24th April

Suprisingly the girls were very good last night. Sophie must have woken 4 times and asked "Mummy has the easter bunny been yet?" id answer "not yet go to sleep" and she would! I was awake from 4 onwards just dozing waiting until they got up and it wasn't until 6 that Sophie decided she needed her milk. At 6.30 i tried to go get it for her and Libby went nuts because i was leaving the camper. Hence James had to get milk, then take Libby for a walk while i checked if the bunny had visited during the night. Finding he did i told Sophie (who had not touched the much wanted milk in her excitment) that her and Libby could go outside and see if there had been any Bunnies around last night. I filmed all the excitment (all 20 seconds of it- no it prob lasted 5 minutes including the egg hunt) and took pictures or my blog.

The girls enjoyed their chocolate for breakfast (only day of the year this is alowed) while we packed up camp. We then headed off to Katherine (an hour away) to get bacon and eggs for breakfast! Girls were not impressed to be in the car again but when we reached katherine and found a lovely breakfast at the BP of freash cooked bacon eggs sausages tomato and toast for all of us they were happy enough. Olivia soon fell asleep in the car and we passed a reasonaly enjoyable 3 hours non stop to Darwin. Sophie was very excited to be seeing Nanny and Grandad with the whiskers and asked constantly are we there yet? Apparently Mikayla ( my niece) was asking the same from mums end! Finally at 1.30 we arrived to a much changed Darwin and dropping the camper off at our place we met up with Nanny and Grandad with the whiskers and cousin Mikayla who had let us into our home. Sophie and Olivia enjoyed seeing their rooms (though they were pretty boring with just dismatled furniture and boxes) and catching up with their cousin. Sophie dutifully held up her doll Jack and introduced him and her banket to everyone (though we have all met before as she has had them since she turned one)hehe.

We then headed off to Mums place where we will be staying for the next few days while we try to make some sort of a semblence of a home out of the mess of furniture and boxes we have waiting. The roads have all been upgraded on the way to palmerston (where our house is) and Sophie was worried that mummy was lost (though i was still on the right road it just has several turns and sets of traffic lights i had never seen there before). Once at nanny'e we had some more of the good stuff (chocolate). Olivia's new word is.....you guessed it Coclat. chocolate!

Had a lovely roast pork dinner and alomst fell into bed that night. Will do another post when house is set up and ill post photo's then for all of you who don't live in the Darwin area.

Nite all XXX

23rd April

Pool at Three Ways kept kids happy while mum got some alone time setting up beds and helping do dinner. Today we head for Mataranka or Katherine, James wants to just do a big drive and go right for Darwin but i really dont relish the idea of spending 12 hours in the car with a two and four year old! Any takers? hehe

So we spent another day making things out of paper, singing songs, utilising the Dvd player and for two hours of the trip the in laws took Libby and she slept the whole time! This meant i got to have a nap too as well as read my book! Heaven. We stopped for lunch at a roadside stop and ended up stopping at Mataranka for the night so that the girls could have their first swim at the hot springs.

The bat problem of the past seems to have cleared up after the springs had to be closed several times as fruit bats had nested in the trees and made the water unsavoury to say the least! This was not just a few bats but millions. They solved the problem by putting sprinklers into the trees that the bats liked to nest in and now apart from the odd flood which brings plant matter in the water is lovely. The girls had a great time swimming, Sophie trying to catch tiny fish and Olivia bombing and trying to drown herself. The child has no fear and no idea about water safety! Grr

Had an early night as we all know what happens on a Easter Sunday Morning! Nite all XXX

22nd april

Up and away heading for three ways Northern Territory! We had to become creative as the children were getting quite sick on the car, as expected after 6 weeks! We made everything i could think of out of paper and played every game we could in the car and were all very happy to reach the NT border!

Lots of water along the road but luckily none over the road. Did not do a lot today except drive so will let you know what comes tomorrow!

21st April

Did not have a very good night last night thanks to some rowdy campers next door. They were quiet loud and the girls woke crying three times before midnight. When they woke in the morning James told them to go outside and make lots of noise (of course after spending 5 weeks telling them to be quiet they did not make a peep)! We had breakie and threw in a load of washing before leaving the girls in the capable hands of the in laws and heading off on an undergroun mine tour. Unfortunatly cameras were not alowed so i have not got any pitures other than one taken and charged at $10 of the pair of us in our fashionable oversized (only my case) bright orange overalls and boots that swam on my feet! The best part of this photo has to be the fact that my eyes are shut! ohwell. The tour was pretty good and it was nice to again get to actually listen to what the tour guide was saying rather than distracting the littlies while i took as many photos as i could to look at later! hehe.

After a quick lunch of leftover chinese we headed off to the underground hospital where Olivia promptly fell asleep in the car. James valintly offered to stay with her and the rest of us headed off underground again. The hospital was originally made shortly after Darwin was bombed when they realised that something was needed for paitents when under attack. Children unearthed the mine a few years back when they saw a rabbit dissapear into a hole which they then lowered themselves into. This was actually the escape hatch of the hospital! It was interesting to see the restoration which was done by looking at photographs taken by a doctor back then.

After this we went to Kmart as James needed shorts. We got shorts and more! I don't remember seeing so many $2, $4 and $5 signs in Kmart ever! The girls both got $15 worth of clothes and i even got a new pair of shorts for myself! Bargain! Then we went back to the caravan park where we went for what i had hoped would be a lovely swim but the water was still too cold! There have really only been two warm days here so far so the water has not warmed up enough yet! Need to go futher north! After some home grown lamb chops and salad for dinner we headed off to bed, tomorrow hopefully staying at Barkley Homestead and be back in Darwin by Monday Lunchtime. This all depends on the children and also on what we find to do along the way but attractions are far and few between along this stretch so we will just have to see how we go.

Nite All XXX

20th April

Had a pretty good night in the camper, girls slept normaly and it was not very cold just plesant! We chatted with the people next to us who had a 11 year old, 9 year old and 2 year old( Abby) all girls. They were trying to convince James to buy a caravan park in a place called Musckgrave (middle of nowhere). Then we set off to look at Arno's wall, a local who must have been a bit of a hoarder in his day has made a wall out of junk. The info sheet says this wall has everything you could possibly need including the kitchen sink and it does!

Sadly for the girls the park has no playground but soon we were off to see the rest of the Waltzing Matilda Centre before heading to Mount Isa.

After this we sampled their lamb pies for brunch and hit the road! We made a stop at Paul Hogans crocodile dundee famous pub and also for a late lunch at a park needing some loving care in Cloncurry and arrived in Mount Isa at 4.30 in the arvo. We set up camp, took the kids for a quick play on the playground and then headed into town where we picked up some lovely chinese for dinner from a place called Chopsticks!

Nite XXX

19th April

Girls did not sleep too badly last night (thats not to say they slept well either! hehe) Olivia woke at 6 as she was asleep by 7pm the night before! After a breakfast of jam on toast (or as Sophie said i want bread and butter and jam but no black daddy - she did not want it burnt) we left the girls at the park with the in laws and toured the 747 (got it wrong last night). It was interesting and peacful! hehe

After the tour we checked that the in laws were not eaten alive by the small beings we call children and finding that a negative we headed for the Stockmans hall of fame. We booked in to do the live stockmans show and museum and headed off ot the arena where a stockman showed us his tricks and talent with animals. It was a wonderful show, this man doing all the prep and clean up and animal tricks by himself (of course animals too) whilst reciting australian bush poetry. Afterwards we got a photo with his Bullocks which were huge!

Sadly the stockmans hall of fame was having power issues andthe lights flickered the whole time we were inside though the live show made up for it! We caught up with the girls and had a very expensive box of chips and soft drink (9.80) to go with our cold chicken wings for lunch before heading off to Winton 190K down the track. At Winton we set up at Pelican caravan park (Winton being renamed this after the postmaster found the original name of Pelicans Waterhole too tedious to write on postage stamps- true story) and went off to see the Waltzing Matilda Centre. We ran otu of time here and got a pass out to come back tomorrow.

There was also a show (not live or real though) of the song Waltzing Matilda which was quite good and even kept Sophie sitting still for it (0nly 10 minutes long) though was not enough to keep cyclone Libby still. Hopeing for a good night tonight but definatly getting closer to home now. Probably only a week left of our holiday but we have had a good run!

Nite all XXX

18th April

Oh What a night!Sophie was up twice and so was Olivia but at 3am Sophie woke Libby up by carrying on at the top of her lungs. The big problem was that Sophie then went back to sleep and i spent until 6 am with Libby until she went back to sleep! She still had a belly ache and would carry on crying no no no no every time she had a tummy cramp so it was hard to keep her quiet and comfortable! We watched fairies and mckey mouse club house and finally at 6 she fell fast asleep! Needless to say it was almost 730 before we got on the road and Libby slept through it all not waking until 830! I have two words to say.....boot camp! hehe

Reached Tambo at 930 and headed in to see Tambo Teddies which are made by hand and purely by lambskin. They wer beautiful but ranging from $20 for a mouse and $275 for a stockman teddie. The girls had a lovely time looking and we also got a photo of Aus only teddy bear crossing sign!

After a quick play we headed off stopping only in Blackall for lunch and reached Longreach by 2pm. We booked into a cabin at Longreach caravan park which was quite a small park compaired to the Discovery where the in laws were but we saved $70 on the cabin as theirs were $140. We then headed off to the Quanta's Museum to see and read about the history of Quantas. We are booked on a tour of a 707 tomorrow as todays were all booked out but we went through the museum and looked at all the other bits an pieces.

The girls enjoyed pretending to fly their own plane and other than a few moemnts were pretty good in the museum. The old lady next to Sophie with the photo op offered to hold Libby up too but Olivia did not like that idea and ran away, ohwell.

We then went back and cooked chicken and veg for dinner while the girls used the bunk beds as a playgound (campground did not have one). Olivia was asleep by 7 and quite easily (thank god) but as Sophie had a nap yesterday she was a bit of a pain and did not got to sleep easily. Stockmans hall of fame and the plane tour tomorrow then head for Winton!

Nite XXX