Daniel's Big Australian Holiday!

Katherine Gorge   Day 32 - Saturday - 20/6/2026 This morning we did Parkrun and I came 74th out of 109 people with a time of 37 minuets and 53 seconds. Then we did schoolwork until 2PM when we got on a boat. As we travelled through the gorge, we saw at turtle and about 5 freshwater crocodiles, but they usually don't harm people.  Freshwater Crocodile The gorge was big and the cliffs were tall too. At the end of the first section of the gorge, we got off the boat and looked at some aboriginal rock art. There was a wallaroo, a person, some handprints, a turtle and the rainbow serpent. the guide told us a story about the snake and ow it formed the mountains and gorges.  Wallarroo and people Turtles Then we had to go back because the other 2 sections of the gorge that you would normally go to were closed because of flood damage. When we were headed back, we were very lucky and saw a bowerbird in its bower, it had collected lots of white and grey things. Northen Bowerbird Day ...

 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...

Kata Tjuta Day 19 - Sunday - 7/6/2026 Today we drove 45 minutes to Kata Tjuta where we did a 7.4km walk called the Valley of the Winds. The walk went through some of the 36 domes of Kata Tjuta and looked pretty cool. The colossal domes were super high and there were a lot of holes in them, unlike Uluru which is made out of sandstone Kata Tjuta is mate out of a rock called conglomerate which is basically sandstone with a bunch of river stones embedded into it. Domes of Kata Tjuta Compared to the surroundings of Kata Tjuta when we were walking through the shade of the huge domes there was a lot more plant life and a bit of water around. The walk took us about 4 hours so by the end we were all pretty tired.  Walking through Kata Tjuta Then we drove another 2km to another walk through Waḻpa Gorge.  This walk was much shorter than the other being only 2.6km plus it was only me, Susie, Mum and Dad so we went through a lot quicker. The walk was through a gap between two of the domes ...

Day 18 - Saturday - 6/6/2026   Today we went back to Uluru, and we went for a walk to a waterhole there while my 9 year old cousin Charlie went for a run around Uluru with her dad. Us boys had already been to the waterhole but none of the girls had which is why we did that. The waterhole was on the edge of Uluru, pretty small and probably really cold because it was almost always in the shade. Waterhole at Uluru The walk was only 1km so Charlie and Mat would still be running for a bit longer and so we decided that we would walk up to a car park a few kilometres away from us while my dad and grandpa drove there to pick us up. When we had about 1km left we ran into my dad and a few hundred metres later my grandpa. Once we got back to the cars we drove back to the original carpark that we were at, where we met Charlie and Mat, they were pretty tired after running 10km and sadly Charlie got a cramp in her foot. They told us that it took them 1 hour and 30 minutes which to me sounds...

 Day 16 - Thursday - 4/6/2026 Today we drove from Alice Springs to Uluru except we had one problem, our cousin's car wouldn't start so we had to call roadside assist to come. Before they got there some people helped us and we were able to jump start the car but then the car wouldn't go into gear, so we had to wait for roadside assist to come and fix the car. When they got there, they tried to fix it but didn't have the right tools so they had to go and get them, that's when we left and drove to Uluru and about 1 hour later our cousins left. We stopped at Erldunda for lunch where there were a bunch of Emus, then we left Erldunda and drove the remaining hours to Uluru.  Day 17 - Friday - 5/6/2026 Today at about 8:15 we drove to a carpark very close to Uluru where all the boys went on a bike ride around Uluru. Once we got there, we grabbed our hire bikes and set off. The ride was pretty long, it was 15km and took about 2.5 hours. If you don't know what Uluru is it...

Day 13 - Monday - 1/6/2026 Today we packed up our things and went back to Alice Springs, in the afternoon we did schoolwork and had a swim. The caravan park was jam packed with people for the Finke Desert Race and the first time we went to the pool there was no one there except us but this time there was way more people. Bugge for the Finke Desert Race Day 14 - Tuesday - 2/6/2026 Today we didn't do much, we just did schoolwork and washed the car and finally fixed my watch. Day 15 - Wednesday - 3/6/2026 Today we drove to the Alice Springs Desert Park which had lots of big and small animals that live in the desert. We got there at about 9AM just intime for the nocturnal house talk so we rushed in through the gate to the Nocturnal House. When we got there, we met one of the guides at the park who brought us through the Nocturnal House and told us some facts about the animals like how the Thorny Devil shakes it's body when its walking to make birds of prey think it's a leaf blo...