This is very new to us, so please forgive us if we ramble on too Much!
I am Shell and I will be doing most of the posting - that is unless Dave gets the hang of it and wants to take over!
Firstly a bit about ourselves, we are in our mid 40's and absolutely love the Caravanning lifestyle. We started our travelling in January 2008 leaving Charters Towers Qld - where we had spent the previous 2 years. We went down as far south as Albury/Wodonga (our Birth Place) to visit relatives and we travelled as far up as Cooktown Qld stopping at some beautiful places along the way.
Then Dave got offered a good job Flying in and out of Darwin to the Granites Gold Mine in the Tanami Desert - too good to pass up. So we took 2 weeks to get to Darwin, stopping at some great spots along the way including: Normanton & Karumba, then across to Lawn Hill with us Kayaking up the Gorge - a first for both of us! A bit scary but very enjoyable.
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| Our Kedron handled the road in and out very well but we had red dust through everything! |
Then it was time to head down south towards Cloncurry and onto the Barkley Highway.
We were both nervous and excited about heading to Darwin, we had never been there before so we thought of it as a new adventure.
We stopped at the Barkly roadhouse for a night and were amazed to see so many caravans there. It was mid May and Nomad season was in full swing, so we decided we should keep moving so we could get a site when we got to Darwin.
We did of course have to stop at Daly Waters Pub for the night and see "The Chook Man's Show". Which we thoroughly enjoyed with a lovely meal of Steak and Barra and a few Bundy's!
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| Daly Water's famous "Chookman" |
We had been told by many travellers that the best park to stay at in Darwin was Lee Point - but they didn't take reservations, it was pot luck when you got there.
So we arrived here on 5th June 2008. The park was nothing like we expected - very run down. We got an Ensuite site with a laundry area. So we brought a washing machine and put up a few shelves, watered our grass and now it is very comfortable.
Dave started work a week later, flying out for 9 days and home for 5. I just pottered around until November and decided I needed to get a job as well as I was going crazy. I got a casual job at Big W for 3 months and now I am working fulltime in a bookstore.
We have done many trips since we have been up here, but we leave the van as it is all set up with the annexe and all the other extras you accumulate when you are permanents.
We have been to Kakadu 3 times - great place. Heaps to see and do. Love seeing the Crocs in the wild. We went back to Katherine and did the Gorges tour - very worthwhile.
One of my dreams has been to go on a cruise, so while we are both working we have booked an 11 day cruise to Vanuatu for April next year. So we will continue working until March and when we return from the cruise we will hook up the van and decide which direction we wish to head off in.
O.k I have got you all up to speed. Next week Dave & I are flying over to Perth as we are spending a week in Mandurah - the place we call home! We will be catching up with 2 of our Daughters - Bec and Teigan. Getting our tax done and socializing with friends, sounds like a good break. But we will have to put up with the cold weather - one thing about Darwin, you really get used to all this lovely warm weather.
Happy Travels - Shell
