Day 20 Thursday –
Well I finally finished uploading the blog and adding the photos about ¼ past
12 last night and now we are up at 6.45am to get packed up ready to go to the
Helipad for our flight. Arriving about ¼ to 8 we had a quick briefing whilst
the pilot fuelled the Helicopter ready for our flight, at the end of the
briefing the guy said that the hardest part was now – deciding who gets the
front seat, It was an easy decision as it was Thomas that initiated the flight
and I was just going as he needed an extra paying passenger. Shortly after, we
were in the chopper and I then realised that I should have pulled rank and
taken the front seat as my knees were up around my ears and Thomas couldn’t
touch the front of the floor in his seat! Oh well we are ready to go. Taking
off we banked hard to the right and headed for the Gorge. I was amazed when we
did the cruise up the Gorge at how beautiful it was and now I am equally amazed
at the view from the air. I have been in a chopper before, about 25 years ago
over the 12 Apostles but this was just spectacular. The pilot flew us up over
the first 3 Gorges as per our flight plan but he must have felt generous as he
said “We won’t turn around until we get up to the 5th Gorge”. Once
there he turned around and flew us back down along where we had been, zig
zagging backwards and forwards across the Gorge so that both of us could see
into the gorge and take some photos.
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| Preparing for Take Off |
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| Chief Co-Pilot |
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View of the Gorge from above
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Once back on Terra Firma we jumped back in the car and headed towards
Edith Falls. Nearing Edith Falls I was starting to wonder if we would get in as
it is such a popular place and its school holidays up here. Arriving in the car
park it was Chockers full of caravans, camper trailers, Britz vans and Winnebagos.
There would have been at least 20 lined up waiting to get in after the 10.00
open. I though Shit we will have no hope but I will give it a try and if we
can’t well we could stay the day and have a swim and then move on to a roadside
camp later on. At the Kiosk where you
book in I got to the counter and said is there any chance of 3 sites not
expecting t o get in and the lady looked and said “Hmmm I might be able to
squeeze you in, go and have a look at sites 14, 12 and 8 and see if you will
fit into those ones” John and I went for a walk and had a look and said yeah we
will give it a go although there was a car parked in site 12. I went in first
and parked in site 14 and then we backed Josie into site 8 while we were
waiting for the people in 12 to get back and move. Once Josie was in the site
they still hadn’t moved so I had a look at their booking slip on the dash and
it said that they had another night to go!!!!. John then had to walk back to
the kiosk and let them know he needed another site as they had stuffed up. I didn’t like his chances at this stage as it
looked to be full. In the end they managed to squeeze him into another site
that was a fair bit away but at least it was nice and grassy. Once all that was done, it was time for a
swim, so we grabbed our noodles and headed for the plunge pool at the bottom of
the waterfall. The boys had gone ahead
earlier and Ange and I got to the pool and just as I was getting in the Ranger
said “Are you guys heading out to the waterfall?” and I said “Yeah” he then
said “Can you tell those 2 boys in the red shorts I want to talk to them, they
have been jumping off the rocks” I rolled my eyes and thought Shit. “I said yep
no worries, and he said they might try and sneak off. I guaranteed him that they would come and see
him and he said “Oh do you know them? Are they related?” I said yep they are my
sons and they will be right back here as soon as I get to them, he then said if
they come see me I won’t kick them out of the park. Ange said that she will be
having a piece of them and the Ranger said “don’t forget to leave me a piece”.
So we headed out to the falls to see the boys. At first the water felt a little bit fresh but the body soon
adjusted and off we swam. I caught up to
the boys and told them that they nearly got us kicked out and that they needed
to go and see the Ranger straight away which they did. Out at the waterfall we
swam around and had a few goes at swimming under the falls etc. Josie had
fallen out of her noodle chair and decided that she would try to get back in.
Well I must say I wish I had my video camera going as it was funny as hell
watching her trying to get her bum in the chair with her head under water and
her bum straight up in the air, Mitch thought that she was drowning and Ange,
Tina and I were in fits of laughter. (probably another of those Ya had to be
there times) once we had had enough of that we decided to float back. Half way
back Tina and Josie decide to have a race back, Tina was leading but she was
swimming that fast that she wasn’t watching where she was swimming and she
started to swim down the river instead of back to the steps. Once again another
laugh was had.
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| Edith Falls Plunge Pool |
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| Edith Falls Plunge Pool 2 |
After the swim we dried
off and headed to Tina and Johns van for 5’s. Before we knew it had gotten dark
and the boys headed for the Ranger talk (the informative one this time)to see
the slide show about the park. Josie made some Pizza’s which I cooked on the
Weber. One for herself and one for the boys, I wasn’t hungry and Ange had
flaked it on the bed so she missed out on tea too. Once I had cooked the
Pizza’s I took them down to the boys at the ranger talk and listened to the
second half of it which was very informative and came in very handy later on!.
After the talk I headed back and got the boys swags organised etc and tidied up
a bit while Ange was still asleep. She was soon woken by all the people heading
back from the show and she then got into bed instead of on top of it! I got into bed and was just about asleep and
I heard water / rain hitting the van so I jumped up and had a look only to find
the sprinkler system had started and was soaking Mitch in his swag. I hopped
out and helped Mitch move his swag out of the way of the sprinkler and as I was
heading back to the van I saw a 6ft Brown Banded Tree snake (I only knew what
it was because of the slide show at the Ranger talk, told you it was handy hey)
Mitch jumped up and took some photos of it slithering around near Thomas’s Swag
(Thomas didn’t wake up for it). I then hopped back into bed only to hear a loud
screeching baby crying sound, Ange said what was that? And I informed her that
the sound she heard was a stone feathered Curlew screech. (Another handy tip I
got from the Ranger talk) Ange was very impressed with all my knowledge of
these things Ha Ha. Soon after it was
sleep time.
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| Our late night visitor - The Red Banded Tree Snake. |
Day 21 Friday – Not
in too much of a hurry to get up this morning and had a bit of a lay in till
about 9.00. Thomas came in and said he was hungry so I told him to fire up the
Weber and cook some bacon and eggs, He has become quite a Chef on this trip and
very soon I was handed a plate of crispy Bacon and 2 perfect eggs on
toast. What a way to start the day.
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| Weber MasterChef. |
After Brekky we decide to do the walk to the top falls, It was too difficult
for John so Tina and John stayed behind for a swim in the Plunge pool while
Josie, Ange, the boys and I headed to the top. Along the way we stopped at the
lookout and took some photos of the top waterfalls and pools and marvelled at
the scenery.
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| View of the Top Pools from the Lookout |
By now the temperature was about 32 degrees and it was only 11.30
so we didn’t hang around long at the lookout and headed for the Swimming
holes. Edith falls was one of the places
that I really couldn’t wait to get back to and these swimming holes are one of
the reasons. The water is so clear and refreshing and the scenery so fantastic,
I just love it here. I want to stay for weeks!
The boys had the goggles again and Mitch didn’t waste any time finding
the cave that we swam through last time and headed there to do it again. Ange
couldn’t watch so she headed in a different direction while we swam through a
couple of times.
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| Edith Falls Top Pools |
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| More great scenery of Edith Falls Top Pools. |
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| Top Pools Waterfall |
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| Edith Falls Top Pool Waterfall |
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| Josie enjoying the Top Pools Waterfall |
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| Group Selfie under the waterfall |
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| Caught my first "Barra" at Edith falls top pool. |
After a couple of hours we headed back down to the Plunge pool
for a swim with Tina and John and then back to the vans for 5’s (God we love
our drinks and nibbles). This time we
managed to cook a tea of Steak and oriental rice afterwards even though we
still pigged out on nibbles during 5’s. After tea we went for showers and I had
a much needed shave, I then packed a bit of stuff up in readiness for an early
leave in the morning and off to bed.
Day 22 Saturday -
Alarm going off at 6.45 wakes us up so we can get on the road to Wangi
Falls. I know that we have to be there early just to get a camp, especially
with 3 vans. John had to wake up some bloody German tourists that arrived at
10.00 the previous night and parked right in his road and he couldn’t get out.
That delayed us a little bit but we still hit the road by ¼ to 8. Stopping at
Adelaide River we fuelled up and continued on to Wangi, arriving at about 10
past 11 we started to find some camps. Driving around I got Josie to take the
first one we found and John the second,
I then continued searching with no luck! They were all taken. I decide to do
another lap and luckily I found a couple just hooking on to leave, Last
available site Yay, we are in. The sites here are very small and the roads
narrow so to get such a big van in, it took a bit of manoeuvring with lots of
spotting by Ange and the boys to make sure I got in without a scratch on the
Car or Van but we did it successfully. Setting up Mitch found that the ensuite
door on the van had come off the tracks as they hadn’t clipped it in before
leaving, so out come the tools and a repair job needed Magyver to the rescue
once more. After setting up we headed to
the falls for a swim. Along the way they had a free WiFi point and as there is
no phone, TV or Radio service out here I stopped to check the footy score and
found that Hawthorn were one point down at Qtr time. I continued on for my swim
and to marvel at the beautiful falls. Once again the water was refreshing but
really I can’t complain as it is June and if I was at home I certainly wouldn’t
be looking at swimming anywhere!. After a good paddle around in the noodle the
boys and I climbed into another waterfall cave hole where the water running off
the hot rocks into this hole made it quite warm so I just lazed away in there
for a while.
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| Wangi Falls |
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| John enjoying the scenery of Wangi Falls |
At the end of the swim I dried off and was keen for a footy score
only to find I couldn’t connect up and the WiFi was shit! (so even as I type
this up the next morning I still don’t know if my beloved Hawks had a win).
Back to the van to find that Tina and Johns Sink tap had come out so I grabbed
my trusty tool box and headed off to do some more repairs. Tap fixed and time
for 5’s so we all sat down and had a couple of beers and nibbles before tea.
Once back from 5’s Ange started on the salads while I cooked some snags on the
Weber (nothing cooks a snag like a Weber). After tea Ange and I went and did
the dishes before heading back for a coffee with Tina, John and Josie.
I then Sat own and did some blog until my
laptop went flat and off to bed.
Day 23 Sunday - Lazy morning today, stayed in bed till 9.30
ish before going down to Tina and Johns for a coffee. About 10.30 we decided to
get organised and do some touristy things, so we packed some salads for lunch
and headed off exploring. First stop was Tolmer falls where we walked down to
the lookout as it’s been blocked from visitors going down into the falls due to
a rare species of Bat that lives in the cave. Next we headed off to the Lost City, the track
is signed as 4WD only but you could have driven a Ferrari in there as the track
was just a bit dusty no real 4WD experience at all. The track was 10 klm long
so it took a while to get in there due to the corrugations and when we got
there it was still a nice sight to see. We wandered around the rock formations
for a while and took a group selfie by sitting my phone in a fork in the tree
as a tripod and putting it on timer. When you need to you can get by with a
little bit of thought LOL.
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| The Lost City Litchfield National Park |
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| Tina and John enjoying The Lost City |
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| Group Selfie at The Lost City |
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| The Original Selfie Stick! |
Next stop was the Termite mounds where we took some
photos of the big Termite mounds and read about the way that they build them
and why.
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| Large Termite Mound |
By this time we were getting a bit hot so it was swim time and we hit
the road for Buley Rockhole and Florence Falls for lunch and a dip. Once again
this place didn’t disappoint, the water was bloody magnificent, hopping from
rock hole to rock hole and soaking in the refreshing water is just divine. After
a while we went for a walk along the 1.5klm track to Florence falls for a dip
there. When we got there Josie, Tina and John were at the lookout so we
borrowed Josie’s car and drove back to Buley Rockhole and picked up our car as
I was thinking that the walk back was going to be a bit much in this 32 degree
heat. (I know, I know don’t complain about the heat in front of all the people
back home freezing in 5 degree temperatures) Once the car was retrieved we
walked down the 135 stairs to the bottom of the falls and jumped in for a swim.
Ange floated in a noodle chair and the boys and I shared the goggles around to
explore the underwater world where we saw lots of Brim and these other little
striped fish as well as watching people jumping from various rock ledges. I was
just sitting there minding my own business when all of a sudden I felt this nip
on my leg, ouch bloody thing, what was that? So I stayed there and watched this
little bloody striped fish sneak up and bite me! Cheeky little bugger, he even came back for
another go.
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| Buley Rockhole |
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| Buley Rockholes |
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| Ange about to have a dip at Buley Rockholes |
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| MItch and Thomas enjoying the Rockholes |
After we finished at Florence Falls and Buley Rockhole we
headed back to camp. here we had a walk down to Wangi Falls and took some pics
before we cooked up some Hotdogs and scalloped potatoes along with some other
vegies for tea. Once tea was had we headed down to Tina and Johns where we had
a few drinks and polished off a bottle of Tokay along with having a few laughs
before bed.
Day 24 Monday – Up early to pack up and hit the road but the
only snag was the van was in a very tight park and it took several goes to manoeuvre
it out without any damage. All good, as we travel to Darwin to spend a few days
catching up and resetting for further adventures. Arriving in Darwin we pull up to the Robbie
Robins reserve and phone the manager to book our sites only to hear him say
“sorry we are all full”. Shit, we better try somewhere else so after calling 4
other parks only to be told the same thing I decide to ring the Robbie Robins
reserve again to find out when sites will be available and he says “Where are
you” and I tell him that I am parked out the front so he tells me to wait there
and he will come see me. He then comes out and says I have 2 vacancies with
power and that’s it so we decide to take those and get Josie into one of the other
parks that had a vacancy for a small van. Once inside the reserve John has a
look at his site and says that he can easily fit Josie’s van in on his site if
the manager will allow it. After seeing the manager he agrees to let Josie go
on the same site so in the end we all get to stay together. Once we are set up
we head into town to have a look around and do some shopping for supplies, we
drop the boys off at the free water park and the rest of us head to Bunnings,
BCF and Reece Plumbing before heading back and picking up the boys from the
water park. Back at camp we had 5’s with
one of Josie’s old friends Rhonda Powell where Tina decided to over indulge in
a bottle of sparkling Red before heading in to the Waterfront and grabbed fish
and chips for tea. Once tea was done we headed back to the van and had showers
before bed.
Day 25 Tuesday – John, Josie and I were up early today as
Josie and I had our cars booked in for services and John was booked in for his
own service (His treatment at the hospital) so I dropped my car off then left
John at the hospital and went and picked Josie up from the Isuzu dealer.
Stopping into a caravan place on the way back to camp Josie purchased some
caravan stuff and we went back to the van for a coffee and I did some repairs
on Josie’s van. After lunch we headed into the Casuarina plaza to do some more
shopping, Kmart, Big W, and City Beach before I went and picked up John from
the hospital and we went back to Bunnings for some plumbing stuff for Tina and
Johns Van. I then picked up our car from the service along with a couple of
blocks of beer to replenish the Waeco. Back at camp I fixed Tina and John’s
drainage and then we headed to the Darwin Ski Club for tea with Lindsay,
Michael and Tracy whom we met at Coober Pedy and Daly Waters Pub. Josie
organised it as it would have been her partner Michaels Birthday who passed
away last year. A great night with
beautiful food and great company was had by all.
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| Sunset from the Darwin Ski Club |
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| Group shot at the Ski Club |
Day 26 Wednesday - NT
Day, It seems that every second shop has a licence to sell Fireworks today.
It’s a one day only situation where you can buy fireworks and set them off
between 6.00 and 11.00 and it appears every man and his dog has spent up big.
John and Thomas head off to the Aviation Museum whilst Mitch and I hit the
fishing tackle stores in search of a Barra Rod for Mitch. Rod found and
purchased, Aviation museum done, we have some lunch before we all set off for
the Darwin Museum. We have been before but it is still a great place to visit,
Tina, John and Josie loved the exhibitions especially the Cyclone Tracy one.
From here we headed to the underground oil tunnels for look, this really
appealed to John who was amazed at the engineering and the size of them. Back to camp, to get ready for the Mindil
Beach Market. Being NT day the place was going to be busy, but when we got
there it was packed, we had to park about a Klm away and walk from there. At
the market we wandered around the stalls looking at the food and goods on sale
but the crowd was just doing our heads in, It was like sheep herding and I felt
like being a sheep dog and climbing on top and running over everyone like in
Crocodile Dundee! As the sun was starting to set we headed up to the beach and
took some photos of the Majestic Sun as it settled over the horizon. Only
problem was there was about 20,000 others there doing the same thing, sort of
took away the romantic theme of watching the sunset with Ange whilst there was
a crowd that would nearly fill the MCG.
Managed to get some great photo’s tho and then went and grabbed some
tea, listen to Jessica Mauboy perform and then be taken in by one of the best
Firework displays I have ever seen. From 6.00 there were personal public
fireworks constantly going off all around as far as the eye could see, but once
Jess Mauboy had finished, the actual proper fireworks display started and it
was unbelievable, it went on for at least half an hour to 45 minutes non stop
and it smashed any other I have ever seen.
As soon as it stopped we raced back to the car to try and beat the rush
and head back to camp. Time for bed!
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| Mindil Beach Market Sunset, with the rest fo the Darwin Population!!!!! |
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| Mindil Market Fireworks NT Day |
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| Mindil Market Fireworks NT Day |
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| Mindil Market Fireworks NT Day |
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