Northern Australia

Next day...

We drove to Litchfield national park where there was a swimming pool! 

We went for a three KM walk and guess what we saw.... A crocodile! We walked through the middle of nowhere until we finally arrived at our campsite. We jumped into the swimming pool! Dad started talking to a man who had three sons. We were in the swimming pool all day and decided to stay another night.

Next day...

Today we drove to Darwin. The most tropical city in Australia!

Worn out after the whole day of driving, Mum and Dad opted to cook while Riona, Aoife and I watched a movie! 

Next day...

We decided to go to a Museum which told us about the wildlife, Aboriginal art, Sweetheart the salty croc and the devastating Hurricane Tracey. The hurricane hit Darwin on Christmas eve 1974... It wiped out houses and KILLED lots of people.

Sweetheart was a whopping 5.1 metres! She would take out fishing boats and dinghies!

We drove to Kakadu national park where we stayed overnight in a roadhouse.

Next day...

Today we went into the Kakadu visitor centre where we were told which walks to go on as some were shut as the wet season had only just finished. First we went to a walk where there were HUGE rocks with art on them.

Afterwards we went on a walk to a lookout, ( which was REALLY long ) but there was nothing to look at! You don't know how annoyed I was! We drove to another roadhouse ready to get up early the next day.

Next day...

We drove back down to Katherine as that is the only way across! It's crazy. Such a big country and only one road there and back! 

We drove as far as Camooweal and decided to call it a day.

Next day...

After having some warm porridge we set off to the middle of nowhere! We drove for at least five hours before arriving at the Walkabout Creek hotel! It hadn't changed since the movie was shot! After dinner, we watched Crocodile Dundee II!

Western Australia

We stopped at a petrol station and saw a Dingo cross the road!

Next day...

  

We left the roadside and headed to Cape Le Grande. We drove all day before arriving at our campsite. It was right by the beach! We went for a walk along the shore. The sand is white and squeaky, and the sea is turquoise! On the way back we saw five kangaroos! The Ranger said that in the morning two wild horses, a mother and a foal, come along the beach!

Next day... 

We went to the beach and had a paddle in the sea. When we went on the beach I was bitten by a horse-fly. We ended up leaving late and headed to Lucky Bay. When we arrived there, there were kangaroos on the beach! I stroked a small one! We parked up in a roadside rest area where it rained and rained and rained!

Next day...

It was still raining! We headed off after a wonderful cooked breakfast! We drove for a long way before coming across the ....................... There were signs for sharks! The surfers were amazing!

We arrived at Dad's second cousins house in Perth. She's called Sharon. We had great fun!

Next day...

Happy ST Paddies day! We went out to an Irish bar for breakfast. It was yummy! We spent the rest of the day going to pubs! Boring! We were with Sharon's friends called Chris and Micelle.











Next day...

We went to Rottnest island for the day. We saw Quokkas, kangaroos and a snake while cycling around the island!









In the evening we went to Fremantle prison for a torchlight tour! We were walking through the jail by torchlight with a net above us and they dropped a fake person and we all ducked! We were standing in a block of cells and a person jumped out of a cell in front of us!

Next day...

We left Perth to go to the Pinnacles Desert. It was a long drive. When we arrived  it was boiling! We drove to Kalbari National Park and did a scenic drive along the coast. There were huge cliffs all striped with different colours. It was spectacular! We parked up for the night in the national park.





Next day... 

It was my birthday! 

I woke up and the whole family had put balloons and banners up! We were parked under a tree on an orange dirt track. It was in the middle of nowhere except for some campers like us. This was a first for my birthday! 

We drove to Carnarvon and our caravan park had a swimming pool! It was a treat for my birthday. I walked into town with Mum and chose my cake. It was the most chocolatey one there! Mum bought me an ice cream for the walk back. I then went swimming with my sisters. Dad cooked steak for dinner and we played hunt the mini chocolate bar in the motorhome when it was dark. I had a great birthday but it was not the same as being at home as I couldn't see my friends.

Next day... 

We drove to Cape Range national park in Exmouth. We arrived at a campsite called Ned's camp that overlooks the sea. The people there are so friendly and at sunset everyone is invited out for a drink by the sea. We made friends with some Dutch children. The young boy reminds me of my friend Katie's little brother!

Next day...

We went to Yardie Gorge. We took a walk up and saw a rock wallaby, turtle, two rays, and an eagle! It was extremley hot! Afterwards we went to Sandy bay where we swam. We were so keen to jump in and cool down. It was SO turquoise, clear and really warm! We drove to a place called the oyster stacks. We saw electric blue fish, a squid, and a bright blue spotted ray. I was nervous because anything could get in there!

Next day...

We went back to the oyster stacks again but it wasn't as good because all of the sand was churned up. We also went to Turquoise bay and went in a drift that took us along the bay. It's a strong rip that pulls you along. We saw lots of different fish! A shark swam underneath Aoife!
We drove until it was dark and pulled up in a rest area at Bullandelah.

Next day....

We drove all day before arriving at Karijini National Park. We went out for a walk to Fortesque Falls. You'll never guess what we saw...... A brown snake! 

Dad and I were sent out to the barbeques in the dark. There were LOADS of bugs! We watched the rabbit proof fence which is about three aboriginal girls who ran away from an education centre. They walked 1600 KM to where they lived following a rabbit proof fence while covering their tracks. When the eldest girl was older and she'd had a baby, they took her and her daughter away again. She walked back!

Next day...

Mum and I cooked breakfast outside on the barbeque! Afterwards we went to Dales gorge where we walked down into it. We went to Circular Pool and had a swim. It was freezing! There were in leeches in there! We jumped off the waterfall into the pool. When Mum and Riona there was a snake swimming in the pool!

 



Afterwards we walked through the gorge and went the wrong way! We ended up at a dead end! We then went to the fern pool and swam. It was warmer than the other pool!

We pulled up at Auski Roadhouse after a long day full of walking and swimming.

Next day...



We woke up after a long lie in. Dad was talking to a man who's auntie is one of the girls off the rabbit proof fence!  We had a relaxed morning before heading off to Degrey river rest area. It was SO hot!!

Next day... 

We woke up and saw a Monitor Lizard outside our motorhome! It was over a metre long! We started our journey to Broome. We worked all the time while we were in the motorhome!

We pulled up at Roebuck plains Roadhouse. I decided to have a shower as it was so hot in the day. We went into the toilets and there was a tree frog in the toilet! Literally IN the toilet! When I came out of the shower, there was a locust about 15CM long sat on the wall! I screamed!

Next day...

We headed into Broome to a lookout onto the sea. We saw four manta rays! They were huge and looked like they could be your blanket! We went back to the same roadhouse as the night before.

Next couple of days...

We drove into nothingness for a couple of days before arriving at Lake Argyle. We arrived up in a campsite. We went to see their pool and it was an infinity pool overlooking the lake! You can guess where we went next! One of the staff said that there had once been a fresh-water crocodile in the swimming pool!

Next day... 

We were going to leave but we decided the campsite was too nice to just stay overnight so we stayed another night! Aoife and I stayed in the pool all day before getting cold enough to get out!

Next day...

We drove to Katherine all the way through the middle of nowhere. We arrived in the pitch dark at a sixteen hectare campsite!