Category: Around Australia 2011

Day 22-26 Canoeing with crocs

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‘Down by the waters edge, have you got a torch?. Shine it out there, you can see the crocs moving about.’ So said our friendly grey nomad neighbors. They had been here for 14 days, having cracked the chassis on their Triton on some far flung road. They lent us a spotlight which put our little LED torch to shame, and sure enough there came the reflections of a half dozen or so crocs cruising around the lagoon, some of them just meters away from the bank where we stood, and many were camping. All ‘freshies’ though so nothing to worry about. Guess they must be, we haven’t read any news of croc attacks since leaving Darwin.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. We left Katherine a few days back. One of the apparent advantages of this lifestyle is I really couldn’t tell you just how many days ago it was. Does it matter? Virgin territory for us all the drive was good from the beginning but was brilliant as soon as we hit the Gregory National Park (no not just because it’s my namesake!). The road wends it’s way through dark ochre cliffs and the wind was from behind which does wonders for my mood behind the wheel. We didn’t stop but time just drifts effortlessly by. Continue reading “Day 22-26 Canoeing with crocs” →

Seeking advice – an interactive blog

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So we’re sitting by the pool at Kimberlyland caravan park and we’re getting a little bit worked up. Almost stressed, which doesn’t seem quite right under the circumstances. You see we can’t decide what to do. On the menu of options is a tour of the Bungle Bungle at $1,100 for all of us and or, in a week or so time, a flight and boat ride through the Horizontal Falls in the Kimberley Buchaneer Archipeligo at $2,400. Neither are in the budget as such, but both are highly tempting. The Horizontal Falls is on my equivalent of a bucket list. We are $1,500 ahead of budget overall for the trip at this point and do have a contingency fund in case of emergencies.

Should we:

A) do nothing, not in the budget so just move on and enjoy the rest of this magnificent land
B) just do the Bungle Bungle, it is within our budget given the current underspend
C) just do the horizontal falls, which would put us a bit behind budget but we could make it back up by eating straight rice for the rest of the trip
D) be a little mean spirited and just adults go one at a time to go on the horizontal falls and halve the cost, after all the kids are happiest in the nearest pool. We are also willing to take offers of babysitters flying over to relieve us for the day
E) do the Bungle Bungle and just adults do the horizontal
F) to hell with it, and do the lot, work out how to pay later

Oh yes and we need input quickly in order to make bookings!

Ps this blog is designed to attract comments.

Comments

Paul Manning on Jul, 30 2011 at 5:59PMSomehow at this point in our travels we always seem to end up taking option F on the basis of when the hell are we going to be back here and knowing that at the end of the trip we’ll just be saying – wish we’ed done that!

Looks like you guys are having a stack of fun – watch out for that car though – they tell me it can be a long walk to the next servo out that way!

Cheers Paul

Granny on Jul, 31 2011 at 10:11AMWant to fly me back? I’ll happily stay in the pool with the kids, This cold weather in Canberra is to be avoided at all costs. ha ha. Go with having a great time … you may not get back that way for a good few years!!!!!!

Gill on Jul, 31 2011 at 4:52PMHey guys…not sure why you’re even asking we all know that the answer is F.

Give my love to Amy and Oliver and tell them I have a few stories to share with them about a certain black and tan dog called Tully.

I’m supposed to be writing a Uni assignment at the mo so you are a good distraction.

aroundoz2011 on Jul, 31 2011 at 9:11PMThanks for the comments guys.  We have made a decision!  After about 6 phone calls to the tour company at Horizontal Falls and to-ing and fro-ing, we decided it wouldn’t be very family-holiday like if we adults went by ourselves… So we’ve booked in for all of us… Count down to Aug 11th!

Then we looked further into the Bungle Bungles trip… A 12 hour day, starting ar 530am… With about 5 hours 4WD on rough roads (it’s only 50kms each way) So we decided to give that a miss this time. It’ll be there when we’re back with our own four wheels.

PS Gill- Amy and Oliver were both very pleased to hear you had stories to tell them about Tully!

Day 19-21 Darwin

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So we returned to Darwin a day ahead of schedule so we could return to the Mindel Beach Markets. They’re only on Sunday and Thursday evenings. Again the kids we’re enthralled with the street performers, so much so that when I returned from the great sushi hunt to tell them I couldn’t find any, it was like my words couldn’t penetrate at all… They were transfixed. This time Oliver got the coconut with the straw that he had desperately wanted last time, but couldn’t quite decide whether he liked it or not. The next day we had an entertaining time trying to get it open – see photos!


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