means it hasn't cooled down yet for their winter. The wet season officially finishes the 1st of May, but they are a little late this year, so it's affecting a lot of the tourism up here. The first night we had a power failure due to bats flying into the transformer and the whole of Darwin was nearly out, apparently it happens all the time. We pulled that generator out as fast as we could, they had 30 cancellations the next day in the park! So that means our plans for Kakadu and the Kimberleys have been put on hold, everything is closed, and now the labour govt has bought in that you have to pay to go to these places now, we thought we'd put it off and head to W.A.

Without the heat Darwin is a really nice place, yes it feels remote and it's tropical, but what a melting pot of cultural diversity. It feels very alternative and easy going up here, I love it. Our first night was watching the sunset at the wharf where we had a beautiful barra dinner and everyone got to try some crocodile. Yes it tastes like chicken! When you see how big the harbour is here you can see how cyclone Tracey just blitzed this area and when Darwin was bombed in WW2 even though the Japanese were sneaky and went inland, they really had no chance.

The art gallery and museum is a great place for the kids to learn about the area and they had lots of fun dressing up and the cyclone Tracey information was really interesting for us oldies. To think they had a cyclone warning a week earlier and it turned into nothing and no one took it seriously when it actually happened is frightening. Who would have thought that midnight xmas eve anything bad was going to happen.

There are some cheap fun activities for the kids here including the fish feeding at Aquascene and the wave pool in the city. The markets are full of yummy cultural delights. A muddy for $18/kg - crazy.

The crocodile tour down the Adelaide River was full of crocs and bird life and the wetlands is really pretty. We had a chance to stop off at the war cemetery, which was beautifully looked after, and this was also the place where they were evacuated for the bombing. The kids got to be the tour guides, which we all had a cackle at! They took the job very seriously, maybe we should have got a discount?

Well after 10 000k in 7 weeks I must admit we are pretty tired. The days can sometimes gel into one another and you feel like you should be out there constantly doing things. But that can be exhausting. The kids have settled into the nomadic lifestyle, but I think they miss kid interaction from time to time. As for us we are missing some people our age as well. The grey nomads are so rude up here. We are pretty keen to get out of this heat and head west! So keep cool down there and thanks to all those people emailing and dropping us a line it's nice to hear from you all.

And a big happy birthday wish to our little Scarlett who turned 4 today!!!!!

TAM'S TIPS
Make sure that kids don't eat the bread you have to feed the fish, Spencer must of had a chomp on some mouldy bread and was up all night vomiting.

In addition to the heat there are Parana ants that attack with the speed of light up here, so be prepared to empty a can! ( The locals cool them ginger ants)

HI FROM THE BIRTHDAY GIRL

I turned 4 today and I was so excited I really wanted nail-o-polish and eye stuff and I was so lucky I got both. I opened my salon and painted mummy's and Phoebe's nails and we had a beauty spa day and I put hot pink eyeshadow on everyone. They all looked so pretty!

I went to see crocodiles yesterday for my birthday and we saw some big ones and some baby ones. They are very scaly.

And guess what - I got to be the captain of the ship and drive the boat, everyone cheered and clapped as we putted down the Adelaide River. I wasn't scared  of the crocs at all! Thank you for all your presents I'm going to have fun with them. Dad took me out for a special birthday cupcake while the big kids did their schoolwork. Lucky me! I'm having a really fun holiday and I was giggling all day at the wave pool the other day. Bye!

WEEK 6 - LAST STOP QLD, HIT N.T

Hi from the weary travellers!

Before I tell you about us breaking through N.T border - the kids wanted me to mention what a fun place the Barramundi Farm in Kurumba was.  Michael took a trip there with the big kids and they were all excited about feeding the barra and came out with a wealth of knowledge about our favourite fish to eat.  This is a volunteer based organisation that breed only certain types of barra for the Norman River and the Gulf area. They've put more than 600 000 barra back into the Norman River alone for all those fisherman. The kids thought it was cool that all barra are actually born male, then all turn into females, and they are also the top of their food chain. There only predators are crocs and humans!  The kids do talks (Super Speaker) each week and this was Phoebe's topic this week, she did a great job.

So we are getting closer and closer to the border, the last stop in Qld is Lawn Hill.  Some of the roads are still closed up here due to a late wet season, but we heard that the road to Lawn Hill had just opened, which meant we didn't have to go through Mt Isa, and took 2 days off our trip! The National Parks can't resurface their roads here until the local government have done theirs first.  Now when I say road I use it very loosely - we hit some pretty big, sharp rocks and went over some deep streams. So the road is unsealed and a lot of RED DIRT.

But what an oasis - we pulled the van up to a freshwater stream and I don't think you can get much better than this.  Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill) is in remote north west Qld and has a spectacular gorge with its huge sandstone cliffs. The aboriginal people believe that if you pollute or misuse the water the Rainbow Serpent will go away and the water will dry up. It is so pretty here, we had a fire and did bush school and made damper. Yes I made damper and it was pretty good too!

We hired canoes and paddled all the way down the gorge to the waterfalls where we had lunch and a swim.

There was no way there were any crocs because I think Scarlett screamed the whole way down and scared all the wildlife away. The water here is a deep turquoise from the limestone underneath and the cliffs are a deep ochre colour from being burnt by the sun, what a beautiful place.

This would have to be in my top 3 at the moment, it's very peaceful and almost has a spiritual element to it. We came across a researcher that was collecting a rare type of turtles and tagging them for monitoring, it seems the wild pigs out here like to have them for dinner.

So we leave Lawn Hill after a relaxing couple of days to hit more red dirt and even more flies if you can believe it. The car was pretty excited about that. Not!  I have attempted to patch every hole in the van and we actually travelled pretty well until Michael decided to leave the hatch up after our last stop and the shower and toilet were painted a nice red dirt colour.  So I was impressed with that clean up!!  The drives are getting increasingly longer now that we are really in the outback.  Lots of lollies later and we hit N.T, woohoo.

We all run out of the car and to get that "we made it to Northern Territory photo" and come back to a..........

flat tyre. Our first one, so Michael shows his red undies off to the travellers on the highway  and changes the tyre in 50 degree heat.

 The landscape has changed almost immediately to what you would assume the outback would be, dry and dusty and miles and miles of bitumen. The drives are heading into the 8hr mark so we've been taking advantage of some of the free camp sites by the highway which are safe if there are a load of people there.
You can't beat the sunsets and sunrises here, we have been leaving the fly off and this is the view from our bedroom. Yes life is tough!

We kept seeing this sign for a cheap campsite with grass, I never thought I would get so excited about grass but after so many days of dirt we pulled into Banka Banka.  We were allowed to use a generator here so the boys were pretty pleased about putting the TV on for the broncos game, until we ran out of fuel half way through the game, yes there were a few unsavoury words. After no TV for a month I think they probably get their fill.

It is so remote out here and if you haven't been out here before I don't think you really grasp that concept, we didn't.  There are no grocery shops and a lot of the petrol stations we pulled into that don't sell fuel or the fuel is $1.80+?  I have to say hitting Tennant Creek was an eye opener and will stay with me forever.  I was breath tested as soon as you hit Tennant Creek, this is an alcohol prohibited zone.  The police up here look like park rangers in their brown uniforms, but are conforming to blue by the end of the year. The aboriginals were all sitting in the gutter on the medium strip drinking, kids running around everywhere not in school, no one wears shoes, the kids are going through lifeline bins for clothes, all the white people have barbed fences around their property. You can't help but feel responsible for what is going on here. Throwing money at them obviously does not help. It was a really sad moment.

We were off to have a good old aussie lunch at the Daly Waters Pub for my birthday. What a lot of character this place has with everybody's undies hanging up in the entrance, thongs,money, bras you name it, it's stuck onto everything and no I didn't contribute, maybe if I was 40 maybe...... no not even then!  We had yummy barra burgers and chips for lunch!  We also came across one of the original airstrips used for the war up here, how amazing.  Next was one of those disappointing moments, Mataranka Springs.  Dirty, dusty, stinky springs. Stayed 1 night and it just wasn't safe.  The first place we have felt unsafe on the whole trip.  I think that was the fastest pack down.

After Mataranka we hit civilisation - thank you Katherine, I really like this place the people are friendly and we stayed at the national park, with a bar and restaurant at the pool it was a bit of light relief for the arvo. We did the 3 gorge cruise where you travel up the gorges through the sandstone cliffs onto the waterfalls and swimming holes. They have about 50 freshwater crocs here at the moment and constantly setting traps for the saltys, they caught one last week so we were lucky to be able to swim.  Our tour guide was very informative and talked a lot about the indigenous people here. The Jawoyn people have recently taken back this land and they have many aboriginal elders on the board here who are passionate about preserving the land and its beliefs, so the park is run with that in mind and what a great job they are doing.  All the money they make here goes into a trust for the Jawoyn community and they have to apply for funds so no individual gets money here which is the way I think it should be run.

We did some schoolwork the next day and I thought it might be good at morning tea time to take the kids to the museum at the info center.  Phoebe was asking lots of questions about burning off and how the gorge was formed and aboriginal history.  The kids are really growing up.  The national park have just started to do burn off the last couple of weeks and the reason for this is to rejuvenate the vegetation so the animals have a new food source.

The kids and I were lucky enough to meet Long John the in house artist and buy some artwork, I later got to talk to him at dinner, what a sweet old man.  His parents have passed on, his brothers and sisters live out at Arnhem Land and he lives in a donga just behind the campsite. It was one of those incredible moments for me, I felt really privileged.  So now every chance I get I'm hunting down our lost history. I tried to organise a day in an aboriginal community but it was going to cost about $800 so maybe next time.

I hope I'm not boring all of you but I am loving the spirit of N.T it is nothing like I have experienced and am throwing myself into our culture. We visited the Katherine School of Air and I was so impressed I could honestly send the kids here, if it wasn't that hot!  We got to sit in on the lessons.  All the kids get one on one and are so happy.  Would you believe they are all above average on their Naplan tests?  What an inspiring passionate place, no bullying, peer group pressure, just happy well adjusted kids. We donated the first book here to be given to one of the families.

So a quick stopover in Edith Falls, and off for another day! That's all for now, we are off to cool down with a bottle of wine it's so STINKING HOT UP HERE!

TAM'S TIPS
Go the free camping in N.T
Buy some crocs (shoes) for those gorge swims even though they are ugly
If you see a dump point (toilet drop off), use it, you never know where the next one might be

GREAT READS
An Awkward Truth - The bombing of Darwin Feb 1942 (Peter Grose)
My Place - (Sally Morgan) - An aboriginal girl uncovers her heritage.
An Introduction to the Dreamtime (R.Lewis)
A Beginners Guide to Australian Aboriginal Words (R.Lewis)