The Wet When Darwin is not having a Wet!

I know that we are loved.  By someone, somewhere.  We are good at bringing the rain on, when it is not meant to be there, a little too early...  All the signs were there.  People were murmuring... 'It's too hot not to rain, the rain has to come'.  Sure enough it did.

We found out that even if I had finished the waterproofing (which I haven't quite), it wouldn't have made any difference.  This rain drives THROUGH the tent. 

Luckily we are staying with Maus and Brig, who are staying with other folk who have tarps, well, the size of a house.  Matt put this on (with a little help), and saved our poor little tent from the deluge, and then when the rain stopped, we began to suffocate from the humidity and the green ants took over. 

It really is a great place up here in Darwin - at other times of year, or if you live in a house.

We have been to the free water park - can you believe it - FREEE!!!!

The museum is brilliant, a real sensation in regard to understanding what a cyclone would sound like in the sound room.  It frightened the heck out of me.  It also has the most brilliant aboriginal art, modern and classical, and a 9m croc called "Sweetheart" and a whole room dedicated to crocs.

We have been to the lovely Nightcliff at sunset and felt the beautiful evening breeze,

and the boys went down the WWII storage tunnels. 

We have looked at and listened to unusual birds and insects, and flowers.

Matt, Meg & Brig planning the next leg of the journey

A Pineapple in the garden

Steve, Maus, Matt and the boys with the pineapple

We have had a lovely time catching up with Maus and Brig and even enjoyed cooking a meal in the oven for the first time in 7 months (I had to ask how to use it - it really has been that long!!).

Another oil change in the backyard and checking out the weird noises on the truck before the journey home.

I think that we are ready to head south to get some better sleep and hopefully stay a little drier.  So much to see still, and what seems like so little time.

Rock Art in Kakadu up at Jabiru and seeing it in the Dry

At Jabiru caravan park we had a Barking Owl right next to us (not with red eyes!) barking through the night...

The pool was fantastic. We really appreciated the cool off. 6 mozzie coils on to keep the mozzies away. It was a stinker of a night. I ended up showering with my sheet to go back to bed wet and cold to try to get some sleep...

We went over to Ubirr to see the amazing rock art and got distracted along the way with the wetlands - wow - what a bevy of bird life!!

The gallery of rock art at Ubirr was incredible.  What a priviledge. 

The view from the top of the lookout.  Sensational.

We watched some crazy dudes driving through Cahill's Crossing (and fishing) at high tide while we were watching the crocs feeding and crossing..

Down to Nourlangie to see some more wonderful art after a small swim break at the caravan break to cool off.  Once more we were blown away.  It got us to talking about Dream Time stories.  Great to be able to sit and talk.  We are really enjoying that about this year.

It is tricking being here at this time of year.  We are having to rush because of the heat and the waterfalls and pools are drying up, but it is still incredibly beautiful, just compacted into much less time than what we would normally give such amazing places.  We'll have to come back.

On to Darwin.

Gunlom...what a beautiful day

We had a lovely day that felt like many more at Gunlom in Kakadu National Park (another World Heritage place). 

It started with some school work of a normal kind (for us), that then changed to learning how to strip, dye and weave pandanus and livistoni palm to make string for bags.

Then we made bracelets.

We met a lovely family from QLD and shared the day with them.

After that we walked up to the top of the falls to see the beauty of the sight and swim in the pool.  From there we swam up the gorge to a wonderful waterfall.  Magical  Something that will stay in my mind forever.

The next morning after packing up we had a delightful swim in the bottom plunge pool.  How priviledged are we.

Tackling the heat..from one pool (resort style), to another (Edith Falls), to another (Gunlom, Kakadu)

If you can't bear the heat, jump in the pool (just after packing up),

then drive in the aircon to Edith Falls and have a nice cool dip (no crocs apparently), then drive again to Gunlam in Kakadu to find another pool.   We are now seeking places that have cooling spots, and stop in shade.  It's hot.

Katherine Gorge...Nitmiluk National Park - where did all those people come from?

Our first words were, where on earth did all of these people come from?  Then fear crept in.  We are not really used to crowds after being in WA for so long.  Katherine Gorge is what we would now call a very "touristic" place.  Car park was full....yuk....

The campground is like a resort and charges like it, but it does have a pool, which up here is worth it. 

So, first things first, kids plunged in for some cooling off.

Next day we went for a 10.6km return walk in 50 degree heat in the sun, 47 in the shade!!  Luckily they provide water tanks along the way. 

Everyone did really well and there was a lovely spot to swim in the middle (Butterfly Gorge). 

We saw snakes along the way and a million butterflies.

The ranger had told us that there were no salties in the water so it would be safe to swim (later locals told us that they would never swim as salties are regularly pulled out of Katherine Gorge....)

Big rest that afternoon!! and a laze by the pool

Dinner with friends in Katherine, then ready to keep moving onto Kakadu (we are moving a rate of knots!  it is incredibly hot here).