Aurora to Darwin

Hot again, will be 40+ in the afternoon so left early! stopped at Humpty Doo, yes that is the name of the small village, then on to Howard Springs about twenty Km out of Darwin where we will stay for the next three days.  Have to get a hair cut and Albert has to have his cut also.

Sept. 29, 2014

Drove into Darwin, very easy , Stuart Highway goes straight into town and all the streets in the downtown area run off that. Frond a all day parking place and just wandered around for the day.

The downtown area is mainly just small trendy shops, coffee shops and resturants mainly for tourists and right now it is the very end of the season.

Sept. 30, 2014.

Going to see the Orchid garden today then back to the park to get the laundry off the line as I did it early. We appear to be the only tourists in the park the others are camped here because the are working in the area, and because the rents are so high they stay in there caravans at the park so there are about fifty permanent residences. 

Took photos of the Adelaide River and the big crock but somehow deleted them so do not have recent photos so will use some from last visit.

Tomorrow headed out to Litchfield early will try and beat the heat as it is said to be warmer tomorrow.

original old buildings in Darwin

Part of old church incorporated in new church

Darwin Harbour

Caravan park where we stayed

Orchids

Sept. 27, 2014 Yellow Waters Kakadu National Park to Aurora in KakaduNational Park

Left early this morning, gets hot by about 11AM so try to find a cpm site by 1:30 to 2 PM.

stopped at one on the aboriginal rock art areas, just a short walk, the on to Jabiru for coffee. 

Later in the morning stopped by on of the large water holes, swampy area, smelled like a pig wallow due to the rotting vegetation. There were many birds there, so sat in the viewing area for a hour and just watched.

On the was to the camp site they were burning the grass along the road and we just drove by it, but you could see the hawks just flying around having a feast on he bugs and small animals who were escaping the fire.

Then it was on to the Aurora Campervan Park/Hotel where we will stay.

While sitting in the shade a dingo lopped by, was great to see even if I did not get a photo.

Aboriginal wall art

Magpie Geese

Water lily

Burning along highway

Hawks getting lunch

September 26. 2014

Have not had internet for several days, hence no posts.

Now in Kakadu National Park, road in is not very scenic, either burnt to control fires or just dry from lack of rain. Again stopped at Yellow Waters but the prices are too high for the water tour and the water levels are way down so the number of birds has decreased thus you do not see much so not going on any tours.

Yesterday however was a great day, went to Edith Falls, lovely place , cool water to swim in and the camping was very good.  Attended the ranger talk in the evening, was very informative.

Tomorrow going to explore some of the aboriginal wall paintings and the on to Jabiru to camp at he lake there. 

the next day will be going onto Darwin to spend a couple days there before heading for Western Australia.

Also went to Katherine Gorge, again because for lack of rain since April the seen gorge tour was only 1.5 gorges and there was not reduction in the cost so just went for a hike up to see and then down agin but the heat was also a reason that we did not take a longer walk.

Mataranka

Large termit mound

A couple of vey nice aboriginal ladies 

Banyon tree

Mataranka hot springs

Katherine Gorge

Edith Falls

Edith Falls

Wallaby

Edith Falls

Edith Falls

A vey beautiful parrot that kept hiding when I was trying to ge a photo

Katherine Gorge

Katherine Gorge

September 19, 2014

Today we start a new chapter , no van under repair, we have a new van. The other one developed major problems so was replaced.

Spent 5 days in Alice Springs and now on the road again and heading north, first stop at Gemtreeto do some fossicking only to find that we could not get out to the sites because you need a vehicle that is able to go on rough gravel roads which we can not do.  So got a couple of buckets of dirt from the sites to sift and wash.  Got several good pieces of garnet so was quite pleased.  Spent the night there

Had a great time around the fire with a group of people who were also staying there.

In the morning was off again this time Aileron, Ti Tree road house, and barrow Creek  before stopping at Wycliffe Well for the night. The temperature at four o'clock was 38.1 C ,slightly warm.  No free camping today could not find a site that was shady. 

Sunday Market in Alice Springs

Aviation Museum

New Van

road out to Gemtree  on lane have to go off when approaching vehicle comes

Bush Camp

Bush Camp

Gemtree was originally part of a large cattle station built in 1907

on the way in and out of Gemtree

This mean there is not speed limit on this part of the highway