Dropped the car in for a service this morning and then headed in to the city. We did part of the heritage walk and saw wonderful old stone buildings from the 19th century, many badly damaged by cyclone Tracy. Spent some time shopping for souvenirs in the mall: C bought a kangaroo skin and I got a kangaroo wallet. Then we went to the wave lagoon on the waterfront. It was 32°, perfect cloudless sky and it was fun. Picked up the car, dropped the kids back t...

The early start worked well and we made it into Darwin by lunch. Settled into the Hidden Valley Tourist Park which is good - has an ensuite. Jasper's Surface tablet isn't working so took that in to Harvey Norman and it's got to be sent away. He was quite upset.

Woke before everyone else so went for a walk in the cool dawn listening to the birdsong. Went for a ride later along the path through the National Park and then into Mataranka for a look around. C's toe is very sore so we lazed around a bit. Tried fishing in the creek with no luck. Got pretty close to the groups of little wallabies that live in and around the park. Drove into Mataranka, swam in the spring, Mandy did laundry and we packed up ready for an ea...

You know, I can't even remember why I chose this place, but I'm glad I did. The van park is a short walk from Bitter Springs in Elsey National Park. The spring is a 150m long course of beautifully clear water that's 32°. You hire a noodle from reception for a dollar and just float slowly from one end to the other, with the gentle current, under the shade of the pandanus trees. We did this for hours. The van park is good with plenty of space and lots of tr...

Long drive today but we got further up the road than planned at the start of the day which was great. This has serendipitously turned out to be one of the nicest camps we've stayed at. There's grass and soft leaf litter on the ground. Played soccer and Nerf war with the guys. Amanda cooked lovely tacos and C suggested a picnic on the leaves which was fun.