Maier's Adventure 2012

Sunday, 3 June 2012

Alex's Diary - Week 4

Day 22 – Wednesday – 23/5/2012 - Mataranka Springs Day 2

I woke up and read Harry again. It’s really all I do. We went for a swim. We timed how fast each of us were swimming 15 metres. Mum = 16 seconds, Lachie 28 seconds, Dad = 22 seconds and I took 22 seconds. We came back and had the left over pancakes from yesterday and apricot on toast. I read 100 pages of Harry and then it was lunch time. We had a holiday lunch, I read my book some more and then we went to the pool to join up to a walking track that went to the Waterhouse River, then Stevies Hole and finally Rainbow Springs. We finished and then came back for a swim. I played with my friends and played shoulder wars. I was the judge. When we came back we had dinner. We watched Queensland beat the blues and went to bed.

FACT: In the early morning steam comes off the water because the water is warm but the outside is cold.

Day 23 – Thursday – 24/5/2012 - Mataranka to Gagudju (Kakadu)

We woke up and packed up. Once I actually woke up, there had been a couple of very loud noises. We finished up and had 1 final swim to say goodbye to Mataranka. We had breaky when we hit the road. When we got to Katherine we did a big shop and got our lunch from Brumbies. Lachie posted some postcards and we were off again. We arrived and set up. It was stinky hot, about 31,32 degrees! We had a swim in the main pool and spa. It was very refreshing. I had a shower, ate dinner and went to bed.

FACT: Did you know that Katherine is the birth place of Cadel Evans, the Tour de France winner of 2011!

Day 24 – Friday – 25/5/2012 – Gagudju (Kakadu)

Today we woke up and got dressed at 6.00 in order to get on to the first tour which departed at 6.45am. It took place on the East Alligator River and surrounding floodplains. I learnt:

· Crocs can hold their breath for 2 hours!

· A male croc grows all its life.

· The survival rate of a croc is 1 percent.

· Crocs can jump 3-4 metres out of the water!

· Crocs are on their own from day 1.

· Crocs are probably the biggest predator of their own species.

· Even barramundi will eat a small croc!

And I saw:

· A white bellied sea eagle which is the 2^nd largest raptor (A raptor is a bird that holds its prey with its claws).

· Lilys that water can’t penetrate! They were used for carrying water and would make a good umbrella.

· The buffalo grass looks like normal grass but heaps of crocs hide in it. Its roots are 3-4 metres long and needs water underneath it or it will die off.

Once we got back it was 9.00 and we had a hotel breakfast. I had toast, fruit, bacon, a sausage and hash browns. We went for a play at the playground and Mum set me an obstacle course. We went back to the tent and drove to Nourlangie where we did a 1.5km walk going to a lookout, then Anbangbang Shelter, Incline Gallery, the Anbangbang Gallery and finally the Gunwarddehuarde Lookout. We saw the lightning man. He makes the thunder and his children make the lightening. Anbangbang Shelter featured beautiful rock art as well as two spots with shelters. We went to Ubirr rock and did a 1 kilometre round walk. We saw the rainbow serpant where a ranger talked about the aboriginal relationships between each other. They have complex relationships such as the Husband can’t talk to the mother in law and brothers and sisters are not allowed to talk to each other when they reach twelve.

Another ranger talked at the main art gallery under a shelter which featured x-ray vision of their illustrated menu. They paint with different rocks. They grind them up and add water and then use sticks as their paintbrushes. They showed us x-ray vision and the best parts to eat on things like barramundi and turtles! They’re good artists!

We walked to the top where we had nibblies and a soft drink. We walked back to the car, drove back and went to bed.

FACT: The Kakadu has 6 seasons, Yegge, Banggereng, Gudjewg, Wurrgeng, Gurrung and Gunumeleng. Yegge is cool weather time and the wetlands are covered with water lilies. Banggereng is harvest time and most plants are fruiting. Gudjewg brings monsoons and spear grass grows up to 2 metres tall! Wurrgeng is the early dry season where most creeks stop flowing! Gurrung is the hot dry season and brings hunting time for file snakes and long neck turtles. Gunumeleng is the pre monsoon where streams begin to run. Yegge = May to June, Banggereng = April , Gudjewg = December to March, Wurreng = Jue to August, Gurrung = August to October and Gunumeleng = October to December. We cam in Yegge which makes it obvious why it its cold today!

Day 25 – Saturday – 26/5/2012 – Gagudju (Kakadu) Day 2

We woke up, me quite late. I had a late breaky after reading the 4^th Harry Potter for a while. We went to the cultural centre. I learnt:

· Aboriginals used string to communicate to help kids to understand their stories. They made special shapes to represent different things and animals.

· They used string to make baskets that normally take 3 hours to weave.

· When ever they hunted there was a person up in the tree to warn of any danger.

· That spear grass can grow up to 2 metres tall.

· The same blood type cannot marry each other.

· There was mining done in the Kakadu and aboriginals had different views on it. Some didn’t like it because they worked really hard and got nothing out of it but others loved it and got high income. I don’t like it because it wrecks the environment.

We went into the souvenier shop where I got a T-shirt with aboriginal art on it and Grandma an oven mit and a pot mit both with aboriginal art on them. We rode back and rode around the caravan park. Once we finished we had lunch and a candy cane. We went for a swim where I did some obstacle courses with most taking 2 to 3½ minutes. We finished that, had a shower, I read my book and went to bed.

Day 26 – Sunday 27/5/2012 – Gagudju (Kakadu) to Darwin

I woke up and got dressed. We had a quick breakfast. We packed up and got on the road at 10.00. While we were crossing the South Aligater River we was a crocodile floating underneath us. We walked across the bridge and saw it close up. I would have been 3 metres at least! We got back in the car and headed off again. We arrived and set up very quickly. We had a quick swim and me and Lachie played “seahorse duels”. I even got knocked off my horse once! We jumped in the car and went to Mindle Markets. We strolled around the stalls for a bit and saw the different stalls. We went to a massive blow up slide. We paid 5 bucks and had a go on it. It was fantastic and it was a down bump type of thing. I took 5 seconds to get down to the bottom! It was really fun! We went back and bought what we had for dinner and Dad went back and got the picnic rug. I had 2 calamari rings, half a potato spiral and some chips. I went and got a single scoop of rainbow ice-cream in a waffle cone for dessert. Mum got an adult slushie and we all had some of that. It had ice, condense milk and coconut milk on the top along with raspberry and pineapple syrups! On the bottom there is jelly and different fruits and beans. It was a delicious Malaysian dessert. We went back with full bellies and went to bed.

FACT: 131 crocodiles have been caught in the Darwin harbor so far this year!

Day 27 – Monday 28/5/2012 – Darwin Day 1

We woke up and I had a lie in after a sleep in! I had an extra late breaky. I played action figures and cars for Lachie. We went for today’s outing and bought lunch from a bakery. We went to the East Point to eat it. It had a spectacular view over the harbor and buildings surrounding. I loved eating my sausage roll, cheese and bacon roll and my sausage looking out at the harbor. I got back in the car and drove to the Military Museum. It had a gigantic weight to weigh down the net that stopped submarines coming into Darwin Harbour as well as movie screens showing stories of people who survived the bombing! There was an interactive touch screen that showed the different stages of the war and where and when Japan extended and were forced back! It was really good because you choose what you wanted to see! There was a massive interactive screen that really helped capture the war for me. You selected different stories from someone and it shows you their version of the war! I loved it and spent a lot of time on it! We went to the cinema room that had a siren over the top of it. There were glass cabinets that held artefacts of the war…and suddenly burst into a movie! It had the light on the top on to make it seem more like the real thing! That was what gave me the perfect understanding of the war. I think aircraft dropping bombs was the main thing of the war in Darwin and the main vessel the aircraft carriers. I walked around afterwards and saw all the artefacts in the cabinets. We watched part of a movie and went to the things like the tanker and a gunners position under the plane outside. We also went to a big gun with a lookout above it. It was used to sink ships in the harbor. I am still worried and sad about the war. It would have been scary and dangerous living in Darwin at that time! I would have hated it and am glad I’m not in the army!

We went back down and got in the car and went to BCF where we got a cupboard. We then went to Telstra while Lach and Mum went to the doctor. We came back and me and Lachie had a battle on noodles in the pool! We came back, had dinner and went to bed.

FACT: In WW2 Germany broke their peace treaty which they signed after WW1. Japan fought with the Allies in WW1 but changed sides to fight with Germany in WW2.

Day 28 – Tuesday - 29/5/2012 – Darwin Day 2

We woke up and had breaky. I played cars for Lachie and we went for the days outing. We drove to the starting point and began to walk the heritage trail. I saw the ruin of the Town Hall after cyclone Tracy badly damaged it. It was a ruined ruin and the walls were about my height. However the back wall was still standing strong. I’m amazed that cyclones can be that bad as the building was made of cement and stone. We saw the thinking tree with fourteen brass bells. We tapped each one with Dad’s car keys and they all made different sounds. One was actually bigger than Lachie! We walked along the waterfront to Stones Wharf. The water looks beautiful and it must be frustrating not being able to swim in it. The water was so clear we saw 2 box jellyfish and their stingers! We saw tugboats that came from Singapore. We made a joke that Dad came from Singapore because he sing-a –pore song! We walked back to the wave pool and Dad set us some strategic challenges. We got back to the car and drove home. We had lunch and got into my cosies. We drove to the wave pool and jumped into it. When the waves were on it was warm and fun however there was nothing to do. I went in a ring with Lachie and Dada and floated over the massive waves getting toppled over several times! Lachie got out and me and Dad swam out to the back. We swam against the waves and with them for the first lot. When I swam I got to the top and did a stroke in mid air. It was really fun! I found it difficult to body surf in though. On the second lot we found the highest peak in the waves and floated up and down them. Mum took photos of me punching the air. We walked through the shopping Mall and played “step on every circle”. We went to “Tim’s” for dinner and I tried crocodile! I hate it. I had nuggets and chips. We drove back and went to bed.

FACT: Cyclone Tracy swept through Darwin in 1974 flattening a lot of the city. A lot of Darwin has been rebuilt.

Friday, 1 June 2012

Week 4 – Mataranka to Litchfield National Park…with Kakadu and Darwin inbetween….

So we pulled ourselves together after the Blues Origin 1 loss and packed ourselves up ready to head up in to the Kakadu.. The great thing about staying so close to the thermal springs was that once packed up it was just a short walk to one last farewell swim at what to date had been perhaps the most relaxing few days of the trip this far.

So ever onward and northward we went, stopping to stock up in Katherine before arriving at our campground for the next 3 nights at Gagidju in Cooinda, Kakadu National Park. Now we had been a smidgeon nervous about the whole camping with crocs thing. Dan had advised me just make sure the fire stays burning but we didn’t have a fire. We checked in and proceeded to the unpowered tent sites slightly curious given the guy at the desk had answered my very touristy question of how far away are the crocs with an answer of “it should be ok now, the water has receded quite a bit in the last few weeks”. The things we noticed on arrival were lots of grass (hadn’t seen it since Sydney), lots of sprinklers (either keeping the grass green or maybe crocs don’t like sprinklers), lots of mossies and midgies and of course a Crocodile Warning Sign right at the edge of the camping area. So we camped as close to the edge as we could and when nightfall came went to sleep with absolutely no idea how far the river was from our tent.

Anyway, we survived! The closest to a croc we got was on the Yellow Waters Cruise, which coincidentally left not far from the campground and did have crocs about. Lachie saw 11 crocs there and back, which really means there were about 6 that we saw twice, thousands of birds of all sorts and a lot of water acorss the floodplains that we cruised around. Lookouts at Ubirr Rock at sunset and the cruise at sunrise and as luck would have it this was the only day so far the sun has not been shining. Luckily for us it was naturally spectacular without the lighting of the sun.

Alex we found out is an information reader. We went to an Aboriginal Cultural Centre and he read every single word written in the joint to the point where the rest of us waited for him for about an hour. The most amazing thing is that now if we have an aboriginal question, Alex recalls it all from where we went, to who can marry who and the fact that men are not allowed by Aboriginal custom to talk to their mother in laws! I shall make no comment…I love my Mother In Law (especially when she makes little cakes with icing….we will be home end of August hint hint).

We left Kakadu and drove to Darwin, but not before spotting a croc on the Alligator River as we drove over the bridge. Now the cruise was good to see the crocs, but to see one unexpectedly and watch it swim down the middle of the river was awesome and a nice reminder that they literally can be anywhere.

A few hours later we arrived in Darwin, set up and then off to Mindil Beach Sunset Markets and a look at the ocean for the first time in nearly a month. A beautiful blue spoilt only by the fact that 131 crocs have been pulled out of Darwin Harbour so far in 2012…oh and it is still stinger season so if the crocs don’t get you the Box Jelly Fish will. Nevertheless, it was somehow cleansing (still getting rid of red dust) to see and breathe in the salt air and sitting for a few hours eating market food on the grass was a nice welcome to Darwin.

A day of getting our battery charger in the trailer fixed and taking in the role of Darwin in WW2 through the Military Museum and an interactive exhibit on the Defence of Darwin saw the end of day 1 in Darwin. This exhibit was quite brilliant with touchscreens and messages of people who were there and a big theatre where the glass cabinets frosted over in to a movie screen and we watched the events of the bombing of Darwin complete with surround sound and flashing lights in the ceiling as the bombs dropped….unfortuneatly Lachie at the ripe old age of 4 turned out to be a bit young and after the first bombs landed he spent the rest of the time crying and scared. Not quite what we wanted, and had we known we would not have taken the kids, but Alex got it and Lachie spent the next two days asking why and whether the planes we saw taking off from the airport had bombs on them.

Day 2 was spent walking the city to show Lachie that the city was alright again, swimming in the “wave pool”, a massive pool with a big wave machine to simulate the ocean (minus the crocs and stingers) so the kids could have some kid time instead of thinking they were still at war and dinner out at Tim’s Steak, Seafood and Croc where we all duly sampled some crocodile before eating our mains.

Next stop Litchfield National Park, a short hour and a half away….

Week 3 – Alice Springs to another NSW loss suffered in the pub in Mataranka…

This was the week that everyone’s health returned to normal and we got back in to the swing of things. A few days in Alice Springs as it turned out was just the tonic to get ready for our next push northward towards the top end as it not only allowed the boys to fully recover but gave us the chance to restock on some supplies and get a few bits and pieces sorted out.

We have had a little bit of trouble charging our batteries in the trailer and as it turned out (thanks to a fellow camper who knew far more about cars and stuff than this one (which would not be difficult)…he was able to diagnose the problem and at least help us get to Alice by bypassing the bit that doesn’t work…technical talk so my eyes glazed over) the solenoid in the dual battery system had gone so a trip to ARB in Alice and $210 later we are up and running again. Now all we have to do is get the battery charger to work that is in the trailer and after a morning on the phone back to the Complete Campsite we agree to take it to an auto electrician in Darwin….so should be all good.

Anyway, enough of the boring stuff, in between all this we did manage to spend a few hours at the National Road Transport Museum with the boys jumping in and out of all the big trucks and old cars…they had a ball. Lachie even bought himself a toy truck with his souvenier money that the grandparents had all given him. A walk out to Simpsons Gap, a vista from Anzac Hill and our time at Alice was all but complete given the rest of the time was spent washing and cleaning everything in a bid to rid any last germs.

One thing we did notice though was that Alex kept disappearing on his bike and where normally he would ride past relatively often we were not seeing him once he had gone. I followed him and found him on he BMX track, determined to conquer the jumps and corners so like the good parents we are we naturally got on our bikes to help him get through the track…it was a blast and we had so much fun…not sure we helped Alex at all but he did manage the whole track easily by the time we left.

So north we travel to the Devils Marbles with a vision of camping in front of them and seeing the sunset and sunrise over them enjoying the serenity of another spectacular spot….along with a couple of other camper trailers and 30 odd caravans as it turned out. On route we came across a guy frantically waving us down on the side of the road. With memories of Peter Valconia and Joanne Lees we were a little trepiditious about stopping (this was coming up to the spot that that all happened) and so we did what all good samaritans would do….sped past….until we saw their car rolled in a ditch amongst the trees. So we stopped and reversed and it turned out a couple of Irishmen had something break in their car and it veered off the road. We pulled in to the next roadhouse a few kms up the road and reported it and the police were on their way. The guys were ok but I think it will be another NT sculpture donated by an unlucky motorist (and there have been a few) where the cost of recovery outweighs the value of the vehicle so they have been left there as stark reminders of how big and desolate and isolated this country is…and that is still on the sealed Stuart Highway!

So back to the marbles and a spectacular sunset we saw as we walked around and over the marbles and enjoyed the chats with the other campers. The local dingo also behaved by the way and happily prowled the carpark night and morning only to be left hungry me thinks.

The wind blew up the morning of the marbles (the devil might have done it) and we managed a rushed pack up with the tent flapping around like crazy and headed to the oldest pub in the NT, Daly Waters. Nothing else there but a bunch of quirky stuff….the most remote traffic lights in the NT, a parking metre and a front bar full of underwear donated by visitors from all over the world. We had dinner in the pub that night, beef and barra off the BBQ and it was sensational. Listened to the comedian that was the entertainment for a bit and then figured the kids were a bit young for some of it so to bed we went in the grass lot next door.

Next day was a drive to Mataranka, although it nearly turned out to be a walk or a bike ride. I had worked out perfectly where to refuel and Larimah it was to be, 100kms north of Daly Waters and 75kms south of Mataranka. Now none of the maps and info I had showed that the petrol station had burnt down and there was no fuel in Larimah. As if on queue the petrol light came on and we had no choice but to limp in to Mataranka and hope we made it, counting down every km as one less that I would have to walk, hitch hike or ride my bike complete with jerry can. We made it thankfully and I put in 79.17litres of petrol in to my 80 litre tank….that was close.

But in Mataranka we are, 2 and a half days of swimming in 32 degree thermal springs, reading a book, having lunch, going for another swim, reading a book and having dinner…until night 3 which was much the same but then duly spoiled by watching the State of Origin and yet another NSW loss. I for the last lot of years have found myself all over the country watching origin and generally with Queenslanders amongst the watchers. Here I found myself in the Northern Territory safe from the usual ratbags that take great delight in our recent tales of woe only to find that who should we watch it with…another bunch of Queenslanders who happened to be camping just near us…..gggrrrr.

Tomorrow we head to the Kakadu and then up to Darwin, each part of the trip inching us closer to reaching this amazing country’s most northern capital city.