WA WA WA

Well Macca has me on my toes again, but unfortunately I have been outblogged again before even starting.  The Littlefords have had way too much fun lately, whereas we have been more mellow.  We are in WA now but only 40kms in and the furthest we are going is 100km in, so really who cares.  At least we weren't strip searched at the border, the guy choosing to believe Kirst when she said she knew the food rules and had got rid of all our fresh produce (except a few small things- like freshly made salad sandwiches).  The night before we stopped at Timber Creek and had a swim and relax and so did the 900 or so kms from Darwin to Kununurra very comfortably in 2 days.  The fact Paul and Karen had saved us a lakeside campsite in a great caravan park made it all the better.  We have had an awesome 5 days with them and they are off to discover the west coast tomorrow and we will miss them a lot.  We are relaxing here for another week before the Robos arrive which we will be a big exciting week at El Questro.  In the meantime we might hit the Bungle Bungles although it may be too hot for the boys with no where to swim.  Everyday at the moment is high 30's which makes it great swimming/fishing/relaxing in the shade weather but no good for hiking unless you do it early.  It gets light well before 6 here but is pitch black by 6 in the evening so early to bed early to rise is the best option.  We have been late to bed early to rise though enjoying all the animal nightlife and movies at Paul and Karen's outdoor cinema.

The freshies come right up on the bank for a feed at night (leftover meat, not small children) and the tawny frogmouth likes to watch the movies with us.
 In the mornings we have been meditating and exercising which charges us up for the day.

That's Paul and Wooz discussing plans for the day.
The main theme of the 5 days has been fishing.  Culminating in Wooz buying a new rod with his birthday money at the market today.

He loves his fishing and kept stirring Paul up when he caught 14 of the 30 catfish we caught out on Lake Kununurra.  Bit disappointing we could only catch catfish but we still had fun.  Karen had great form as well catching 3 of the biggest fish having the equal biggest with NaDan the smiling assasin.  It was fun hiring a boat and cruising out on the lake, having a bbq lunch and catching lots of fish.

This was the view from the boat back to our campsites.

Unfortunately the main goal for our fishing was to catch a barra, and our 4 other attempts have produced pretty much SQUAT damnit.  First attempt we took the canoes out and found it difficult juggling fishing and paddling in the current.

Second attempt was Ivanhoe Crossing where the current and snags were ridiculous.

 Third attempt was on the Ord river in a remote spot that we found trying to get to skull rock.  It was very scenic and looked perfect for catching barra but no luck.

Fourth attempt was a secret spot under the Durack river bridge which once again looked promising but gave us about as much action as a retirement village.  So the other highlights have been the lizards and frogs.

The secret billabong Paul got told about.

Australia's biggest boab.  The boys have been collecting boab fruit and decorating them.  Arch has done some exceptional carvings and also did a 3d landscape that he sent to Pa for his birthday.  Who said the boys aren't doing schoolwork?

The joining of the 5 rivers in Wyndham which other then that seemed like the end of the earth.

And getting a new hammock.

By for now.


 

Definitely Kaka dooooo

Just a short prelude to the blog because special mention needs to be made to the MBee, Master of Bloggers, (aka Macca).  I have had this blog as a draft while we have been in Darwin and not quite finished it because of the relaxed vibe up here, but after spending the last 5 days with the Littlefords, which has been no less then fantastic, I have seen a true master at work on the blog and have been ordered to complete this after being relegated to rookie standard and needing the practice. Do yourself a favor and checkout jach-ontheroad.blogspot.com to see how it is really done, and to see a couple of dead people under water, and to listen to the first interview in the Macca series.  Can the real Macca please stand up!
Now to my little blog:
Quite a few people told us Kaka Don't, but as the days progressed we enjoyed it more and more.  Just down on the river at Cooinda was beautiful at night although we were a bit jumpy with the crocs, snakes, cane toads etc.

 We had another 4 days (2 of them free thanks to Ben the camp coordinator) and started with a walk up to a lookout with 360degree views in the heat of the day.  It was only 2km return and the boys caught some lizards but they weren't happy about it.

Then we went to Jabiru for a shop and off to the cruise on the East Alligator River around Cahill's Crossing including a little wander into Arnhem Land.  Terry was great and showed us how to throw a spear with a woomera which he launched about 30m with great accuracy.  I had a go and just cleared the boat which he said was crap.

We saw heaps of crocs as they wait to catch the fish at Cahill's Crossing so Kirst took 100,000 photos of crocs, and then made more of them with close ups she can do with her special camera.

 We then went to Ubir Rock and got the barbee and fridge out and had some chicken wraps for strength and marched up the rock to enjoy the 5.50pm talk by the ranger and watch the sunset.

 Then we got back to Cooinda for a late swim and gecko catch before bed.  The next day was the Animal Tracks tour with Sean and Patsy.  We got Wooz and Nat for free which was great as it was expensive because most of the money goes to the aboriginal buffalo farm.  Sean was very informative and wasn't a fan of all the burning that was happening in Kakadu at the moment saying it kills too much wildlife.  Anyway we had a cruise around Patsy's billabong first and collected some lily pods and mangrove mussels.  Then we had a look at some buffalo, collected some green ants, pandanus leaves for making string, water chestnuts (banging the dry mud with hammers), peeled some bark off the paperbark trees for the earth oven, then we went to the wetlands to watch the sunset with the millions of birds and cook up some magpie geese, buffalo steaks, damper and some bandicoot road kill.

 The billy tea was good and the food was amazingly good considering it had been covered in dirt.  The only thing was Patsy had the flu and was licking her fingers as she pulled the meat off the animals and passing it around!  The bandicoot was surprisingly nice (like chicken) but the thought of it still turned my stomach.  The mosquitos feasted on us but it was an amazing experience and to tap it off we saw 2 snakes- a keelback water snake and a big olive python.  Then we took a photo of the burn off on the way home which seemed a little too close to our campsite.

Paul and Karen had made a surprise visit before we left on the safari, and decided to stay a couple of days with us for some more great adventures, so the first day we hit Twin and Jim Jim Falls.  We left at 11 and got back at 7 so it was another big day with lots of 4wding and a big river crossing- keep the revs up!  Twin was incredibly beautiful and although we weren't allowed to swim there we had a wet t-shirt contest under the falls instead.  At Jim Jim we had fun clambering over the rocks and ran into some unlucky people who dropped their camera in the water down between some rocks, so it was unretrievable, and to make it even worse it was waterproof.  We did some fun jumps into the water from the rocks, which Nat even tried, as he gets more and more confident in the water (much more important then school work!)  Then the boys ran around catching little frogs and were quite surprised when Wooz threw one into the middle of the pond and even though it tried valiantly to escape was quickly consumed by a big archer fish.

 We had dinner back at Cooinda with a few beers while we watched Collingwood get trounced by Geelong which was great to see, and what made it even better was we had a table of Collingwood supporters sitting next to us.  The next day we headed off to Maguk Falls which we also loved as it was great for swimming, a pretty place and we smashed some big jumps with Arch goin big and Wooz and Nat really stepping it up.

 Then, on some "good" advice, and a pamphlet that said there was a kiosk there because the boys were hungry and we were going to head back for lunch, we headed to Gunlom Falls.  But it was a bigger drive then we thought in, with about 40km of dirt rough road, and there was no f#$*in kiosk.  So we went and had a swim and a little jump, it was a bit too dangerous for jumping, and then hopped back in the car and realized we only just had enough petrol to get back.

 So we took it slow and easy and made it back with 5km left til empty.  Then we relaxed around the pool with cocktails, beer, wine and some pizza and the watched the Saints smash the Blues.  We had way too much fun at Kakadu so we packed up on Fathers day and had a special lunch at the Bark Hut on the way to Darwin and the Howard Springs caravan park and an ensuite so we can poo and shower in peace.

Paul and Karen joined us care of a broken fridge so we fired again for some more adventures.  First day was a struggle as we drove around Darwin, lost, hot and bothered.  We had crappy fish n chips at the wharf and ended up back at Palmerston to do a big shop.  Did make it to information and did see the wave pool though and it set us up for the next day as we settled in nicely with a picnic lunch and lots of wave pool action.  Arch and Wooz were getting all the stand up action on the boogsters and Nat just relaxed on a donut with his mummy. 

 Third day was Berry Springs and the animal park next door which we rated quite highly and a tree snake even jumped between us as we walked along the billabong walkway. 

The boys wanted to be like Harry Potter and have their own owl so they borrowed Ruby the Rufus Owl.

 Then the circus came to town as Cindy, Andrew and the boys drove in with their super dooper little camper, which we helped set up (mainly watched), and the fun times rolled on. 

 We hit the wave pool again and smashed some icecreams to keep the energy levels up.  Then we hit the night market and Mindil Beach for some Thursday night action on the beach.  We kicked off with some whip cracking, Arch did quite well, Andrew only succeeded in giving himself even a shorter haircut. 

 Then we got some Thai food and ate it on the beach to some nice tunes.  Nat spent $10 on a mini solar car that didn't work and we got 11 mangos for $10.  Then we checked out Rocksalt the super bull who was warming up for the rodeo Saturday night and the spray paint artist and then got some smoothies and joined the throng around Raw Didge the techno didgeridoo guy who plays 4 didges with a pretty cool band that the locals obviously love.  We got back and the boys collapsed into bed at 9.30 without the fan which we bought to help the boys get to sleep and hasn't seem to have got the desired results. Andrew was most impressed with the size of my fan which I attempted to trade with him for his pocket rocket.  It wasn't long however before the caravan park cottoned onto the Littlefords and blocked them off from us with police tape saying "danger keep out".  They obviously heard how dangerous they were and probably on the run from the law.  Next day the package from Grandma and Pa arrived with Wooz and Kirst's pressies, an awesome story about Bugbats from Grandma and some more volumes of the Spiritual Cinema Circle- very exciting. 

Wooz and Kirst loved their pressies and we read the story, then Paul read it to us so we could get the English version which was nearly as good as Stephen Fry narrating Harry Potter he just had trouble doing the different voices!  Then we said goodbye to Paul and Karen who started heading off west, and hopefully we should catch up with them in Kununurra, and checkout the Bungle Bungles together.  So we went back into Darwin and met the Littlefords at the museum which we loved, lots of cool things to checkout, then dropped the crew off to pick their car up and smashed a big lunch at the Coffee Club. 

 Then we topped it all off with an arvo at the best skatepark/waterpark going around that is free, which the boys thought was not bad (rubbing their hands together like Mike).

  Then off to the lifesaving club where we met Helen, who Cindy rode with in Arnhem land, and some other interesting characters and had a great night.  Loving those sunset shots.

 On Sunday morning we had a big bacon and egg cook up after Cindy and Kirst had a little ride to shake off their hangovers (barbee and a few drinks the night before after a big arvo of swimming and squash at the caravan park and the boys playing police games on their bikes til late).  Then that night we had some Leylands action on the laptop after an early dinner and into bed, the Leylands are great to put you to sleep.  Then the next day after a slow start and being late for our car service the boys had a skate at the Palmo skatepark and then we all went to see Red Dog at the cinemas.  He looked just like Nav and the tears were flowing at the end of the movie, very sad.  We were all trashed after that so just had a good feed up of Kirst's spag bog and relaxed.  On Tuesday I got the bikes fixed and developed 200 photos for the boys to update their posters, then we had lunch and all went to Berry Springs where Andrew took some great underwater video (beware the underwater camera) and Cindy took the stills. 

When we got back and dinner was cooking, Andrew (aka Macca) interviewed me on a podcast for the blog which is to be a series on travelling celebrity bloggers and Gullee, being an actor on Team America, was first up to the plate!  Anyway anything goes over a few beers!  So we had dinner and then enjoyed a great documentary on the world junior magic contest.  On Wednesday the Littlefords sadly departed to Kakadu and we went to Litchfield for the day.  We went to Florence Falls, Buleys Waterhole and Wangi Falls and enjoyed all immensely, the walk into Florence falls along the creek being a highlight.  We also stopped at the magnetic termite mounds because Kirst wanted to! 

 Then yesterday we did bugger all and today the highlight was barra fishing at the barra farm down near berry Springs.  The blokes there were great and we had a ssppppeeeeecial couple of hours catching 10 barra over 60cm.  Wooz and Nat caught 3 each and Wooz and Kirst caught the equal biggest at 75cm and 5kg.  Nat went through 3 rods at the start before he landed the first fish, and when Arch landed his 70cm one it boofed me with mud all in my face and mouth- thanks fish. 

The other great thing is we took home fillets all vacuum sealed in bags and it tasted beautiful.
For our last day in Darwin we went back into the city where we started our Darwin trip but finishing in a much better way.  We hit Crocosaurus Cove which was great and then went on a duck around the city then into Darwin Harbour for a cruise around.

 More fish for tea then an early start tomorrow, aiming to make it to Timber Creek on our way to Kununurra.
It was not only Kaka doooo but Darwin dooooo too.  Well there it is 3 weeks of blog, hope you are happy Macca.