On our way to WA

Sorry I haven’t been on my blog for a few days but we haven’t had any internet or phone connection where we have been.  I have done some great things the last few days.

We went swimming in Katherine Hot Springs.  The water was really crystal clear, warm and bubbly as the water flowed down a rock waterfall.  I had fun sliding down the waterfall into the springs.

After the springs we travelled on the Victoria Highway west towards the Western Australia border.  We drove through the Judbarra Gregory National Park which is the second largest national park in the Northern Territory.  The park was full of massive rocky mountains and huge boab trees.

We went to a lookout on top of one of the mountains and saw the Victoria River winding through the hills and mountains.  At the lookout I read all about the Nackeroos who were a group of men and Indigenous Australians who kept watch for any Japanese bombers during World War 2.

At the Victoria River I saw heaps of birds called Rainbow Bee-eaters.  They were really nicely coloured like a rainbow. 

 

Just outside Timber Creek in the national park we drove to a short walk to see the Gregory Tree which is a massive old white Boab tree that the explorer Augustus Gregory carved the dates of his expedition and settlement near the Victoria River being 1855 – July 1986.  That tree was very cool!

 

Big boab trees on the walk to the Gregory Tree

 

The Gregory Tree carved July 2 1856

The next day we drove down a really dusty, corrugated, rocky road to the Zebra Rock Mine Campground.  Zebra rock is really rare and this is the only place in the world where zebra rock can be found.  Geologists come from all over the world to see this beautiful rock which is striped and patterned like a zebra.  We went on a bumpy ride in the mine bus to see where the rock was mined.  It was an open cut mine and it was really small.  We were allowed to pick out a piece of zebra rock to keep.  When I got back to camp I sanded my rock to make it smooth and shiny.

I made lots of friends at the campground and at night time we had a campfire and me and my friends and I made damper and put it in small balls on the end of a long stick.  We cooked them in the fire and then pulled the damper off the stick and filled the hole with golden syrup.  It was delicious even better than marshmallows!

One night we all went on a cruise on Lake Argyll which is the largest man-made lake in Australia.  I saw little freshwater crocodiles that didn’t look real and looked like plastic.  They were very cute! 

The Zebra Rock Mine Bus and Tour Boat

I also saw heaps of wetland birds including sea eagles and their nest, pelicans, magpie geese, black and white ducks, spoonbills, shags, jabirus and storks.

A shag

Our tour guide called Max took the boat way out into the middle of the lake and I had a swim around with my friends.  The water was really deep!

After our swim Max drove the boat into a creek where we stopped and had a little feast and drinks.  Max also drove the boat really fast around the dead tree stumps in the lake and he let me drive the cruise boat. 

It was really hard driving the cruise boat because the steering was heavy and you had to watch where you were going all the time.  Driving the boat was the best part of the cruise for me. 

Me and Max

 On the way back to camp we all sang songs and partied in the bus.  We had a great time!

Sunset over Lake Argyll

 I’m now in the wild, wild west as Nan calls it!  At the border of Western Australia we weren’t allowed to take any fruit, vegetables, nuts or seeds into WA. 

 

We camped at Kununurra and have been to Mirani National Park which is nicknamed the miniature Bungle Bungles.  We went on two bush walks and saw weird formed rocks that were all different shapes.  One of the rocky shapes looked like a large beehive.  I sat in a small cave hole in the side of a cliff.  It was hard and slippery climbing up there.  We also climbed up steep rocks and stairs to a lookout where we could see all over the town of Kununurra.

 

Lookout over Kununurra

The Aboriginal people have a dreamtime story about the rocks and how they were formed and the story is all about head lice.

Where we camped outside Kununurra I saw a willy willy come out of nowhere and ripped off a man’s awning off his camper van.  The willy willy was like a mini dusty tornado and the dust blew all over other caravans but not ours luckily!

Huge boab tree at Lake Kununurra where we all went for a swim at a place called Swim Beach

  

At night at this camp I can see our Milky Way really clearly.  Pop and I saw three satellites going in different directions across the sky and we saw lots of shooting stars.  It was really cool!

The next day we headed south west to Halls Creek.  We drove through really interesting mountainous country and I saw huge eagles eating dead animals on the side of the road.  I also saw lots of huge bulls and wild cattle.  The termite mounds have now changed and look really wide, round and messy looking. 

  

At Halls Creek we filled up with gas.  Halls Creek is the last town we can get gas till we get to Broome which is 684 km away heading west.  I hope we make it otherwise I might not be back to school for a while :)

Sunset over the boab trees at our campsite

 Till next time