Part of the beach at Crab Claw was mud - the boys loved it! Washing machines didnt;
We saw bizarre little crabs at crab claw, but we werent after these guys (about 2cm wide, not much of a feed).
We put the crab pots out in some likely spots and finally had some luck. Although I wouldn't want to do it again - one float was munted from a croc chewing on it - teeth marks all over it and while pulling out the 2nd pot we got growled at by a crocodile, couldn't see it but sounded close and was obviously aimed at us. This was a week before an old guy was killed in Darwin, when he was checking crab pots in his dinghy - to be honest I'll be happy never to go out in croc water again. Rob went out fishing a couple of times and got some giant trevally and queenfish. Fish for dinner!!!
Someone had put a couple of caps on this termite mound, we added one that we found as well, as we headed from Crab Claw Island down to Litchfield NP.
Cross spiders were all over the place at Litchfield NP.
And plenty of magnetic termite mounds - these guys can work like a compass, if you know what you're doing..
The other thing there was plenty of in Litchfield was tourists. This was the best swimhole in Litchfield, can you tell? For this reason alone (think drunk backpackers pissing it up all night, littering, ripping down trees and being rude to everyone) we decided to pass on going to Kakadu NP and head south instead. Seems a bit crazy to get so close to one of Aussies biggest landmarks and not visit but we'd had enough of the 'tourist precincts'.
So on to Nitmiluk NP, just out of Katherine. We splashed out and took a boat trip up the Gorge which was pretty relaxing even with two preschoolers.
On the boat at Nitmilik Gorge.
From Katherine we travelled down to Daly Waters which is basically a pub in the middle of nowhere, no town/houses/shops - just a thriving pub. Everyone who travels this route seems to know to stop at Daly Waters. You could spend hours just reading the walls - with business cards, photos, money, bras, undies, flags, tshirts stuck all over them.
Daly Waters also had a swimming pool which was a real bonus as this was our hottest day of the trip I think. Getting out of an airconditioned vehicle was like walking into a furnace.
Probably the best thing about the pub was the kids area, which meant we could stay for two or three drinks! The boys also enjoyed watching us play pool although Ash rearranged the balls a bit.
Next day we headed on to Devils Marbles, just past Tennant Creek. We found Tennant Creek very missable. But Devils Marbles was awesome, kms of round rocks, some broken in half which the boys climbed through, some little and some huge. We spent a bit of time walking around them and couldve stayed a second day but it was too hot so time to move on to Alice Springs.
When we arrived the news of the day was about a 6 yr old boy who had broken into the Alice Springs Reptile Centre and grabbed all the reptiles he could get and thrown them in the crocodile enclosure. A very happy croc!! We thought we'd visit the centre although didnt expect to see too may reptiles around. It was great and we met the cutest lizards - thorny devils, they're so cute they deserve two photos. We also saw frilled lizards and watched a snake eat a mouse - enthralling!
We went for a walk around the old womans jail in Alice. Boys loved seeing where 'baddies' go when they're naughty.
And then on to Uluru (Ayers Rock). I'm pleased to say Ruben and Ash climbed Uluru, well the first 2o metres anyway. Rob was going to climb it, as I'd done Kings Canyon by myself the day before but alas it was too windy and the Ranger closed the walk down. Uluru was awesome to see, even though I was expecting a lot I was still impressed. Really enjoyed the fact that you can get very close to it - in fact you can drive all the way around it, most of the time less than 300m from the base of the rock.
I took around 100 photos of Uluru so it was hard to pick a favourite to put on here. Was disappointed that it was cloudy the night I went to photograph it at sunset as when theres no clouds the rock glows orange, but still very cool experience. And I went back and watched it at sunrise - very peaceful, except there were about 200 other people there enjoying it too.
Not far from Uluru is the Olgas where we went for lunch. Also loved these but starting to get a bit rocked out! But wait theres more....
We also drove out to see Chambers Pillar which was a long 4WD track to a huge phallic symbol that appears out of nowhere. All the great explorers through this area have carved their names in the bottom of it and so have many people since.
More rocks, this is Rainbow Conservation Reserve which we camped at after viewing Chambers Pillar. Again we broke the driving at dusk rule (well 5pm) and this time a big red kangaroo exploded onto the road and planted itself into the drivers door - made a huge bang and three large dings in the door plus some scratches. Never mind, the roo was a bit worse off - as we told the boys he's ok, hes in a good place now!
We were going to do a short camel ride while in the desert but unfortunately you have to be over 5yrs to ride the camels, Ruben was extremely disappointed (Ash was quite relieved).
So Ruben got his buzz by wrapping a python round his neck instead, don't be fooled by the smile he was stressing out a bit.
These crazy birds are all through the centre of Australia, still dont know what they're called but they puff their wings out and prance around putting on quite a show.
I've forgotten the name of this spot already, but it was a very nice waterhole we stopped at for lunch on the way to Kings Canyon and Uluru. 
The boys didnt have their togs on them but as usual didn't stop them getting in the water. It was freezing too!!! Next we head to Coober Pedy and cross our second state - into SA. Also some serious drama on the road.... will bring the blog up to date in next few days....
