The US was the last country on our trip and clearly impacted by #Covid19 #Corona. In the end we shortened our trip and flew back to NL on 3 April 2020 instead of to Germany on 15 April. Nevertheless we had a great time in the US and feel lucky that we managed to complete our world trip almost as planned.

We landed in Dallas on 10 March, just a few days before Trump declared a travel ban on Europeans. From the airport we headed directly to Lena’s sister’s place in San Angelo. Here we also met Lena’s parents again so the “Wiedersehensfreude” (reunification happiness….some terms just do not translate well) was high. We spent a total of 6 days in San Angelo. The highlight was ofcourse Nora’s (Lena’s sister) and Russell’s wedding on 14 of March where Levin got to be flower boy.

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From San Angelo the kids traveled with their grandparents towards New Mexico while we enjoyed a few childless days travelling into the same direction. Felix and Lena visisted Guadeloupe National Park for a 3mile hike and managed to do a bit of shopping around El Paso before all malls etc were closed down. We reunited again on 19 March by when all the places we were headed to were under pretty strict Covid19 measures: restaurants only open for take out, only essential shops open, 6 feet social distancing, National Park visitor centres closed, etc…. For us this meant that our agenda was now limited to driving, our hotel room (hotel amenities all closed) and enjoying nature. It also meant that our flights to Hannover, Germany on 15 April were cancelled and that we had to figure out what to do. Our mood was pretty low at that time with the uncertainty of increasingly restrictive Covid measures combined with miserable weather. El Paso has an average of 2 days of light rain in March, however, we managed to have 2 full days of heavy rain while there….

Luckily the weather changed and we were able to enjoy White Sands National Park in sunshine. What a cool place this is. You basically drive into the middle of nowhere and suddenly you are surrounded by white sand dunes everywhere. We did a short 1 mile walk through the dunes and then played, rolled, ran and jumped on the dunes.

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Our next stop was Tuscon, Arizona, where we spend 3 nights as most activities had closed by now our activities centred around the parks. We wandered past the huge cactuses in Saguara National Park. On the next day we visisted beautiful Sabino Canyon recreational area for another walk/picnic. The hike will definitely remain in our memories since we had a close encounter with a rattle snake. We got a good scare when we suddenly heard the rattling right next us but luckily nothing more happened and we now have a great story to share 🙂 From Tuscon Lena’s parents returned to Dallas for an early flight home and we decided to rent a spacious appartment in Phoenix to figure out what to do next.

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After 4 days in Phoenix the weather had improved further and we decided to continue along our planned route and closely monitor the travel advice in the US and Europe. Our next stop was Sedona and the Red Rock State Park. Here we did some pretty cool climbing on one of the hikes. We made it 2/3 up but then decided to turn around since Melia found it too scary (which it was). The next day we visisted the Barringer Meteorite Crater. All the indoor activities were closed but we still got to visit the crater hole, which was pretty neat.

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From here we headed up to the Grand Canyon. All facilities were closed so there was no visitor centre, no shuttle, no cafe, however, there were also NO PEOPLE. We had the park to ourselves, which was a very special experience. When we drove into the main visitor centre parking lot there were a total of 5 other cars parked and we barely saw others while admiring the beauty of the park. We found a great 1mile walk through a forest to a remote area of the canyon where we sat close to the edge enjoying the views.

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The remaining stops on our route were Horseshoe Bend, Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon and Captiol Reef National Park. Unfortunately, Arches, Canyonlands and Dead Horse point had by now been closed so we could not visist them. We spent about half a day in each park with hiking and picknicking. The rest of the day we were either driving or in our hotel room. The landscapes were incredible, we had beautiful weather, and there were hardly any other people in the parks. We definitely enjoyed visiting the parks and it is almost impossible to choose a favorite. If we had to decide, Felix would probably choose Bryce Canyon while Lena would like to return to Red Rock State park for some more climbing.

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By the end of March we decided that it would be best to return back to NL. Travelling with the uncertainty was clearly more stressful than normal travel and there is also only so much hiking you can do with 2 kids. As such we booked a flight from Salt Lake City on 3 April and safely returned home on 4 April. Luckily our flight was very smooth with empty airports and planes. The only surprise was that our luggage was not in Amsterdam. Apparently it got stuck in Chicago during our stop over and given the limited flights at the moment it took 5 days for it to arrive in NL. In the end we did get everything back and for the past 10 days we have enjoyed being back home.

Better late then never… we already left Mexico 10 days ago so here finally a few highlights of what we did. Overall, we loved Mexico! We spent 2 weeks in Tulum in an Airbnb followed by 10 days in a Resort in Playa del Carmen. During our first 2 weeks we took a Spanish language class every day from 9.00-12.00 at Metzli Language School. We really enjoyed the change from only sightseeing to having a fixed agenda every day. Luckily the kids also really liked the kids language lessons. Levins favorite activity was playing games in Spanish but Melia also really liked the learning new words and grammar. In the mornings before class, Lena joined the daily yoga classes (in Spanish of course) and in the afternoon we joined some of the cultural activities such as Mexican games, arts, cooking or dancing. During our free time we mainly chilled at our AirBnB and enjoyed the pool. We also rented bikes for a few days and cycled to the Tulum ruines as well as the beach. Overall the weather was a bit unsteady so we were not able to do some of the excursions we would have liked. However, we did head to Laguana Kaan Luum, which was awesome although a bit chilly.

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From Tulum we headed 1h north to Playa del Carmen to our All In Resort. We are usually not big fans of non stop eating and drinking but the All In Hotels were in a similar price range as the breakfast only so we figured with 2 kids life is a lot easier if we don’t need to hunt for food every night. And we were right. Luckily the food was really good quality so we really enjoyed all our meals. The kids absolutely loved the Kids club and roamed the resort freely. They did not want to go to the beach, swim in the pool, or spend too much time with their parents. Given we have been together almost 24/7 for the past 6 months, this was great for all of us. So while the kids played all day, Lena and Felix went to the gym, to the beach, read at the pool and enjoyed life. We also continued with some private Spanish classes since our teacher from Tulum lives in Playa del Carmen. For the future we know that whenever we want to just relax and see nothing of the “real” world, all we need is a hotel with good kids animation.

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Overall, Mexico was a great place and we will definitely come back again some day to also see a bit more of the Country. Now we are headed for our last stop The United States of America.

From LA we flew 4,5h to Liberia, Costa Rica. After a really quick immigration (we are still traumatized by the 3h LA Immigration) we picked up our rental car and headed to our appartment in Playa del Coco. A fun side fact: This area is in one of the “Blue Zones” of the world where people get older than elsewhere in the world so we were off to a good start 😊We visited the National Park Vieja de la Rincon where we hiked 3km through a volcanic landscape. A large leguaan greeted us at the start and we saw colorful butterflies and birds as well as a monkey family which was playing in the trees. We enjoyed the bubbling mudholes and steam holes caused by the volcanic activity.

A few days later we visited Leo’s coffee- and fruit plantation. We heard how coffee and sugar cane are grown and saw many other fruit trees in the gardens. We learned that mangos are no special fruit to the farmers. It grows everywhere and it seems to be more or less useless for the farmers because they can´t sell it. The tour was even fun for the kids. While the adults were tasting different qualities of coffee, the kids were busy in the kitchen making “empanadas” with the staff. We of course also did some cooking and Lena helped fry cacao beans for a fresh chocolate milk.

After ten days we went to our second destination in CR, Quepos. We stopped at an animal rescue center. It´s kind of tropical zoo where we saw monkeys, toucans, sloths, jaguars, turtles, etc. We did another stop on the way to Quepos at the Tarcoles bridge from which we had a perfect view over the landscape and the local river including the swimming crocodiles!

After one day of exploring the area we did our first excursions. While Melia and Lena went horseback riding, Levin and Felix went out on a catamaran to snorkel and bath in the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately, we didn´t see any dolphins or whales but we had lots of fun with observing colorful fishes and using the slide of the catamaran. And Levin proved again that he is a thrill seeker. He jumped 3,5m from the catamaran into the ocean and enjoyed the applause he got from the other passengers!!! Horseback riding was also fun and Melia did her first ride western style. The ride took Melia and Lena into the jungle where they saw toucans and many other animals.

The next day we headed to Manuel Antonio National Park. It is a small but world-famous park with wild animals and beautiful beaches. However, we never made it beyond the park entrance. We arrived at the entrance of the park at 7.30am and it was crowded with hundreds of tourists already. To make things more chaotic multiple fake park rangers tried to coerce everyone into their parking lots and their private tours. We disliked the atmosphere so much that we decided to turn around and leave. Luckily, we had a plan B and went to the “Rainmaker” park, which is very quiet with only a handful of tourists. We spent two hours in the park hiking across suspension bridges and close to waterfalls. For us this was definitely the better park!

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From South East Asia our world trip leads us to North America. It took almost 2 days to get here but luckily everything worked out just fine. I guess we won’t have such a diverse journey again: Tricycle from Alona Beach to Tagbilaran Port -> Ferry to Cebu Port -> Grab car to Cebu Airport -> Plane to Hong Kong -> Plane to Los Angeles -> Rental Car to our Airbnb.

The first week in LA was to get rid of the jetlag (16h time difference). We visited the natural history museum, the Walk of Fame and the Hollywood sign. We spent a day at Universal Studios where Melia loved being in Hogwarts and Hogsmeade, Felix and Lena enjoyed the thrill rides (Levin was too small and Melia does not enjoy roller coasters) and all of us loved the 4D rides. During the rest of the week we stocked up on warmer clothes (Fleece jackets, Jeans and rain coats) and ate at our favorite “fast food” restaurant: Sweet Tomatoes/Soup Plantation.

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We decided to go north up the coast to San Francisco although the forecast was not ideal (cloudy and 13°C). We spent a night in Santa Barbara and in Monterey where we enjoyed watching the seals and sea lions sunbathing. The coastal highway was georgeous so we stopped regularly to enjoy the views. In Santa Cruz we headed to the mystery spot, a place where the laws of physics don’t seem to apply.

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Our nex t stop was San Francisco where we walked the Golden Gate Bridge until we got too cold. During our 2 day stay we also enjoyed the Golden Gate Park, Lombard Street (curviest road), visted the cable car museum, the Pier and Firshermans warf. Overall, we walked a lot up and down the hills. The kids were very happy when we finally took the cable car to head back to the hotel instead of walking 🙂 The highlight was a visit to the former prison island Alcatraz, which is located just off the coast. The kids now have many questions about who the most dangerous criminals are, how prisoners can escape and how many people died in Alcatraz. We have decided not to spend much time on formal schooling but let them explore the world and ask questions (many many many questions. I could swear that every day by noon Levin has already spoken his 10,000 daily words and asked at least 100 questions).

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After San Francisco it was finally time to hit the National Parks. Given it is January and many parks are up in the mountains, we had to select the parks that can be accessed without full winter gear. We were lucky that it had not snowed for a few days so our first stop was Sequoia National Park. Whilei it was a pleasant 18°C at the foothills visitor centre, the Giant Forest at 4000 feet was covered in snow. The sun was nice and warm, so we enjoyed a beautiful winter hike past giant Sequoia Trees while throwing snowballs. The kids loved the fact that we had snow, which made hiking so much easier. Our second park was the Joshua Tree National Park in the Mojave desert so visiting in the winter was perfect. Temperatures were around 20°C and the landscape was completly different from Sequoi. Instead of lush green, we were surrounded by dry gras and peculiar stone formations that were formed by cooling magma. We did two 1 mile hikes without too much complaining from the kids since they got to climb the rocks while walking (and because I bribed them with chocolate chip cookies). That afternoon we headed towards Desert Hot Springs where we stayed at a hotel with 7 hot spring heated pools. Soaking in hot water was a great way to end the day.

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Our last stop was San Diego where we spent 4 nights. Since we liked the seals in Monterey we stopped by La Jolla Beach where the seals and sea lions took over an area that was originally intended as a children’s pool. It was great watching the huge waves crash onto the stone cliffs. We also spent a few hours in old town San Diego, which felt more like Mexico than the US. Our last day we went to Seaworld, which was amazing. It was really empty so we got to watch all the shows and enjoy rides without any lines.

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Overall, it was great to be back in a western environment where everything is easy to organize. We love to explore independently and the US is perfect for that. However, it was also by far the most expensive place so far although we stayed only in AirBnB and Motels. We probably also won’t miss the classic motel breakfast, which is guaranteed high sugar and vitamin free 🙂 . The coming 6 weeks we will spend in Costa Rica and Mexico and then return to the US for the last few weeks of our trip.

Our last stop in South East Asia are the Philippines. Since the 2 week round trip in Vietnam was tiring we spent the first 12 days being spoiled at a resort on Cebu Island (Mactan). We enjoyed an extensive buffet breakfast, three large pools, jumped off the diving rock (about 1.5m), went down slides and tried stand-up paddling. We also did archery, rock climbing, biking, went to the gym and enjoyed kids’ activities like tye dye shirt or Santa hat making. Levin is definitive a prospect Tesla buyer because he loves driving a kid’s car with an electric motor on the resort compound 😊. The kids highlight was the game room with air hockey, table tennis and arcade games. The resort offered everything we needed and was located in the middle of nowhere so we basically did not leave it for 12 days. The only exception was the birthday and Christmas present shopping “stress”. In Vietnam we didn’t find any suitable presents so we had to get everything done here. Luckily, we found a big shopping mall in Cebu City and while Felix and the kids were shopping for warmer clothes for future destinations, Lena rushed through the mall and returned with a well-stocked bag pack.

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On 24^th of December we left the resort for our next Destination: Dumaguete City on Negros Island. Dumaguete is only about 170km from Cebu City and we decided to take the bus and ferry. The Philippines are mainly Christian but we were reassured that public Transportation runs normally over the holidays. However, we got to experience the impact of the Philippine weather. Typhoon Phanfone was announced to hit Central Visayas from South East going to North West with 200 kph on December 24^th! Many flights and ferries were cancelled (including all going out of the port of Cebu) so we headed off to the bus station early. We were 4 to 5 hours ahead of the typhoon when we left, and after some chaos at the bus station, managed to catch a bus at 10am. At 14.00 we reached the car ferry connecting Cebu to Negros Island and luckily ferries were running here. After a 2h wait (nobody knows why), the ferry finally left for Negros and after another 30min drive the bus dropped as along the road close to our new apartment. In total the trip took us about 10 hours but we were very happy that we were able to reach Dumaguete while many other travelling Philippinos spent Christmas Eve stranded at the air and sea ports.  Once settled in our new apartment we gave out presents to Melia and Levin (on Christmas Eve as per German tradition). Since that Christmas Eve both don´t believe in Santa Claus anymore because they got the idea that Lena bought the presents in the Cebu shopping mall…

During our week in Dumaguete we did a snorkeling excursion to Apo Island. Melia was too scared to go into the ocean, but Levin did a great job. He jumped into the open water without fear, ready to explore! We had three snorkeling sessions and each of them was breathtaking. What we saw was so beautiful and amazing! Next to colorful fishes and corals we saw see cucumbers, sea stars, etc. but the highlight were definitive the sea turtles! We saw a total of 8 turtles eating and swimming close to the shore of Apo Island. Some of them were bigger than Levin! The rest of our stay in Dumaguete was relaxed enjoy the local restaurants and doing nothing. Lena and Felix headed over to the Spa & Massage saloon close to our apartment a few times😊. On the day of departure Sonny, our caretaker of the compound in Dumaguete, helped us by getting to our next destination, Siquijor Island. He organized a tricycle to get to the harbor and bought ferry tickets in advanced. This saved us lot of time and nerves because he found out that the ferry we originally wanted to take was cancelled for unknown reasons.

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Once we reached Siquijor Island we took a tricycle to our guesthouse. It was simple but with direct access to the white sand beach and palm trees. Wonderful! The following two days we rented motorbikes to explore the island. We took a bath in the Cambugahay Falls and Levin had great fun jumping into the natural pool from a Tarzan rope. Moreover, we drove around the island and explored several beautiful beaches and chilled in front of the Old Balete Tree while small fishes nibbled our feet, nice spa feeling! We celebrated New Year’s Eve at a beach bar. Melia and Levin were so excited that they played and danced the whole evening with other kids at the beach giving Lena and Felix time to enjoy a few drinks! At midnight there was a small firework. This was definitely a memorable and peaceful New Year´s Eve.

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On 2 January it was time to leave Siquijor and head to Bohol Island. Learning from our last experience from taking a ferry we organized our tickets to Bohol Island two days in advanced. We have learned that even if the distance we need to cover is less than 100km, it will take a day…..and one must not ask at what time something happens or how long it will take or wonder why one has to queue up 3 times even though we already had a ticket (check in counter to add a seat to the ticket, port fee counter to pay to enter the port, luggage check in counter to pay for the luggage….) What an efficiency!

We spent 1 week on Bohol Island where we enjoyed a country side tour to the Chocolate Hills. During the tour we also visited the Tarsier Sanctuary and cruised the Loboc River. The rest of the time we spent admiring the beautiful Panglao beaches. Now it is time to leave SE Asia behind us. We are very much looking forward to our next stop: Los Angeles.

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Unlike in Thailand, our agenda in Vietnam is packed. Since we did not have time to organize things ourselves we booked a 14 day tour from the South to the North. Our journey started in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) in the South. The city is even hotter and more chaotic than the previous ones we have seen. Basically you are stuck in a constant traffic jam with scooters whizzing past left, right and centre. Our first day is focused on the Vietnam war with a visit to the Cu Chi Tunnels and the war museum. The tunnels are really impressive. We crawled 20m through one that was doubled in size for tourists and it was still a terrifying experience being trapped under the ground.

From Ho Chi Minh we drove to the Mekong Delta. The drive is only 170km but it takes about 4h, the climate is hot and humid. We cruised the Mekong on a boat, visited the floating market, and saw how coconut candy is made.

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The next day we boarded the night train to Danang in central Vietnam. We booked a 4 bed cabin to ourselves for the 17h train ride. While we didn’t sleep too well, the experience was great and we enjoyed travelling through the landscape just as much as through the cities where the train passes right next to the houses. We arrived in Danang at noon the next day and headed straight to the the ancient city of Hoi An. We explored the old town, cycled through villages, ate local food and enjoyed another boat ride. The weather was rainy and much cooler so we unpacked our sneakers and warm sweaters.

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Our next stop is Hue, a 3h drive north of Hoi An. We visited some tombs on the way there (don’t ask me from what king and what dynasty….). While we did not really like the city we had fun in the surrounding villages where we again used a boat and bikes to explore the area. We also cooked spring roles and lemongrass chicken.

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Our next stop is Hanoi in the North, this time we traveled by airplane. We visited some more pagodas (temples), the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and the Ethymological Museum. Overall, we are tired of sightseeing so we also enjoyed spending time chilling at the hotel and sitting in a bar at the street enjoying a beer for the adults and fresh juice for the kids.

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Last but not least we headed to Halong Bay for a 2 day/1 night cruise. What a lovely place this is (although there are many many many ships on the water). We chilled on the sundeck and ate lots of food.

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From the beach into the city. We spent a week in downtown Bangkok. Like most SE Asia cities Bangkok is huge, hot and chaotic so we keep our agenda light. Felix is recovering from a small cold and all the kids want is to stay at the apartement and play. Lena, who still has not learned to do nothing, used the free time to exercize at the gym.

One highlight was Art in Paradise! Within a few hours we visited many different places 😉 We mainly followed instructions of Levin and Melia who were telling us what photos they still wanted to take.

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On Lena’s Birthday we headed to the Kingpower Mahanakon Skywalk and watched the sunset from high above. There is also a glass ceiling some 300+ meters above the ground. Clearly not for those with fear of heights (Lena) but Levin just stood out there and chilled….

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Last but not least we did visit one of the temples: Wat Pho. The temple was actually pretty amazing with a huge Buddha statue. While the kids hate (!) temples, they were quiet content checking out all the golden Buddha statues here.

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We tried shopping but found that there is not a single shop in any of the hundreds of malls that interests us….

The moment had to come. We were tired of sightseeing and all we wanted was to chill. Before getting into new adventures we headed to Phuket to load our batteries. While Phuket is very touristy (and normally not what we enjoy), it now offered exactly what we needed. We didn´t have to “worry” about making our breakfast but headed to an amazing buffet at our 5 star resort. On the first day the kids made a Krathong for the festival of Lights (Loy Krathong) and we placed them on the water to bring us luck. Besides that Melia and Levin enjoyed several hours at the Kids club every day, giving Felix and Lena time to do nothing. Daily decisions were limited to beach or swimming pool 😊. We did throw in some exercize at the gym and a few Thai massages for Lena. Life was hard. While we saw absolutely nothing of Phuket (not a single excursion) besides the beach and our hotel, we completed our planning until the end of the year.

After 11 nights in Phuket and with full batteries we are headed for Bangkok for the coming week. On 28 November we´ll fly to Ho Chi Minh where we have a two week organized tour and fly out on 12 December from Hanoi. Last stop in Asia will be the Philippines where we stay until 9 January.

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After returning our motorhome in Cairns, we flew back to Darwin. We really enjoyed our first stay in the city and decided Darwin had enough to offer for a second week. This time we enjoyed swimming in the Harbour Wave Pool twice and visited the Layaner and Palmerston waterparks. Moreover, we visisted the Musuem and Art Gallery of The Nothern Territory where we learned about the settlement of the Northern Territory a few hundred ago as well as how Darwin survived Cyclone Tracy on Christmas Eve 1974. The cyclone left more than 50% of the inhabitants homeless. At the Indo Pacicifc Marine Exhibition we got to see a real part of the coral reaf and sea life in the Timor Sea. Unlike an aquarium the exhibitions here were in total balance, required no replacement of water, added food or oxygen. We got to touch a sea star and Levin fed a small Shark. Levin and Felix fed fishes at Doctor´s gully where ocean fishes come close to shore to get feed. Amazing!

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One night we went to the open air cinema. While watching a movie and snacking popcorn, we had bats flying over our heads, possums showing up to get fed (of course, we didn´t) and lizards chilling on the screen. What an outdoor feeling!

In the end it was time to say goodbye to Australia. We could have spent many more weeks here, but after five weeks in Australia we decided to head back to SE Asia. Next stop Phuket, Thailand.

Where to start? This is going to be a loooong post, we have seen so much over the past 4 weeks. We flew over from Darwin to Cairns on 14 October. After 5 days in an appartement in Cairns City, we headed off for a 16 day roundtrip in our motorhome.

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Cairns was alright but we prefer Darwin. Cairns is just really touristy, the whole city consists mainly of hotels, restaurants and tour booking shops. We did enjoy the lovely waterfront with Muddys playground. Swimming in the ocean is not an option in Cairns given the stingers and crocodiles, instead we went to the swimming pool at the Cairns Esplanade overlooking the ocean. Felix and Levin also got to sit in a helicopter after it landed right next to them (transporting people to the hospital).

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From Cairns we headed north stopping in Kuranda and Port Douglas, two totally different locations. Kuranda is a cozy town in the tropics with several local markets that get flooded with tourists every day. We headed to Koala Gardens early in the morning before the crowds arrived to see some Koalas and feed wallabies/kangaroos.

In Port Douglas we stayed next to Four Mile Beach and really enjoyed swimming in the waves! This beach was as safe as it gets in Australia with a stinger net and lifeguard. The kids also took a horse riding class, which they loved.

Our next stop was the Daintree Forest, the oldest rainforest in the world. The road there crosses a river so we drove our motorhome onto a ferry to take us straight into the rainforst in Daintree National Park. Goodbye phone reception and WiFi….back to nature. We wandered through the rainforest and met our first cassowary (they look like a colorful ostrich). The big birds, which apparently can’t fly, cross the streets every once in a while so we stopped our motorhome to let them pass. Besides the rainforst we also visited a fruit plantation and tried to identify the different and unknown fruits growing in the tropics. Coincidentally ;), the fruit plantation offered a tasting of various fruity and yummi ice creams.

From Daintree we headed into the Tablelands, a lush area with many plantations (coffee, wine, fruit, dairy farms). On day 1 we wandered through Mareeba and enjoyed their free historical museum that gave us a good impression of life 100 years ago.

On day 2 Trucker Felix (Lena is not allowed to drive the 4.5t Motorhome) took us on a daytrip via partially unsealed roads to Chillagoe. Although the city is located just 140km from Mareeba it took us almost 3h to get there and it felt like stepping into a completely different world. The temperature went up to 40degrees, the phone reception was patchy, the road regularly turned into a gravel road, we saw no more than 5 other cars and the ground was red and brown instead of green. In Chillagoe we visited a limestone cave and the old mine ruins. Pure Outback experience!

From Chillagoe we headed to our campsite at Granite Gorge, a lovely nature park where we got to do some rock climbing (Melias absolute favorite) and were able to feed the wallabies with carrots and sweet potatoe.

Leaving Mareeba behind us we head up to lake Tinaroo. A lovely holiday park campsite with a jumping pillow and large pool plus a big lake to practice our canoeing skills.

By now we had seen it all: wild life, waterfalls, outback, farms….. We started to get tired and skipped a few waterfalls, viewing platforms, canopy walks. Luckily we did stop at the Nerada Tea Plantation where we got to see how tee grows, is picked and turned into tee. The highlight was spotting a tree kangaroo (look closely,it is on the picture below)!!!

Now it is time to head over to the coast. The beaches are absolutely amazing, however, also some of the most dangerous beaches of the world with crocodiles and stingers…..we did go swimming in areas with stinger nets but we never felt fully at ease.

One last highlight of our tour were the Josefine Falls. These waterfalls end in a plunge pool and natural slide. The water is really clear and cool, a very refreshing experience. Levin is our little adventurer so he was the first to hop in, swim to the other side and head down the slide. Even Melia decided that she would go in. Until this week she has been convinced that swimming in anything but a swimming pool is crazy but by now she plunges into waterfalls and loves jumping waves in the ocean. We even heard her say that the Josefine Falls natural pool is the best swimming pool she has been at…..

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Up next: On 4 November we fly back to Darwin and on 10 November we are headed for Thailand.