Once back at the caravan park, Tig took the kids to the pool for a swim and Thea enjoyed a kid-free shopping trip to stock up with food for the next part of the journey across to Western Australia and on to Broome.
Sunday was Father’s Day. Tig was very pleased to be back with his family and a big day was planned. First up was a wetlands cruise at Corroboree Billabong on the Mary River just outside Kakadu National Park. It was a nice cruise and only an hour long, which was quite manageable for the kids. We saw a few crocs, both freshwater and estuarine. There were loads of birds and the billabong was lined with water lilies. We stopped in for a closer look, which included picking some leaves for the kids to wear as hats and some flowers making for some great photos. Maddi spotted the seed pods and picked one, which she proceeded to pull apart.
It was back to Darwin to the water park after the cruise. A favourite of the kids during their two stints in Darwin. As Thea has written before, it is a free play park with little slides for the little kids and big slides for the big kids. To be able to ride the big slides you need to be 110cm tall, which for Ella at 109cm was all too much. Fortunately as the crowds thinned, (it is a popular place on weekends and even more so on Father's Day) Ella stood tall and the nice lady checking heights was a little flexible. Ella took to the big slides like a pig to mud. Kai also had a great time on all the little water slides and really enjoyed having his dad to run around with. After more slides, running and swimming than any kid can handle it was off to the Mindil Beach night markets for dinner and entertainment. Maddi was devastated that the man riding his 8 foot high unicycle, juggling all kinds of things, was not there like the last time she was there. However, the man juggling fire sticks and doing all kinds of crazy things with fire was still pretty good.
The kids were totally wrecked, as were the parents, and a good night's sleep was had by all. Which was good, as the next day it was time to hit the road again. Having been camped in the same spot for over a week, packing up was a big task but was easily achieved and we were on the road by 10am, pretty good really. There were a few stops on the way out of town and Katherine (the birth place of Cadel Evans) was reached with enough time to visit the local Toyota dealer to get the car checked. Earlier we had experienced a problem where the Land Cruiser was revving much higher than normal. After running all the diagnostic checks, Henry, the very helpful Toyota mechanic, confirmed that there was nothing wrong. He concluded that, due to the heat (34C +) and the rising humidity in Spring, the automatic transmission was hotter than normal and selecting a lower gear to reduce the load on the engine/gearbox. His explanation seemed correct as the next morning all was back to normal yet by midday the gearbox was again selecting a lower gear.
From Katherine we were aiming for a rest area 55kms out of town to stay the night only to realise after about 25kms that we had neglected to fill up with fuel and we did not have enough to get the 180km to the next fuel stop at Victoria River, so it was back to Katherine to fill up and then on to the Limestone Creek rest area. It was a very nice camp spot, although not far from the road. The kids could watch the road trains rumbling past from their beds, which made the camp spot even better in their eyes.
After a typically slow start, we continued towards the WA border, heading through Gregory National Park which is made up of spectacular valleys and bluffs through which the Victoria River runs. The Victoria River is a wide, spectacularly flowing river, the sort of place that looks idyllic to cool off in given the 36C outside, however, the estuarine crocodile signs were a little off-putting. Lunch was enjoyed in the shade at Timber Creek, then there was only a short drive to our overnight camp at Saddle Creek rest area, again a very nice camp spot. We were only 80kms from the border, so dinner was a stir-fry with all the vegetables that would not make it through quarantine at the border. Fresh fruit and vegetables cannot be taken into WA.
The kids decided to spend the afternoon making mud pies in preparation for Thea's birthday the next day. As you can see from the pictures, Ella got particularly dirty and luke-warm trug baths were had by all three children. Luckily the weather was so warm that we didn't need to organise any hot water.
As mentioned, the next day was Thea's birthday and she was treated to yummy, scrambled eggs for breakfast made by Tig with lots of assistance from the kids. After breakfast we set about eating any leftover fruit and giving a couple of backpackers in their $900 Falcon station-wagon our left over veggies and a few bits of fruit that we wouldn't get through in time. Thea also whipped up a guacamole dip to have at the rest area before we crossed the border. Western Australia's quarantine rules are no fresh fruit and vegetables, honey, seeds and plant materials. Unfortunately we hadn't planned for it to be all fruit and veg, and therefore we had quite a few things to give our new backpacker friends who were heading to Darwin. They were very pleased to have lots of fresh veggies to make their mums proud. On the way to the border we ate our usual veggie sticks, fruit and then pulled over at the rest area at the border to eat more fruit and the guacamole dip.
We had done a good job of eating all the fresh food, the only thing that we had forgotten was some seed pods Ella had collected. The Inspector had obviously been doing his job for a while as he asked if the kids had collected any plant materials. Straight away a light bulb went on for both of us. The next challenge was finding them all. Ella thankfully was very understanding of the restrictions and helped us find her stashes.
Our first stop in WA was Lake Argyle, crossing a fast flowing river called Spillway Creek. We later learned that it had so much water flowing in it as they were still letting water out of Lake Argyle from last wet season to allow enough room for the next wet season. The lake itself is massive, a spectacular sight surrounded by steep walls. We had to unhook the van before we reached the lake and leave it at the top as WA Water will not allow caravans down to the dam wall. We enjoyed lunch at the shady picnic area below the dam wall before hooking up the van and heading into Kununurra for the night. After checking out the town and getting lots of helpful information from the Visitors Information Centre, we stayed at Lake View Caravan Park and enjoyed a swim in the pool before a birthday dinner for Thea at the restaurant. After dinner we had strawberries, ice cream and cake back at the caravan. The kids singing Happy Birthday at the top of their voices ensured that all our neighbours knew that someone had a birthday.
From Kununurra we head to the Bungle Bungles for some five star accommodation and the Gibb River Road to test the off road capabilities of our rig. More on that next time.
Tig & Thea
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