March 2012...Wave Park in February

Darwin has a wave park for the kiddos to play in. Pretty nice time. They also have a kiddie area - somehow I didn't get a pic of that. Next time!

Kaelyn, practicing her surfing pose while waiting for the waves to restart...

Ryland, looking for a big one...

Johana, liking it better close to shore...

Tuckered out and time to go home...

March 2012...Miscellaneous pictures from the past couple months

Harmony showing Aine who really runs the house (that's Aine's bed)...

Cleaning the pool...

Pets getting lots of love...and a little more attention than they want...

Good thing we were upfront with the owners about having pets...

Tree frogs - come visit us every night...

A beautiful sunset and a much more beautiful little girl...

Ryland reading to Johanna...

Painting day...

A sunset from our bedroom window...

March 2012 - It knows how to rain here...

Here are some pictures of the wet season here.

From our house...

There is a storm drain under this plant...you can see by the water in the planter and on the grass that is comes in handy...

Here are some pictures on the road, approaching a rain storm...

We were on our way to the Wildlife Park. We turned around.

Early 2012...More pictures...Swimming in Buley Rockhole - Nature's Spa

Two weeks ago we got out of Darwin and drove about 1 hr 40 min to Litchfield Park. It has been a pretty dry wet season here so far and Paul had heard that lots of people were still out enjoying some rockholes in Litchfield. You know when you see a beautiful river that has a little waterfall and then an inviting pool at the bottom of it? I guess the inviting pool is called a rockhole (here at least). Well, Florence Creek has a lot of them and they make for very fun, safe swimming holes as long as the water level is right.

I was hesitant when Paul first mentioned it. I had read that, especially during the wet season, where there is water there might be crocodiles - saltwater or freshwater variety. One of the beauties of the Buley Rockholes, though, is it is above Florence Falls. As you can see below, no crocodile is going to make it above those falls. And the rockholes are far enough above the falls that you don't have to worry about going for a big ride down the falls unless you get a flash flood, which is known to happen this time of the year. So I figured as long as we kept one eye on the weather, all would be good.

A couple weekends ago we got packed up and went for it. Along the way we were excited to see the first hills we've seen since leaving Alaska...I know, in Alaska we would call this flat...

Along the way we also got the feeling like we were not in Kansas anymore...

Of course on the way out to the swimming hole we saw a group of young kids pulled over on the side of the road, posing for a picture in front of this sign with many a bottle of the prohibited liquid.

There are countless different bugs, ants, etc. here in the tropics and they flourish. It took us all awhile to get used to the constant activity on the ground outside and in the trees. Lots of places you look you will also see termite mounds. Along the bike trails here in the city you can see the beginnings of termite mounds at the base of trees. Along the highway, there are countless mounds that were started some time ago and are quite spectacular.

Also along the road there are these markers at every little stream crossing...kind of get the impression they can get a lot of rain here...

So arriving at the Buley Rockholes...it was a hot, beautiful day and there were lots of people there enjoying warm water, picnics and a few refreshing drinks. Good times.

Time for a snack...

Time to jump...

Underwater photos...Ryland went all the way to the bottom of this deep rockhole to get a souvenir for our nature table at home.

I know this one is blurry, but was too cute to pass up...

Before we headed for home we drove down the road a little ways to see Florence Falls. There is also a trail that connects the Buley Rockholes and the Falls but it is closed right now. The trail from this viewing point continues down to the falls. As you can see, there were people swimming down there that day. We have heard and read that there are pythons in the area around this trail so we will have to keep an eye out when we go down there!

On our way home we stopped at the town of Bachelor. No, I didn't see a bunch of men running around without wedding rings. It was pretty quiet, in fact. We ate dinner at a little restaurant/farm. It was peaceful, interesting and a little quirky. The food was good and there were a few animals for the kids to see. It was called the Butterfly Farm but we only saw one butterfly. It had rained a little so they might well have been hiding out. This vehicle was out front...

All-in-all a pretty perfect day.