Litchfield National Park

We decided to go to Litchfield National Park today which is about 90 minutes drive south of Darwin.
The speed limit once you get out of built up areas is 130 kph (81mph)..

The locals all complain that the limit is too low - and given that Alice is 1500km south I suppose you can understand but I would prefer a crash barrier between the lanes.
Once we got to the park there were some slightly bizarre restrictions on what you can and can't do..

Once into the park it was wall to wall forest - really puts areas like Abernethy in the Highlands into perspective. Our camera decided to play up but you get the picture.

One of the key features in the park are the termite mounds. These are known as the Cathedral mounds and are believed to be over 50 years old.

There are several great sounding places in the park that are only accessible during the dry with a 4x4 so we will be returning in late May to explore further.

On return to Darwin we spent some time in one of the local swimming pools to cool the children down as it was a slightly warm 37 degrees today.

Looking for a car tomorrow.

More house stuff

Another morning spent sorting things for the new house. Today we bought new fridge / freezer, Tv and DVD player all of which get delivered on Monday. All we have to do now is sort out a car, scooter and insurance and we will then be all steam ahead, hopefully the rest of our goods will arrive by this time next week as well.
Went to Nightcliff pool this afternoon to cool off and had a look at another part of Darwin - looks very nice with a great beach for an evening walk.
Will be setting the alarm tomorrow morning as we are going to go to Litchfield National Park to look at some waterfalls and swim in some croc free waters. We will get some new batteries for the camera and take lots of pics.
On Sunday may go car shopping as one or two places have sales on at moment.

Our first little trip south

Having sorted the house as far as we can [update today is that our furniture will be with us the end of next week!!!] we headed off to the south to visit the Territory Wildlife Park.
What a great day out it was too - and being Territorians we get a pass that allows us to visit as many times as we want in the next 12 months for free - wot a bargain.
We started off at "the sand bar" which was a mini version of the freshwater river environment. The main event here was feeding the barimundi and whip rays, the latter just followed the keeper around and kept nudging him to be fed...

The barimundi where also entertaining sucking the fish like hoovers and making one heck of a splash and noise - a boom type sound.
We then moved on to the birds of prey area - they flew a couple of species but more interestingly had some rainbow lorrikeets and a red-tailed black cockatoo as well as a jabiru.
The undoubted highlight here though was Cameron holding a Rufous Owl..

The best bit though as far as I was concerned was the Aquarium. With the undoubted star of the whole park their Saltie. It was very much like an iceberg, from above looked quite small but underwater was massive

We also saw a spectacular saw fish but unfortunately it was swimming too fast to get any decent shots but worth looking them up online as they are cool.
The local art throughout the park was great, this croc was one of the best on show

On the drive back we stopped off to take the classic picture of termite mounds - there were far bigger ones but they were all off in the taller grass so we decided to give them a miss this time.

Tomorrow we sign the lease on the house and do a few other house keeping things so may not have much to update tomorrow.

Stain remover...

Todays moral is never judge a cleaning product by its cover,  it is amazing how similar certain products appear. This evening we discovered that the Vanish stain remover we were using on the laundry was in fact carpet stain remover - all the stains on the clothes gone but the carpets are a mess!

Drove past our new house today..

This is the front drive - big under cover car port.

It has a good fence all the way round and seperating the back garden area from the pool.
It does indeed have a small pool - not one for swimming in rather an area to cool off in.

We contacted the local school last night and we are going in on Monday with the children to meet the headmistress etc. It will be grand to get the children back into a routine after Easter.
Still no news from Pickfords as to when our goods will be delivered, will chase again tomorrow.

The view from this holiday appartment is great - we overlook the marina. A lot of day dreaming about winning the lottery and buying a large house with jetty and boat...

The small patio area has avery small gas BBQ in it which is very useful, in the evenings it is taken over by the geckos - always fun to watch.

Tomorrow doing the tourist thing and off to the Territory Wildlife Park!

Housey housey!!

Just a quick update tonight. Quite a mundane day today picking up bank cards, moving to our new holiday apartment etc. All this was given a real boost when we heard from one of the realters today and we have got the house we wanted!!!
We go in on Thursday to sign docs etc.
For those with access to Google Earth our new address is 29 Kingfisher Circuit, Wulagi, Darwin.
Our new appartment is great - right on the marina over looking the boats. We will post a few pictures tomorrow but at the moment thats it.

Birthday Boy..

Its Cameron's fourth birthday today and having given him the chance to choose we spent the morning in the wavepool on Darwin's waterfront:

A very good choice as it turned out. the pool is fantastice with ten different wave cycles in twenty minute bursts. The last set that we had were breaking right where the children are sitting and they were very strong, even Tish and I struggled to stay on our feet! When the waves are on the rest cycle the water is great to swim in and there are a series of undercover paddling pools with showers etc that are great for the smaller children. We will return here me thinks - although with better sun screen as despite liberally doses of factor 30 for all we are slightly red in places!!!!

We had lunch at a nearby coffee bar - enormous portions (although the fact that we are not completely adjusted to the heat may have made them feel larger than they were) but very good.

Then  a quick dash dwon the road to view another property in nearby town / city of Palmerston. very nice place and only about 20 mins from the Hospital so we will put in an application when it arrives in Tish's inbox on Monday.

After that another plunge in the pool at the holiday appartment before a shower then out for a take away that we took to East point to watch the sun go down. The sunset was a bit spoilt by clouds but still the colours were spectacular.

The two intrepid explorers view the area....

This shelter also had a BBQ for you to use.

Wot a Wally

A lazy day today with nothing major planed. By popular demand we ended up going back to East Point and the play park under sails. The entertainment value was enhanced further when an outdoor shower was discovered and Xanthe and Hamish decided to freshen up - they did take T shirts off first though.
When everyone had got hot and bothered - although it was only 29o today so not too bad - we got back in the car and went for a short drive up to the end of the point.
Found a great location to go to watch the sun go down ( we thought aboout it tonight but had left it too late so we will visit another evening). The Point is both a nature reserve and a museum dedicated to the fortification of Darwin during WWII a great place to explore.
The drive was very productive with our first kangaroo of our stay...

Initially there only seemed to be one, offering great views of its backside and not much else, but then a squeak of excitement from Cameron caused a few more to pop out of the grass...

There were nearly twenty in total - a bit distant but still a nice sight. A glance through the field guide back home identified them as Agile Wallabies.
They weren't the only things hiding out in the bush...

We initially only saw one of these Bush Thick-knees but there were in fact four hiding out under cover.
The rest of the afternoon was spent lounging around in the pool - I know its a hard life but someone has to do it and it might as well be us!
Tea tonight was prawns in butter with rice and salad, very messy but oh so nice!

Only bettered me thinks by cooking them on the barbie!

Tomorrow is Camerons birthday so of to the wave pool (and viewing another house) and if the weather holds to watch our first sunset!

Tish's Turn This Time (check me and my illiteration!)

Today we handed in two applications for tenancy and we hope for the best. It is somewhat of a bizarre system here as it does seem to be a bit of a lottery and bribing doesn't work!!!! Although one of the Estate Agents would gladly take the money she said.... ha ha.
The mid morning today was spent at a place called East Point, Dom did some birding (how unusual...), the kids played in this fantastic gym park under a huge sail, I took pics and sat and enjoyed the warm rain shower. It feels very odd to be back under warm rain again. East Point has a huge lake and lots of bbq's so I can see us whilling away a few glorious sunny days and lazy Sundays here.
The afternoon was spent in the pool at the holiday appartment once again, this is getting boring isn't it another warm day and the pool. Although I hear you all are having good Spring days.
I get to go up to the hospital next week and meet the staff and see the unit, not yet sure on the day, it's very laid back here come up sometime the recruitment officer said. I keep looking at all the prregnant women and wondering if I will meet some of them soon!!!!????? I'm sure I will.

Cameron is getting very excited about his birthday in two more sleeps and has chosen to go to the big wave pool on the waterfront for the day, it was that or the local crocodile park, he chose the pool. We will see what their behaviour is like they may yet get fed to the crocs!!! No really the kids have been very well behaved despite having to make this huge adjustments and being dragged round looking for houses, estate agents, banks, libraries etc

These are those big sails.

Ship ahoy Captain!

Me first...

All the As

The children slept for 13 hours - yes I kid you not, absolutely unheard of!
I went into town early to pick up our hire car so we could start getting on with things.
This morning it was a case of all the As as we visited ANZ (our bank) and AHPRA (Australian Health Professionals Registration Agency). The bank went very smoothly and it was quite a relief to get confirmation from that staff that the money that we had transfered had actually arrived!
Considering it was about 11am when we got there and the bank is in the middle of town the first question was is this as busy as it gets as we had been able to park directly outside the branch. Aparently it was - bodes well as busy cities don't really appeal to any of us!
After that we tried to set up the satnav in order to find the AHPRA office for Tish to complete her registration. We had preloaded all the maps but it still took nearly 15 minutes for it to find any satelites - by which time we had already found the place and the children and I were waiting in the car for a text from Tish to say she was finished. In true AHPRA style despite being assured that her file would be sent from Queensland it hasn't been! Not that this will be a problem as the Darwin team will request it and get it sent through.
After that the rest of the day was spent phoning round looking for suitable properties to rent and trying to arrange viewings for said properties. There seems to be a shortage of suitable housing as the property we viewed today had approx 40 families viewing it at same time! But in the local lingo  - no worries something will come along. It also seems to be a complete lottery as to who gets the property, you have to apply (obviously) but even the letting agents said the owners often just stick a pin in a list!
We did explore a bit more in between visits finding a couple of potential birding sites - notably Lee Point and East Point reserves.

Galah - our first parrot.



Masked Lapwing are everywhere

as are these Straw-necked Ibis

The next couple of days we will be taking it easy and so there may not be an update





We arrive 19th Mar

There had to be one part of the journey that did not go completely to plan and the short "hop" from Singapore to Darwin was it. The reason for Aberdeen being unable to print our boarding pass for this part of the journey was made clear when hand written boarding passes were issued as Jetstars systems had been down for two days! After nearly an hour sitting in the plan on the tarmac we were off - it was amazing how long it took to accurately count a completely captive audience stuck in side a metal tube.
The flight was very bumpy which made filling out the customs forms interesting - for Tish this was the ultimate unwanted white knuckle ride.
In light of Pick TVs programme Anything to Declare we declared everything - children's sweets (food items); calpol etc (drugs) and my tripod (potential to import soil / micro organisms). Darwin Customs found this very amusing and his sole comment was " come on mate you've got to do better than that!" as he waved us through in under five minutes. A short taxi ride later and we were in our holiday apartment, although getting all our bags onto the second floor with no lift was "fun". After showers for everyone and some basic unpacking Tish and I had a short snooze whilst the children played. Hamish who was adamant that he did not need a sleep subsequently fell asleep on the sofa and was virtually impossible to wake up - honestly it took at least ten minutes to get him up!
rest of say spent pottering - sorting out sim cards for phones etc. Everyone has been so helpful and friendly from taxi drivers through to checkout staff in local Woolworths we have been made to feel most welcome. Rest of the afternoon spent lounging in apartment pool and generally relaxing before an early tea, shower and then straight to bed for the kids

Happiness is a bed that does not move!!

Oh yes my Oz bird list is up and running with a grand total of 6!



And so it begins

So the day has finally arrived - 15 months in the planning and with several hiccups along the way including one potential show stopper it is finally happening.
The taxi picked us up from Rora and we were on our way to Aberdeen Airport - after a minor hiatus of leaving Camerons car seat in the taxi (soon rectified by a quick phone call to the driver) we were through checkin and after a tearful goodbye to Mollie and Poppet (aka my aunt and my mum) we were boarding.
The flight was grand and was on time and barely 90 minutes later we were landing at Heathrows T5. We managed to meet up with big sis for lunchin T3 - although it was a close run thing as we almost got stuck airside! We then had a sixish hour wait in the terminal (with regular updates on the Rugby - well done Wales and nice one England; surely they have to give Lancaster the job now). Apart from the frequent questions as to how much longer it was until we boarded it passed quickly with mounting excitement from everyone.
We finally boarded our A380 and waited for take off, and waited and waited... Thanks to big sis number 2 we knew there was nothing wrong with the engines (very useful having family working at Rolls Royce on the big aircraft engines!) in fact the sky bridge would not retract!
A short delay later the bridge retracted and we were off on our big adventure.
The flight was as you would expect - long and boring. In the words of cameon it was just like being in the stmach of a bird, great to see the birdy side of thr family is starting to sink in!! The journey went smoothly apart from some minor turbulence in the last 40 minutes which coupled with lack of sleep made Hamish throw up, although he was soon back to his cheerful self.
Watching the landing on the onnboard Skycam was great - the night take off at heathrow was less spectacular.
I am typing this in lounge D35 waiting for our last flight of the day a five hour hop to Darwin. Am looking forward to landing although less so the customs side of things as everyone is tired and slightly grumpy!
I will post again at some stage from the otherside...