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The kids woke up around 7am but played quite quietly in bed so that Nick and I slept on until 8. It was about 18 degrees and was lovely having our first cup of coffee enjoying the peace of the bush. We had breakfast then went off exploring. We drove to the Bowali Visitor Centre first, paid our park fees and got some great information on what to see and do over the next week. There is a great café there but I managed to resist the cakes - only just though! Next we drove out to Ubirr. The scenery on the drive there was beautiful and much greener then we expected and some great rock formations. We went on a walk through the Manngarre Rainforest and the track followed the East Alligator River. We first heard and then saw lots of bats hanging in the trees and then found a few crocodiles swimming in the river too. The kids wanted a better view of them so we walked down to the boat ramp to take a look. One guy was fishing on the riverbank and had just caught a massive fish as we arrived. He was trying to reel it in when a big croc started swimming across the river towards him. He was just about to pull the fish up when the croc reached him first, opened its mouth and took the whole fish and half the fishing line - the kids watched the whole thing and thought it was all fantastic!! We got back in the car and drove down to Cahills Crossing where there was another viewing platform. There was also a 4WD road across the river to Arnhem Land but the tide was quite high and the river looked too difficult to cross. Crocs were all over the place but we still saw a number of fishermen standing in the road fishing and watched one guy walk over it to fish the other side. He wasn't brave enough to walk back though and caught a lift with a 4WD for the return journey! We headed home for lunch once we'd had our fill of crocs and then spent the afternoon inside with the air conditioning on while we did a few hours of schoolwork. The boys really struggled again, messed around and ended up in tears. At one point they even swapped workbooks thinking Nick wouldn't notice and ended up banned from the pool for the rest of the day! I took the girls for a swim and relaxed by the pool until dinner then had a chat to mum and dad while Nick cooked. The kids played outside with the other kids from the pool and got very excited when they saw swarms of bats fly overhead. Once the mossies started biting everyone came inside and watched a film before bed. At one point we heard sirens and watched a police chase in progress up and down the road by the caravan park!!
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