Katherine Gorge

We spent time at 2 gorgeous places south of Darwin the first being Katherine Gorge. Just prior to coming into Katherine we stopped to see our first giant termite mound! They are so strong, and fire resistent, that they were used to crush up and make airstrips out of during the war! We took this fabulous boat cruise up 3 of the gorges, there are over 13 altogether, where we had to change boats twice, one for each gorge with a lovely walk inbetween each one. At the 3rd gorge before heading back we got off and walked to a rock hole with a waterfall for a beautiful swim and morning tea and where one of the rangers captivated us with croc stories -one croc got up onto the tray of a guys ute where he was sleeping in a swag and started dragging him away!! The cage you see is for catching salt water crocs. After each wet season when the water has gone down, the rangers continually monitor the area and remove any salties they find so it can be opened for swimming. However, its always at your own risk! I wouldnt go near the river for swimming regardless and we only swam at rock holes above the river line that were 100% safe. The photo of the croc is a freshwater which although could give you a nasty bite if provoked, are not in the same league as the terrifying salties!

On the road to Darwin!

The drive from Alice Springs to Darwin is 1500kms, broken up every 3 to 4 hundred kms by little towns or more often just a road house and although they're often basic they're a fun part of the whole experience! The caravan parks themselves are usually a big piece of open land where vans etc line up next to each other with a power box next to you, usually no water hook up, and an amenities block that you dont hang around and luxuriate in! Surprisingly though they often have a pool. Our usual routine would be to drive between 830am and 3pm including stops, pull into a roadhouse, stay hooked up to the van so we can head off first thing the next morning (no need to unhitch cos theres nowhere to go except the roadhouse bar anyway!) If theres a pool we cool off cos it got very hot after Alice, poke around the roadhouse and then after dinner the boys would have a game of pool before heading back to the van and bed. We met a lot of lovely people and funny characters at the roadhouses and at one a group of grey nomads we'd been following all day taught the boys how to play disc bowls on a patch of grass amongst the dust pile!
We've passed a lot of road trains (extremely large trucks) but the most exciting are the quads with four carriages and the oversize ones when we have to stop and pull over.
The first photo is of the Tropic of Capricorn. The aboriginal art just suddenly loomed up in the distance -its made from metal, and the art gallery pretty much made up the whole town of Aileron! The aliens are a feature of one town as its supposedly had a number of UFO sitings?!
The photos of the rock formations are the Devils Marbles, very beautiful and geoligically amazing how they came about. Yet again, tooke millions of years!

Anzac Hill, Reptile Centre, Todd River, School of the Air, the Telegraph Station and Adeladide House - Alice Springs

The first photos are from Anzac Hill and as you can see Alice is surrounded by mountains and desert beyond. The most prominent land mass being the MacDonnel Ranges. Such a changeable landscape dependng on the time of year, so hard to imagine it flooded and the Todd River with water in it (the photo of the boys on the sand waving is in the Todd River). The school of the air was really interesting, what an amazing resource for kids living in isolated towns and properties, some over a thousand kms away. Once a term they get together for sporting carnivals and to get to know the voices and faces they see and hear on line. School work packs are flown out fortnightly the completed work being returned for corrections as well as online lessons. They all have a home tutor as well who also receive work packs to help support them and the kids. Most tutors are the parents but some have paid tutors. The Telegraph Station was the first white settlement in the outback of Central Australia and of course was part of a 3000km hand made telegraph line that linked Adelaide to Darwin and thus linked us to Indonesia via an underground cable linking us with the rest of the world within days instead of weeks. It was intially used via pedal powered radios and morse code. We rode our bikes to the station and on the way back followed a beautiful bush track vai the Todd River. The last photo is of Adelaide House, the first hospital set up by John Flynn (the man on our $20 note and commemerated for good reason. An enterprising man with a generous heart) The hospital had a very clever first of its kind air conditioning system. Air travelled in via ducts in the cellar and travelled through wet hesian bags to cool it and then through other ducts up to the hospital rooms. It then continued up and out the vents in the roof as it warmed up again. The original building still stands as do the interior rooms and the cellar etc. There was also a diary and photos on line from the first 2 nurses to work there who travelled for over a week via train and horse and cart from Melbourne. It was very different back then just surrounded by dirt!