Aug 15, 2018 - Singapore to Home

15 August 2018 Good morning Australia! Back on Australian soil, and it feels good. A great welcome home, first by Ian, Gemma & Tim at the airport. Arriving at home, Don starts to unlock, realises the house is unlocked, smells toast, and there are Ben & Jeremy to greet us. They had stayed overnight, and Ben had hidden his car up the road a bit. A lovely surprise. Lots of chatting and catching up before Ian and Gemma had to leave. Ben headed off to work, then Steve & Kylie picked the other boys up to go for a bike ride at Sandgate. Lots of...

Aug 15, 2018 - Hervey Bay, whales and sand islands

Hervey Bay is known for two things - Fraser Island, the world’s largest sand dune island and for whale watching. Humpback whales travel through the bay twice a year as they complete their migration between the Antarctic waters in the summer and the warm tropical northern waters in the winter. For some reason during the migration the whales stop and spend a couple of weeks in Hervey Bay resting, feeding, and fattening up their calves. They claim it is the best place in the entire world for seeing humpback whales. I don’t know if it is the...

Aug 15, 2018 - Alice Springs and surrounds

Alice Springs is flanked by the West and East Macdonnell Ranges and as you drive through they form a gateway into town. The Alice is a modern town with a pedestrianised mall and airconditioned shopping centres. This weekend is the Henley on Todd Annual Regatta in the dry Todd River near town and there is street entertainment as part of the festivities. There are also lots of lovely and expensive Aboriginal Art Galleries and tour companies and overseas tourists. Not too sure why some of the aborigines need to sit on the footpath, they seem...

Aug 14, 2018 - Devil's Marbles, humbug and a large python

We visited the Devil's Marbles which are sacred rock formations to the local aborigines. They are massive granite rocks eroded into relatively round shapes, with some stacked on top of each other. Heading south from here we visited the Barrow Creek Inn. Here the old drovers tradition of signing a bank note and pinning it behind the bar continues, this is so that there would be money available for a drink on your next visit. The other dubious claim to fame is that this is the nearest pub to where Peter Falconio was abducted and killed in...

Aug 12, 2018 - Tennant Creek - hopefully things get better soon

We weren't really prepared for Tennant Creek, it was grim and sad. Lots of closed and boarded up buildings and those that were open had serious security screens. There were mobile police CCTV cameras parked in the street. The town has has been in the news recently for a horrendous crime that has shocked Australia and the world. We missed the Prime Minister's visit by a week, he'd come to talk to the residents about fixing their numerous problems. Living in Sydney we tend to forget that in some places around Australia people have huge...

Aug 10, 2018 - Goodbye Tropics and hello Desert

Leaving Daly Waters we headed for the one time droving town of Newcastle Waters which was a gathering place for drovers on their gruelling overland cattle drives. It is located at the junction of three major overland stock routes, and was an important source of provisions and a place to rest before drovers continued on their way. Pretty much a ghost town now with preserved National Trust historic buildings, there is also a Drover's Memorial Park, featuring a very life-like bronze statue of a drover. It was sad to think that with the...

Aug 6, 2018 - Made it to Darwin - now all we have to do is drive all the way back!

We made it to Darwin where the weather is hot, the grass very green and the breeze off the Timor Sea very welcome. It is very humid and tropical here and this is the dry season! We visited Parliament House which has lovely views out across the sea. The Library next door had a great exhibit about the history of Darwin and the local aboriginal people. We learnt Darwin has been almost entirely rebuilt four times, following devastation caused by cyclones in 1897, 1937 followed by Japanese air raids during World War II, and then Cyclone Tracy...

Aug 5, 2018 - Litchfield National Park

We've always loved Litchfield National Park more than Kakadu so decided to visit it again rather than do both. From the amazing Cathedral and Magnetic Termite mounds at the entrance to the park to the sublime waterfalls and cascades in the park it is a very special place. It was rather hot in the park and the flies allowed us to practice our aussie salutes! We spent two nights at Banyan Tree Resort outside of Batchelor which isn't too far from the park entrance. The word resort is a loose term as we were in a caravan park with onsite...

Aug 3, 2018 - Nitmiluk National Park

We spent a night in Katherine so we could visit Nitmiuk National Park previously called Katherine Gorge National Park. Katherine Gorge, a deep gorge carved through ancient sandstone by the Katherine River, is the central attraction of the park and is made up of thirteen gorges, with rapids and falls, and follow the Katherine River, which begins in Kakadu. We joined an afternoon cruise through the first two gorges and learnt that the gorges and the surrounding landscape have great ceremonial significance to the local Jawoyn people, who are...

Aug 2, 2018 - the Capricorn Coast

We left the city of Cairns and continued south mostly along the Capricorn coast and occasionally heading inland if someplace looked interesting. In Australia, about 90% of the population is along the coastlines and when you venture inland it very quickly changes to rural environments that seem really “out there”. We visited many beach towns including Mission Beach, Townsville, and Airlie Beach. At Mission Beach we took an ocean kayak tour out to Dunk Island. Our guides were Simon and Sierra, two American recent college graduates working as...

Aug 1, 2018 - Iconic Pubs and Hot Springs

We spent a night at the iconic Daly Waters Pub, lots of underwear and business cards and foreign currency hanging everywhere. Lets just say the accommodation, a pub room with shared bathroom was an experience! There are two huge pools and a spa at the complex. We sat in the spa and shared horror renovation stories with our fellow travelers. It seems Sydney tradies are no worse than other states'. There was entertainment with a country and western singer of an evening and what sounded like staff karaoke well into the night. But the night sky...

Jul 30, 2018 - Northern Territory aka Nature's Territory

Leaving Mt Isa in Queensland we set off for our 449 km drive down the road and into the Northern Territory to the Barkly Homestead on Route 66 also known as the Barkly Hwy. Yes it was a long drive but once we crossed into the Northern Territory the speed limit was 130km/hr and with a straight road it wasn't too bad. We stuck to 100 kms/hr due to the age of our little car and broke up the journey with lunch at Camooweal and various rest stops along the way. You meet the most interesting people at rest stops like an English couple who are on...