More Darwin Photos

GRAHAM:


Here is Daisy getting a trim by Marie-Louise on our recent trip to Sydney where we stayed with Nicky and Steven. Daisy loved it; my girl sure has a way with animals.


RIGHT OR LEFT CLICK on the arrow for a full screen video.

M

Still more Darwin

 Sunsets at the Trailer boat club right on the beach .

If you right click on the Crock photo bottom right on the 4 arrows it should enlarge to full screen 

More Darwin Photos

 Who looks hot !!

 This should be a video of the male Crocodile at Kakadu I have been trying for days to load one .

Darwin Australia's best kept secret !!!

We came for a week but we have both fallen in love with this wonderful city and we are going to stay for a lot longer than we first planned. We look forward to returning, after the completion of our venture to Sydney next week, for an extended stay .
Darwin has great roads and you are 20 min from anywhere .
We love the restaurants and cafes and it has all the shops of a big city. The weather is sensational even in October it is 34 max and  24 minimum. It is hot but you get used to it and we are now entering into the hot wet season. Rain and thunder can appear from nowhere but most of the time we have enjoyed the sun. 
This is a young people's city and it is so nice to see them around all enjoying themselves.
Most of the grey nomads have left as the rain season approached.


There are parks and beaches everywhere and well kept buildings. I guess Cyclone Tracy back in 1974 has a lot to do with it as the city was more or less completely rebuilt then.

We think Darwin is the best kept secret in Australia, there are so many great things about the city starting with the people. We have been helped in so many ways after coming from  Sydney/Melbourne where you are told 'if it's not on the shelf we have not got it' sort of mentality. A few examples of how helpful people are -- we dropped the bike for its 32,000 km service at the NT Moto Centre (Ph 08 8939 0390) and Marie-Louise asked: "Do you have a bike we can borrow?" They said "yes a 100 cc scooter" but then proceeded to give us the keys to a new Softail. I also have had an issue with my helmet that i bought in Sydney. They flew it back to the Brisbane distributor and it will be back in 4 days fixed no charge and I didn't have to produce a receipt .

No Zoe, Daisy or Molly so we had to make do with a  Dingo  at the local Nt Wildlife park.

The sunsets are just awesome sitting on the deck of the local Yacht club having a great meal with the one you love, what could be better?

Katherine to Darwin with stops in Kakadu and Lichfield National Parks

Katherine will always be remembered by us both with a great deal of emotion.
It was the day I proposed to the woman who changed my life and gave me something more! to live for.

We were looking up at a million stars from the bed of our Luxury Camper, after a great day watching Collingwood win  he grand-final and swimming in the local hot springs which are 25degrees, when I popped the question (Saturday the second of October).
Naturally she said yes! Katherine has no airport and it's a long, long, long way to walk home and anyway that's been stolen hasn't it??!!


The Wedding will be a small affair at the Swedish Church In Toorak on the 26th of January .


We stayed 8 nights in Katherine and really got a feel for the town.


We went on to Cooinda (50km from Kakadu) where we stayed at a place  where Marie-Louise had issues with the Gardener who insisted on running the sprinklers 24 hours a day for 3 whole days. She kept turning them off and he kept turning them on.
There were lots of storms late in the afternoon and we had to sit one out for 4 hours at Kakadu lodge but we enjoyed our $55 a head buffet and ate our fair share .
The days are muggy  but we can sleep at night. I think we may be getting used to this heat. Either that, or we are just exhausted from having so much fun.

Highlights were Marie-Louises' hand made bread baked in our turbo oven and the unbelievable  Yellow Waters wet land cruise.  The 6.30 am cruise is the only way to go and seeing mother nature wake up God's creations was something we will never forget,

We saw hundreds of birds including my favourite large bird the Brolga and also the Jabiru.There were countless crocodiles  and thousands of Magpie Geese. Another highlight  of our stay was the 4 wheel drive all day trip to Jim Jim Falls. It was hard work to walk the last 900 mtrs and they say its the hardest  900 mtrs you will ever walk  and many give up half way. The effort  was well worth it. We also loved Twin Falls and I think we have got the 4 wheel drive bug now!
Low points were the flooding of our little camper.  Poor Marie-Louise put everything we owned in garbage bags, yet they still got soaked. She was almost in tears as she had just done the washing.
I could see the funny side, sitting on our Island bed with water poring in all-around us. It sure can rain up here and we should be harvesting the stuff and sending it south.

Onto Lichfield National Park, we stayed at the Lichfield Tourist and Van Park (thanks Rachel from Kosmos for recommending this). Some say this is better than Kakadu as it has easier access to the many falls but it has very little bird life and hardly a crocodile . We loved the Butterfly farm and recommend staying there. There was wonderful food, people and the place has got such character, but I wish they would get rid of all the new age crap on the walls.

http://www.butterflyfarm.net/litchfield-national-park/relax.html.

From here we moved to Darwin for 12 nights were we have splashed out on a backpacker type hotel, 15 min walk from the centre of town. It is nice to not have to pack up or worry about the clothes / camper getting wet and Marie-Louise has a grin from ear to ear mainly because we picked up her stunning ring here.
Darwin seems great, full of life and not too large with only 90,000 people. There is green and parks everywhere and not a grey nomad in sight but lots of happy young people having fun. 
There are so many Irish backpackers here, as there is in every town we go to. I doubt there is anyone left back in Ireland to dig the potatoes.

Katherine - a Gem in the Outback

The above Icon of Katherine is a beautiful bronze statue of Sabu Peter Sing, a memeber of the Wardman tribe, a skilled bushman, horseman and stockman who lived between 1940-1993. 
Being a horse enthusiast I fell in love with it and a picture of it will surely find its way into our home somehow.
Talking of home, it is a very strange and sad feeling to have lost our transportable home and not have a base to return to, we are true nomads for the time being....


One of the highlights of our 8 days was paddling up the three Gorges originating from the Katherine river. It was a day we will never forget. You could paddle ashore on your own little sandy beach and enjoy the scenery, the birdlife and the stillness of the wilderness. It was a 13km journey so we got enough exercise as well.

We spent Saturday at the Golf Club. The unforgettable Saturday when Collingwood won the AFL finals after  having spent 20 years waiting for their Day to come. The Saturday before being the "dress rehersal!!"
In the evening we were entertained by Lee "The General" who is a good singer and entertainer. He had spent decades driving Road Trains and had some very interesting stories to tell. We "hitted" off really well and spent 6 hours together in the Coffee Club the day before we left. Another good reason, apart from making friends, to spend 6 hours in the coffee Club is that it is cold there, which is not the case when we stepped outside.

Katherine is one of the few places where Road Trains still drive through the main St which gives the town some real character. We left Katherine with a picture of the Springvale Homestead from 1879, which is one of the oldest homesteads around.

A little frog note. Lots of time has lapsed since we had the green frogs in the toilet (refer to earlier post) and we are now getting used to having all kinds of frogs around. You kind of look for yesterdays frogs in the shower/toilets and miss them when they are gone.....

Hot Springs

Following the Stuart Highway, on our way northbound, we travelled through Matarnaka which is most known from the book 'We of the Never Never' by Jeanie Gunn, which is about the Elsey Station. Mataranka is also known for its thermal pools and we visited  Bittter Springs and had a wonderful experience swimming in the warm crystal clear water. It is a spring fed, mineral rich thermal pool and you can feel it when you swim in it. You float really easily. 

We continued to Katherine and decided to stay for awhile in the Riverview Caravan Park. It is located only a few km from the city centre and 500m walk to Katherine Hot Springs. As it has been 38C for a couple of days we have spent some time in them.

Yesterday we swam with a group of indigenous local school children and they were like fish in the water. We will spend a few days here exploring the attractions in this region before we continue.

Interacting with fellow travelers, taking Ben with his sister for a ride.

Someone stole our home

SOMEONE STOLE OUR HOME!

We have a block at the top of Williamswood Road (off Mt Hercules Rd). We recently had our transportable home taken to our block. We also have a 40-foot container with possessions on the block. Sometime between Wednesday afternoon the 22^nd September and Saturday morning 25^th September 2010 our home was stolen.

It was a professional job by criminals who knew what they were doing. They cut through chains and padlock on the gate and also broke into our container and totally emptied it of all its content. Amongst that we lost our passports, personal jewellery, photos, and other irreplaceable documents and personal articles.

The criminals must have used al least one big truck. The transportable home was 33 foot long and 10 foot 8 inches wide and had to be lifted up by a crane when it was placed on the block. It has wheels and a towbar but is too wide to be driven on the road.

If you have seen anything that could assist us and the police in our efforts to find our home, please contact Constable Darley-Picton Police Station on ph no 4677 8999 and quote event no Event no E42505868.  Or phone Graeme Corin 0416286137

Financial Rewards to anyone whose information will lead to us getting our home back.   

Graeme and Marie-Louise Mob 0416 286 137

The above is a copy of the poster we have had distributed to the neighbors along the road to our block.