Morven Recreation Reserve, Morven, QLD 14/9/2013-18/9/2013

Tambo North Rest Area, QLD 12/9/2013-14/9/2013

Longreach Waterhole Camping Reserve, Longreach, QLD 7/9/2013-12/9/2013

North Gregory Hotel Camping Area, Winton, QLD 4/9/2013-7/9/2013

Fullarton River North Rest Area QLD, 2/9/2013-4/9/2013

Fountain Springs Rest Area, QLD 31/8/2013-2/9/2013

Camooweal Billabong, QLD 27/8/2013-31/8/2013

41 Mile Bore Rest Area, NT 26/8/2013-27/8/2013

Banka Banka Station, NT 22/8/2013-26/8/2013

Newcastle Waters Rest Area, NT 20/8/2013-22/8/2013

Katherine, NT 18/8/2013-20/8/2013

Litchfield National Park 15/8/2013 - 18/8/2013

We stayed at Wangi Falls for three nights. Initially we were planning to stay for two nights, but we loved the place so much.

The waterhole is great for swimming. We went swimming down there every day.

Camping is available from $15.40 a night for a family of two adults and up to four children. Individual prices are $6.60 for an adult and $3.30 for children.

There are also a couple of walks to do. One is very short, from the swimming hole to the viewing platform. The other takes you right around the falls. It was very hot when we were there, so remember to take ample water with you.

Darwin 8/8/2013 - 15/8/2013

Darwin

We spent seven nights at Lee Point Caravan Park and Resort. It is a large park in the eastern suburbs of Darwin, about 18 kms from the state capital.

To me it's positives and negatives cancel each other out. It has a great swimming pool and amenities, and is only five to ten minutes drive to the Casuarina Village Shopping Centre which has everything you need from Coles, Woolworths, Kmart BigW and a number of other specialty stores.

It is only a few minutes drive to the Casuarina Coastal Reserve (see photos below).

On the downside, the midgies were biting a lot. We have a lot of bites on our legs and arms and try telling a four year old not to scratch them.

We visited Parliament House (photos below) for a free tour. The guide's knowledge of local and national history was excellent. 

We also visited the War Memorial.

Darwin has an excellent water park at Leanyer. Cost is free, it has three water slides, a shallow pool for little kids, and a number of fun water activities like water cannons, and a big bucket that tips water over everyone every couple of minutes. 

Parliament House

Casuarina Coastal Reserve 

Pine Creek - Pussy Cat Flats

At Pine Creek we stayed at a rather unique venue. Pussy Cat Flats at the Pine Creek Racecourse. For $22 a night we got to camp on the racetrack, only 20 metres from the finishing post.

They offer showers, toilets, power (byo extension lead), and they have a bar and meals available.

For the golfing enthusiast, you can also play a round of golf on their nine hole golf course which winds its way around the racetrack.

We lost the annex and a couple of the poles got damaged due to a gust of wind that blew the annex over the top of the tent. Unfortunately the poles are custom made and maybe hard to replace.

Pine Creek, the town, is an old mining town, and has the old railway station and an outdoor mining museum.

Rest Areas for free camping.

On our journey we have camped out at a number of rest areas which allow you to camp anywhere from 20 hours to unlimited time length. Note that the timelimit placed on some rest areas are not strict. They only exist to prevent people from staying in places for too long.

Rest areas we have stayed at:

Plush's Bend, Renmark, VIC
Taylor Creek, NT
Warloch, NT
Newcastle Waters, NT
41 Mile Bore, NT
Camooweal Billabong, QLD
Fountain Springs, QLD
Fullarton North, QLD
Longreach Waterhole, QLD
Tambo North, 25kms north of Tambo, QLD

The best so far has been Camooweal Billabong.

It had no facilities, but it made up for it with scenery. There were pelicans, ducks, brolgas, eagles, horses and a couple of wild cats.

Pelicans are an interesting form of birdlife to watch. They sleep a lot and swim a lot too. Debbie says she would love to be born again as a pelican.

Debbie also bore the brunt of two of the horses annoying each other by being on the receiving end of a nasty kick in the left knee. She is ok, no serious damage, just soreness and bruising.

We stayed there for four nights. We could have stayed forever.

The kids got to watch a couple of movies thanks to Dave and Jacqui who were our neighbours for the time we stayed there. They even let us charge our phones as Camooweal has excellent mobile reception.

Camooweal is a small township only 20 km from the QLD/NT border. There is a general store which also acts as the local post office and is also an early voting centre for elections. They have every voting slip available for every electorate in the country.