Hi everyone, it’s been a while since my last blog but I’ve been really busy seeing and doing lots of cool stuff.
I really liked the Kimberley. We visited great gorges every day and walked and swam. At Windana Gorge I saw my first fresh water crocodile and there were heaps of them. One of them was 3 meters long.
At Tunnel Creek, we walked through a cave that was pitch black, wearing our head torches to pick our way through the waist deep water to an awesome billabong at the other end. There were lots of bats hanging in the cave.
We drove all the way up the Kulumbura Road through huge cattle stations (Drysdale Station was over 1 million acres in size - > 1000 sq kilometers).
We camped at King Edward River, where Dad and I floated on pumped up inner tubes down the mild rapids.
There are heaps of different birds and I have been helping mum and dad look them up in the bird book. I have seen Jabiru, Brolga’s and loads of black cockatoo’s.
We drove to Mitchell National Park (80 k took us 3 ½ hours to drive because it was so bumpy). We then did a 5 hour hike to the falls and back. They had lots of Aboriginal art sites and some of the art was more than 30,000 years old. It was really awesome. I have collected some information about the rock art to bring in to class when I get back.
After the Kimberley, we camped at the Bungle Bungle’s. We did lots of walks and we went on a 30 min helicopter ride. This has been the highlight of my trip so far – I loved it. Our pilot Brin was really nice, and he flew us over gorges that noone (not even the ranger) is allowed to walk into because they are sacred to the Aboriginal people. It was really amazing being in the helicopter – none of the doors were on so you got a great windy view!
Cathedral gorge had a great echo in it, and the rocks, gorges and hills were really fantastic.
At Darwin, we went to the night markets at Mindil Beach. They were really great. Then we bought some food from the market and sat on the beach to eat and watch the huge fireworks display put on for ‘Territory day’ and guy faulks night. Northern Territory is the only State in Australia where people can buy and set off their own fireworks until 11pm on Territory day.
SO there were fireworks going off everywhere. The next day I heard on the news that someone had been arrested for setting off fireworks pointed at passing cars – and they had pointed one at a police car.
We went to the Aviation museum in Darwin, where they had a spitfire, and a huge B52 aeroplane (there are only 2 on display in the world outside of the USA). I also learnt about the bombing of Darwin in WWII by the Japanese.
One evening, we went to the deck chair open air cinema to see Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang. We ate pizza for tea whilst we watched the movie – it was fun.
I am still having lots of fun but I am missing everyone. See you in another term
Your friend
Ethan.
