Tunnel Creek

Today we walked Tunnel Creek, it is a 750m tunnel through rocks. We walked on sand, over rocks and through water, on the way we saw Ghost Bats, stalagmites and darkness. To walk through we needed a torch in most areas, at the end we saw daylight and stopped for morning tea.

On our way back though, another tourist spotted out for us a Freshwater crocodile on the left. We shone the torch over and could see the eyes glowing and its nose popping out of the water. We then shone the torch along the water’s edge and found a baby croc hidden in a little cave. As we continued our walk we heard the Ghost Bats squawking and saw another three crocs at the entrance of the tunnel which we missed at the beginning. While walking through the tunnel the temperature was a lot cooler than the boiling hot sun outside.

 

The croc is to the left of middle where the torch is shone.

El Questro

On 25 August it was Ned’s 9^th Birthday, we spent the day at El Questro, and first stop was Zebedee Springs. Here we swam in the warm jungle like rock pools, as the morning went on many more tourists arrived. When finished relaxing we drove to a lookout, it was a steep 4WD track.

After lunch we visited Emma Gorge, a very warm walk in the middle of the day but, a very rewarding walk at the finish with a fresh swim in the gorge. Marc found himself a nice warm bath as he climbed the rocks exploring, that was soon taken over by the rest of the family. Mind you it was narrow and only fitting three people in at a time, quite unique and hidden away.

Instead of going out for tea for Ned’s Birthday we decided to have Barra and chips from the local fish and chip shop. Not knowing that $55 later we only ended up with three pieces of barra, two dim sims and minimum chips, a tad more expensive than at home.

 

 

Lake Argyle

Now, this day is up there with the most memorable moments of our trip so far, we spent the day at Lake Argyle. The day started with a drive to Lake Argyle Caravan Park where we had lunch and swim in the most magnificent pool we have ever come across. The backdrop was amazing, words cannot describe the view. 

From here we boarded a lovely boat for our sunset cruise, we started at 2.15 and finished at 6.30. We were lucky enough to have a couple of swims in the lake, with 35,000 freshwater crocodiles. We did see them on our travels, but not on our swims, thank goodness. We were spoilt with afternoon tea and a gorgeous sunset with cheese, pate and dip. During our sunset swim we enjoyed a beer or wine in the water, it was one of the most fantastic days we will never forget.

 

 

Kununurra

Well hi folks, we’re finally back and on our travels again. Bali was very relaxing, we loved our time over there.

Upon arrival in Darwin we had breakfast with Marc’s parents who just completed a two week trip of the Gibb River Road. It was lovely to catch up with a familiar face. That afternoon we arrived in Katherine for the night on our way to Kununurra. We caught up with friends of Mum and Dad’s who have been staying at the caravan park over the winter period helping friends with the upkeep of the park. I hunted them out and we spent a lovely late afternoon catch up over a couple of drinks.

 Our next destination was Kununurra in the Kimberley’s. I chose the perfect Caravan Park buy the lake, the view fantastic. We even got to meet George the resident croc, I must add, a freshwater croc who are harmless, I won’t put it to the test though. We met George on the first night when the boys went fishing, they were gone for all of five minutes when Ned running back there’s croc over there. We were hesitant at first to believe him, but as we walked over there he was relaxing on the waters edge. Fishing stopped and taking photos of George and chatting while the kids made friends took over. It was a very relaxing start to our next leg of our trip.

While in Kununurra we visited Zebra Rock Gallery where you find rock with zebra stripes, only in brown and cream tones. This rock is quite expensive and they can make small ornamental items or larger table tops out of it.

Can you spot George?

 

Litchfield

We have had a few days here at litchfield now and slowly seeing the sights. Batchelor is about 30 minutes from Litchfield where we are staying. On Jack's birthday which was Saturday 21 July we went for a swim at Florence Falls and looked at the termite mounds, which could reach 6 metres high. That night birthday cake was chosen by Jack, a bavarian caramel chocolate dessert. Here's a photo of Jack and the hat he picked out for his birthday, it says Jack all over it in different kinds of writing.

The following day we drove along a 4WD track to Surprise Creek, this was beuutiful, it was like a private oasis. There only seemed to be a few people there at any one time.

From there we completed many more waterfall walks with scenic plunge pool swimming rewarded at the end of our walks. Most of the more difficult/longer walks only had a handful of people visit, the other walks had suitable allocated pathways to the waterfall, only about a 200m walk. These spots were extremely busy with tour buses.

Swimming at the waterfalls was an enjoyable experience, and jumping from the smaller ones and bombing into the water, great fun.

Sorry to say, but we are off to Bali Sunday and won't be blogging during that time, will chat soon.

Love Marc, Simone, Jack, Ned and Evie xxoo