Lava tubes at Mt. Surprise

 We visited the Lava Tubes near Mount Surprise and we also saw another beautiful sunset.

 

     

Joyce pondering 

                  her next question to the poor guide!

Arrival in Cooktown and I was keen to try the local cooking!

A visit to the Botanical Gardens at Cooktown

  







 

Beautiful view halfway up Mt Cook.



The mystical Uluru in all its glory from sunrise to sunset.

We walked around the base of Uluru and this was our favourite spot: the water hole which is looked after by the Rainbow Serpent. It's amazingly peaceful and reminded us of the calmness of Iona in Scotland. The photos below are of Uluru from early morning, at sunrise, with the Olgas in the background and then at various stages of redness through the day to the purple haze that is seen during sunset.  Sadly, the camera does not capture it in all its glory but it's the best we can do! I thought about climbing it but Angie put the fear of death in me by saying the indigenous people didn't want us to, so I decided not to and when we got there it was closed because of wind. Good karma!

 

 

 

Sunrise with the Olgas in the background

The water-hole

Just after dawn.

A few minutes later.

Mid-morning

Angie looking at the Aboriginal art in a beautiful cavern.

Sunset.

Katherine Gorge

Delicious scones!

The wee green men!

A little bit of frivolity: martians at Wycliffe Wells and, Annette and Maddy, look at these scones at Timber Creek.  Below are some Queensland sunsets to compare with WAs.  These are at Karumba,on the Gulf of Carpentaria, where we also had lunch with Bazza and Tom and ate fresh prawns!

 

 

The end of the evening sunset at Karumba.

A fiery sunset at a free campsite on the way to Karumba.

 

Out to lunch!

The beginning of the evening sunset at Karumba.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Angie enjoying the prawns while I take the photos! Method in her madness! (Actually she shared!)


 

I love this sunset at Karumba but not as much as the Broome one!

                  

 

 

 

 

 



The birthday girls-Mary in Darwin and Angie on the road to the Gulf of Carpentaria, in the footsteps of Burke and Wills!

We are having all sorts of technological difficulties but we are persevering as we don't want to show our ages when it comes to being beaten by the computer.  We shall prevail!  Here you can see Angie outside the Bourke and Wills Roadhouse, Angie enjoying brekkie in the van and Angie having a gourmet $12.00 rump steak special for her birthday lunch!  Mary fared slightly better as we were in Darwin.  We ate at Crustaceans and we played at Litchfield National Park amongst the various beautiful waterfalls and the huge termite mounds!  We're also having fun with Pip, Steve, Mary and Andrew on our way to the Tiwi Islands.  Have a look at the bottom photo.  Who says we can survive without technology?  Clearly, these four can't!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



On the road again!

 

Here we are travelling again, having left Yakanarra at the beginning of July.  Since then we have travelled 6 thousand kilometres covering the Bungle Bungles, El Questro, Argyle Lake where the Ord River Dam sits near the campsite which contains the Infinity Pool voted the best swimming pool in Australia by tourists.  From there it was on to Darwin where we met Mary for her special birthday, went to the Tiwi Islands with Pip and Steve and then on to Kakadu, Lichfield and Nitmiluk National
Parks - all magnificent though we still think that Karajini National Park takes a lot of beating in the way of gorges and colours.  We did find Uluru very special with the colours at sunrise and sunset and the waterhole quite mystical.  The whole journey has been amazing and we are now excited about getting to Cooktown and taking our time travelling down the East Coast!
Top row: Echidna Chasm       Second Row: The Bungle Bungles
Third row: El Questro             Fourth Row: Angie in the hot springs at El Questro.  Joyce drinking  
                                                                      champagne in Lake Argyle
Fifth row: Sunset on Lake Argyle and one of the 20000 freshwater crocs in the lake!