Lake Argyle, day two

In the morning I attended a two hour photography workshop. (I think I now understand more about my camera, and can move away from the "auto" setting.
We had booked in to the sunset cruise on Lake Argyle - so a chance to try out my morning's learning.


Taking a photo of a rock wallaby was my first challenge. I experimented with camera settings until I got the following shot:


Next challenge was the fresh water crocodile. He has his mouth open. This is the way he cools his brain.


As I said, this was a sunset cruise so we got some lovely colour on the hills.








Then the sun went down. I think these next photos show that the photography workshop was worthwhile.





While we were stopped to watch the sun set, some braved the cool water and went for a swim. (but the photographer stayed on board, happily snapping away)

Lake Argyle, day one

An early start (departed Timber Creek at 7:30am) saw us at the border just after 8am WA time. The reason for being on the road so early was that we had been told that the Lake Argyle Caravan Park did not take bookings, it is high tourist season at the moment, and we didn't know how long it would take to get through the quarantine check at the border.



The border check took less than five minutes and we were on our way again.

The check in at Lake Argyle was also smooth (the waiting list had not started for the day at that time).

After settling in we, with Pat and Barry (BCA nomads that we met at Katherine, then again at Nungalinya) went for a short drive. So here is a selection of the amazing scenery we saw:

Location:Lake Argyle

Timber Creek

This was our last stop in Northern Territory before crossing into Western Australia (WA). The caravan park owners put on a daily display of feeding the Kites and Fresh Water Crocodiles.


I didn't get many good photos of the Kites as they were far too quick for the camera shutter. The meat or bread scraps were tossed up in the air and the birds swooped down and caught them. We were warned that if a piece of bread landed on the ground in front of us we were not to try to pick it up as we would be likely to have a nasty encounter with a bird.


Then after a safety talk we walked down to the bridge for the feeding of the crocs.


But before the crocs were fed, small bits of bread were dropped by the bank for some turtles that seemed to be happily co-habitating with the crocs.





On the second night I stood on the bank - quite a different view:





Then later that evening we went to a lookout to watch the sunset (sorry! No good photos)





We liked the poem on one plaque

Leliyn ( Edith Falls )

Edith Falls is in the Katherine Gorge National Park. To get from Darwin to Western Australia we had to return to Katherine. We had been told that Edith Falls were a "must see" so we called in. There is camping available there, but on this day there were no vacancies (lucky we weren't planning to stay there).

We were not disappointed with the scenery:


Our first view,


steps for easy access to the plunge pool at the base of the falls


beautiful scenes


people on the grass area as one would if at a beach.


I am certainly glad that we took the trouble to call in.

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Our social life at Nungalinya College

We were one of four couples who were BCA Nomads volunteering at Nungalinya College. The College supplied power and water to our vans and an unexpected surprise was that they gave us lunch and dinner when the kitchen was open. (we only self catered at weekends and one week of our stay).
I was introduced to the Curlew


They just looked like statues, but what a screeching racket they made at night.

Of course Brandt had to make pikelets for a morning tea





Also, on our last Sunday he did his favorite camp oven casserole


(you could say), while Frank slept


and Penny prayed over it


The girls had fun making a delicious fresh fruit salad for desert


Also at Nungalinya Frank celebrated his 75th birthday. Unfortunately I don't have any photos of this on the iPad (they are on the laptop though). He ordered a fish and chips meal. Unbeknown to him we also bought an ice cream, some birthday candles and a packet of gummy bears. Thus we decorated the ice cream in its tub and made it into his birthday cake.
On our last night there, Frank, Pauline and the Bregmens went "out to dinner - first course at Red Rooster and desert at Macdonalds. We even had free coffee there (due to our age)!

Nungalinya College, Darwin

"Nungalinya is a Combined Churches Training College for Indigenous Australians. The College is situated in Casuarina, a northern suburb of Darwin, Australia's gateway city of the North.

'Nungalinya' is an Aboriginal word used by the local Larrakia people, whose land includes the Darwin area. The word refers to Old Man Rock, a reef lying off Casuarina Beach, which can be seen at low tide, that was a place of learning for the young men. The Larrakia people themselves suggested that the College use that name reflecting its identity as a place of learning and also the biblical idea of the “rock” of Christ as the foundation for our lives.

We acknowledge the traditional ownership of the Larrakia people over the land on which our campus is built

At Nungalinya College we train men and women for leadership roles in churches and communities, and in exploring the Bible and Christian faith contextually. We train family members to make sense of the wider community and to learn its ways, so as to participate healthily in holistic community life while celebrating and strengthening Indigenous identity. "


"The College logo is Omega, the last letter of the Greek alphabet, which looks like a big rock. Jesus said in Revelation 22.13 'I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End'. Omega was also an early Christian symbol of the resurrection, because the letter looked like and reminded them of the stone which was rolled away from the tomb when Jesus rose from the dead."



We stayed three weeks at Nungalinya. During the first week I helped an archivist who was setting up the archives, then the last two weeks with other volunteers. A case of the partially sighted leading the partially sighted!








However we did get 7 boxes of historical archives organized.


Brandt on the other hand had a varied experience. First tiling a bathroom, then finding a water leak.....








and finally helping with the painting of an accommodation unit