Darwin Sat 15 June 2002 email us at longw@acr.net.au thanks to the couple of people who have emailed, we miss contact too!!
Today was fish feeding at Doctor's Gully, at Aquascene. Milkfish and mullet we handfed with bread...lots of rays were fed with fish and, surprisingly, 2 barramundi came in for a feed. Also lots of catfish with personality problems sought food too. The kids got soaked standing in the water handfeeding the fish. The fish actually nibble your fingers which is okay with the first two above but the catfish have teeth!!!
Hoping to get to the war museum on Easts Point this arvo.
Thanks Sam for the email, just reading it on the other page, sorry to Jim, did he get the 'point' of that type of activity....har har!!
When is the baby due?, your sisters, of course!!
Went to another market last night, palmerston market, a bit low key but interesting just the same.
Today is a lot more muggy than the last 3 days but the breeze is nice out of the sun.
Must get going and use up more of our last day.
Thinking of Shelley as we travel and I know our maths class cannot be the same again but hoping you are able to keep at the work anyway.
Hoping Sam B. is okay too. Keep up your spirits and see you back in class soon especially when I get back there.
Pat, Lib says we made it too Darwin and it is lots of fun!!
Bye for now,
Warwick.

Darwin Fri 14 June 2002 email us at longw@acr.net.au
Had a busy 2 full days in Darwin, shopped yesterday Thursday, firstly at Palmerston then in Darwin, at last. The weather is beautiful and we were lucky that Thursday is market day down at Mindil beach and these are some markets!! Lots of food and crafts and performers, even a saxophonist!! And all of it on the beach with a glorious sunset to top it off. And of course the temperature is fantastic. I got lost from the family and presented myself at the Info booth as a lost boy, she said they had a lost boy but I didn't fit the description!! I found them soon enough!!
Finally home at 9:30 after I missed the turn at Parap and went right around the back of the airport which will amuse those who have been here!!
Today we got up latish, yawn, but made the 11am ferry across to the Cox Peninsula over Darwin harbour for 4 hours at the Mandorah Pub, which is just magic and reminded Lib and myself of the Kavieng Club, which I hope somebody out there has also been to. The beer was cold and the pool glorious. Kids had a lovely time, as did we, and a lovely lunch of Barra and chips just topped it all off, and a fine trip back over the harbour to Darwin ended a great time. We drove to East Point for a look and may go back tomorrow.
Funny thing, the other night late I found some chocolate that I had left in the cab..it was a puddle of choc so I put it in the fridge. Curious Kelsie asked what it was and I spelled it out to prevent any 6 yr olds demanding a feed late at night. Kelsie missed the spelling and said "c..o...c...h...?. And Brittany piped up..."CHOCOLATE, dummy!!" So well done Mrs Whittock!!
Gotta go talk soon a 4th day booked
Warwick

Darwin Wed 12 June 2002 email us at longw@acr.net.au
Well, here we are...if you never ever go you'll never ever know...so we 'go'd'!! And here we are, suffering in the pool at 6pm with the barbecue started and only the mossies to contend with. It has to be worth it as we have travelled 1500kilometres in the last 3 days from Alice Springs to Darwin, phew!!!!
Will not spend long here now as it is 9:30pm and we are at the BP out the front of our van park, Palms Tourist Resort...just a fantastic place to stop at. And it costs $2 for 8 minutes or roughly $15/hour!! We should find something a bit better in town tomorrow.
Thanks to Kelly and Paula for their email, ahhh to be reminded of the classroom...thanks for that girls!!! I bet you all have your feet up giving some poor teacher a ulcer...I am nearly over mine!!!!!
We need to catch you all up on a few activities we have undertaken over the last week or so, including the camel ride at Curtin Springs to see the sunset on Mt Conner, a wonderful experience that all the family want to do again, but not many camels here in Darwin, or are there...?
I rang my mum tonight and she was just up off the floor after reading about our little fuel problem in the desert...so far nothing like that has happened though the girls did stress out at Devils Marbles when we walked around the corner...and they have not even seen Picnic at Hanging Rock...but that is what it feels like. Lib really wanted to see them and we did it, late in the day with the sun shining beautifully...wow.
Will have to stop soon...need to tell you about Simpsons Gap and other adventures in Alice, also our trip to Tennant Creek then to Mataranka and finally today to Darwin.
We are going into town today so will have a lot to see.
Better get to sleep if it is not too hot, hope it is comfortable where you are and the gas is still on!!!
Also, tell Mr K that I have pulled the curtains down many times, hi all, bye all, regards Warwick and Lib and Co.!!

Alice Springs Sunday 9 June email me at longw@acr.net.au
We are just walking through the Todd Mall sunday markets in a cool breeze but bright sunlight. Most of the stallholders are shivering and rugged up against the unfamiliar cold. We are in shorts etc this is heaven to us. They have winter for 6 months here so this is very odd for them.
We walked Kings Canyon on Friday, a fantastic walk. We left at 1.20pm for what is usually a 2 to 3 hour walk and returned at 5.40pm....4hrs20mins...Lib was very brave and climbed up and down and up and down for hours but she was incredibly determined!! The good side was that we saw everything and now know every rock and crevice and step intimately!! I think that of the 3 main attractions, Uluru and Kuta Tjula and Kings Canyon, this last one is probably the best as a walk full of surprises. They are all different so opinions may differ. Uluru is the best as an awe-inspiring monolith and the Kuta Tjula walk has some great views and an eerie atmosphere.
We were so late that it was impossible to drive to anywhere civilised so we stopped at the roadside stop just before the Lasseter Highway. This was to give us a good chance of reaching Alice Springs comfortably yesterday. We had to drive 120km from Kings Canyon to the stop and most of it we did in the dark. We were warned not to drive at all in the dark due to the wildlife. Well, we saw 3 hopping mice, 1 owl, 1 rabbit and.......1 enormous Bull parked right in the middle of the road. It was brown and I could only just make out its eyes in the glow of the headlights. I had to hit the anchors and come to a complete stop about 1 Crocodile Dundee from its horns!! Of course I was not going too fast by this time of night which helped but it did not move until I hit the horn (after I stopped...the shock was too great for my brain to work any quicker!!) (btw, I think i missed 2 of the 3 hopping mice, the unlucky one...who knows! He should have known better!)
We reached the stop and shared it with 4 tents and a caravan but there was plenty of space for us all and I am sure they could not here us having our Banjo Patterson poetry reading night!!
Next day we headed off hoping to make Erldunda to get the cheap fuel...unfortunately I had little experience of the fuel guage between 1/4full and empty. We did not fill up at Mount Ebenezer as it costs $1.20 per litre. Also against us, literally, was the wind, which makes a big difference if you look at a Winnebago from the front (from anywhere, actually, just ask Steve Tatham about them). So, I hit empty about 35 kms from Erldunda...this lasted for 20kms when the engine, the DIESEL engine, finally spluttered to a stop!! Oh dear...15kms short of Erldunda...and Erldunda is renowned to be the closest settlement to the geographical centre of Australia...and I was stuck here!!! I jumped out of the cab as I saw a car and caravan coming...I hailed them down...Ron and Bev Crouch from Wagga...and got a lift to Erldunda...grabbed my fuel...and caught the very first car going back....a '66 Ford travelling to Perth in the Royal Flying Doctor Service Rally...Brian (with one leg..it was an automatic) and Keith raced me, wheeeeeeeee, back to the van where they gave me the bad news....NEVER run out of fuel in a diesel..they must be bled to get them going again!! Never fear, German engineering came to the rescue..the Mercedes engine automatically pumps the fuel back through the motor and sure enough it worked and off we went!! A bit of an adventure that we will endeavour not to repeat.. the Simpson desert may not be so forgiving in future!!
We want to head north tomorrow so will keep you updated.
Bye for now,
Warwick.