Day 40: Darwin to Batchelor

It was a little sad to leave our camp site this morning. We had become quite friendly with our neighbours across the way and they were disappointed to see us leave, we had also just met another family last night who are also travelling the country.

Our highlight this morning though was when Ethan's tooth fell out. He had just mentioned to me that his tooth was really loose when he went to the amenities block to brush his teeth. It fell out whilst he was brushing and he couldn't see where is went and was too embarrassed to look for it. He came back and told me so I sent him back to tell his Dad and he would help him look, but he overcame his embarrassment and looked himself. He came back to the van beaming with his tooth in hand. He was devastated when he couldn't find it because if you don't have a tooth then the tooth fairy has nothing to exchange money for!

We arrived in Batchelor at about 10.30am and had debated whether or not we should stay in the national park at Wangi Falls. We decided to stay with Big4 at Batchelor to support he chain.

The park is basic but nice. The staff, whilst being very laid back, are friendly and helpful. The amenities blocks are on the ok side but it's obvious they are making an effort to improve the standard of the park. We chose a powered site, as we always do, but they have some fairly recent ensuite sites to choose from also.

The park staff feed the birds twice a day so we are going to watch that before going out tomorrow morning.

Not long after we arrived one of the grounds staff came knocking on the van, he had brought us some star fruit that looked as though they had just been picked. Micaela and I gobbled 2 up straight away.

After lunch we drove into Litchfield National Park and visited Buley Rockhole. It is a great swimming hole but was really busy. Seems everyone in the area had the same idea as us to escape the heat of the day. As usual, Brandon was last one in and last one out. Takes a bit for him to psyche himself up but once he does he rarely wants to leave. He'll keep swimming until his lips are blue, even then we have to tell him it's time to get out.

We were back at the van by 3pm as Darren arranged for an old friend and colleague to come visit. Ben worked for Darren a few years ago and has since moved back up to the Territory. He and his fiancé Breeda came round for a couple of hours and it was great to catch up. Thankfully our children were extremely well behaved giving us both the opportunity to talk and relax.

Tomorrow we are planning to spend the day exploring and swimming in the National Park. I haven't seen the weather forecast but it is rarely anything other than 30 degrees and sunny.