Mon 21/07/14 250kms to Fitzroy Crossing today. Landscape more open plains and paddocks than expected. Fitzroy is a 'dry' town, no take-away booze, thus the town wateringholes were well patronised by the locals, especially on pay day. As advised by fellow travellers, we drove past town to stay at The Fitzroy River Lodge on the outskirts. Is a large park, clean, big sites, shady trees, concrete roads with a nice pool to cool off in. Think Mummar & Granddad stayed at the resort rooms near the pool when they did their Kimberley Tour in 2010. Rachael, Steve, Katy, Sophie & Jasmine Pleasance were already here and we spent an enjoyable evening chatting while the kids scooted and biked before watching a movie in our van; they leave tomorrow and we probably won't see them until Melbourne now. Happy travels guys.

Tues 22/07/14 Day of laundry and homeschooling with a late afternoon swim to recharge our batteries. Consistently having day temps of mid 30's now - lurvly! Heard the scampering of running bare feet during the night and woke to find some people had had their alcohol and shoes stolen. Luckily we had heeded the warnings to lock EVERYTHING away at night.

Wed 23/07/14 Happy Birthday Granddad! Made birthday call bright and early as kids couldn't contain their enthusiasm. Txt Ellie her "good luck" pictures for her leg operation today. LBA were most concerned for her, but Aunty Dee txt in the arvo to confirm all had gone well - yay. Finished off some maths work, then did some food shopping in town. Considered kangaroo tail for dinner, which was on sale at IGA supermarket, but kids voted for spag bol instead. Took the 3pm cruise of Geike Gorge along the Fitzroy River. Amazing limestone rock formations in this 360 million year old reef. Fresh water crocs and a very informative guide = pleasurable afternoon. Kids were all struck by the posters on the public toilets reminding you to shut the lids to keep out the olive pythons, as they like to curl up in the bowl - warning accompanied by a photo proving the point - LBA were unable "to go" with the snake photo looking at them, so K had to cover pic to enable toileting to go ahead!

Thu 24/07/14 Another hot day; it is so nice to be free of the cold, rain & wind we encountered down south. Kids played with Poppy & Kosta in the morning until they left, then we settled into another school day. M took girls for a swim in the arvo, while K&L watched Deathly Hallows #1 which Lukas had earned by completing the last Harry Potter book. He wisely decided a daylight first viewing would be best due to his "big imagination" and the potential for nightmares. Occasionally he has been sleep talking / walking in the van at night. Has only fallen out of bed once so far, but repeatedly crawls all over the girls searching for ?something? He is unawares of his activities come morning and gets quite disgruntled when the rest of us have a giggle about it.