Barron Falls

Wednesday 31st
We were leaving the dry and entering the rain forests. Yeah! So as we travelled to Ravenshoe the kids were all imaging what it would be like to go down the hills on a quad bike! Then we would drive through a rain forest like we were going through a jungle. It was impressive to look at. We went through Atherton on our way to Mareeba. We got to the camp ground which turned out to be the rodeo grounds and we have just missed the rodeo by 2 weeks! We are either too early or too late! Its a huge area that they have in this busy season and it makes a bit of money for them. It is the cheapest around here, except for free spots which there aren't any near Carins and you get everything you would in a caravan park.
Once we got settled we had lunch then headed to see Kuranda. We looked up going on the train and sky rail from there but it would cost our family about $800 so we thought we might give it a miss and just go see  Barron Falls. Loved walking and driving through the rain forest!

 Instead of signs about cattle, now we have signs about Cassowary. (probably not spelt right!) We saw our first sheep back at Mt. Garnet for a long time.

 The road on the way to Barron Falls.

 A fern on the way to Barron Falls. I love ferns!

 Barron Falls. They were big and specky. They would be great to see in the wet season.

 Everyone just fitted in the picture!

 Walking back to the car.

These big roots give it a jungle feel. These monkeys give it a jungle feel too!
 We are surrounded by coffee plantations here at Mareeba along with Mango and Avacado and Sugar Cane. So we are going to take Tim to a coffee plantation before we leave the area! Also we have found out that friends from EP are up here too. That's just funny.

THE DINOSAUR

Tuesday 30th
It was a little cold again. We really shouldn't complain.
 We have noticed ferral cats around . We had chucked out our leftovers and in the morning they were completely gone!
On the road again. The travelling all day is very costly as we fill up at least once a day and that means about $160. It's a good thing we are able to free camp it or else we would be heading home!
We got to Hughenden and filled up and stopped for a photo with the local dinosaur!

 Here is the dinosaur about to carry my kids away!

We decided to take a cut through road to Cairns which meant turning north from Hughenden. There was some dirt on this road and it was red and sandy with some corrugation. Very dry and some very thin cattle. Hard to see any meat on them. There was no feed where they were either so I guess they are just hoping that they will survive until the wet season comes in. We saw 5 dead pigs on the road and a dead python as well as some kangaroos! We also had to negotiate a single lane bitumen for a while. You had to have half your vehicle off and the edges were quite a ditch as all the traffic had  cut it away. As we neared Mt. Garnet there were more trees and hills. We camped in a free spot east of Mt. Garnet near a river that was flowing quite a lot. The caravan was quite dirty due to being on a dirt road but it saved us some time and kms.

The 3 kids on the double bed all snuggled in as it was a bit cold here, near Mt. Garnet.

Driving East

Monday 29th
We don't need to bring bags with us to shopping! Man this is confusing for me. In Mt. Isa on Saturday we parked ready to go into Woolies and Baylee, Josiah and myself headed in forgetting about our bags. I stopped and said " Hang on I forgot the bags. " We turned to go back to the car and I realised with my lightening fast mind, we are in a new state! I don't know what the go is in this state. So we just stopped and watched someone come out of the shop. They had grey bags, so, that means we don't need to take bags in. So we walked in with no bags. We can find Farmers Union Ice Coffee too so it's looking good for the SA family here!
We left Mt. Isa and headed for the hills. It was quite hilly, rocky and dry. The next town was Cloncurry and again we hear about these towns on Imparja tv and Central 7 tv so it was great to go through them and see them and get a feel for the area. It is dry at the  moment and quite isolated. Through Julia Creek and we started seeing horse trucks heading west. We knew that in 2 weeks time the Mt. Isa Rodeo was on but we thought that might be too long to wait around. Then we found out the next weekend the Cloncurry Rodeo was on but again that would b 7 days for that. So we assumed that these horse trucks were getting to Cloncurry early for the weekend. Then as we came into Richmond at the rodeo yards there, there were a lot of horses and trucks and people riding so we assumed again that maybe there was a horse clinic and people had been at that this weekend and then headed to Cloncurry. A lot of assuming on our part!

This is what we had to look at for a lot of the trip.
 A lot of people wearing big hats around here too! Just very dry all the time we were travelling. Any cattle we saw were thin and didn't have much to eat in their huge paddocks. That night we camped in a free spot in between Richmond and Hughenden.

This was our camp spot.

Swimming Sunday

Sunday 28th
There was just enough time before church to start washing all the bedding. As the kids and I drag 4 garbage bags full of washing to the laundry we often get the comment " the work is never done is it!" This is true. The same jobs need to be tended to and you can never tick these off. They will be back again next week. BUT the weather up here is excellent for drying and I am still appreciating that.
9:30am we were at Isa Community Church. We all enjoyed the service and appreciate how much effort goes into putting church on for us to just rock up and enjoy it from the pew. The notices were a little clip on the screen and were well done with a couple that were very funny. The kids laughed and that was a great way of doing notices, that have to be done every week. You would look forward to that each week when it is like that.  Again great music and a heap of different nationalities there. The preaching was on missions and the Pastor spoke very passionately as he has done a lot of missions trips and says it changes your life seeing how others live. I so agree and this trip has been excellent for showing our family the diversity within Australia and how blessed we are. The Pastor talked about having passion in what you are doing, a purpose and drive. I have seen so many people without a drive, so much so that they are walking dead. Nothing to live for and the days just pass them by. That just makes me sad and I know it is sad for God as He created us to thrive and each person has purpose here on earth. Anyway it was good and again, we are so blessed!
Again it was lunch at McDonalds but we have discovered that we can save nearly $40 if we go to McDonalds for tea instead of lunch. Isn't that crazy! There are family meals that are only for tea and it would save us that much! It has taken us nearly 4 months to work that out. Please don't add up how much we could of saved, I don't want to think about it!!!
As we drove around Mt Isa we are noticing a lot of shops that are advertised on our tv channels back at Minnipa and it is funny to finally see them for real. We are so far from home and could never really make use of the places advertised yet when we see them they are familiar due to the tv. Funny. We are 2 weeks too early for the rodeo here in Mt Isa but we might catch one somewhere else.
We headed back to the caravan finishing off the washing then headed to the pool for a swim!

Looks lovely but it was as cold as surfers beach at Venus Bay! Ahhhh. Manning jumped in, popped up and frantically swam to the steps nearly crying and exclaimed "I HATE THIS WATER"
In the picture is Kimberly, Zane, Baylee laying down, Josiah and Manning bending over.
The rest of the day was taken up with putting clean clothes away, making beds and organising ready to head off tomorrow. Heading for Cairns and may not have signal for a while again.

Mount Isa

Saturday 27th
Not so cold a morning and we were thankful of that! We were on the road and got into Mt Isa at 11:30am and into a caravan park of average price but we got ourselves an ensiute which is nice as we were fairly grotty. I have forgotten how nice, or maybe I didn't really think about it, having your own toilet and shower is. THE KIDS CAN GO BY THEMSELVES. Baylee, Josiah and myself hit Woolies and now we are stocked ready for our next stretch. This took all day.

Queensland

Friday 26th
Man is was hard getting out of bed! Freezing cold! The kids didn't want to get out of bed. We nearly turned around and headed back to Darwin. Instead we turned nearly every gas burner on, started to cook toast and make coffees for everyone even if they didn't want it, cooked teas for the next week and made everyone exhale twice as much! We were in shock. We were not use to this and were trying very hard to avoid it. Where did we go wrong! We had come inland! BUT all my clothes had dried, even the denim shorts. They were just very cold. After our attempts to get warm we finally braved the outdoors and packed up, jumped in the car with jumpers on, all sat on the passenger side of the car where the sun was, leaving Tim on the drivers side and having to keep us on the road. We were off.
At one point on the road side there was a dead cow and as we passed I saw a cat next to the cow eating it. I commented on this and Baylee looked very puzzled for a long time. He then proceeded to ask me what sort of cow it was, then what sort of cat it was and asked if cows eat meat sometimes. I said cows don't eat meat at all. Baylee said he thought that, but why was the cow eating the cat. The whole car load laughed as I said " The cat was eating the dead cow, not the cow was eating the cat."

This is not what it seems. Yes the water is not suitable for drinking and we are filling our 10L up but the tap was so slow that Kimberly offered to sit on it so Tim didn't have to hold it! But it did look a little funny.

We got fuel at the Three Ways Roadhouse. Turned left and headed east. Some trees and shrubs but long stretches of not a lot. Tim and I have discussed what you would do if you were out here with a raging fire coming towards you. No other roads to turn on.

 This is what we had to look at for a long time. A lot of road kill on these roads and they vary from cattle, kangaroos, dog, cat, wedgies.

We pushed on and at 5:30pm NT time we got to the Qld border and took our photo. State number 4 we have been in this year. We made camp at the Georgina River ( like our friend back home) near Camooweal in Qld!

Mataranka

Thursday 25th
Got fuel at Mataranka as well as filled up gas cylinder. Drove out to the Thermal Pool which is near the Mataranka Homestead Resort. You could spend quite a while there too as there is the Roper Creek that you could canoe or swim in.

The thermal pool was very green as if it had copper in it. 34C. We were a bit cold as we got out. Like a bath!

 It was a nice place and we got to see the house that they built for the movie "We Off The Never Never".

This is the house they built for the movie.

 At lunch I tried to train a Kite, bird like a hawk, to come down to get my piece of bread I threw it up in the air, just like the lady did at the wild life park at Berry Springs. It took a while but I did the same thing over and over again and he did it twice for me. I threw it up and he dived out of the sky and hit my piece of bread, making bits go everywhere. I guess he got some but it was a great achievment I thought!
We drove quite a way. Got fuel at Elliot then found a space on the side of the road to camp on. It was about 5pm and just enough time for the kids to go exploring. There were a few rubbish piles and it is amazing what they will amuse themselves with. Manning found a box that he called his home. They found a huge spring that they tied a rope to and when they bounced it it made a loud ringing sound and sprung high in the air.

Josiah found this shirt and sneakers. He was very sad when we said he couldn't take them with him! He is holding the box that Manning called his home.
Now this place was cold. I had washing that I had done in my white buckets in the back of the car so I hung that out and they were only hand squeezed out at 6pm, it was cold but you never know when things might dry!

This was our camp spot that we had all to ourselves!

Edith Falls

Wednesday 24th
Tim and I decided to not go to Twin Falls and Jim Jim Falls as the road was 2hours one way off the main road and the falls were not flowing much at the end of the season and you had to pay to get to them by boat. So the decision was to head to Edith Falls. On the way we stopped at Pine Creek for lunch and fuel and we saw the couple that we met at Kununarra! That's just amazing. They had just done Darwin and were heading to Qld too.
We think that we must be use to hot weather as it was feeling cold at Pine Creek and the temperature was 25C they told us. We were use to 33C.
We got to Edith Falls and had a swim. Got to chat to this couple from Kununarra as they were staying at Edith Falls. It was a big pool and a very nice area. Would of been nice spending a few days there. The water was cooler than Berry Springs but nice once you were in. The kids and Tim swam over to the waterfall and said that was warmer there.

The kids with their noodles ready to swim to the waterfall.

The waterfall in the distance. It was a decent swim over there.

After spending the afternoon there we drove out to stay near the main road with about 20 other vans.

This was our camp site.

And these were the clowns making dish washing a funny time!

 Later on we had to get our jumpers out! They hadn't been out for a long time.

Kakadu

Tuesday 23rd
After a huge effort of packing up we were able to leave before 10am and a little sad goodbye to the place we have called home for 4 weeks and the people that have let us have a taste of what life is like up around Darwin and Berry Springs. They say to truly experience it we have to come back in the wet season!
We drove through Kakadu and stopped at Jabiru, Bowali Visitor Centre.

Look what they had. This amazing creation of a seat. It was very comfortable and smooth to touch. The man that made it just keeps looking for wood and fallen down trees that are the right shape to make what he wants! Very clever.
We drove to Malabanjbanjdju camping area. No I didn't hold down the keys or randomly let Manning have a go at naming a place! We had to fill out a card to say where we were staying. Tim was doing this and he asked me the name of the camp ground. I smiled and handed him the map! What a name. Anyway we unhitched the caravan and drove to Nourlangie rock to look at the Aboriginal paintings on the rock. That was really easy to get to and it was great to see paintings that they had done years ago when they would camp at this rock. The kids kept trying to guess what the paintings were about and how they painted them. It gave us a little idea of how they lived. There were a lot in this area to see so it was worth coming.

At the lookout before we walked to see the paintings.

The angle of these rocks. The breeze was cool coming through here.


Back at the caravan the mozzies were starting to come out and I very rarely get bitten but they were attacking me in what felt like hundreds! So tea was eaten very quick and dishes were done inside! The night was a little cooler than what we were use to at Berry Springs.

Monster Monday

Monday 22nd
Once the decision to go was made we washed as much as we could, kids did some school work but were allowed to work for money when they had finished and it took all day to pack and get organised! We had emptied all the boxes on top of the car so it was like starting from scratch and that was good as we have replaced some things and made other things fit better. One thing I did notice was that we haven't used our bag showers, but it's not the end yet! Tim put new brakes on the back of the car and again used a patch of flat ground out at Ian and Kym's to do that on, which we so appreciated.
So now it is out to Kakudu, Katherine, Mount Isa and across to Townsville then up to Cairns. So the internet coverage will probably be none existent for a while!

Goodbye

Sunday 21st
We enjoyed church again at Cornerstone Baptist and said goodbye to these incredibly friendly people that have made us feel like we were family. We were pretty sure that we were going to finally head on, but really hope that these connections were going to be future connections, somewhere, sometime. God likes to wow us as He smiles at what is to come! We headed to Casaurina and I got some photos of these seats that I would like in my house.

 This one has cow horns on behind. Be great for hanging naughty kids on by the back of their pants! They may think it too much fun though!

 This one is my favourite though.

 I don't know that Tim feels the same. He said they're not that comfortable. But who needs comfort when you have looks! I can fall asleep on anything and I bet these chairs are no exception! There are a few of our kids that are the same as me and we could drape ourselves over those chairs and be as happy as a pig in mud! Snoring in no time!
That night Tim and I had big discussions about when we should leave as there are a group from Balaklava coming up to do handy man work in a school up here and we thought we might be of some help to them but we have decided to move on, as one of our kids said........"how long have we been here?"               Mum...."4 weeks!"      Kid......" Oh, it feels more like a month"                        silence                   smile                                  Mum................." a month is 4 weeks!"                   silence                 Kid............." Oh" 

Picnic Lunch At Berry Springs

Saturday 20th

Manning loved his box he got from the wharf that had his food in it that he wore it as a hat for a lot of the day! Looked like a pilot from the old days!

Adrian and Jenny Cook invited us to come to Berry Springs for a picnic lunch with others that are involved in the Northern Tribes group that goes around helping different communities around here. That was a good time of hearing different people's stories and there was an aboriginal lady there that had raised 4 people from the dead. Some fantastic stories.
We all had a swim and was told that in different places under the water the rocks are hot as it is hot under the ground and that was funny to feel. The ground under your feet under the water was hot!

Jenny made a birthday cake for her daughter as it was her birthday and we all got to try it. No comparison to my upside down ice cream cakes! Hers was yummy and looked great!  Baylee is actually in a towel , not a straight jacket as it looks!

They all made us very welcome and we have enjoyed seeing again another side of what happens up here.
We got back to the caravan with time to have tea and get ready for the outdoor cinema. Again no jumpers were needed. We just sprayed a heap of aerogaurd on and enjoyed!

WWll Tunnels

Friday 19th
We went to our local Woolworths at Coolinga and did our weekly shop up. Tim noticed at the counter that you get 17c off fuel every $100 you spent and we had 3 trolleys to fill up so as soon as we got 1 filled Tim went through the checkout and packed it in the car then came back and I had another one ready for him and then I took the last one through. Tim said that we will save nearly $60 on fuel with 3 dockets! That's a lot of ice coffees!!!!!
After lunch we headed into the city of Darwin to go through the WW ll Oil Tunnels. They were very interesting as they had a lot of WW ll  photos hung up in the tunnel and gave you a bit of an idea of what life was like up here at that time. The tunnel was at least 100m long and it echoed which the kids liked!

 Kimberly heading in the entrance of the tunnels.

 Looking into the entrance of the second tunnel. It's me with Manning on my back.

 Looking down the tunnel with Ethan, Kimberly, Baylee then in the distance that you can hardly see them is Josiah and Zane.

After that we went for a drive through the not so busy streets of Darwin, which  continually amazes us!
Then we headed to Stokes Hill Wharf for fish and chips on the jetty and to watch the Bat fish come and eat chips.

The happy campers with their meal.

And the not so happy campers with Seagull poop on Kimberly's leg and you have guessed correctly........that white spot on the table only a cm away from her drink is also seagull poop!!!! Oh the faces, oh the stories!
What a lovely end to a lovely meal!A little while later we drove home with our windows open and the warm night breeze in our hair. We are loving it!

Thank You Thank You

We just wanted to write and say thank you to all those who helped in preparing us for this holiday, those praying for us, those who are taking a keen interest in our travels and experiences and those looking after everything back home. There has been so many times that we think of different people, something reminds us or we think someone would like this spot. We are so blessed to have the family and friends that we do and God has blessed us and will continue to as He unconditionally loves us. I trust that those that need to hear this will read it as I have not wanted to use names on this blog as I know it goes everywhere , but know that you are so appreciated by our family and know we are enjoying this time so much due to you all. The support and prayers are fantastic. Thank you thank you. God is good all the time.

Litchfield National Park

Thursday 18th
We packed up the car to spend a day at Litchfield. First we had a look at the Bamboo Creek Tin Mine.

 This is Baylee looking at the remains.

 We then drove onto the Cascades. This was lots of little waterfalls with small pools of water to swim in. We keep imagining what the places would look like in the wet season with a huge amount of water coming through. Would be a bit amazing to experience.

 The next waterfall was Wangi Falls but as we got our noodles out and headed off a guy came over to us and said that we couldn't swim as there had been a sighting of a crocodile. So all we could do was look and imagine what it would be like to swim over to these huge waterfalls.

 We headed into the monsoon rain forest to get to the tree tops and as we did the trees were full of loud smelly bats! I thought they were meant to be sleeping during the day! Anyway here we are at the top of the trees. The palms behind are the tops of very tall palms.

 This is looking down into the trees.

 Then we drove to Florence Falls and as we were walking to the waterfalls we walked over this river and again there were heaps of bats in the trees.

 This is Florence Falls and the Plunge Pool. Yes that is someone up the top and he jumped from there as we all watched. A long fall.

 Here is Zane and Josiah. Is that a jet of water coming from Zane's mouth? There were a lot of big black fish swimming around. I kept my feet moving as they would nibble your toes in case you were a piece of bread!

 From left. Zane, Kimberly, Baylee, Josiah, myself, Manning and Ethan. It was a little tricky getting in as there were a lot of rocks until you got to the deep parts. Nice swimming in fresh water as I have said before. There were a lot of people there probably because Wangi pool was closed.

This was the view from the lookout as we walked back to the car. Impressive!

Darwin Museum

Wednesday 17th
Out on the Stuart Highway as we head towards Darwin we go past these planes that are on the side of the road giving some information about the planes that were used in World War 2. There are also a lot of landing strips next to the highway for the planes. So we finally stopped to take a photo of the kids flying them.

Kimberly driving

Baylee driving

Ethan driving

Everyone climbing, pulling, laying, everything except driving!
Then we headed to the shops to get some parts for the caravan, just wear and tear, and some brakes for the patrol. Tim still marvels at the family stickers on our car and the closest one for him that I could find was the mechanic, and that has been what he has ended up doing the most!
After spending some money we found the Darwin Museum which didn't cost anything! They had a lot of animals, stuffed, to look at. A crocodile named Sweetheart, 5.1m long! A section on Cyclone Tracy. Also had a lot of Aboriginal art on display. We then headed home , windows down, hair flowing back in the warm evening breeze. We have heard it is very wet, cold and windy down south, SA which is hard for us to believe up here. So different.