Day 347 Darwin

Fogg Dam has been visited twice now as it is a Twitchers Heaven...with some of the best wetlands that we have seen so far, though Parry Lagoon cames in a close second... This is the little Kingfisher that was just in the lookout area along with many other small birds...but what was so special was the vast array of Wetland birds on the dam area.
Magpie Geese coming in over the reeds.
Rajah Sheldrake and Cattle Egret, who looks like he is about to be booted up the bum!!
One of Stephen's favourites, the Royal Spoonbill, three actually.

The view from the lookout, showing the colours and various plant life that sustains the large flocks of birds in the area. This area was originally built for the Humpty Doo (yes that is a name of a town...good pub..) Rice Project...but the birds decided that they liked the seed so much that the whole idea was given away....the birds won...and they have the remains of the wetlands to do as they please!!!!!!

Day 346 Darwin. Adelaide River

The Jumping Crocodile, on the Adelaide River, was an experience!!!!! These massive creatures are a sight to behold. May I introduce you to Geoffrey, all 5.5 metres of him, who was patiently waiting by the boat for his lunch time snack!!
Here Morgan feed Geoffrey, with no more than a quarter of his length out of the water.. 
In the turbid water you can see why you cannot see them...they also have a heatbeat rate of one per three minutes when resting...this means they can stay waiting for you...under you...for up to an hour....no swimming here.....ever....or fishing....ever!!!!!
The boat trip was an hour and a half and included some fantastic bird antics, with Whistling Kite and the White Breasted Sea Eagle coming down to feed almost from Morgans hands. 

As you can see from the shot below, they get mighty close.....

Day 345 Darwin

This is a very poor showing of what was a fascinating day at the Museum and Art Gallery of NT. We saw so much but in the lighting and with the camera restrictions we only got this shot. They had many displays of interest, including Natural History, Cyclone Tracy, Aboriginal Artifacts and much more. They also had a huge display of boats, both large and very small, that had been used to travel the seas hear abouts over the centuries.
On another day we went to the Aviation Heritage Museum, on our arrival we managed to time it to the take off of a squadron of F18's...awesome! By the time one was just visible on the horizon the next slammed past us. This Museum is dedicated to the history of Darwin's association with the aeroplane. Blow this up and red it...another of the many history lessons that we are having.
I am standing beside a Mirage which is situated under the motherly wing of the giant B52. You can understand why they are called BUFF (Big Ugly Fat F....r's). This huge bomber was given to Darwin when the Yanks left town...they had been based here at one time. We watched a movie on the plane while sitting in the bomb bay! 
There was a jet motor in here once and now you can see straight through to ME! Among the other displays were a huge collection of plane engines that went from the very early war birds to present day. They also had the pioneers of the air, with the flight details of the first women to fly from London to Australia and some of the race details of the races from London to Melbourne.

Day 340 Odds and Sods Darwin

This section is literally the things that you see!!!!!!!This, would you believe is the bush/shrub area just outside the caravan park....volunteers were having a burn off and to our mind it got a little to close...the poor devils that were parked in that area were all hosing down awnings etc. to stop them caching alight...
This one was actually in Kathrine..we were heading for the shopping centre when we spied this group of mad people...yes that stuff on the roof was slipping to one side...but they still put on more...we also counted 7 people for the trip...and they were going on dirt roads...glad we were not following them!!!!!!!
We have seen many types of vans etc on our trip (some of which I have posted before) but we could not resist this one...the ute tray was now a campervan and did not appear to be removable....note the heart shape on the front...put's a new slant on the Love Bug!!!!!!
An old one but a good one..this guy at Mindil Beach..it reads "Life is full of Important Choices". I think he had made enough choices for one day!

Day 340 plus Darwin

We arrived in Darwin and started on the must do list...this included the Mindil Market situated right on the beach.Fabulous craft and food stalls and the local musso playing incredible stuff on the didgeredoo (think that's how you spell it)

We gathered up some dinner from some of the vendors and headed for the beach, with Richard and Sandra, and the sunset...the number of people there was incredible...you would think that no one had seen a sunset before...
Having said that the sunset was pretty special, with just enough cloud, some smoke , and a couple of boats...magic....got eaten alive by sandflies, but hey what the heck!!!

Day 337 -340 Katherine Part 2

Yep thats Ted hanging out of the door....We had booked for 2 helicopters so that we could go up at the same time. Sandra and Richard in one and us in the other as the helicopters only take 4 people including the pilot. When we got to the helipad there was only one chopper, so we compromised..we took two flight's one after the other, and one person from each couple got an extra flight..guess who got ours, yep Stephen!!!!!!
We saw buffalo by the waters edge...
Views across the gorges from a lookout were we landed...
The meandering snake in the gorges below...you know what I mean!
And these incredible right angle breaks were everywhere, this set looked like a hot cross bun!

Day 337-340 Katherine

Sandra and I off on an adventure....when in Katherine it is necessary to do the gorges...and we had managed to get a really good deal which included a breakfast cruise up to number two gorge then back to the helipad and a flight to view the rest of the 13 gorges.
It was a little bit like doing the Bungle Bungles in that you can view so much from the ground but so much more from the sky.
Being the breakfast cruise we were basically the first on the water so Stephen was able to get some fabulous reflection shots.
These smudges in the sand are crocodile marks were the female has come up the sand to bury her eggs.
The water snakes through the towering gorges, (which is what the Aborigines believe is how they were made), all to short (2 hours) we were back at base and on to the next part of our day.

Day 337 Cutta Cutta

A short stop on the way to Katherine is the Cutta Cutta Caves. We had seen caves before but were drawn in to see the cave of lots of stars. (That is what Cutta Cutta stands for).
The pictures do not do them credit. Blow this one up to see some of the reason for the name of the caves.

Day 334 - 336 Mataranka

We made it to Mataranka, home of the Elsey Homestead and Cemetery....now you may well ask what are they known for...well this is were my Australia History and Literature lessons continued. The famous book "We of the Never Never", by Mrs Aneas Gunn. Well I bought the book in Echuca, read it on the way up and found the graves of a few of the character's from the book, all on the recommendation of A & A. Thank's Guys.

We also went to the Mataranka Thermal Pool, which is were the tavern shows the film every day at 12 noon....apart from the fact that we could not hear it very well, it was interesting. Having read the book though, I felt that they did not portray all the characters as described in the book, which was a shame. They also had the replica homestead, that was used for the film on display.
We all (Sandra & Richard still with us) stayed at Bitter Springs, with it's own little spring right on our doorstep. This little piece of heaven had the current taking you downstream, with water lilies and bird life all around. The first time we went we used our snorkel's, which was another perspective...with turtles and small rainbow fish in residence.
However, Stephen floated down with just his head above water and told me to do the same...we kept doing the loop..float down (me with out assistance) climb out at the bottom, walk back to the steps and repeat....fan bloody tastic.......

Day 333 Daly Waters

This old historic pub is an experience all of it's own. They pack the van's in and people come from far and wide for their famous "Beef & Barra" dinner..with live entertainment..quirky individuals and some amazing items both inside and outside of the pub...this picture just gives you some idea.
Looks real innocent here but inside the bra's blow in the fan draught, the jocks dangle from the rafters and the memorabilia of many artists who have graced the stage (if you can call it that) in this remarkable place.We all had the dinner and a very enjoyable evening was had by all (Sandra and Richard in attendance).
This area is really known for the airfield that was occupied mostly in WW11, when Darwin was attacked by the Japanese, it was also Australia's first International Airport before the war.. Stephen could not resist, we went out to the field with S & R and had a good look around...we even did a speed test on the Toby, over 160k's and blew Richard's 100 series into the weeds...but that was not good enough for Stephen..so the next day on our way again, we brought Turtle for a pelt down the runway..up to 122 with the van on the back...not bad!
This is the old hanger, they have put a lot of details inside about who had been here etc...got grants and everything, then they have left it to go to ruins again...such a shame...but at least it was a free entry!
Not a bad runway..and no we did not get the crack on the wind screen here!!

Day 332 Banka Banka

They say that there is only 5 degrees of separation in our lives...well you all know that we have already proved that wrong...and it did it again when we arrived at a beaut spot called Banka Banka. This little oasis on the road north is an ideal place to fill your tanks with some of the best water we have come across and no restrictions on washing cars or van...Turtle got her first proper bath since Port Lincoln in October last year! Anyway, that's nothing to do with the degrees of separation...we went to the $3 sausage sizzle and Stephen was eying off a couple on the other side of the table...wondering where he had met them before...then the mind caught up for both him and the lady (Pat) who asked "Were do I know you from?" at that moment Stephen remembered and said "How's your BMW?" as he had sold them one of the first diesel X5's in WA. They had to wait 6 month's for the car to be delivered...Pat & George were fondly remembered as one of his nicest customers while at Auto Classic...great to catch up. The photo shows that they have since changed their car to a new X5 and their second Golf Caravan which is registered SKI016.
After having a very tiring day cleaning everything, we happened upon a Roma caravan that come in close to us...we met Richard and Sandra and hit it off straight away..little did we know that we would follow each other up to Darwin! They came up to the lookout, above Banka Banka before we moved on to Daly Waters...but that's another story!

Day 331 Devil's Marbles

                                                                                                 Had to do a movie of this spot...we had been told about the sunset's....but we could not resists the Sunrise too! Some of the best sunset material, with just enough cloud to make it very interesting...enjoy.

Day 329-330 Gemtree

We left Alice and headed out to make our fortune (yeah right) at a place just up and east of Alice Springs called Gemtree. We just stayed for two nights but it was great to be out under the stars, with camp fires each night and showers heated by fire under drums.
Then we went fossicking for garnets....as you can see a very dirty, dusty job....but great fun if you have never done anything like this before.
We got a few...so Ted if you are reading this...I'll have a small job for you on our return..1 x 6mm, 2 x 4mm and 3 x 3.25mm. They need cutting first..know anyone?

Day 321 - 328 Alice Springs Part 8

Another day out, was to Palm Valley. This was a hour and a half drive to, then another hour in before we hit some serious rocks for Toby...the comment coming out of the Valley was, go in on a tour or a hire car but don't take your own vehicle in...I didn't need telling again..so we walked the last 1.5k.
Would you believe when we got to the information stall... there was a 2k or 5k walk....all uphill and down dale...I walked the river bed and Stephen went off again....he said it was good but we , I said we had seen better. Anyway, he did the 2k walk and got back to the car about 5mins after me!!!
As you ca see we were not the only one's to stop and walk!!
The drive in and out though was incredible..
with rock formations all over the place.... onwards and upwards....we moved on from Alice with many great memories.