The Busy Mum Hub - Half Lap of Aus

Day Thirty -  Atherton Tablelands Big4 Atherton Woodlands Tourist Park - $68 per night - Powered site - 1 night Fuel - $63.51 Reserve Diesel 40 litres 613 km  We get up today with no rush, no time frame, no plans which was the whole point of this trip.  We haven't pre-booked any accommodation ahead of time. We mostly sit down at night when the kids go to bed and work out what tomorrow plans will be, where we want to pull up and what we want to check out along the way.  Today was an interesting one as I sat in the co-pilot seat (and feed the driver, very important job) I watched the surrounds change from dry desert to beautiful lush forests as we came into the Atherton Tablelands. The temp dropped from 32 to about 16 degrees. Now, not booking ahead of time can be a pain in the bum, Cause sometimes I have to spend half an hour or so ringing around trying to find somewhere that will fit a 27-foot caravan. This seems like a small task!! ...

Day Twenty-six – Attack Creek Camping Area Karumba Free camping ground Fuel - $270.25 - three fuel stops 863km We head off about 7.30am so that Brooke and co can head to work and school. Now we have a massive three or four days coming up with a trip across the Barkley highway to Cloncurry Qld, then the Matilda Way to Normanton before crossing the Gulf Development road to Cairns This trip will be 2735.9km = 30 hours of driving in a ute, towing a caravan, three kids with iPads. The first day we manage to get as far as ‘Attack Creek Camping Area’ at 9.30pm. This little overnight stop off was full but we managed to get a spot that was right on the highway, we are all buggered and don’t need much rocking tonight. On the way, we did have three fuel stops, two coffee breaks, Grocery shop, lunch stop, Mataranka swim for an hour, afternoon tea stop, a dinner stop. So, this was a really well broken day with travelling, Kids were so good! Day Twenty-seven –  ...

Day Twenty-one - Darwin, NT Population 101,709 Big4 Howard springs - $78 per night @ 2 nights Supplies - $91.00 91km Howard Spring Fuel - $63.76 As we roll out of Mary River Wilderness Retreat we get closer to Darwin. Now you can’t swim anywhere in Darwin unless its signposted (this is best for your health) even if there is a sign there is always a risk that there may be a croc somewhere. At the end of every wet season, the park rangers do set traps to remove any crocs, do surveys and put extra traps in to prevent crocs coming into these swimming holes. We arrive at Howard Springs early and they were really nice and allowed us to check in, so we get unpacked and head into Darwin. We need food, haircuts a few new pairs of thongs, fuel, and beer, this takes us a few hours then head back to the caravan park for dinner and bedtime. Day Twenty-two – Darwin City… 26km We all head into Darwin and really want to check out the Darwin Military Museum, it will co...

Day Sixteen -  Kakadu, NT Campsite - $38.00 per night at 2 nights Fuel - $71.60 at Pine Creek service station  90km   Tour - $366.00 - Croc tour at Cooinda We take our time packing up from Mataranka, washing is up to date (we had a wet bed the night before we left) so I was up washing and using the dryer at 6am (before the oldies needed it) we head back to Katherine and then to Kakadu. If you haven't been here before this National Park is massive and you need a pass to stay. This was $100 for the five of us for 7 days. We wanted to book into Cooinda (but was booked out) so we head back down the road about 10km to Mardugal. This is a no power or water campsite but it has rangers so there is a charge, $38 per night. They do have showers and flushing toilets. You can park your caravan where ever you like. We pick a nice spot to stay near the river, we could hear the baby crocs at night singing out to there mums and dingos crying. Once it gets dark you stay inside (...