We have finally left the Northern Territory and are now in Mt Isa, Queensland. We will be in the bottom half of the NT in the first week of October before heading across the Central Desert in to WA. Our first stop in the NT was at Katherine which is a big town that services the rural and remote areas. I did not particularly like Katherine as it was hot (around 38C every day) and all the things we wanted to do such as tour with the School of Air and swim/canoe at Nitmiluk National Park weren’t available, plus our camper backed onto the highway which had a road train stopping area across the road, hence the noise was LOUD and went non-stop 24/7!! Their saving grace was definitely their museum which had great displays of the Katherine flood in 1992 where the river peaked at 22m and the whole town was about 10m under water and also a great display at the Clive Fenton hangar. Clive Fenton pioneered the flying medical services in NT prior to the Royal Flying Doctors Service starting in Qld. He was obviously a very brave man as he had numerous accidents when landing as there were no airstrips like there are today.

Our next stop was the Douglas River Hot Springs which had 78C water coming out of the rocks which flowed into the Douglas River and made the water warm. We spent two days here and saw a 3m olive python, two yellow tree snakes, which scared the lights out of us until we realised they weren’t dangerous, and a Merten’s Water Monitor (lizard) that caught freshwater prawns and ate them. The boys loved it here as they could swim and play all day. This was also were we saw our first UGLY cane toads which we immediately killed. Cane toads are vermin as they poison everything that eats them such as lizards, snakes and quolls. Currently, the cane toad is attempting to enter the northern parts of WA but the Toad Busters and Dept of Environment and Conservation are managing to keep them at bay. They originally brought 8 cane toads into Qld to eat the cane beetle, it never ate the cane beetle and is now wiping out Australian native reptiles at an alarming rate, so a good cane toad is a dead one!!

We then travelled further north to Litchfield National Park which was nothing short of amazing. It was filled with gorgeous waterfalls, swimming holes and other interesting natural icons such as rock formations and termite mounds.

Wangi Falls was beautiful and had a huge swimming area. We all swam over to the falls and jumped off the rocks. We camped at the Wangi Falls campground for the three nights we were at Litchfield NP and then drove to other destinations from there each day.

Florence Falls was stunning but the water was cold as it got little sunshine in the swimming hole. From Florence Falls we went on the creek walk which was very scenic and showed the difference in the temperature and humidity when under the bush canopy. The difference in the temperature gauges between the creek walk and the savannah walk were about 9C.

From here we went to the Lost City which was rock formations that were created over millions of years due to weathering in the sandstone and conglomerate rock. It also had ripple rock which would have had either the sea or a river flowing over it at some stage. The boys were making up names for the rocks as some looked like a man and others the shape of a cat.

Our last day at Litchfield we spent at Buley Rockholes, which were a series of small waterfalls that had massive deep holes in the rocks which you could swim in. So we spent all day going from one rockhole to another which the boys loved.

Litchfield was quite commercialised with lots of tour groups and buses as all the roads are sealed but it didn’t devalue any of the park’s natural beauty.

From Litchfield we travelled to Darwin via Mick’s Whips. Luke finally brought his own stock whip and even got personalised lessons from Mick. Mick is a well-known personality in Darwin as he sells whips at the markets and has been on many TV shows cracking his whips. We just happened to come across a sign for his whips in the middle of nowhere and followed it which brought us to his house which had a huge whip heralding the entrance to this property. Mick was one of the crack whippers that were in the opening of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. We also saw Mick again at the Mindil Markets in Darwin where he puts on a whip
cracking show and sells them. Luke had to show him what he had learnt and, I gotta say, Luke learnt quickly!!

We spent 6 days in Darwin and had a great time. We went to both the NT Museum and the Darwin Military Museum which had amazing exhibits on Cyclone Tracy in 1976 and the bombing of Darwin in 1942. Darwin had more bombs dropped on it than Pearl Harbour but since it was small it had a lot less deaths. Darwin is a very modern (and multicultural) city which is due to nearly being wiped out twice in nearly 35 years.

We also went to Doctors Gully where each day on high tide fish come into be feed by hand. The variety of fish was amazing and included mullet, batfish, archer fish, cat fish and a huge 2m groper!! We all really enjoyed feeding the fish but it was a bizarre feeling having fish swimming around your legs.

The boys even saw stingrays and mudcrabs which weren’t allowed to be feed as they can be dangerous.

On our way out of Darwin, Jason decided to have our camper trailer leaf springs checked as he was worried about them. Both of them were busted!!! So $706 later and a night in a cabin later we finally left Darwin and headed for Kakadu National Park.

Whilst we were at Kalumburu Mission, an Aboriginal community with a Catholic Mission, we had a young man walk into the campground and ask if we would like to buy one of his paintings. His name his Laurence Waina. We were blown away by Laurence’s painting and his story. He said he was from the local Kwiny (said Queenee) tribe and had grown up in this area and that his father was a famous Aboriginal artist who also taught his to paint. He explained he Brandshaw painting to us and what it meant including the dilidili bag (black magic bag) and that the kangaroo was his Dreaming animal. Later we found out that his dad is Kevin Waina and his paintings are in every gallery and market in the Kimberley. We also saw some of Laurence’s at different markets too.

The drive into Kalumburu was the roughest road we have ever been on. It was badly corrugated with major rocky parts and sand traps thrown in too. We were lucky enough to get in and out unscathed but many aren’t including the elderly couple who had broken their rear tail shaft. We helped them into Kalumburu and then happened to run into them again on our way to Katherine, NT. This time they were parked up on the side of the road about 130km from Katherine with a broken alternator and a fuel pump that wouldn’t work as they had no power!! So once again we helped them into Katherine. They were immensely happy with our help and brought Jason a “Darwin stubbie” (1litre bottle of beer) in a collector’s box and $5 each for the kids because they were so patient waiting whilst we helped them out.

 

This is the painting on the back wall of the Catholic Church at Kalumburu Mission. I was surprised that a missionary service would allow pagan paintings such as the Wandjina in a church but maybe this was a means to entice local people into the religion.

We also got to see the leftover planes from the WW2 bombing of

Kalumburu airstrip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Kalumburu we travelled back down to the Gibb River Road and ate scones at Ellenbrae Station (which were amazing) and then relaxed at Home Valley Station that looks over the Cockburn Ranges and the crocodile infested Pentecost River. The sunsets were magnificent and the whole area was very peaceful. We even went out to dinner in their restaurant and Mitch ate buffalo sausages, crocodile, emu and kangaroo. He even thought it was very tasty!!

Our last stop on the Gibb was El Questro where we went to Zebedee Thermal Springs, El Questro Gorge and Emma Gorge. The walks into the gorges were at least 2km one way and hard going with lots of gravelly creekbeds and rocky outcrops to climb over but each gorge was spectacular. Emma Gorge then became my favourite after Wunumarra Gorge.

El Questro Gorge Zebedee Springs Emma Gorge

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

El Questro Gorge

The Gibb River Road has been an amazing experience, that I don’t think words will do justice too. We spent lots of days hiking into spectacular gorges and swimming in freezing cold waterholes at the bottom of waterfalls. This will be more of a photo blog than a word blog today.

The freshwater crocs which were at Windjana Gorge. These are alot safer than “salties” and Jay and the boys even swam here.

Windjana Gorge which is completely different to the other gorges as this gorge cuts between a range and doesn’t have waterfalls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A boab tree at sunset. We’ve all fallen in love with the boab tree which is also known as “The Upside Down Tree” because it looks like tree roots and trunks with leaves and branches being buried in the ground. The local aboriginal people have carved boab nuts for 10000 years or more. The boab nuts are about the size of a duck egg and the boys discovered that when knocked out of the tree they instantly smash sending theirs seeds all around. Hence, the challenge of getting a boab nut whole, which we eventually won by hopping on top of roof rack of the car and pulling them off the branches. We also brought some local carved boab nuts too.

This Bell Gorge which was our first waterfall on the Gibb River Rd. We swam both up the top of the falls and also down the bottom. The water was bloody cold!!!

Us at the bottom of Bell Gorge after swimming and relaxing all day.

 

 

This is Galvins Gorge which we stopped at for a short break before going to Mt Elizabeth Station. Of course, where there is water there are two little boys swimming.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is Wunamarra Gorge on Mt Elizabeth Station. It was a very rocky track and a lot of rock hopping and ladder climbing to get to but very much worth it. We spent all day here swimming in the waterhole and jumping off the rocks. The only other people there were two French travellers so it was very serene and the Wandjina art on the rocks just made it all the more special. This was by far my favourite gorge at this stage.

 

This is Big Mertens Falls in the Mitchell River National Park. These falls where on the 4.2 km walk to Mitchell Falls. We did this walk in under 1h 25m and that included stopping at the aboriginal art sites too.

The amazing Mitchell Falls from the lookout. The falls is made up of a series of three pools and had plenty of water falling considering it is nearing the end of the wet season.

Mitchell Falls from the helicopter. We caught a helicopter back from the falls as a special treat for us. The boys absolutely loved it and we were lucky enough to get an extra few minutes as we were the last people flying out that afternoon. The ride just topped off an amazing day.

Before I say anything I need to say that I’m struggling to put photos on here so I do apologise.

This week we went to Cape Leveque which is the peninsula just north of Broome. The aboriginal people who call this area home are from the Bardi tribe.

This is the altar inside the Beagle Bay Catholic church which is decorated with mother-of-pearl shell. The church was built by the Catholic Missions in the early 1900s. It still has daily mass and the local school is catholic. Around the walls is pictures depicting the Easter story and the outside is perfect stone wash white which looked amazing against the red dirt country.

We then stopped for three nights at Middle Lagoon which is an Aboriginal owned and run campground. It was a bush setting with the turquoise lagoon only 200m away. The boys loved being here as they could swim, fish and play all day. Luke meet with a local boy named Sied who taught him how to throw a spear properly. We barely saw the boys from sun up to sun down. But I’ve gotta say, they slept well!! We all had a great time finding amazing treasures on the beach including Luke digging up a one-clawed monster mudcrab!!

On 26th July we travelled further up the peninsula to Cape Leveque where we stayed for two nights at an aboriginal owned and run resort called Kooljaman. This wasn’t quite what we expected as it was on top of cliffs, very windy and not too kid friendly. We did an Aboriginal cultural tour with a man named Eddie who turned out to be a Bardi elder and absolutely amazing. We did it with another family that we met, and we were all awe-inspired by Eddie and the knowledge and wisdom about the bush and ocean. He caught a big mudcrab for us all, taught the boys how to throw and make spears, gave us taste tests of different bush tucker and also cooked the mudcrab the traditional way over the fire. The mudcrab tasted amazing and even fussy Lukey had a bite. Eddie was pretty impressed with how interested and attentive the boys were which resulted in him doing extra with us including finding bush honey made by native bees. It was super sweet but just as sticky as regular honey. At the end of the tour Mitch said to Eddie “This is the best tour I’ve ever been on and I want to live with you”. Eddie was chuffed that the boys loved it so much and asked them to personally write in his guest book.

We then went to One Arm Point which is another Bardi community where we got to visit a turtle hatchery. Luke got to feed a 40kg barramundi which scared the crap out of all of us. We all got to pat and feed turtles but the 15 day old leatherback turtle wasn’t allowed to be patted. The boys called him Squirt from Nemo and he was very cute, for young and old.

Today we left Cape Leveque and travelled down a severely corrugated road to the bitumen and then drove on to Derby where we stocked up on food and washed dirty clothes. Tomorrow we are heading to Winjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek which signals the start of The Gibb River Road and the end of internet/mobile coverage for at least three weeks. The Gibb is one of those remote “must do” destinations for all 4WD enthusiasts and is filled with massive escapements, deep gorges and cold swimming holes. The forecast is for around 30C – 35C so it will be lots more sunshine for us to enjoy.

 

 

 

Tonight brings our first week to an end and what a week it has been. We’ve driven over 2300km to Broome. This four day journey took us from freezing cold Perth to a summery Broome via the biggest shire in the world, East Pilbara. Our first day was the longest drive of 721km to just north of the township of Mt Magnet where we camped with the Davis family at Lake Nallan. And man, it was cold!!! We woke up to ice covering everything in sight. The Davis family decided to surprise us by following us to Wallal Downs which Jay and I thought was terrific as we wanted to start and end our trip with our camping family.

From Lake Nallan we drove to Kalgan Pool which took us through Newman where Jay had to buy some thongs as he left his at home. This is also where I discovered I had left our emergency credit card. From camping at Kalgan Pool in the rain, we hit dirt road, at last and travelled through a cute outback town called Nullagine with one pub, one roadhouse and a great community centre to Marble Bar where we stopped for lunch. Marble Bar is renowned for being the hottest town in Australia.

 

 

 

 

I feel that my job is an absolute honour and privilege. I love my job and I enjoy working with every young person that enters our service. Sometimes it can be intense and frustrating, whilst other times it’s filled with joy and laughter.

I often feel saddened by how some young people have such an intense feeling of hopelessness. This hopelessness is ingrained in their being as they have systematically been failed by every corner of society. Failed by parents, families, schools, the justice system and the media. Society has labelled them as “no-hopers”, “losers”, and a tax burden.  I want to tear these lables off, I want to scream to the world that this is our future, I want every person to know that it is NOT their fault. Sure they’ve made some bad choices, but nobody has every taught them to make good choices, nobody has told them that they are worth it. I fully understand that not every person that leaves my workplace will be a well-adjusted pillar of society. BUT I hope that I am able to help young people make better choices and take responsibility for their future, at the very least I hope that I instill a belief that they have a right to be heard and that they deserve the best for themselves. It is so important to help the young people realise and understand that what they have done in the past, or suffered in the past, does not have to predict their future, and that they have the power to change their future by making informed choices.

Everyday I take home a better understanding of not only young people, but also myself. Each day I challenge my beliefs and justify my actions. Everyday I walk out of my job knowing that I have tried my best to make a difference, a difference not only to the young people at the service, but a difference in the world. I think that the more people that choose to stand up and be counted, the more society, as a whole will improve. If I try and I fail at least I will be happy knowing that I gave a damn.

It’s that time of the year when our school has parent/teacher interviews. It’s always something that I’m not sure whether I should dread it or love it, as I only know what happens at school from what the boys tell me. Not to mention I was no model student, I was the “if only she would apply herself” type student. So I do have a fear that my kids may take after me.

Honestly, Luke hates school. This is the first year he hasn’t cried everyday, and he is very well liked by kids, big and little, but he is also very happy in his own company. He would happily never go to school again. He gets upset when he realises that he has to go to school for another ten years. He is an intelligent wee fellow but I think he gets intensely frustrated by the assemblies, the lining up to go anywhere and the whole routine of school.

So last week I went off to Luke’s interview. It was all pretty good, he is academically on track, is well-behaved and well liked. His teachers did mention that he is slow to finish his work but is steadily increasing his work output. They also said that Luke goes to the toilet about every 20 mins. They asked if this should happen, knowing that he has a medical condition they haven’t wanted to stop him. I did say that he does need to drink lots, but that he shouldn’t need to wee that often. So when I got home I asked Luke why he was going to the toilet so often and he replied “Sssh that is my little secret”. Then he proceeded to tell me that if he goes to the toilet at certain times he gets out of certain class work!!! I had to laugh very loudly, on the inside, and thought to myself if only he could channel those “smarts” into something more positive the kid would hit the stars!! So his little secret is no longer, and funnily enough he no longer needs to wee during class time.

After spending yesterday morning in my busy morning run around achieving multiples things at once, I turned the car radio on and heard “Multiple deaths in major earthquake in New Zealand”. I instantly felt my stomach churn and my heart pound. This is my country, my family, my friends and a piece of my heart they are talking about. I was shocked at the devastation when I turned on the TV – the rubble, the mangled lives, the mangled buildings, the images of people wandering aimlessly through the streets with blood running from their shaken bodies. All I could do was stare at the TV with tears stream downing my face and seeing so many NZ icons shattered into pieces.

As a child and adult living in NZ I was terrified of earthquakes, that fear of dying took over me and I was a panicker. I felt many earthquakes some bigger some smaller, none causing more than minor damage, but every one made me more scared. My fear of heights came from being in an earthquake in a high-rise that my Mum worked in, I still never feel safe in tall buildings, I feel sick standing on balconies, I feel safe on terra firma, even though I live where earthquakes just don’t happen.

I am grateful that as far as I know my family and friends in Christchurch are safe, and I’m even more grateful that my immediate family are North Islanders. For the first time in a long time I want to go home, I want to hug my Kiwi family and friends and reassure them that it will be ok, maybe not tomorrow or the next day, but they will be okay.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote on my Facebook page about how my parenting skills were lacking that day and I need to switch my boys off for a couple of hours for a break or maybe they wanted to switch their own ears off so they didn’t hear me being cranky anymore. Then a friend replied about what a fabulous Mum I am and how I am sent the challenges that I have because I can handle them unlike most people. With the state of mind I was in that day it really made cry. And then I came to realise that I’m allowed to be exhausted and cranky as I do have a lot to deal with, some of it is out of my control and other stuff is my choice. And I realise people may think I have a blessed life, and I too think I have a blessed life as I know that there are lots of people who work harder and who’s lives are harder through no choice of their own. But my life is not always a bed of roses and sometimes it is, honestly, depressing, upsetting and exhausting. And today is one of those horrible days where I’m struggling.

I get so sick of juggling so much stuff. I’ve got one boy with ADHD who requires lots of extra attention especially teaching organisation skills and liaising with schools and coaches. My other child has a reoccuring illness that requires LOTS of medical appointments, lots of illness and days of school and three or more operations per year. Not to mention I work as a full-time youth worker working with homeless teens and help do all the accounts and taxs for my hubby’s business. I work shift work that allows me to able to spend lots of time with my kids and doesn’t involve my kids going into care very much, but any form of childcare comes with a guilt factor. I honestly am not stay at home mother material, I’ve done it and not enjoyed it.

Most of the time I’m happily living my life enjoying it and being grateful, but occassionally I get serious doubts over my life and especially my parenting skills. I want my kids to be happy well-adjusted kids, I want them to be well educated and I want them to have lots of real friendships and enjoy their lives to the fullest. But, damn it, I haven’t got a clue on how to help them achieve it. I feel all I can do is love and encourage them, teach them morales and that they are valuable beings, be involved in their schooling and sports and be the best rolemodel that I can be. And pray that I’ve done the right thing by them. I know I can’t control their choices (which is hard to admitt), I know I can’t control what happens in the world outside of our home and I know I can’t control peer pressure. But today is day where I’m feeling doubt even though I haven’t yelled or ordered, or even got slightly cranky. But in those quiet moment between tasks that self-doubt has crept in.  I just feel that parenthood just feels like such a gamble, a gamble that doesn’t show if your winning or losing until it’s too late.

At the end of September we headed off on our annual camping trip. We had an extra onboard this time as my nephew, Devon, was here from New Zealand. We wanted to show Devon just how varied and beautiful West Australia is from the inland dry areas to the turquoise blue sea. And I think we successfully managed it.

Our first night’s stop was the Murchison Settlement Roadhouse which is very isolated and on the way to, the even more isolated, Mt Augustus 

Murchison Settlement Roadhouse

From there we saw same interesting things that are very iconic to Australia. One is a stock watering well. These have been put in over 100 years ago and are used to water travelling stock in an arid and remote parts of Western Australia.  A lot of these are now un-useable as stock is general moved by road trains, however we were lucky enough to come across a working stock well.

Working Stock Well

From here we travelled along further until we crossed the 26th Parallel. This is officially classified as remote so if you work above this zone there are big tax breaks due to the extremely hard living conditions. There is little to no rain with extreme temperatures regularly reaching 50C (122F) and an over abundance of dangerous creatures including deadly snakes, spiders, scorpions, jellyfish, crocs, etc, etc. It can also be an expensive place to live as most water and all food is transported in. Fresh fruit and vegies are not a common occurrence especially since your nearest shop can be well over 500km away.

The three boys at the 26th Parallel

Once we got to Mt Augustus we realised it is the largest rock in the world but not as tall as Uluru (Eyres Rock). Mt Augustus looked spectacular both at sunrise and sunset. The morning we left we bush-walked around part of the rock and between the heat and the flies we all got hot and cranky so headed off to Karajini National Park.  The trip to Karajini was a long, hot and dusty trek over some unforgiving terrain and when we had a rock go through the side wall of Jason’s $400 tyre, he was far from impressed. The only other damage sustained throughout the trip was both, Mike and our campers got busted brake lines which would have resulted in rocks bouncing up off the tyres.

Mt Augustus at sunrise.

Karajini NP was almost hard to describe. When you drove into the camping area it looked dry, hot and tired. But within 300m walk you were standing at the top of picturesque gorges with cascading cool waterfalls.  Thankfully they were cool as it was starting to get darn hot!! Devon, managed amazingly well with the heat considering it was only 7 days previous that he had been at ski camp in NZ and it was -2C (28F) and it was about 42C (108F). All of us, 6 kids and 6 adults, had a great time in the rockpools and waterfalls, and we even went on an 8.6km bushwalk when it was 40+C and we did it without any kids complaining.

Fortescue Falls, Karajini NP

Luke sitting on Fortescue Falls.

Mitch looking hot during our bushwalk.

Strange rock formations discovered on bushwalk.

From Karajini NP we drove to Millstream Chichester NP and to get there we had to go to Tom Price (a very small mining town) to do a safety course so we could use the mining railway road. This is a private road that is owned by mining giant Rio Tinto. This road was far from exciting and the only thing that relieved the boredom for the kids was the iron ore trains. We saw about six of them in total and the kids tried counting the carriages. One train had 287 carriages and 3 engines pulling it.

Rio Tinto iron ore train.

And the three engines pulling it (taken out the car window as we drove).

Millstream Chichester NP was like a breath of fresh air, there was big shady areas, large grassed areas and a billabong only 20m from where we camped so we didn’t have to trek up and down gorges. The water was very deep and cool so it was lucky that we bought blow-up pool noodles to keep the kids afloat, and they also made awesome water seats for us lazy adults.

Billabong at Millstream Chichester NP

The 2 campers and 1 roof-topper all set up at Millstream.

 From there we headed back to the coastline to Point Samson. It was a lot cooler on the coast due to the sea-breeze but still sitting around the mid-30s. We stayed at a caravan park so we could stockup with food, wash the clothes and refill our water tanks.  The caravan park was probably the hardest part of the trip with the kids (for us adults) as all of a sudden we were back in civilisation. We had complaints about “We’re bored” and “The playground is boring”. But ironically when we were in the middle of the dry hot nowhere we didn’t have one complaint and they all entertained themselves collecting rocks and sticks and running around in the fresh air. We went to Karratha which is a regional mining town to stock up with food and to check out Dampier Peninsula and NW Gas Shelf Plant which was very interesting. We also went to Hearson Cove between Dampier and Karratha. It was amazing to see how far out the tide goes (up to 6m) out and how quickly it came back in. When we first put our feet in the water we were nearly 1500m from the high tide shoreline and by the time we left the tide was almost the whole way back in. On our way out of Hearson Cove we noticed a Crocodile warning sign which we should’ve seen before we ran to the water!! So next time we’re up north we’ll be taking a closer look at the signs before running towards the water!!

NW Gas Shelf Project, Dampier Peninsula

Mitch being a croc at the Crocodile Warning sign!!

Our next, and last, destination was Ningaloo Station which sits between Exmouth and Coral Bay. This is absolute pristine coastline with barely a soul on it. Just walking along the beach we saw dolphins galore, huge rays, turtles as wide as my arm span and even a reef shark!! And the snorkelling was spectacular too!! We saw Nemo, Dory, Nor-West Snapper, Zebra fish, Angelfish and Bat fish and the most beautifully coloured coral. We even saw a monster clam which Devon and Jas were trying to get to shut!! We spent our last five days at Ningaloo. It was a time to relax and enjoy the simple pleasures that nature brings our way. We spent hours fishing, swimming, snorkelling and playing cricket. The kids made coral gardens on the beach from coral washed up on the shore. And we all sat in awe of the sunset each night.

The kids posing on the beach

Another perfect Ningaloo sunset

Mitch, Devon and Luke on the beach

Probably the worst part of the trip is going home. It’s not like a couple of hours down the road!! It was two days drive!! The first day we drove for over 10 hours and stopped at a 24hr rest bay. Then packed up and left by 530am, had a late breakkie at 8am in Geraldton then drove another 6 hours home. We did this long haul with barely a squeak or a complaint from the kids. When we did get home it made technology like flashing loos and continuous hot water an absolute pleasure.