McCulloch Family Giant Leap: Kakado or Kakadon't? We definitely think Kakado.

Well what a day we have chosen to move on. We had a bad night sleep due to two kids ending up in our bed when it suddenly cooled down overnight. It didn’t help that we had pretty much left all the windows open as it wasn’t cold when we went to bed. It took us a while to get away from Coomalie Creek as we kept stopping to say goodbye to others and then met another travelling family just as we were hitching on.

The drive to Pussy Cat Flats campground which is just outside Pine Creek was not a long distance however it felt like it was taking forever. We just put that down to the fact that we were feeling very tired. The place use to be the town’s racetrack and rodeo grounds but it is obviously no longer used for that. Once we were set up we just chilled in the van and did a bit of school, but most of it was spent relaxing. It certainly helped that we had scored a site right next to a basic playground so Jason and I could sit outside and just watch the kids play.

Later in the afternoon we went to check out Umbrawarra Gorge but that was a disaster as even though it was an easy walk the kids were not keen on walking at all. I think we were all over tired and should have just stayed back at the van and rested. So after about 500m we turned around and headed back. It wasn’t even really that spectacular so I don’t think we should have wasted our time with it as lately we have seen so many really impressive ones.

A beautiful flower from our walk.

That evening we met another family from Wagga Wagga who have been travelling Australia for six months. Their three children and our two had a great evening out running around the dusty campgrounds chasing balls. It was nice to see them running around and just having fun chasing balls. It also allowed us to cook dinner and do a few jobs without getting interrupted saying they were bored or wanting this or that.

I was spoilt with a beautiful sunrise on Tuesday morning, over Kakadu too, so it was like it was enticing us to come in and see what it had to offer. First though we had to pack up and hitch back on, top up water tanks and say goodbye to the family we had met the evening before. Oh and before we could leave the place we had to get the photo of the car towing the van in front of the finish post on the former race track. I mean where else could we get this photo! So off we went, heading the short distance to the Mary River Roadhouse which is just outside the Kakadu National Park but it seemed like the most logical place to leave our van for the day.

Kakadu was calling us.

And the winner is the Pajero!

Getting a site and setting up was easy. We quickly grabbed a bite to eat and packed everything we needed into the car and made our way into Kakadu National Park. We were all ready for the big walk at Gunloom Falls. It isn’t far but it is very steep, and ideally I would have liked to have gotten there earlier to do it whilst it was cooler, but that is life. First stop was the Information Centre to buy our park passes which is only $25 each per adult. There we ran into the family who had also stayed at Pussy Cat Flats and they were unhitching their van and leaving it there so they could go into Gumloon Falls like us.

Jason's clean car is now no longer clean.

So we followed them in and the dirt road in was fine, I mean it seemed like a highway after the one into Purnululu National Park! Once there we waited whilst the other family had lunch and then we made our way up. Kayla stopped walking early on but that was easy to understand as the steps up were really way too big for her little legs. Every now and then we would stop for a rest which was much needed but we made it to the top a lot faster than we thought we would. I think having the other family’s three kids certainly helped egg on Hamish to walk it all. Mind you we learnt a lot from the other family about being realistic about what we carry up and to remember our backpack. We lugged up the pool noodles, but really we should have just kept it to the bare minimum.

Gee you would think the one that was carried up could smile.

At the top lookout part.

Yay I made it... worked off breakfast.

A family in the rock pool - Kayla wasn't too happy though.

Once at the pools we were rewarded with a beautiful view and refreshing swim. It truly is a natural infinity rock pool with a nice view over Kakadu. Getting a photo without fellow tourists in the background was quite hard however as they kind of don’t get the general etiquette that you take your photo and then move out of the way so others can get a good photo (without them in it). Still it was nice to have the swim and relax. Kayla was not keen at all about being in the water even though the water wasn’t that cold. Jason had also said that when he hopped under the small waterfall it was like hopping into a warm shower, as the water seemed to be heated from the rocks.

Jason and Hamish trying to get a photo but too many tourists.

In another one of the pools.

I didn't dare get any closer as it was a long drop down.

Of course this tourist was brave.

Before long it was time to trek back down the mountain. Jason carried Kayla again whilst I had the towels, water and pool noodles whilst encouraging Hamish to walk down. He was quite slow compared to the others so we got left behind a bit but Kylie held back and kept us company. Back down the bottom we quickly checked out the bottom pool before saying goodbye and making our way back to the Information Centre. We were hoping to be able to book the Yellow River Cruise from there but unfortunately we can’t, so we just checked out their displays and left.

At least our car looks in better condition.

Another National Park for Jason to have his picture in front of.

Back at the van we enjoyed just chilling for the afternoon whilst the kids loved the baby emu chicks and the sunset was really pretty. We had planned to try and get to the cruise in time to join the 9am one but we decided against setting any alarms as we needed to get some sleep as we were all exhausted so we just decided to see what time we woke up in the morning.

The male toilets sign.

and the females - can't get it wrong.

Hamish and Kayla saying goodbye to the emu chicks.

Trying to get a good photo of them was hard.

Well there was no way we were going to do the tour as we didn’t get up until 7:30am and we needed to have left by 7am. Oh well we will just do it another day. We eventually got on the road and decided to head straight to Jabiru and set up there and then work out what we want to do after that. We joked that the drive was a bit like a safari of spotting all the animals. We managed to see wild donkeys, water buffalo and a dingo. So yes we spotted all the introduced animals and no native ones!

Sunset at the roadhouse.

One Buffalo.

One dingo.

When we arrived at Jabiru we went for a scenic drive of the town. Reading between the lines our navigator took us to the address of the caravan park supposably but there was just vacant land. So we reverted back to the phone navigator and used that instead which took us in the back way to the caravan park. There we found out they were fully booked (hard to believe as they looked so empty) so we went across the road to the other caravan park that had heaps of vacancies.

Waiting to book in I had an older lady push in front of me but then when I was served first she gave a dirty look at me and said she was there to collect her mail. Now if she had just used her manners and asked if she could possibly go first then I would have let her. She certainly can’t complain about the rudeness of the younger generation – she was not leading by example! Eventually we were checked in and could go and find our site. It is another caravan park where you aren’t allocated a site, you can just pick whichever one you want. We always struggle with this because we can’t make up our mind as to which one we want. We did however eventually decide on one and pulled up and set up our camp.

The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing and doing a bit more school so we are way ahead when the school term does actually start. I think we are really looking forward to the week fully off when we are in Singapore. Kayla and I also ducked out to the shops to grab a few more food supplies which was not a cheap trip out. I didn’t think it would be that expensive considering it isn’t that remote from Darwin!

Jason booked our tour on the Yellow Water Cruise so we are now on the 6:45am tour as apparently the sunrise tour is awesome. We have both set our alarm clocks so that we don’t miss out on it. That night we just stayed in our van to watch the State of Origin so that we could go straight to sleep afterwards. Everything was all packed up and ready to go the next morning!

So Thursday morning we were up way too early really. I mean when you need an alarm clock to wake you up it just doesn’t seem right. Though we knew it was for a good reason and hoped that it would be definitely worth it. We were on the road by 5:30am which gave us an hour to drive down to the Yellow Water Cruise. It normally would not take that long in the daylight but we just wanted to be able to take it easy in case there was a lot of wildlife. We arrived with plenty of time to get the kids dressed out of their pyjamas and cover ourselves in rid for all the mosquitos. Ian and Gwen were on the same tour so they pulled up a little bit later and we made our way down to the boat to board.

How can you not want to see this.

I love these trees.

There were so many mini buses running people down that I was starting to wonder just how big the tour boat was going to be. In the end you are divided up into four boats which is a lot better in my opinion. Best of all it isn’t like you all follow each other around as each one went in their own direction to start with and you only crossed paths as you made your way back out of one area and into another. The morning mist that hung over the billabong was just beautiful and you could be mistaken for thinking it is this wonderful peaceful spot to swim. I mean it is peaceful but unless you want to feed the crocodiles you certainly don’t want to go for a swim.

So peaceful and calm.

Wetlands - imagine the number of crocs in there.

Trying to capture the flower but it was just too hard.

We made our way around the different parts of the billabong spotting an abundant amount of bird life (sorry but I can’t remember all their names but there were a lot of different ones), some brumbies and some very large crocodiles. Some even swam alongside the boat which I found a bit daunting as I am sure they were just waiting for a tourist to fall overboard and make for an easy breakfast. Especially when a crocodile was spotted and everyone would move to that side of the boat and the boat would just lean to that side! I was more than happy to remain on my side until the guide turned the boat around for the other side to see.

Once the sun came up these guys were out.

Look at the lean on that boat just to get a photo.

The kids weren’t really into it but luckily I had come prepared and had some pens for colouring and playdough to make different animals/objects out of. Even the little boy sitting behind us thought the playdough was fun. His mum made a comment how it is funny we pay $70 for them to come and sit on a boat and play with playdough. At least we can laugh about it as if you don’t you would seriously cry. I had no unrealistic expectations that my two and five year old would find the tour fun. I mean sitting on a boat spotting birds and enjoying the scenery isn't really their thing. Yes the crocodiles got their attention but only for a while and then it was back to whatever they were doing.

Someone was following us.

I just couldn't get over the lily pads, they were huge.

Personally I think the sunrise tour would have to be the best as the scenery was stunning and it wasn’t too hot. At the start it is too cool to see many crocodiles but by half way through there were heaps swimming around and out hunting their feed for the day. After the two hours were up we headed back to shore and made our way back to the lodge. Included in the price was a buffet breakfast and we were all starving and ready to eat. They certainly didn’t let us down with a huge amount of cooked options and then of course the healthy options so you could eat them last and feel less guilty about the bacon, eggs, sausages and hash browns you started with! Most importantly they had coffee and it was definitely something we were going to need that day.

After breakfast we said goodbye to Ian and Gwen as it was most likely the last time we will see them on our travels. They are now heading south through the red centre and doing Victoria and Tasmania whilst we are going to finish the top end of the NT and then make our way back into QLD and maybe, just maybe if we can squeeze it in, do a last minute snow trip before having to return to reality in Brisbane.

On our way out we decided to call into the Cultural Centre and see what was on the program for the day. It was only 40 minutes until they did some weaving, making damper and cooking barramundi so we thought we would hang around for it. We knew we were pushing our luck with such an early start with the kids but we were hoping they could hold out for a little bit longer. The weaving was fun, but it was a bit too hard for the kids so they weren’t really into it. Jason and I though continued to do it and finished off a bracelet for each of them. We then watched as they ripped up the Pandanus Palm leaves and made the die to colour the strips, so they could be used for their weaving.

Making Kayla a bracelet.

Showing us how they dye the leaves.

And there you have it, no longer green.

Now why can't we catch a fish that big.

Though eventually the kids were getting bored and started to play with sticks and rocks that were lying around, so we decided to get them out of there before it turned back and they got over tired. Heading back we called into a lookout but it was not an easy walk and was way too long to consider doing it on our own. We didn’t even contemplate attempting to do it with the kids. So we continued onto some aboriginal artwork which Jason walked in and checked out. Kayla was fast asleep in the car so I stayed with the kids in the air-conditioning. Once Jason was back we hot footed it home so we could have a rest whilst Kayla napped, but it backfired and she was wide awake as soon as we pulled up.

Thankfully we have a TV in the van and could easily turn on the cartoons to keep them happy while I caught up on the blog and Jason tried to have a nap. I say try because Kayla kept crawling all over him! We then did a little bit of school which again wasn’t the smartest thing to do in the afternoon when we got up so early but we got there. Then our reward was to go and chill beside the pool and have a drink whilst watching the kids have fun. Jason joined them for a bit but it was quite cold. I waited with Kayla who was not wanting to hop out whilst the boys went back for a shower and to start dinner. Eventually I just had to grab her and convince her coming back to the van was a lot more fun! At least it was an early night for us all.

The kids enjoying the pool.

Friday came around way too fast and we opted to just do school and hang around the van in the morning. It also allowed us to get some of the jobs done that needed doing. I think all the walking and early starts are really starting to build up and we are going to need to just spend a few days in Darwin doing not much at all other than relaxing and getting our energy back. Later in the afternoon we headed out to Cahills Crossing and Ubirr Rock to see the Aboriginal Rock Art and then watch the sunset from the vantage point.

Aboriginal Rock Art.

Pretty detailed.

This really didn’t go to plan as Hamish was not in the mood for any more walks or what he refers to as boring things. Jason was also not in the mood for Hamish’s complaining so we were off to a great start and we were at that stage only driving there.

First stop was Cahills Crossing where Jason went by himself to have a quick look whilst I waited in the car with the kids. He said that there were heaps of people fishing on the bridge right near the water’s edge, but apparently only a few small barra were being caught. Water was even starting to go over the bridge as high tide was coming in. Jason thought that the people were crazy as he had spotted two 3m crocodiles cruising along the river not far from them. Even more frightening was the fact that we had found out that in 1987 a man was taken by a crocodile on this very crossing.

Look who was hanging around.

Not a place I would want to fish.

Things did not improve with the kids moods when we got to Ubirr Rock but we did manage to do it and get up to the lookout. It was a spectacular outlook over the wetlands below. Our biggest mistake was that we had gotten there a tad bit too early really and had quite a wait for sunset.

Kayla the rock climber.

Happy to have made it to the top.

Enjoying a moment with my kids.

So whilst Hamish was having fun playing on the rocks and exploring it was great but after a while that wore thin and he just wanted to go back to the car. I wasn’t getting to enjoy it at all as I was having to come up with all different games to try and distract him like hide and seek, so eventually I just called it quits and took the kids back down to the car and waited for Jason to get his sunset photos and join us. Yep I really think we need a few days of just relaxing and not pushing ourselves to do anything.