We had a lazy morning around the tent ... having breakfast on our new chairs and table !! Ben checked Gracie over and I 'handwashed' our washing ..... it's just like being at home !! I got chatting to a woman who said her and her husband saw us in Kakadu. She was telling me about Western Australia and giving us tips, which was cool. They were going into Darwin for a pubcrawl. It was her husbands birthday and thats what he wanted to do ..... nice for some !
We made our way into Darwin Centre and had a wander around. managed to find an internet place and update our Blog. We then went for a walk down by the Harbour. It's so beautiful!! We love it here !! Not sure as much as Cairns but we just love everything about it. We dipped our toes into the Salt Water Lagoon and had a walk around the wave pool enclosure they have. We then had a walk along the Esplanade. There's loads of WWII memorabilia. We then decided to make our way up to the East Point. We pitched our chairs on the beach front with our $1.50 muffins and Crush fizzy drink and waited for the sunset. We were the only ones there, it was really nice. We got some good photos. Just on our way home now to bring the washing in and get ready for moving on again tomorrow.
Had breakfast and set off for Litchfield National Park. We arrived just after 10am and stopped off at the Magnetic Termite Mounds. There was loads of them, they were all the same shape and all pointing the same direction. There was even a couple which were 5 metres tall and 50 years old !! They build them in a way so they don't get too hot in the sun on one side .... so clever ! They live in the mound with the Queen and King Termite. The Queen does nothing but gives birth, gets fed and watered ..... Genius !!
We decied to drive through Litchfield Park and stop at the sights on the way back to the 1. About 50 kms in Litchfield is Wangi Falls .... it's stunning !! A huge waterfall with a gigantic swimming hole. We couldn't resist a dip, the water was warm and crystal clear. There were fruit bats hanging from the trees. During the wet season the swimming hole is inhabited by Saltie Crocs ..... glad it's still the dry season .... just !!
Then we visited Tolmer Falls, no swimming this time, just a look out from a high platform.
It was hot again so another cool off in a swimming hole was in order. Florence Falls provided just that ! The water was a lot cooler than before. Underground springs collect water during the wet season and then for the rest of the year the water seeps out creating these awesome swimming spots !
We ended our Litchfield tour at Buley Rockhole. It was nice, but packed with people. We had a paddle but didn't stay long.
On the road again, back to Katherine to start our journey towards the West Coast.
We got to the campsite at Katherine just before 5pm. It's the same one we stayed at before with the eveing Wallabies. The journey was ok, the usual. We pitched our tent and Ben went for a swim. We met a couple at Camp Kitchen from Burnley. They were lovely, they even offered us a beer !! Precious things to offer around ... so we declined !! The wildlife has started already ..... we've just seen 2 possums. Well the guys from Burnley didn't take no for an answer and they made us take the beers. Ben had a cold beer and me a cold cider ..... mmmmm lovely! The couple came and sat with us and introduced themselves as Scott and Heather. We chatted most of the evening and we exchanged details with tehm ... deffo catch up with them in the UK. We saw and heard loads of wildlife that night .... bats that actually sounded like Batman !
Slept great through night cos it seemed a bit cooler than last time we were here. We said our goodbyes to Scott & Heather and set off for a full days driving to Kununurra, it's a pit stop on our way to Broome !
Mid Journey we stopped at a lookout bridge that crossed the Victoria River. We hoped to see some crocs and stayed for about 20 mins ......... again we were dissapointed !!
WA baby .......... yeah !!!!!! We crossed the border from the Northern Territory to Western Australia today ..... Wahoo !
Gracie got frisked by a customs man but she wasn't trying to smuggle bananas across the border so it was all good and we're on our way to the Indian Ocean..... we're very excited ! The views on the side of the road have changed yet again as we drive through the Pinkerton Range, it's beautiful. We got to our Campsite not far from town, its a Big4 .... our first one this trip and it's great ! We've camped on grass !!!!! Lush green grass, it's like a big fluffy blanket under the tent ! We're so not used to this .... Ben didn't even bend any pegs putting up the tent !! We then found we had to change the clocks back by 90 mins for crossing the border. We're now 8 hours ahead of UK time. It feels like a whole new trip again and we can't wait to get further West. Just sitting eating our tea and seeing the sunset was lovely. We've got a full days driving tomorrow ..... passing through Halls Creek ....... quickly probably !!!!!!!!!!!!!! We're planning on staying in gracie tomorrow so we can drive all day, early start so we'll be having an early night.
Ha ha ha ha ha, I (Claire) woke to the sound of some finches outside the tent. There was loads of them. I just had to wake Ben and through tired eyes he saw them. This was 5am !! The sun was shining and we'd had a great night sleep. The temp was perfect and either we were tired and fell straight to sleep or there was no wildlife out. We had breakfast in the sun and set off for Fitroy Crossing, well about 70 kms past.
Aaaaahhhhhhhh, no we've stopped at Halls Creek. it's our change over point and it's lunchtime !! Everybodies so strange ....... hopefully we'll make it out alive !!
Yep ..... still alive !! We were making good time until we had to stop to let some cows cross the road ..... jsut another day in the outback !
We arrived at our first stop for the night. It's a freecamp just 90 kms froms Fitzroy and 300 kms from Broome. it's basically a stop off the side of the main road. There's picnic tables and toilets and places where you can have fires. (Jon and Dad, you'll be glad to know the first thing Ben did was gather some firewood!) As we said earlier we're staying in Gracie, we've got her ready !
It's 5.50am and we're on the road again.... Ben's driving. The Free Camping went well, we sat up and had tea and Ben lit his fire. I made him take off a mahoosive log he'd found, I was getting scared he was going to burn down the whole of the Australia Bush with it! We layed in the car with the boot open just looking at the awesome stars ! We were looking for shooting stars but didn't see any. It got dark really quickly so we were in bed for 7pm. I was on Dingo watch but must have fell asleep. Woke up at 5am and Ben put the kettle on for a brew. I sorted out the car. We then ditched the brew idea because the milk was lumpy. We just decided to head straight off and have breakfast when we get there in 3 hours. Hopefully we'll see some wildlife with it being so early!
3 hours later and we arrived in Broome. We pulled into a garage to see if they could squeeze Gracie in over the next couple of days for her service. They said they'd do it right away, awesome! We even got a free ride into town. We were starving marvin and the temptation of those big golden arches were too much .... Maccie D's for breakfast ... it was heaven !
We took a wander around the town and awaited the call from the garage. Finally they rang, Gracie was ready! There was nothing else that needed done. We picked her up and then went to the supermarket for sausages, beer and white chocolate Tim Tams .... our treat for making it West Side! Tonight we'll be watching the sunset (with a beer!) on one of the worlds Top 5 beaches ... Cable Beach .... life it so hard!
We're sitting outside the tent chilling after our feast! We did go to the beach and watched the sunset, however it didn't quite light up the sky. It was still lovely to watch and the beach was amazing. The sand was white and the water was turquoise. I went for a paddle but Ben went for a dip. The water was so warm and clear. We walked back to the tent to make our tea and enjoyed it with a beer. Afters was the Tim Tams with a cuppa ....... they were really delicious ..... well worth the wait !
We've just been for a walk around Broome and sorted out some bank and emails that needed to be sent. We've got a beach afternoon planned and hopefully a better sunset than last night ! We're planning on moving on tomorrow, heading south and looking forward to all the new things we're going to see !
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