Finally! A caravan park with creature comforts...
It was a relaxing morning after we woke up today. Scarlett stayed in bed watching cartoons (she finally has real TV again); Bec worked on her blog; and I started packing up the van ready for our move into town. Today is a sort of rest day; as all we really have planned is our move, and not much else. We've finally realised that we need to start slowing down as we are all starting to 'burn out. Scarlett is over all this moving around and the continuous walking and tours. Kakadu was a fantastic experience that we'll never forget, but we had a lot to see and do in the short time we were there. Now it's time to rest and recuperate.
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| Scarlett and Bec at 'Howard Springs' |
As we had to be out of the 'Oasis' caravan park by 10am, we had some spare time to kill before moving into the 'Free Spirit' caravan park which is only 15 minutes up the road. I knew of a Nature Reserve in Howard Springs, so we decided to take a small detour and check it out. Unfortunately; (or should I say fortunately), the springs themselves were closed to any swimming due to 'maintenance works'. From the look of it, there hadn't been any maintenance for ages; but we took the opportunity to walk around and have a look anyway.
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| Bec and Scarlett on the weir wall; looking for that elusive barramundi |
We spotted a number of different fish species; but no barramundi. We even saw a yellow-faced turtle swimming around near the weir wall, which Scarlett enjoyed following until it finally swam so deep that we couldn't spot the little critter anymore. On one side of the weir was a sign indicating that file snakes inhabit these waters and regularly feed on the fish, so no swimming was allowed. I think this is the real reason why there is no swimming; not the 'due to maintenance' reason that was earlier sign posted.
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| The Monsoon Rainforest walk |
Bec and Scarlett were being eaten alive by the mosquito's; so they retreated back to the safety of the car; while I fool heartily went on a walk through the monsoon rainforest along the creek that is fed from the springs. The cool air was very refreshing, and I was surrounded by hundreds of butterfly's as they 'fluttered' through the palms. It was a site that I wished Bec and Scarlett could of seen; but they were hiding from the big bad killer mozzies! I soon returned to the car and found Bec and Scarlett busy playing games on their Ipod/mobile phone.
It was almost midday, so I decided to head straight to the 'Free Spirit' caravan park, on the off chance that we could 'check in' early. We arrived and they gave us our site, but it wasn't the site we had been promised over the phone a few weeks ago when I booked in. This one was on the front row of the caravan park adjacent to the Stuart HWY. We were informed that there were no other sites, so I had no choice but to accept the site. Not Happy Jan!
HOWEVER, when we arrived at our site we couldn't fit on the actual site we were given - we were to big! After some restrained negotiations with the site manager, we were given an upgrade to a 'Premium Powered Site' with our own en suite. The best thing was that it is at the very back of the caravan park on a much larger site, and closer to the pool and jumping pillow. There is also a kids club; and Scarlett is really looking forward to attending most of the kids programs during the week. Now that is more like what we were expecting.
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| Our caravan site at 'Free Spirit' caravan park |
We are all over the moon with our 'new' site. We plan on spending the next 7 days here just catching up and relaxing; with a few 'minor' things on the things to do list.
This afternoon was spent swimming in the resort style pool; with Scarlett not leaving the pool what seemed like hours. She also played on the jumping pillow; where she made some new friends. Scarlett even invited one little girl back to our caravan to do some 'craft', which I think she really enjoyed.
It was a great day - doing almost nothing...
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