Hello from Cooinda, the lands of the Bininj people. Internet as been a bit patchy, but Bob has set up the starlink for the day so we can reconnect to the outside world! We enjoyed a rest day at Pine Creek Railway resort, where Nora did some swimming (the pool was a bit too cold for the rest of us!) and we showed the kids the original Jumanji movie, which was way scarier than the new films!

After a day of rest of Pine Creek we drove into Kakadu National Park, which was very exciting. I must admit, I had pictured the whole park as a lush, green rainforesty type place, but for the most part it's not like that at all. A lot of the country we've been driving through has been red dirt scrub - to get to the lush green bits you've got to do a bit of walking, or get onto a boat in the water. Which we have been doing, although at our own pace, as you'd expect. None of this hours of hiking every day for our family - so far we've had one 40 minute walk in and out of a plunge pool which required significant bribery to get Toby to even agree to, and then there were a lot of big feelings on the walk out. But the swim in the middle was lovely! More about that below...

Upon our arrival in Cooinda we had our first attempt at camping for the first two nights, which was .... interesting! The kids loved the novelty of it, but when Josie refused (loudly) to go to sleep until 10 o'clock the lack of solid walls really started to wear thin. Plus, my feet were SO dirty ALL of the time - not my happy place, that's for sure.

After the chilly nights at Pine Creek we all got rugged up for our first night in a tent, but quickly found that the long pjs in thick sleeping bags was definitely overkill. And by the second night the heat had really kicked in, and it was a stifling night in the tent. It has stayed very hot ever since - its gets up to 35 to 37 during the day, and stays around 20 overnight, so we were pretty pleased to move out of the tent on Thursday and into our lodge room!

After our first night in the tent we headed out to the Warradjan Aboriginal Cultural Centre just down from the resort, which gave us a really great insight into the culture and history of the local Bininj people. I'm trying to reign myself in when it comes to earring purchases, but it's very tempting... maybe I'll just need to get another piercing. Or give them as gifts!

Then we headed to Maguk for a number of firsts - our first use of our low 4WD gear, our first proper attempt to do a bit of a bush walking, my first ever attempt to make peanut butter sandwich using scissors (as I believed I had left the butter knives behind, except as soon as I finished I then found the knives 🙄). The 10 km drive on unsealed road was VERY bumpy, especially on our way in when I was driving and we both agreed we should put the car into the low 4WD gear, so I couldn't go any faster than 25 kms/hour. On the way out, Bob attempted it in the normal 4WD, which meant he could go faster (he got up to 60 km/hr by the end, to my disgust!) and it was hardly bumpy at all. Grrr!! And despite very clear warnings from my beloved Aunty Margie, we forgot to take the eggs out of the fridge before we left, and even the special camping egg carrier wasn't up for these bumps. I made Bob clean out the fridge....

We had taken a bit too long to get moving in the morning (surprise surprise!) so we were facing some resistance to the idea of a walk, even after an impromptu but tasty lunch of peanut butter sandwiches and pizza shapes. It was pretty warm, so we cracked out the camelbacks for the children (early birthday presents for the girls!), which was enough to overcome their natural reluctance to exert any physical effort, thankfully.

Once we arrived at the plunge pool Bob and I and the girls jumped in for a dip - definitely not a cold as Leliyn - and once again used the pool noodles to get the the girls over to the waterfall. Toby attempted to join us but it was still too cold for him, so he stayed on the banks taking photos.

The kids have been entertaining themselves playing Toby's sheet game, as well as quite a few swims. We've also done 2 Yellow Water Cruises, but I'm too tired to continue this evening - will aim to get another post up tomorrow with the many photos of sunset / sunrise and related wildlife.