BLAKE THOMPSON

WEEKLY WRAP

BLAKE THOMPSON'S TRAVELS AROUND AUSTRALIA

Blake is one of our year 8 students who has been lucky enough to travel around Australia with his family all last year and this year. Blake sends weekly updates of the trip to Mr Cronin, however this week we thought we would share with everyone.

First thing we did this week was we went out to The Top End Safari Camp and met Matt Wright. He personally invited me out after I ask his office if they could organise Matt to sign my year 6 graduation book that he had written, I’ve carried it around with me for the entire trip. Matt Wright is my hero, he owns Top End Safari Camp. After arriving we had a photo and had a chat with him then as a total surprise, he sent my family and I on a free helicopter ride. Jock piloted the helicopter (we have seen him on TV too) we saw so many birds, I saw one crocodile swimming in the river. When we came around the corner in the helicopter, Jock spotted another croc and some pigs and buffalo grazing wild in the wetlands. When we where just about to go back to where we left off Jock spotted a Croc sitting on a log and so we spun around quickly and saw it sitting on the log. 

The next day we went to the racing slides in Palmerston with friends. There where six slides and a long set of stairs up to the top but you had to wait down the bottom of the stirs to get a peace of soft mattress and slide down on 

your belly, and first one down to the bottom wins. I ended up finding a technique that made me go fast so I kept on winning. 

We also went to Berry Springs, (natural hot springs) and had swim. We found a rock and Eden and I where diving and jumping off it which was fun and when we jumped out of the springs we we saw a freshwater Long Tom swimming with some Archerfish. 

On Wednesday we went out to Cahills Crossing which is at the Northern end of Kakadu and had a look around. At certain times of the year, big tides come in up the East Alligator River, they wash across Cahills crossing trapping Barramundi and Mullet behind the causeway, as the tide recedes the fish filter across the causeway where the crocodiles are waiting to snap them up. There where Crocodiles every where I counted about 23 at one stage.

 Whilst we where at Cahills Crossing we went and saw some rock art and I learnt that if a panting of a fish has the mouth pointing down it is a Tarpan and if it is pointing up it is a Barramundi. Speaking of Barramundi there was a bloke at one of the waterholes fishing and he caught a Barra in about 1 foot of water. On the way home that day we called in to some more rock art that was engraved in the rock where there was an ant and a lizard and it looked to be a fire ball and we could see them all with the drone. We ended back hame and we rode our bikes around and did some shopping for the rest of the week.