Daniel's Big Australian Holiday!

 Day 30 - Thursday - 18/6/2026 This morning I did more schoolwork and then went back to Bitter Springs. Then at 6:30 we went to see whip cracking world record holder Nathan Griggs. He holds five world records one of which being cracking a 100-metre whip and most cracks in a minute. He showed us some tricks and techniques on how to crack a whip; he also cracked his whip to some different songs like Thunderstruck.  Nathan also had a lot of different whips like a solar powered whip with lights on it, a glow in the dark whip, a metal chain whip and for the grand finale he light one of his whips on fire and cracked it. Day 31 - Friday - 19/6/2026 This morning I woke up pretty early and went birdwatching. There was a lot of wildlife, and we saw 4 birds I had never seen before, the Bar-shouldered Dove, Lemon-bellied Flyrobin, Shining Flycatcher and a Blue-faced Honeyeater. There has been loads of animals here, especially frogs and lizards.   A frog in the shower! Then we pa...

 Day 28 - Tuesday - 16/6/2026 Today we left Daly Waters and drove to Bitter Springs. Now we are out of the desert and in tropical areas it is a lot more humid and hot. At Bitter Springs we walked to the hot springs. Even though it was in the shade of the sensational huge paper bark tree forest that made no difference to the warm hot spring's temperature. At the springs we floated down the river on pool noodles util we weren't allowed to swim any further so then we walked back up the stream and hopped back in.  Swimming at Bitter Springs We also luckily spotted two turtles and two Azure Kingfishers. Azure Kingfisher Day 29 - Wednesday - 17/6/2026 This morning we drove to Elsey National Park and had a look at the Roper River. Then we drove to Mataranka Hot Springs where we swam around in the warm water (34 degrees) playing games and splashing each other.  Swimming at Mataranka This time the hot spring was more like a pool than a river, but it also felt a little bit deeper, ...

Devils Marbles Day 26 - Sunday - 14/6/2026 Today we got pancakes for breakfast again and then we packed up the caravan and left Alice Springs for the 4th and final time. We  drove 400km to Devils Marbles where we did a walk around the gigantic boulders until we got the huge  split rock Devils Marbles is known for. We all climbed into it and it kind of looked like we were pushing it apart.  Colossal boulders Pushing the rock apart Then we did a walk to a lookout where we looked at the spectacular sunset. All the precariously placed rocks looked like they were about to fall but they didn’t. Waiting for the sunset Day 27 - Monday - 15/6/2026 Today we drove a long, painful, boring and uneventful 500km to Daly Waters where we did schoolwork, went for a swim and had dinner at the pub with live music.

Day 24 - Friday - 12/6/2026 This morning we went to the town centre where we walked to the cinema and watched the movie The Sheep Detectives. It was a pretty good movie about some talking sheep trying to solve a murder mystery with some funny jokes and a well set out plot. Then we went back to the caravan park and did schoolwork went for a swim and then watched another movie at the caravan park called Kangaroo while we ate dinner. The movie was about a guy who rescues kangaroos because of her friend Charlie. Day 25 - Saturday - 13/6/2026 Today we woke up at 6AM to go to the Alice Springs Parkrun. Everyone ran the full 5km except for grandma and grandpa for obvious reasons but at the end we were all pretty tired, I came 61st out of the 99 people that raced. After Parkrun Then we had breakfast at Maccas and then came back to where we did Parkrun to check out the overland telegraph station. Charles Todd designed and oversaw the overland telegraph line and named Alice Springs after his wif...

  Rainbow Valley Day 22 - Wednesday - 10/6/2026 Today we packed up at Kings Canyon and my family and grandma, and grampa drove to Rainbow Valley while our cousins drove back to Alice Springs. When there was around 20km left we hit a dirt road and it was super bumpy because of all the corrugations on the road, that was why when we arrived a bunch of stuff was on the floor of the caravan and some of the stove came off so we had to fix it. At about 6PM we walked to a lookout where we looked at Rainbow Valley and the sunset. Then we went back to the caravan and had dinner around the fire. Day 23 - Thursday - 11/6/3036 Today we packed up our caravan and went for a walk around Rainbow Valley. The rocks were pretty big and jagged and there was also a claypan next to it which sometimes fills up with water but currently it was dry. The walk was actually to a rock called Mushroom rock and it was supposed to look like a big mushroom, but I didn't really see the resemblance.  Mushroom Roc...

Kings Canyon Day 20 - Monday - 8/6/2026 Today we drove from Uluru to Kings Canyon. It was a pretty long drive that took about 3 hours. When we arrived at Kings Canyon, we set up camp and then we walked over to the nearby sunset bar where we looked at the magnificent sunset views. Day 21 - Tuesday - 9/6/2026 Today we went on a 6km walk on the top of Kings Canyon, we drove over to Kings Canyon and then started our walk. Everyone except for grandma and grandpa did an extra 1.6km walk through Kings Canyon. The walk was pretty cool because you could see the tall sheer cliffs and lots of rocks and domes. Inside the canyon Then we started heading up the 450 stairs to get to the top of Kings Canyon which made me pretty tired, but we had to keep going. Eventually we caught up to grandma and grandpa so we had a rest at a spot where we could see the huge cliffs and the beehives which is just a nickname for the domes because they look like beehives. Climbing in between the behives  Then we con...