DARWIN and Surrounds August 09 - 4th October 09

Mitchell Street - Darwin

DARWIN and Surrounds

The truth is if i dont do a abbreviated overview of the past month i may never catch up so here we go!

Litchfield National Park is beautiful! Lots of people love it and lots of people visit it because it is so close to Darwin, it is bitumen all the way and most of the features are pretty easy to walk to.

Marnie and DArcy - Florence Falls

Termite hills everywhere

DArcy and Taine at Buley Pool Up in the rock pool at Wangi Falls

Tropical walk at the top of Wangi Falls

Wangi Falls

The Lost City at sunset

Back from another walk! Riley showing off.

Yes Nanna they did jump from here!

DARWIN

After our holiday in Bali mum and dad meet us in Berry Springs just outside of Darwin. We hadnt seen them for 8 months so it was lovely to catch up. They have been on the road for the winter and even done the 4wd trip up to Cape York.

The kids were very excited to see them and spent plenty of time with them over the next two weeks.

Kym had to fly out for work for a few days to Perth so the rest of us spent a quiet week together at the Tumbling Waters Caravan Park in Berry Springs which allowed us time just to chill out and catch up, swim and swim and swim and do some sight seeing.

Kym and i also had the chance to go out for lunch in Darwin to a beautiful cafe at the Marina with my friend Pina and her new boyfriend . It was wonderful to see her so happy and to see a man soooo in love with her. Beautiful day!

Berry Hot Springs

Feeding the fish in Darwin

Kakaku National Park was great but it was soooooooo hooooooottttttt! Reallllllllly Realllllllllly Hooooooooot. Mum and dad have seen alot of the park before and we had already done the south on our way up to Darwin so we only spent about three days in the park. We saw most of the important spots - aboriginal art and natural beauty and walks and really all had a positive experience. So many people had said Kakadu - Kakadont - on further questioning they had really got out there and done the walks and climbs so naturally they hadnt seen much. It was fun having mum and dad with us also as it just adds some added fun to the trip.

Cahills Crossing - Kakadu National Park

To the left of the picture is a road crossing. When we were there the water was about one foot over the road so crossable. A group of guys were standing on the rocks and in the water fishing. Then all of a sudden we saw this big croc climb up over the rocks - lay in the middle of the road for a minute or so, swim to the edge - catch a fish - and then swim off up the river! Amazing. We yelled out to them and ask how their fishing was going now - the answer - OVER!

View over the wetlands

Grandpa Marnie and Riley

Rock Art at Kakkau National Park

Taine pretending he is Spiderman!

A cool drink at the Crocodile shaped hotel at Jabiru - Kakadu National Park NT

Trying their hand at Aboriginal Art at the camp ground in Kakadu National Park - NT

Edith Falls near Katherine NT

Early 10th Birthday Celebrations for DArcy

Early 12th Birthday celebrations for Riley

Daly Rivers Pub - NT

Nice decorations arent they!

Mataranka Hot Springs NT - the bats have caused some problems around the pools

We have travelled a few long days lately as the distance between places of interest increased but we have still seen some interesting things and made the effort to go the extra KMs to see some different places.

Fishing on the McArthur River at King Ash Bay NT

Yep thats some of the roads we have been travelling. This stretch only took 8 hours of driving.

Welcome to Queensland

Apparently this is the real size of the crocodile shot in Normanton QLD

DArcys 10th birthday - Barkley Homestead NT

Rileys 12th Birthday Normanton QLD

Life on the road continues to be fantastic and when people ask us how long we have been travelling it is hard to believe it has been 9 months. I guess we are actually on the home track and plan on doing it in about the next 9 weeks!!!! Unbelievable!

Love to you all

themitchellsonthemove.blogspot.com

BALI - August 31st - 10th September 2009.

Bali August/September 09

Around the time we were half way up the Western Australian coast we decided that when we got to Darwin we would fly to Bali for a "holiday". We got some cheap Jetstar flights, had the travel agent find us some family accommodation and started saving for spending money. It was the first time for all of us and we had a ball.

We did lots of the usual tourist things , like shopping and shopping and shopping. We found plenty of time to eat and eat and eat as well as trying to do some cultural things.

Riley at one of the many Temples in Bali


Taine sitting for the artist at the Temple - 3o minutes and the picture was done

DArcy feeding some of the roadside monkeys on the way up North

The rice fields of central Bali - beautiful

BALI Safari and Marine Park - Great day and we had a fantastic time with all the animals .

We all got to meet the elephants after the show.
(Kym had to stay back at the hotel - not toooo far from the toilet!)

How cute is the baby orangutan?

Three hour Surf lesson at the Quicksilver School in Legian - time for Mum and Dad to get a massage!

Transport in Bali comes in many different forms including our hotel shuttle bus

Riley having extentions plaited into her hair. At one stage three ladies were on the job. It took at least two hours!

DArcy helping out the locals at the rice fields

The memorial of the Bali Bombings - opposite the Sari Club.

Taine and the python at another of the temples. The snake was starting to tighten its hold on him.

On the beach before we headed out on the Submarine

The kids in the submarine - one of the divers who feed the fish on the reef - 100 feet down.

Water Bom Park.

It was only scary the first time we went on the ride -(thank god they didnt have a microphone so you could hear what i said) Not sooooo scary on the 10th, 15th or 20th time !!!!! - We had a great time and the kids and us did them all!

Sanuar beach just on sunset.

We had dinner on the beach above, did a little more shopping, then went back to the hotel to catch our transport to the airport and "home" to Darwin. Pity between me booking the flights and the travel agent booking the accommodation - we were at the airport a day early and had to pay a fee (dont ask!) to get on the earlier flight. Buggar! Arrived home at three am, drove down to the Wharf - had a snooze, only to be woken by the local fitness group out for a 6am jog around and around and around the wharf. We then headed into Darwin - breakfast at Maccas and back to pickup the van from storage.

Kym got Bali belly, Riley came home with $3.20, DArcy has more hats than any man can wear, they thought Taine was a cutie with his long blonde hair and Marnie is toooo big for shoes, clothes, rings bracelets etc to buy anything in Bali. A great time had by all!