Hey y'all! We have just arrived in Darwin. We got here safe and sound and earlier than expected so we still have a few days to decide what to do with the car up here. The road trip up has been really fun and we have stopped at many towns and parks. The only downside is that a couple of days ago our boot stopped closing on the car! For a while we managed to footer about enough with it to get it closed but then all of a sudden it just wouldn't stay shut at all! We managed to get a bit of rope from a guy to close it temporarily so the next day (after it had flown open as the plastic we had tied it round broke) we phoned the car company and they were just like '... well, as its not a mechanical fault we are not gonna send anyone out ...' Great, eh! So we - well Christine actually - managed to tie it a bit better and we made it up to Darwin. We have just been to the garage and we have now got another car! This one is better because it has 5 doors but worse because it is an automatic! I haven't driven it yet but I just know I will constantly be looking for a clutch!! Anyway, back to the good stuff! We left Alice on Monday afternoon and made a few quick stops on our way to the Devil's Marbles. We crossed the Tropic of Capricorn and I seriously now can tell - it is sooo hot up here ... and green in comparison to Alice! And remember it is still winter! The Devil's Marbles, for anyone who doesn't know, are basically lots of big rocks. The Aboriginal story behind them is that they are the eggs of the Rainbow Serpent and they lie across several dreaming trails (see I have even learned some stuff!!). The Aboriginals have mythical stories for all sacred sights and their land. I guess you could say that they are dreamers! We drove at sunset to Tennant Creek, where we slept that night. As we had forked out money for the car and intended on sleeping in it for the journey, we were feeling quite tight and didn't want to pay to sleep on a campsite, so we slept in a carpark behind a backpacker hostel! The next day we visited the Mary Ann Dam at Tennant Creek and then headed towards Mataranka. In Mataranka there are gorgeous thermal springs! We had a swim there and relaxed for a bit before going to camp. We stayed in a proper camp site at Mataranka Homestead. We got proper food here and also some entertainment at night so we couldn't grudge the 9 bucks! The next day we done one of the walking trails around Elsey Park. We saw lots of wallabies, some small waterfalls and the Roper River. Mataranka was lovely and we all said that we could have stayed longer, but we had pretty much done everything so that day we drove further north towards Katherine. Katherine is the biggest town between Alice and Darwin and it is one of the places we had intended to go had we got the train up and then hired the campervan. We done some shopping etc in Katherine but slept for 2 nights in Nitmiluk National Park. When we arrived the first evening the bookings for the campsite had closed so they told us to camp and come to the office from 7am. We tried to escape in the morning at 6:40 to avoid paying but we got caught by the Ranger, hee, hee!!! He so knew what we were up to and made us pay! :0( Also on our first night we had drove into camp in the dark and parked up when 5 minutes later a guy came over and asked us if we were in the right place. We were wondering what he was talking about but when he told us and we looked around we realised that we were surrounded by big caravans and so were in the wrong site!! We felt so small in our little car when we realised!! Again there were more wallabies to look at at night time but not much else to do so we had been having early nights. We went on one of the walks around the Park. It was only about 2.7km and it was early in the morning but it was already really hot! Christine has hurt her ankle so we didn't attempt do try any of the harder ones! Me and Michelle hired a canoe that afternoon on Katherine Gorge. We had it for 4 hours and boy it was hard work!!! For the first while we just could not go in a straight line and were getting so frustrated! Everyone who left with us were away ahead - except for 2 Irish girls - but we couldn't figure out what we were doing wrong! Eventually we sussed it out so it became more fun! We got to the first gorge within an hour but didn't even attempt to get to the second because to do so you had to lift the canoe over lots and lots of slippery rocks and it was too heavy and too difficult. We went a wander around the gorge; I think we got to see almost as much as we would have if we had canoed further. It was more fun going back as the other side seemed nicer with more to see. We did have a canoe crash with some lads at one point though, oops!! :0) That night we went back to Katherine to get some dinner and then back to Nitmiluk to camp. This time we did manage to get away early enough to avoid paying, yay!!! In the morning we went to Katherine School of the Air. The School of the Air has about 250 pupils throughout the Northern Territory and it allows children who stay on cattle farms, in the far outback, or who have no permanent residence to get a Government education. It was really interesting at the school as we got to see one of the teachers giving a lesson to a boy over the radio and with a one way visual link. We also went to Edith Falls that day, which is in another part of Nitmiluk National Park. It was lovely here and we all went in for a swim! The water was freezing but we survived! Michelle swam out to the waterfall but Christine and I didn't make it over as we were almost drowning with laughing at each other! We then headed towards Litchfield National Park with a stop at a town called Bachelor on the way. At Litchfield we saw some more waterfalls - Florence Falls and Wangi Falls - and also Buley Rockhole and the HUGE termite mounds! You will see what I mean when I download photos! We managed to get another free nights camping at Litchfield but the campsite wasn't so good. We stayed at the best campsite - the only one with a phone an kiosk - but the showers were freezing and there were no lights in the bathrooms so we had to wait until sunrise to shower! We were so bored that night, as there was nothing to do after sunset, that we started to film boredom journals with Christine's camera. That became pretty funny though. Then rather than walk in the dark toilets to get changed in the dark, we got changed by the car and just my luck that the people n the next van appeared and got a full view of my ass!! Lucky them ;0) It hasn't been that bad sleeping in the car and I think that we are gonna spend a few more nights in it in Darwin. Our new car looks slighly bigger so it may even be comfier. Well now we have to go and decide what we are going to do for the next few days so will write more later xx