Week 17
Hi Everyone, At the start the week we packed up and left Wangi Falls with our relatives. We headed off to Tolmer Falls and then to Florence. After that, we went to the Berry Springs where we had a swim. There were two streams that came together, one of them was where the Berry Springs released the hot water, and the other one was further down stream, the same as a normal river. In some places you could go from warm to freezing water by just taking a step to the side. That night, we stayed at the Howard Springs Holiday Park in Darwin, and the next day we went to the Corroboree Billabong where we went on a sunset cruise. It was as if all the billabongs to date were just warm up acts. This billabong was so beautiful. There were Great Egrets dancing in the sun, Stalks flying around with their feathers flapping, and the green-legged Comb-Crested Jacanas making a feast of the lilypads. The guide showed us the wonderful lilies that we were allowed to pick. He told us that they take ages to grow, and only blossom for six hours before dying and dropping one, big seed. Some people even made hats of the lilypads. We saw the sun starting to set, it was a big yellow ball making reflections on the water as we cruised by. It made some great videos/photos. Nearer to the end of the cruise, we saw a salt water crocodile, which was, (and the guide was surprised by this) the only crocodile we had seen all day. That night, we went back to the Howard Springs Caravan Park. The next day, we packed up and moved further into Darwin at the Aurora Shady Glen Caravan Park. That day, Jackie and David, (our uncle and aunt) gave back their hired Maui and stayed at a hotel. That afternoon, we reunited at the Darwin Sunday Market. Darwin’s Sunday Market. It is different to Geelong’s as it runs from afternoon to late, while Geelong’s market is from early in the morning to about 12 o’clock. All the stands were either craft or orientated. We had dinner there. Ali and I had Mexican, (the best I’ve ever tasted). When we left the market, we said our last goodbyes to David, Jackie, Ella and Sam as they left in a taxi to their hotel to leave for Melbourne the next day. The next day, we did school work and went for a swim at Darwin’s Wave Pool. The day after though, we went to the Darwin Oil Storage Tunnels that were used in WWII. We saw two tunnels, tunnel 5 and tunnel 6. Tunnel six was 78 metres long, 4.5 metres wide, 5 metres high, and held 1,755,000 litres of oil. Tunnel five was 171 metres long, with the same height and width, but it held 38, 475, 000, 000 litres of oil. After that, we went and saw the White Lily Billabong, which wasn’t very interesting after seeing the Corroboree Billabong. That night, we set up our tent at the Kakadu Lodge. | The next morning, we packed up and left for an aboriginal rock art site. When we got there, we took a walk that would lead us to the site. On the way, we saw three little rock wallabies. At the art site, we saw some paintings of fish, kangaroos, men with spears, women eating witchetty grubs, and a big aboriginal dance. After that, we walked on to a lookout. Our next stop was at Gunlom Falls. On the road back, Dad noticed that a large part of the road had been washed away by recent floods. He swerved to the right side of the road to avoid it, and the car made it through unscathed. The trailer though, fell into the ditch and was then pulled out again but it was on it’s side. Dad then swerved left to compensate for his previous turn, but this made the trailer roll back on it’s wheels and over onto the other side. So now we had two sides that were damaged. Dad stopped and unhooked the trailer. We put all the things that had fallen out the top into the shade of a tree, then Dad got out the winch and pulled the trailer upright. The trailer’s mudguard had dug into one of the wheels, so we got out the jack and pushed it away from the wheel in hope that the wheel had survived. We drove on, we couldn’t get any help as RACV won’t come onto an unsealed road. We checked on the tyres and one of the back ones fell off the axle. We went three wheeled from there. Eventually, we made it to the Mary River Roadhouse where we stayed the night. I fell ill with the flu and found it difficult to walk as dizziness would overcome me. The next day, we left the roadhouse and travelled 350kms back to, (can you guess where?) the Howard Springs Holiday Park where we stayed in a cabin. And with that high note, the week finished. That is, week 17 on our Journey Around Australia. Cameron. |
