Day 25 – 28

Thursday / day 2 quaro : Emailed amazing local IGA for a grocery delivery yesterday. Arrived this morning. Could have come later in the day tbh to have something more to look forward to. Did laundry. It rained. We played in the rain (within the boundaries of our confinement of course).

Friday / day 3 quaro : Did some stretches as a family. Used what resources we had to get a weighted workout. Roly and Sam have been following the Dakar Rally, so caught up on that. Made a smoothie. Got pinged to check in on the G2G Now app with a geotagged selfie three times, one of which Sam was on the toilet and that made Kat laugh a lot. Called the Ord River Roadhouse to see if they’d deliver dinner. They don’t usually, but the lady who answered the phone dropped us two pizzas and a garlic bread on her way home after the lunch shift and we cooked them ourselves later. Country people are legends. Rained.

Saturday / day 4 quaro : Henry, Roly and Kat all had early naps. Sam tried to do some jobs but got repeatedly interrupted. Eventually fitted the pump to the trailer water tank, which will be really useful for future trips. The soaking rain continued. Seems the wet has truly begun. Lots of great storm photos on the ABC website from people in the Kimberley. Roly watched kids across the road play basketball. Roly also now refusing to wear clothes. Kat tries to learn to crochet, but struggles.

Sunday / day 5 quaro : Kat hating the cuckoo clock in the loungeroom less and less. At least it signals another hour has passed. We cook bacon and eggs on our camp cooker outside to save the mess indoors. Ants have escaped the rain into our food box inside. We begin a clean up, the Dyson stick vacuum here does not live up to the hype. We’re starting to get jealous of everyone allowed outside who can go see the amazing wet season waterfalls. Maybe a Lake Argyle trip is in order when we get out of quarantine? We keep doing our daily yoga/pilates (how good is Cosmic Kids on YouTube!?). Kat keeps trying to crochet. It keeps raining. Doesn’t stop us getting some outside time. We’re endlessly thankful for a backyard to quarantine in.

Day : 24

Day of Quarantine : 1

Hours of ABC kids : probably only 2 (feels like a parenting win)

Cups of tea : 15

5:15am : children awake, demanding breakfast

6:30am : attempt kids Pilates video on YouTube. Roly not super into it. Kat and Sam realise how unfit and inflexible they’ve become after two kids and 3 weeks in the car.

7:33am : watch Fireman Sam

8am – midday : ???

12pm : a rare double nap for Roly & Henry. Kat takes a nap too.

1pm : woken from nap by G2G Now tracking app demanding a geotagged photo as proof of quarantine compliance.

1pm – 4:30pm : ???

Watch Play School.

Watch Sesame Street. Roly does not like it.

At some point a storm rolls over and we watch the rain from the front doorstep. No gutters here (why bother?), so it pours like a waterfall from the roof.

Our covid tests taken at the border come back negative. Good to know.

4:30pm : start cooking dinner, because, what else is there to do other than the mountains of life admin we’ve been ignoring.

6pm : dinner, bath children, bedtime routine that almost feels like home.

8:30pm : watch terrible but actually really good movie called Blow Dry on SBS. We don’t have wifi and phone internet is patchy. TV is a luxury. Afterwards, bed.

Day : 23

Location : Kunanurra (WA!), Miriwoong country

Kms travelled : 226

It was a hot night but not unbearable. Especially because we knew it was our last in the outdoors for a while. Still, everyone was restless. The sun rose after 7am, which granted us a small sleep in. Pack up was hot and humid as always. The flies were waking up just as we were.

Sam and Roly took a walk along the creek edge behind the campground. In the dry they do scheduled croc feeding of the resident freshies, and they’re clearly not lacking nourishment!

We packed all our fruit and veg into an easy to reach bag, in case we needed to dispose of the lot at the WA border. We’d nearly forgotten about the other type of quarantine. Ate a bunch of it for breakfast so it wouldn’t go to waste, which actually made for quite a gourmet meal. Roly pointed out all the cars with snorkels in the caravan park (again, a new favourite pastime), and reiterated his desire to have one fitted to our car when we get to Broome.

We stopped by the Wirib Tourist Park right next door for it’s advertised ‘real coffee’ and bakery. Unfortunately no baked goods (must be a dry season thing), and the coffee was below average. Indigenous owned, but run by your standard near retirement camp hosts, the little supermarket was well stocked but it all round wasn’t anything special. Not sure we’d stop in Timber Creek again at either place if we found ourselves out this way.

We started to see Boab trees, so it definitely felt like heading West. There was water in a few creeks (nowhere near threatening the road) and green vegetation climbed red bluffs. Once again, different to how we remember it on our last trip, when we weaved back and forth across the NT/WA border along Duncan Road. Big signs warned there was no WA access via Duncan Road this time.

In just over 2hrs we were at the NT/WA border. With our border passes and bag of fruit at the ready, we expected a quick passage.

Over an hour later the barricade was removed and we were allowed on our “stay masked and take the most direct route” way. The (very friendly but conservative) officers at the border triple checked the details of our exemption, including our whereabouts the past 14 days (3 of those were still in Qld, the horror) and whether Kat’s letter from the Chief Health Officer (“please let this person in to staff our workforce”) covered Sam and the kids too (it took a phone call, but the answer is yes). The fruit and veg inspector was much easier, even letting us scoff some last fruits before sending us on our way with naught but carrots. (Even took Muz’s honey off us, devastating).

The town to be our safe haven and captor for the next 14 days, Kunanurra, was only half an hour or so down the road. We messaged our contact for the housesit, who met us at the house (masked and 1.5m away). A wonderful friendly face, not only did she drop off keys and show us how to work the aircon, but also offered to pick up and drop off groceries or anything we might need during our stay.

We settled in, unpacked most of our stuff, and Kat called the homeowners and thanked them for their generosity. We took inventory of our food stores, started on the laundry, and looked around for takeaway options (spoiler alert : actually none). So we cooked an easy ravioli for dinner, watched a little tv, and climbed into a proper bed in our home for the next fortnight.

Day : 21 & 22

Location : Nitmiluk National Park, Jawoyn country & Timber Creek, Ngaliwurru and Nungali country

Kms travelled : 283 & 317

The night saw an impressive lightning storm roll over, and some fat drops of rain, enough to cool everything down. We all slept better with the sound of rain on the tent roof. Come morning though it had stopped, and the familiar humidity began to creep up again. We packed up while Roly enjoyed riding his bike through the new puddles that had formed and Hen had a flap in the shade.

We had a coffee at Mimi’s and Roly dictated what to write on some postcards to his friends back home (including requests to draw motorbikes, trucks, etc). We stopped for a visit at the Warradjan Cultural Centre on our way out of the National Park.

Shaped like a pig-nosed turtle, the Warradjan Cultural Centre has a walk through display curated by the many clans of Kakadu. We learned about the history of the park, including of white settlement. Roly particularly enjoyed looking at the tools and learning about hunting techniques. Henry slept through the whole place.

As we’d headed to bed last night we’d learned WA was to escalate the NT to a high risk category as of midnight, so any hope we had of quarantining in our own home in Broome was out the window. New rules state that if approved to enter as exempt travellers, you must quarantine within 200km of the border. At 12:01am the email came through that our G2G application to cross into WA was again unsuccessful on the basis of changed risk category. It’s Sunday, but we hold out hope to hear from WA police again this week about our exemption to travel, regardless of quarantine plans. The team in Broome were helpful (as always!) with some suggestions about decent accommodation to spend two weeks in, and we put a post in the Kunanurra Facebook community group seeing if anyone might be able to offer a quarantine spot with a bit of backyard (fingers crossed!)

So we headed south out of Kakadu. The country in this part of the park is much more arid and rocky than in the north. Again, the tracks to the familiar billabongs and waterfalls of the dry season were firmly marked closed. Our route took us back to Katherine. Only 500km from Kunanurra, it’s the biggest place (and not an exclusion zone) for us to await the call to hop the border.

We made a roadside toastie at Pine Creek, and Roly got a thrill out of playing on some train tracks – abandoned, so with no chance of a train coming along and spoiling the fun. Roly’s also developed an obsession with snorkels on cars, so enjoyed pointing them all out on passing traffic.

We headed back into Katherine to await our fate, deciding to stay at the Nitmiluk campground – a bit out of town, but with phone reception, and somewhere Kat and Sam had both been curious about. Grey storm clouds loomed as we drove into the national park. We set up camp quickly amid rising humidity and a fog of flies. The powered campsites were definitely geared towards caravans, so we parked the car in a powered bay and set the tent up at a short distance on the sprawling unpowered lawn. Grandma and Grandpa warned us the fruit bats can be messy, so avoid the trees, but we ignored their warning in favour of what we hoped would be some shade.

There was some swift generosity from the Kunanurra community, with lots of well wishers and a few offers of a house sit in response to our call for help l. We leaped at the first one. A couple had headed away on holidays, and their housesitter had fallen through, so they were happy to leave their keys to a dusty little family of Queenslanders for a couple of weeks. We quickly submitted a border pass application with this address and crossed our fingers.

Camped right next to the pool, we grabbed snacks and swimmers. Dumped our stuff at a table under an umbrella, only to have one of the staff come put the umbrellas down for the coming storm. Moved everything to a spot next to the (closed for the wet) poolside bistro, where it was sure to stay dry. As grey clouds moved closer, the pool became more popular! Families of all sorts bobbed in the (slightly cooler than other pools we’ve been in recently) water, and a bomb-off took place right in front of the “no bombing” sign (complete with stick figure, who actually looked to have good technique). Apparently the pool (and it’s adjacent bistro and bar, only open in the dry) is well frequented by locals of an afternoon, many of whom are friends of the Rangers and so use the place in good faith. There is at least one waterhole in the gorge that is croc free and accessible in the wet. The park offers a boat ride up there for $15, we’d have loved to see it, but with a need to press on, we might have to try for another wet season visit.

The storm offered some decent gusts of wind but only a few spits of rain. But it did cool the whole place down, and take some of the soupy humidity with it. Sam started dinner, watched by a curious young dingo. He was a good looking young lad, and appropriately wary of us. Roly wanted to share his pasta with him (and give him a cuddle – a common toddler request), but was adamantly discouraged by Kat and Sam. A bloke and a toddler on a bike rode past and stopped for a chat, the family of a ranger. They said there were a number of cheeky dingo pups eluding capture and getting a bit lazy with their hunting, preferring to scavenge from the campground. We kept a look out but didn’t see any of the others hanging around.

We washed and packed up, taking extra care not to leave any food scraps around. Hopping into bed we got a notification that our border pass was approved! Slept well, no more rain, but with a sense of relief (and an urgency to cross the border before things change again!)

Roly had hoped for another swim in the pool before we hit the road again, but was disappointed to find the gate locked well past it’s supposed open time of 8am. He settled for a run on one of the close by mountain bike trails with Sam (who knew there were mountain bike trails in Nitmiluk NP?!) Definitely another reason to come back again for a longer stay.

We headed into Katherine, picking up a second-hand Bumbo for Henry on route (thanks Facebook marketplace!). Got coffee at the Black Russian caravan just near the information centre, and did a grocery shop to get us through at least a week of quarantine. Then, with the aim of ‘seeing how far we can get’, we headed west on the Savannah Way.

We didn’t see much else on the road except road trains. The scenery was becoming rockier still, with impressive red cliffs above as we neared the Victoria River region. Stopped for a change-and-feed and lunch all round on the hot roadside. Must have been over 40 degrees easily, and we were grateful for the car awning for a bit of shade.

We stopped at Timber Creek, the last bit of anything before the border. There you’ve got the choice of two campgrounds. The Timber Creek Hotel and Wirib Tourism Park. Literally adjacent. We picked the former based purely on a nice shady looking pool. Although it should be noted, both have pools and shady campspots. The bloke checking us in had a real dry sense of humour, assuring us the pool was ready to go, but that the creek was a backup if you can swim faster than the resident freshies. We don’t think there’s any salties in there.

Of course we set up, grabbed some icecreams, and hit the pool. This might actually be the best of the campground pools. Under a roof, it’s shaded all day and actually cold. Small, but immaculately clean, we had it to ourselves until a few of the hotel workers hopped in for a quick dip (and complain about work) between shifts. There were also a few people hanging around waiting for cross border access. Largely FIFO workers trapped after rule changes. We didn’t flaunt our exempt status for fear of rubbing it in.

With quarantine looming, we decided to eat out at the pub for dinner. But despite being told it was open when we checked in, the restaurant was closed. The pub room wouldn’t allow kids in. That left us the option of a takeaway roadhouse meal. We went with that, a bit disappointed we couldn’t have a cold beer in some airconditioning with dinner. Sat at a picnic table in the campground, with the heat, flies and some takeaway beers. The meals were actually quite good though, Sam had a burger, Kat Barra, and Roly nuggs. Roly had a post dinner play on the playground and took inventory of all the cars with snorkels in the park, and we all sat feet dipped in the pool for a last cool down before bed.

Day : 19 & 20

Location : Kakadu National Park, Bininj & Mungguy country

Kms travelled: 305 & 116ish within the NP

A lovely lightning storm rolled over at night, and we watched it through the window in the wee hours, wondering if it would hang around. Kat and Sam woke feeling similar to hungover, hopefully proof that booster was stirring the immune system. Nothing that coffee couldn’t fix, so we packed up our hotel room and went back to Laneway to sort us out (and Roly had the best babychino of the trip, almost rivalled Peach & Billy cafe back home). We then swung by the bike store to pick up Kat’s bike (new wheel having not arrived) and fix Roly’s bike with some new bearings and handlebar grips. The rain had not continued and the air was already soupy.

While the NT went into lockout at 1pm yesterday, we are largely unaffected, being fully vaccinated. We have been asked to show proof of vaccination at each stop, and territorians are pretty thorough at mask wearing, even walking the streets in the hot humid days when you’re probably at such a distance you could take it off. Unvaccinated people are now mandated to stay home unless for a select few reasons, and those exclusion zones we mentioned are still in effect.

Fortunately for us, Kakadu National Park is not an exclusion zone, so we headed there to await progress on our WA border pass.

Kat and Sam marvelled at the difference in the wet. While the sealed road was in good condition, swampy marshlands lapped at the shoulder, and you could convince yourself a crocodile might be lurking just beyond the car.

Birdlife is abundant, and we stopped at the Mamukala Wetlands for a look from the bird hide. Roly was disappointed we didn’t see any crocs yet. But we did see tadpoles, fish nipping insects from the water’s surface, and lots of birds, including a flock of noisy white cockatoos and some beautiful red finches.

We stopped at Cooinda and committed to two nights in the tent. (Wish us luck!) Booked onto the Yellow Waters cruise for the morning (unfortunately sunrise session booked out) and set up camp. The humidity was climbing and had us all crabby so we made tracks to the pool. Only slightly cool (as we’re finding most pools in the top end!), but enough to take the edge off, and always a good way to burn some wild toddler energy. Icecreams from the shop helped too. With sunset after 7pm we often find ourselves out of whack with our intended kidlet timeline, so we headed back to camp where Sam cooked a chicken curry and Roly helped Kat feed Henry a few nibbles of pureed pumpkin.

The big kid was ready and raring for the boat trip come morning, and put the pressure on driver Wayne to spot a crocodile. The Sunrise boat had come back full, but we only shared ours with six or so other people.

The Yellow Waters cruise did not disappoint. With water up, the trip is very different to that in the dry. We began at Home Billabong, and saw a beautiful big white bellied sea eagle and the resident fruit bats. No crocodiles. The swollen river meant that there aren’t many banks for them to settle on, so spotting has to be among the mangroves, in the water.

A beautiful, overgrown, narrow channel took us to the Yellow Water Billabong. The origin of the name is unclear, but suspected to be named after the tannins leached into the water from melaleuca trees. Kat remembers this to be a swampy marshland during her dry season tour some years ago. But today it was flowing water, with a current and all. The water flows to here from the famous Jim Jim falls over 150kms away.

It was here we spotted a crocodile! Wayne was off the hook. We spotted a snout just above the water, then it dipped below the surface and popped up again behind the boat. We followed it for a good 20 minutes. Watched a few young blokes with terrible mullet haircuts fang along the river standing in a tinny not much bigger than the croc! Apparently in the NT you don’t need a licence to drive a boat, nor is there any limit on how much alcohol you can bring aboard.

Off the boat, we popped two tired kiddies in the car to encourage a nap. Took a spin around Jabiru, the main town of Kaladu, and stopped at the Foodland grocery store where you can buy pretty much anything you could want, even a bike! We stopped then for a short walk to look at the rock art at Burrungkuy (Nourlangie). Always impressive, Roly did a great job spotting the animals depicted. He then encouraged a walk to the lookout, which had us all hot and thirsty at the top. We watched a storm in the distance, and listened to thunder rumbling around us, and talked about the dreaming story of Namarrkon the lightning man (Roly had trouble with the abstract concept, and kept looking around expecting to see him in the flesh).

We had another swim in the pool on the afternoon, and Roly ran into his friend Ava from Nitmiluk. Kat and Sam felt the third wheel chasing them around, keeping Roly buoyant (this kid has lots of misplaced confidence in his swimming ability). We spoiled ourselves with dinner in the restaurant, taking Ava’s dad’s recommendation for the shared Cooinda tasting plate – salt and pepper crocodile included! Unfortunately both kids were ratty and the atmosphere was less enjoyable than the meal!

Rain drizzling on the tent roof, we read news that WA was changing the NT risk category to high. Meaning, subject to approval and exemption, we’d have to quarantine within 200km of the border crossing. We decided that those logistics were a problem for tomorrow and enjoyed the cooler night.

Day : 16, 17, 18

Location : Darwin, Larrakia country

Kms travelled : 318, then just a few around town

A quick pack up, a longer hunt for coffee (thank you coffee club for your reliability), and we were on the road again.

Roly asks every day if we’re going to Broome yet. I guess the concept of a roadtrip is tricky for an almost-three year old. Still, he’s always enthusiastic about our next stop, and great in the car, looking out the window or having a nap or playing with toys or listening to music or telling us an extensive story involving 4WDs. We’ve not had to pull out the tablet yet for some screen time, and he’s had a few little plays with drawing implements or the felt scenes (a present from Granny). Henry is a better traveller than we remember baby Roly to be. Mostly snoozes, sometimes stares at himself in the mirror or seemingly out the window. We usually know when he’s waking because whatever toy he’s been chewing starts jingling again. Rarely chucks a wobbly and demands a stop, but perhaps that’s because we’re stoping regularly anyway.

We’ve elected to head to Darwin. While Katherine is closer to the WA border (only 500kms from Kunanurra), we’re yet to be approved to enter (for the third time I should add, with two previous approvals revoked as state risk categories and rules have changed). This process continues, but it does look like we’ll be enjoying a NT Top End wet for a while longer.

Before leaving Brisbane, we’d discussed the idea of a bit of a special holiday in Darwin on route West, so in that spirit we booked a nice hotel in Darwin’s waterfront precinct.

On route Kat rang around to book Henry’s 6 month vaccinations, and luckily got squeezed in at a GP clinic (thanks Territory Medical!). It meant a quick drop off of some gear at the hotel and a dash across Darwin to get there in time, but we made it, and Henry goo’d and gaa’d and charmed the GP registrar (who gave him a good report and Kat some good advice about his improving but still gunky eyes), the clinic nurse (holding no grudges for the needles), the reception staff and most of the waiting room. No matter that he filled his nappy as we walked into the clinic (and in the rush we’d forgotten to bring in a spare) and while Kat and nurse Carol patted themselves on the back for hastily fashioning a temporary replacement out of a sanitary napkin, this too did not last long, covering both Henry and Kat in a warm fresh wee. Outside, Sam and Roly took Kat’s bike to get a new wheel (after a slip on the trailer roof carrier gave it a little bend earlier in the trip) and talked “big boy bikes” for an upcoming special (probably quarantine) birthday.

It was hot and humid and the next order of business was a swim. We splashed in the public recreation lagoon at Darwin waterfront, but the water was unpleasantly warm, so moved to the more civilized hotel pool. Roly loved the independence granted him by the floatation of a pool noodle, Hen splashed and squealed, and we ordered some cocktails on our room tab (because, luxury).

Before we knew it, it was dinner time, and with a bit of a wait to get a table at Chow (southeast Asian), we killed some time at the playground.

Dinner was delicious, but it felt weird dining in a busy restaurant. That said, the mask mandate is generally well attended in Darwin (and in the other regions we’ve stopped through since arriving in the NT). We definitely feel ahead of the wave of covid making its way across the country right now.

Sam snuck out for a beer with some old work mates (after helping with bedtime, what a legend) and we curled under crisp white linen and quiet but amazingly effective airconditioning, ready to make Roly’s dream of crocodile spotting come true come morning.

At some point again, Roly rolled off his single bed (onto the nest of pillows made this time). Didn’t even wake. Hen was a bit restless and cold overnight, so ended up sleeping in a jumper (first use all trip!)

Sam, having been to Darwin 10 or so times for work, has the gouge on the best coffee spots, so we walked into the city (hot and humid already!) and had breakfast at Rabbit Hole. Next stop was Crocosaurus Cove. Just like the Nitmiluk gorge cruise, kids under 3 are free, so we basically pay full adult price x2 just for Roly’s enjoyment.

Worth every penny. He could have watched the crocs laze in the sun and slide in and out of the water all day. We pet a snake and a blue tongue lizard (Roly refusing to hold them so Kat got that task #mumlife). Chased Roly through the reptile exhibit reminding him not to tap on the glass at the creatures. And watched people go for a dip with the crocs, stayed for the fish feeding and big croc feeding, and got a photo holding a small crocodile with its mouth taped shut (poor bugger, not strictly in support of animal rights I’m sure, although we are grateful to not get a bite).

Bordering on an over tired and over stimulated tantrum, we made our way back to the hotel, but piled into the car to run some errands and encourage kidlets to nap. After much deliberation Sam bought a jet boil to replace our wobbly cooker (it was actually the only option in greater Darwin), and we popped into Bunnings (having withdrawals?) for a second Ryobi fan, this time with misting function!

Back at the hotel again we decided to give the waterfront wave pool a go ($8/adult). The water was too warm, again, but Roly enjoyed bobbing in the artificial waves on a variety of free floatation devices, and it was enough to cool off before heading to the Darwin Sailing Club for dinner with an iconic sunset backdrop.

Roly enjoyed a play on the playground, Kat enjoyed mussels for dinner (from SA, but close enough!), Sam enjoyed a cold beer and Henry just enjoyed the spectacle. All enjoyed a sunset that did not disappoint.

A cool breeze was blowing and we almost wished we were in the tent for the night. Almost.

We had planned to skip town the next morning, but decided to stay another day to get some admin done. After breakfast at Postie (toasties) we started our covid admin. Day 6 RATs were due, so we headed out to the East Arm covid testing and distribution centre. Extremely well signposted from Darwin city with actual cemented in metal signs, the line already wove around a few blocks of the industrial estate by the time we got there. It moved well, and came to a junction where a bloke (council worker we think) was parked by the side of the road, and would ask if you’re there for a swab or to collect a RAT. If the latter, he’d chuck it in your car window from a few metres away and you could leave the line. Super efficient! And definitely not a job requiring a health professional, freeing them up for more frontline stuff.

Our next stop impressed us again with the NTs covid response. Us grown ups were eligible for booster shots, and after refreshing the NT booking website repeatedly, a new morning vaccination session at one of their hubs had cropped up. Another smooth operation, we checked in, lined up, got jabbed by lovely nurse Caroline, who was travelling herself and had taken a vaccination contract before her and her husband planned on moving on. She was sick of the NT, said too many rude people. We offered that it might be the build up to the wet sending people mad? Not our experience so far, regardless.

With Henry now 6 months old, and showing more interest in what we’re eating, we went on a hunt for a baby seat, so he could sit and eat too. Unsuccessfully I might add. We couldn’t find a single Bumbo or similar across the whole city. So we had a food court lunch and grabbed some other bits and pieces. Back at the hotel we headed for the pool again. Ordered fancy drinks and wedges and enjoyed the cool.

We wandered the waterfront to Hot Tamale (another of Sam’s frequent haunts during work trips) for a delicious banquet of Mexican foods (even if Roly only ate 3 tortillas and 2 spoons of rice) and a non-alcoholic Nah-garita. Hen gummed his first taste of pureed apple and baby rice and had a lick of a lime (he didn’t hate it!). Our hotel stay extended another night, we wandered back down the waterfront, admired the fairy lights, had another play on the playground, and lapped up the last little bit of luxury before getting on the dusty road again.

Day : 14 & 15

Location : Katherine, Jawoyn country

Kms travelled : 276 & 0

A tidbit: we’ve been asked about where our big brown dog and best girl Itako is. It’s too much a trip for her, so she’s enjoying some cuddles with Granny in Queanbeyan and playing with her doggo Rosie until we’re settled west and then we will fly her over. Strangely it seems it will be easier to get her to WA than us. We miss her like mad.

It was a hot muggy night and we did have some regrets about not getting a cabin. Roly woke around midnight desperate for a drink, but declined two different drink bottles and a cup unless it was filled to the brim, wailing loud enough for the whole campground to be invested in his plight. Hen, with the fan in his direction, was apparently much more comfortable, although was frequently found upside down or sideways or otherwise in his bassinet not in the position he was lay down in.

In the morning Sam and Roly toured the campground area by bike, doing sick wheelies, saying hi to Kevin the crocodile (who was snoozing) and checking out the various grounded aircraft. It seemed everyone else was heading off too, including the family in a caravan next to us, who we challenged ourselves to beat in a pack up race. They piled 2 adults, 4 kids, 2 dogs, a turtle, some frogs and a snake into their rig only a few minutes before we closed our last door.

Coffee machine broken at Daly Waters, we moved on, stopping at the old WW2 airfield for a look and again at the Pink Panther Pub at Larrimah, but found it closed. Onwards.

It was amazingly green heading into Mataranka. A very different landscape to our trip a few years ago with baby Roly. Mataranka is an exclusion zone (like Elliott), so we didn’t think a swim at the hot springs was appropriate. We looked up (online) a few of our favourite spots from last trip (Little Roper Stock Camp, Bitter Springs) out of curiosity. All closed for the wet anyway. Henry had a quick change and feed and we topped up with fuel. Roly had a series of solid toddler tantrums – about getting in the car (the first time he’s fought this all trip!), about not wanting his babychino afterall, about wanting to play with a sharp knife in the car, about anyone looking at him, about songs he didn’t like on his headphones, etc, etc, etc. (It’s tough being nearly three).

We arrived into Katherine and checked into the Riverview Tourist Village. Got the last cabin. Chosen for its proximity to the Katherine Hot Springs, we were a bit disappointed to find heavy rain and subsequent debris meant the springs were not their usual crystal clear, instead engulfed by a swollen river, and were closed.

We ditched the trailer and headed into town for lunch, finding near everything closed being Sunday, and likely to be closed tomorrow for the new year public holiday! Settled on Turkish, and a grocery store stock up at the local Woolies (Henry, having declined lunch while the rest of us ate, was suddenly starving walking the aisles of the supermarket, go figure). We stopped quickly at the Visitor Information Centre, and decided to take a gorge cruise before we left Katherine, but a computer glitch at the centre meant we ended up booking ourselves back at the cabin later. Sussed out the Pandemic Clinic at the Hospital to get our RATs, but found it closed too. Fortunately we’ve got another day to get them done.

Did a necessary load of washing, and took a necessary dip in the pool (Kat thinks perhaps the nicest caravan park pool yet!). Roly played with his toys underfoot in the cool aircon of the cabin (but really, there was nowhere else to play inside!) and was excited at the prospect of sleeping on a bunk (the lower, of course). Considered our options for Henry’s scheduled vaccinations (child health clinic maybe?), but complicated again by all the public holiday closures.

Sam cooked nachos in our cabin kitchen (Roly’s request) and over dinner we were entertained by Roly telling a story about how “when we’re all bigger” we’ll go on a boat trip, and his car seat will need to go in the boat, and the people will use up all the boats and not share so we’ll have to ride the gentle snakes (we think he means the rainbow serpent) and then he’ll fall in the water but the saltwater crocodile won’t eat him. Vivid imagination, this kid.

The cabin aircon was quite noisy, but kept us cool as intended. We woke to find Roly happily sleeping on the floor, seemingly having fallen out of bed at some stage (we had placed a mat beside the bed for this exact scenario). We’d booked the 9am gorge cruise at Nitmiluk national park, so grabbed a coffee in town (only the coffee club open) and headed out there.

Only a 30min drive from the city centre, Nitmiluk national park is named such for the sound of the cicada song. The traditional owners, the Jawoyn people, believe that the second of the 14 gorge system houses the sleeping Bolung, or rainbow serpent. Kat and Sam (and Roly) have done the gorge cruise in the dry. It was strangely similar, although only two gorges could be reached (not three) and no swimming this time (salties a possibility!). And small things were different, like we walked between boats on the right instead of the left, the hanging gardens were a bit under water and the swallows that usually nest in a cave along the second gorge had all flown away for the wet.

Roly made a friend in 6 year old Ava who’s Dad is the executive chef at Cooinda Lodge in Kakadu, and they enjoyed pretending the ground was lava and playing with the ropes hanging off the boats (probably more than the river scenes!) Glad under 3s are free!

On the trip back to shore the tour guide Russell (a Jawoyn man himself), let the kiddies have a turn driving the boat.

A storm rolled in as we disembarked, so we made haste to the visitor centre and watched it come over while nibbling hot chips.

Driving back into Katherine we were reminded how quickly conditions can change in the wet, with a segment of road submerged (that definitely wasn’t on our way into the park)! Fortunately it was fairly shallow so it was no trouble to traverse. Both kiddies exhausted from a fun morning and snoozing in the back, we picked up our mandatory RATs from the Katherine hospital pandemic clinic and took a little drive around town for a look.

Back at the cabin we pottered around while the boys slept a little longer, repacking some of the more rushed parts of the car and trailer set up. Roly, on waking, enjoyed riding his balance bike through the puddles forming in the caravan park roadways and Sam took the opportunity of some downtime (although still raining!) to attach the awning to the car roof racks (with a brief break midway to let the drill dry out so it would work again!)

We did our RATs (all unpleasant and negative), took a short walk to look at the flooded hot springs from a safe distance and settled into the cabin for some sausages for dinner and a dry night while light showers continued outside.

Day : 13

Location : Daly Waters, Nauiyu country

Kms travelled : 569

Small monitor lizards narrowly missed running over : about 100

Hungover travellers in the Daly Waters swimming pool : at least 15

Happy New Year!

Despite a cool room and all the blinds closed, the boys were still up and ready to go before 5:30am (which given clocks had gone back 30min felt more like 6am, but still…) We decided to make some kms before the real heat of the day set in, so a quick brekky and necessary coffees from the roadhouse and we hit the “frog and toad”. More straight highway awaited us. Birds of prey soared above. Small monitor lizards sunned themselves on the road, without much regard for us rumbling towards them. With little other traffic we slowed on occasion so Roly could spot them out the window.

Life logistics loomed ahead and we planned our next stop, aware of the limitations the heat would place on us. We needed to organise Rapid Antigen Tests for day 3 in the NT (and day 6 if we’re still here). And we needed to make a third attempt at a WA border pass. As I write, we still hope to be granted access and to soon cross the next border and be allowed to quarantine in Broome. It may however, help our application if we’ve not been in Qld in the 14 days before entering WA, so we’re leaving the option of some time in Katherine / Darwin / Kakadu up our sleeves. And of course if allowed into WA we’ll need swabs done again beforehand. Too many variables to make a solid plan! And this isn’t mentioning all the rest of the faff going on with finding somewhere to live in Broome, and sorting our house in Brisbane. All we can do is press on to the next cool stop and hope for some time after kids are in bed to do some proper planning!

Sam sat on 90kph to take it easier on the car, hoping not to repeat yesterday’s sauna situation. We reached the Stuart Highway easily, passing the familiar novelty of termite mounds in t-shirts along the way. Stopped at the Three Ways Roadhouse for a fuel top up ($2/L) and to admire a mural of a roadtrain, and then a passing real one with three containers, a car and a boat hauled behind it.

Eventually the road became less dirt and termites and more scrappy scrub, signalling our adventure was moving north.

The aircon worked beautifully and we stopped at Elliott to make a roadside toastie for lunch. If you’ve known us a while, you’ll recall we have visited the town of Elliott before and do not have the fondest memories. Back in 2011, when our travel diaries were hand written, Kat and Sam took an ill-fated drive from Canberra to Darwin, where a fault with the diesel particulate filter about 100kms south of Elliot had us cruising the Stuart Highway at 30kph (when the speed limit is 130kph). Luckily, there was a tow truck in Elliott, who hauled us the rest of the way to Darwin, but not before we spent an uncomfortable night in what was loosely called a cabin and Kat got food poisoning from a pub schnitty. (We also we bent Grandpa’s car like a banana that trip and got stuck in Alice Springs for three weeks, but that’s another story).

Elliott is an exclusion zone within current coronavirus guidelines, meaning anyone who’s not been in the NT 14 days or more can’t hang around. You’re only allowed to pass through and stop for a short rest, or necessary items like fuel. This is because the double vaccination rate is expected less than 80%. So we stopped under a shady tree, had our lunch, and Roly enjoyed playing in a muddy puddle in full sun (this kid does not feel the heat!). Hen had a flap and practiced his rolling (he’s getting pretty good at back to front) and we realised we missed this milestone by 2 days (sorry second child!).

It wasn’t far then to our stop for the night, the Daly Waters Pub. We’d missed this on our aforementioned complicated central Australia trip, but decided it a must this time. And were not disappointed, it’s a really characterful place! Kind of a sprawling complex of campgrounds, cabins and interesting things to see, with the pub right in the middle. Signs directed to various animals you could pet (2m salt water crocodile excepted), and the roadsides were littered with the shells of old planes, an original telegraph pole and even a singular traffic light. It was like a kitsch movie set. They encourage you to leave something behind at the pub after your stay, so innumerable bras hang from the ceiling, hats and shoes form archways between areas and patches, drivers licences and foreign money cover every wooden surface in the bar.

We decided it was breezy enough for the tent again, so set up in the shady campground and made tracks to the playground to burn some toddler energy. Part kids playground, part dog park, the highlight here was an old helicopter you could sit in.

After a suitable play was had, we hit the pool. The whole place was pretty busy given the time of year, with travellers of all sorts – grey nomads, a few young folk, and a fair few defence families moving for postings. We got chatting, enjoyed a cold frothy beverage, and spent a good couple of hours catching Roly jumping off the edge into the water. We heard the place was even more lively the night before, with a few sore heads after a cracking new year’s eve party involving most of the staff and a fireworks being set off from a golf buggy.

We allowed the luxury of a pub meal for the second night in a row (partly because ‘when in Rome’ but mostly because it’s been a while since a grocery shop). Watched a horse and foal follow a bloke on a scooter INTO the pub (“why the long face?”). Roly watched some other kids run around and had a little shy play. The feeling we still quite festive, with fairy lights dotted around the beer garden and over the stage for the mechanical bull (not running tonight, unfortunately).

The humidity was rising as we climbed into the tent, but the weather report promised us a drop to the mid 20s overnight, so we set the fan up in the direction of the kiddies and tried to lay still to experience every hint of cool breeze that blew the way of the grown ups, wondering if we’d regret not going for a cabin for the night afterall. (Spoiler alert: we did).

Day : 12

Location : Barkly Homestead Roadhouse, Wakaya country

Kms travelled : 600 something, big day!

The luxury of phone reception in a national park meant our text notifications of negative covid tests came through at around 9pm (36hr turn around, not bad!) Kat had spent a sleepless night worrying Henry had heat stroke (he’s fine, of course), and Sam hadn’t slept well either, pressed against the tent wall by a spread-eagled Roly, but we endured a quick hot pack up and were on the road before 8am, bound for the NT border.

Just out of the national park we saw a car limping along, and pulled over as we passed. Justin, accompanied by his puppy King, had a flat tire on their old troopy and had misplaced the right size socket wrench to change it. As Sam helped change the tyre, he learned Justin was one of the traditional custodians of the land on which Boodjamulla national park was established. He said that when native title was granted, the elders considered whether to keep it protected land or continue to allow public access as a national park, generously deciding on the latter. We thanked him for allowing us to share this spectacular part of the country, and in exchange for the simple loan of a socket were offered a back country locals tour of the gorge next time we found ourselves in the area.

After the long rough return journey out of Boodjamulla, we stopped by Murray’s place in Gregory Downs for a proper coffee. We were lucky to have caught them open, Murray and his partner had been away visiting family for Christmas and had just returned and reopened. Just the same little haven of caffeine and a few shop goods, and we’re certain even the delicious apple cinnamon muffins hadn’t changed. The stop itself had changed a bit in the 2yrs since our last visit, however, with a new sign and lovely floral garden surrounding. We took or treats to a table in the shade and enjoyed them with gusto (as did Henry of his second breakfast).

We headed south again, down the familiar dusty track towards Mount Isa / Camooweel. Roly told a fairly sensational story for a good 45min, featuring his daycare friends Leo, Tommy and Kiki quite heavily, and with such highlights as “we had no engines because it was the 80s” (thanks Bluey) and “then my red firetruck fixed the car so it could drive” (which just seems unrealistic).

We turned off this time towards Camooweel, a further 90km of dirt track but bringing us closer to the NT border. Passed a few cars that looked to be headed to Gregory River or Lawn Hill for some NYE camping. We saw a lovely healthy looking young dingo too, we should have started an ‘Aussie Animal Bingo’ game!Had a chat to an older couple when we stopped for a change-and-feed and a stretch of the legs in a rare patch of shade. They liked how travelling this time of year meant there were few other people out and about, but Kat actually prefers to see other signs of life out here!

We stopped at Camooweel for fuel and intended to have lunch and stretch our legs before crossing the NT border. But it was not an enticing place to stop. Petrol station didn’t even have a working air pump, we chose light lunch options based on what would be least likely to give us food poisoning. Good thing Roly slept through the stop because even the playground looked forlorn. The NT border is just 13km down the road. A small demountable and three coppers were all the fanfare it afforded. Our details were diligently written into a paper form, no doubt to be shipped to some middle management to enter in a document that will then be filed for the requisite 7 years without seeing the light of day. We didn’t notice much on the side crossing into Queensland, perhaps it doesn’t even rate at this point in the pandemic?

It seemed fitting that heading west over the border we were surrounded by distant isolated showers. It was as if we were driving into the wet, having not truly encountered it yet. Still, the rain danced around us, bringing more humidity (I’m sure we’ll get used to it!) but little in the way of water until a few spots about 20km out from Barkly Homestead. The road otherwise was long straight highway. A bit like the Nullarbor, but more remote, with more distance between anything.

Just our luck, about an hour after the border crossing, the air conditioning began to struggle. We can’t begrudge it, we were pushing hard, having driven most of the day, and outside temperature was easily 40 degrees or more. This all meant we had two hours of slowly cooking in the car before the nearest facilities at the Barkly Homestead, and made us desire that rain on the horizon even more. We alternated having the aircon blow warm thick air at us, or opening the windows to have warm thick air blown in from outside. Kat fanned Henry with a decorative hand held fan she’d acquired from some place or other. Roly, again, wasn’t fussed in the slightest about the heat, playing and chirping like usual.

When we pulled up to the Barkly Homestead Roadhouse the decision had been made to get a nice air-conditioned cabin. $150, but worth every penny. We unpeeled ourselves from the car seats, leaving perfect sweat prints of our bodies behind, put some things in the already deliciously cool room, and hopped in the pool. Barely cool, and definitely breeding small bitey bugs, but we didn’t care. It was actually in pretty good condition considering the heat and rain the caretakers must contend with.

Feeling cooled down but a bit grubby, we all had a shower before having dinner in the roadhouse. Despite sleeping for most of the drive, both small Crawleys were tired, and this manifested in very different ways. Henry dozed off at the dinner table. Roly climbed between booths and tried to stand on the table and generally tantrumed. He nibbled at a piece of broccoli and his nuggets, then ate 1/3 of Kat’s steak. Back at the cabin we hopped into cool beds and near completely forgot we were ringing in a new year, with more of the same driving and hot days until we find the routine of our 2022.

(Another Roly chat highlight: “I was big in the 80s” Sure mate.)

Day : 10 & 11

Location : Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill) National Park, Waanyi country

Kms travelled : 500ish & 0

It was a warm dry night, none of the rain we thought might come, and first order of business after waking up was our covid tests so we can cross the NT border.

We followed local advice to a the Coffee Lab first, just in case there was a wait. To Roly’s delight a fire truck pulled up to collect the fireys morning order and he got to see the flashing lights, get a roll of stickers and wave goodbye as they drove off. Once again, Kat was reminded NOT to order a large coffee in the outback, it’s too big! Henry had breakfast too while the rest of us we nibbled on ham and cheese croissants.

There was a drive through covid testing centre at the showground, getting there 10 or so minutes before opening we were third in line, and it soon expanded behind us, no doubt a fair few people sprung casual contacts over the holiday period and unable to be tested until today. 4x brain tickles all in and done in less than 45 minutes (wait beforehand included) and we thought of everyone interstate, and indeed in different parts of the state, who were enduring a much worse time of it. Henry, of course, charmed the nurses even with a swab up his nose, and Roly, having talked about it extensively beforehand, was very brave and got an enthusiastic high five from his nurse.

Healthy, symptom free and not required to isolate awaiting a result we visited the information centre (Outback at Isa) to plan our next move while we wait approval to cross into the NT. The information centre staff were less than interested in our presence, perhaps distracted at watching the news update about covid exploding across the country (although happily, low hospitalisation rates relative to cases). We bought a book with rhyming crocodiles in it and had a cool drink in the air conditioning before deciding to do a stock up of supplies, pack up camp, and head into Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill) national park.

On our last lap with baby Roly, Boodjamulla had been our next planned stop when we damaged the disco on the dirt from Borroloola. We’d always intended to come back. Maybe not during wet season, but you gotta take opportunities when they arise!

Much was already closed for the wet, including the private campground Adel’s Grove. No matter, National Park still open. Asking the lady at the caravan park office (infinitely more help than the information centre), she reinforced it was a magic spot, and relatively low rainfall to date would mean it was certainly still accessible. Sam checked with the roads authority – it was. She’d advised against the ‘usual’ route past the Riversleigh Fossil site (as did old mate at the info centre), citing very rough roads, lots of washouts, and certainly water on road. So we took the slightly longer in kms route through Gregory Downs. The road was in pretty good nick with some lurking washouts (per Sam). Crossed small bodies of water several times to Roly’s delight. It was signed as gravel but had reasonable stretches of bitumen, Kat recalled having read on a Google search that local indigenous training group Myuma had intended to seal 10km of it back on April, perhaps they had. We saw mostly cattle, a few enormous eagles and even a pair of emus, but relatively few birds and animals compared to further north in the gulf region. Some sections were clearly creek beds in the high of the wet, which was an interesting feeling to drive on!

We’d stopped at Gregory Downs on our last lap too. We remembered a small cafe van across from the pub and a riverside campsite. And it was all still there! We took a shady spot under the trees at the pub this time, and resolved to stop for a coffee on the return out of the national park. Roly had a homemade strawberry icecream, and we checked in with Grandma and Grandpa on video chat. Isn’t technology amazing!

We pulled into the national park fairly late for us, around 5pm. It was still hot, but the bite of the sun was fading and set up was relatively comfortable. WikiCamps had warned us there was little shade, and with only 3 other groups camping we picked the best looking spot we could and hoped for the best. Went for a look and a swim at the gorge access behind the campsite. The place is definitely more set up for touring the water in a kayak, usually available for hire from private campground Adel’s Grove. We made use of the access close by for a cooling dip. Took a little walk along and saw more than a few turtles. Definitely felt weird swimming in gulf country, a place notorious for crocs. There are definitely freshies in here, but we’re told no big salties. We didn’t see any of either, and neither did the family from Mackay we met who’d kayaked a bit further. Cooked a spag bol for dinner and climbed into the tent, no blanket required and fan blowing (definitely required).

It was already warming up when we woke, and 30 degrees by 8am. Knowing we’d need somewhere to ride out the heat of the day, Sam hastily set up the tarp for additional shade at camp, then went to scope out a walk further up the gorge, hoping to find a waterside spot we could hang out at. Kat and the boys pottered around at camp, grateful for the tarp shade. Henry had a little nap with the fan on. Roly, seemingly unaffected by the hot weather, played with his trucks in the dirt quite happily. We did set up a car wash for the muddy vehicles, but it was hard to explain to an almost 3 year old that the water supply out here was not sufficient to continuously fill his water bucket for play purposes.

Kat, already stressed about the heat, was just beginning to wonder when she should assume Sam had met an untimely demise when he showed back up at camp sweaty but with news of a shady swim. We packed a bag with water bottles, food and towels and set along the 1.4km journey to the top of the middle gorge at Indarri falls.

We kept to the shade where we could, but for much of it we couldn’t. All in hats, and lathered in sunscreen but the sun was so relentless it distracted from the beauty of the bluffs around us as we headed down into the gorge.

A short rocky climb down did eventually see us in an oasis. With patches of shade, it was several degrees cooler here than at camp. We set up our stuff on one of the platforms there for the purposes of pulling your kayak out, but there was no one else enjoying the space so we didn’t feel we were imposing. There are some perks to visiting in the off season. There’s no doubting the falls are beautiful and the gorge made for a lovely swim. We all had a dip in a shaded area of the pool, then a rest and some lunch. Roly enjoyed throwing sticks, leaves and rocks into the water pretending it was food for the fish that hung around the water’s edge. When we sat with feet dangling over the platform they’d squirt jets of water at us, perhaps thinking our toes were insects they could knock down to nibble?

We moved around to keep in the shade for a few hours, took another dip, and Henry had a nap. It must have easily hit 42 degrees at the top of the gorge, and solidly high 30s at our secluded spot. Kat tied herself in knots making sure everyone was drinking enough, Henry included. Unable to convince Roly of a waterside nap we embarked on the walk back to camp. Of course, Roly decided just as we had our shoes back on to fall asleep, so Sam had the impressive task of carrying backpack and toddler up the rocky terrain. We kept both boys shaded under their damp towels, but the short walk back to camp felt endless in the baking sun and stifling heat. Our tarp at camp had gone some of the way to keep our set up cooler, but come 3pm we retreated to the car for an hour, air-conditioning on.

We spent the early evening sitting back by the water near camp because it was cooler and shadier. Boys three had another swim. Kat continued to stress about Henry overheating and meticulously observe his nappy output while Sam cooked risotto for dinner. The grown ups packed down camp (minus tent) after the little ones went to bed, with the intent of an early get away in the morning. The tent actually felt cooler than the previous night, but perhaps that was just in comparison to the day.

All in all a gorgeous spot, and well worth a visit, but with a paucity of shade and a raging sun to be considered. Perhaps we wouldn’t do it again this time of year.