Kate's first Barramundi

Kates 1st Barramundi catch at 61cm

One of the many turtles at Howard Springs

After enjoying  the beautiful sunsets and great swimming spots, it was time to say goodbye to Darwin. Heading South we stopped in at Howard Springs for a look, no swimming was allowed I think because of the algae content, but we did get to see turtles swimming and even a rather large snake in the water.  We dropped into Riedy’s lure factory on the way past as we remembered this spot from our last visit to Darwin about 13years ago. Of course it was not as good and extremely expensive.



Boxing crocodile on Adelaide River

We found the turn off to Kakadu just down the road and now we were heading East. We stopped in at the Window to the wetlands, which was set up well for kids a very interactive display of life in the wetlands in Kakadu. 

Watching the sunset at Couzens lookout



We wanted to head to the famous Shady Camp which is on the Mary River and a well known Barramundi fishing spot. We decided to take the Hardy’s 4wd track, which proved to be a real 4wd track. But well worth the fantastic drive. We saw so much wildlife; birds, wild pigs and piglets, horses, Jabiru’s, wallabys and ducks. There were so many billabongs loaded with water lillies to pass by just riddled with bird life. During the wet season the area we drove thru would all be under water as you could see the cracks in the dirt from when it all dried up. Emma was really amazed by this and took photos of the ground. With windows down and the girls and I all had our cameras on hand we were taking lots of photos on this amazing and gorgeous country side.

Water lillies in Mary River

Watching the fire across the Mary River

We arrived at Couzens lookout in time to watch the amazing sunset over the water lilly filled billabong. The colours were just spectacular. We camped at the day use area here as the campground did not offer the million dollar views that we desired. As the sunset the glow of a distant fire grew brighter and brighter and then the hundreds of mosquitoes took charge, so it was an early night. That was the first really hot night we have had on our trip, we slept with all the covers of the window screens camper unzipped (first time this trip).  We all hoped on the double bed that night and watched the fire across the billabong in the distance glow, it was just magic. 



Morning view from our bedroom window at Couzens Lookout



The next morning we woke just before sunset, the weather had not cooled much that night. Watching the colours of the morning here is just magnificent, the sky is just so blue and with the earth being such a rich red orange colour the changing redness of the sunrise is awesome. There were hundreds of mosquitoes just hovering our tent screens so we decided to enjoy the sunrise from inside the tent as once the sun is up luckily the mosquitoes disappear.

  

Breakfast in bed

One of the larger crocodiles

We arrived at shady camp later that day.  Shady camp is on the Mary River and has a barrage which separates the saltwater side and the freshwater side to fish. As the barrage had been damaged during the last wet season fishing in the saltwater side was limited to high tide only due to access. Luckily we got there on high tide and had a small window to fish the saltwater side. Besides seeing lots of crocodiles and some very large ones we had no luck with the fishing. The weather seemed to be getting so much hotter and humid we were sweating.  We set up camp under the shade of a tree and spent the afternoon drinking cool drinks and playing cards. Another hot night with loads of mosquitoes but this time we had set up our screen tent to sit in and watch the mosquitoes hovering.  Shady camp is also well known for the mass of mosquitoes as well so we knew what we were in for.



Our 2 trailer rig





Jabiru with his dinner - a fresh barramundi



Kates big catch - Well done

Hoping that the hotter weather would encourage the Barramundi to feed more we put the boat in on the freshwater side and spent the morning fishing. There was so much bird life this side and also lots of water lillies, the freshwater side was more scenic. A fantastic catch by Kate hooking up and pulling in a 61cm Barramundi all by herself, we all cheered with excitement and photos to capture this wonderful effort. Kate was very excited and pleased with herself.

Of course about half an hour later Emma had to then pull in a 76cm Barramundi, it was a great show as he gave a good fight and took a bit to land.



Emmas 76cm Barramundi



Emma and Kate caught the Barra today

After a successful morning of fishing, we packed up the boat and headed for Kakadu.

Darwin

Crocodile beer can boat





Police patrolling the heavy drinking at the regatta



 Heading into Darwin, we turned on the radio and got a real radio station to listen to. But we also got to hear what was happening in Darwin. The annual beer can regatta was happening today at Mindal Beach, that was where we were heading for the afternoon. The beer can regatta is so typical of the year round drinking that goes on in Darwin, due to the warm to hot climate all year round. All the creative boats were made from beer cans, we quite liked this crocodile creation. Many hours of drinking was involved with the making of this creation.

After strolling the beach we checked out the famous Mindal Beach markets which were just like any big markets really but watching the sunset from the beach I guess is what makes them.
 

Mindal Beach

We spent 5 days in Darwin loving the Sunsets, swimming facilities and the perfect weather conditions.
The second day we were there we discovered the Leanyer Recreation Park, then we visited this every day. A free park with playground, water playground, huge pool and best of all 3 waterslides. We spent many hours there going down the slides and swimming, awesome facility for Darwin.



Kate drawing a frilled neck lizard at the Museum

 The Darwin Museum was fantastic, again we visited this more than once. There were all species of creatures, birds, butterflies, fish, snakes and much much more. A great display of cyclone Tracy which taught the girls a lot about cyclones. There was a maritine museum with so many different timber boats and a few Indonesian style boats. Of course there were aboriginal arts and crafts and then a section which displayed the talents of some local year 12 students. This place is well worth a visit.


Emma's crocodile catch at Darwin Museum

Darwin wharf

 We had to visit the Darwin Wharf to have dinner. Sitting on the edge (lucky we lost no girls over the side) watching the huge fish swimming around just waiting for someone to throw them some dinner. I tried a camel burger, Darrin tried a crocodile burger and the girls had a kids seafood pack. We were lucky enough to run into a family we know from the girls school at home, they were holidaying in the NT for the school holidays. It was good to catch up on what is happening at home and school.

We caught the end of the sunset on the first day we were there and just amazed. The sun is so rich in colour and huge as it fades in the horizon. So it was our daily ritual to watch sunset. We had a mixture of cloudy and clear skies which both looked fantastic but also the colours looked so different. And the after glow was just as magic.

Sunset at East Point



Sunset at Fanny Bay

We got to catch up with some friends we met when we worked in Darwin on our first trip. The kids had a ball together and after 13 years it was great to see where everyone was up to.

Cullen Bay Marina



The girls helping inspect the boat



We had a stroll down the Cullen Bay Marina, we were lucky enough to see a sailing boat coming in. He had travel through international waters so he had to be quarantined. We were talking to the inspectors as the boat arrived and they explained to the girls what their jobs were to do. One of the inspectors had to dive under the boat and put a solution over the boat to kill off a particular weed which is harmful to out waterways.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Darwin, such a relaxed city with great facilities.

Litchfield National Park

Florence Falls

On the way to Darwin we visited Litchfield National Park to see one of the benefits of a big wet season they get up here. Falls, falls and more falls to see and no two falls were the same. There was so much crystal clear, croc free water to enjoy and cool us down. We had a wonderful time doing a lot of the walks around this park and swimming every hole we could to cool down.
Buley rock holes was a great swimming spot, although very popular we managed to find a not too crowded spot to swim. We did the walk from Buley to Florence Falls and saw some more swimming holes on the way. Then we arrived at the top of Florence falls, it is a massive drop and spectacular to see, we swam in one of the more secluded swimming holes above the falls.



Crowd at Buley Rock Hole



But we found a spot to swim















Having seen a ranger we asked him about the Sandy Creek 4wd track and lucky for us it was just opened that afternoon so we were the second tourist vehicle to travel to Sandy Creek and camp for the season. It was a top little campground and the falls were the most spectacular in the park in our opinion. The walk along the creek to the falls was beautiful featuring many nice cascades and swimming holes to try out.

Sandy Creek Falls

Our camp at Sandy Creek

The girls enjoyed climbing up, around and thru the rock formations of the lost city. And also discovering Blyth Homestead and learning about the way of life for the Blyth family with their 12 children and the hardship they endured during the years they mined for tin in this area. There was another larger old tin mine in the park which showed the girls more about how the tin was mined and processed. They collected their pieces of tin from the ground to bring home.
 

The lost city



Blyth Homestead



Old tin mine

 
Another walk we did was the cascades walk which was magic, nice and cool walking along the crystal clear creek to the falls. Above the falls were cascades and swimming holes to enjoy. We spent a few hours here swimming and the girls both enjoyed jumping off the falls into the deep hole below. Kate surprised us when she started doing summersaults.


Jumping at the cascades waterfall



Kate's summersault action



 



We have seen so many wonderful places in Litchfield now it was time to head to the big city of Darwin. On the way we found a field of termite mounds to camp by and were joined by Roxford and Allie who are a couple who we met on a walk at Lawn Hill and were lucky enough to see them again before we entered Litchfield. We enjoyed their company for the night and Allie spoilt the girls.



Camping at the termite mounds



It was Sunday morning and we were keen to go to the Mindal Beach markets in Darwin so we packed up camp relatively early. Driving past Berry Springs on the way, we could not resist stopping for a swim. It was a great surprise when we felt the springs and they were warm, an early morning bath!!! Darrin, Roxford and the girls enjoyed snorkelling and finding all sorts of treasure in the springs.

Berry Springs





Hot Springs - Mataranka



Whats this grey stuff???

After weeks of enduring dusty roads our troopy, camper and boat featured a layer of red dust, but it also had character about it. Driving along the bitumen was certainly a different experience. Shortly after we hit Mataranka amoungst all the other sparkling clean rig where we really stood out amoungst the crowd. First stop was the 9.30am barramundi feeding at Territory Manor  where the girls really enjoyed watching the big Barra swimming and both the girls were lucky enough to be picked from the crowd to feed the Barra. We learnt some interesting facts about Barra here; they do not like a sudden drop in temperature, if it is a sudden drop they can die. That explained why we saw dead Barra floating in the Little Bynoe River, there had been a cold snap in that area before we arrived.

Emma feeding the Barra

Morning Tea at Territory Manor

Because we were back in civilisation, we thought we we buy some morning tea at the territory manor cafe. The girls had sarsparella spiders (icecream and sarsparella) and we had fresh scones, jam and cream, yummo.

Feeding the donkeys at territory manor

Mataranka hot springs

Time to hit the hot springs for a dip, Mataranka Hot Springs are more of a commercialized area where they have concreted the edge and built steps to get into the crystal clear hot spring. The temperature was warm and we spent a couple of hours soaking all the dirt from our pores and chatting to fellow tourist.

Bitter springs

Bitter springs are the other hot springs in Mataranka and they  have been left as a  more natural pool and have a nice flow to them so we rode the current from the top to the bottom of the swimming area. The water here is unbelievably clear which makes a great spot for snorkelling.

We did manage to find a tap we could connect our hose to and spent an hour just washing the troopy and camper.  We got rid of all the red dirt from the surface, we will attempt of all hidden crevices another day. It was sooo nice to unzip the camper cover without getting red dirt all over your hands and clothes.

Very muddy and worn bearings

Driving along the bitumen also meant we could hear the troopy wheels making noises, so I think it was time for some tender loving care.  After taking our troopy over thousands of kilometres of dirt and many many many creek crossings, there had to be some maintenance done.  Darrin checked the bearings on the car and found that they were in desperate need of changing.