Darwin, Kakadu, Katherine and Lake Argyle

Links to both sets of photo's and exploreoz tracker.

Friday 22^nd August

Richard had to collect CJ in the morning so also did a bit of shopping for car parts on the way back. He also dropped off the wheel which was flat. We then headed out for some shopping at Casuarina Square, about 15min up the road. This is a big mall with all the usual shops and we could have been in any mall in Sydney.  While the girls finished shopping, Richard headed out to get a replacement antenna for the UHF radio we had broken a few days ago. It’s always interesting solving those little problems which are easy to do at home because you know where to go or who to talk to. Richard had called 2 different companies and visited a 3^rd before he found who stocked the antenna.

We also made it back just in time for happy hour around the pool while the kids had a swim and since it was pizza night at the campground, we enjoyed that too.

Saturday 23^rd August

We were up early to head into Parap Markets for breakfast this morning. There are more food stalls than fruit and vege stalls but plenty for us to check out. There is a very large Asian population here and over half of the stalls were Asian based, Vietnamese, Chinese, Thai and Malay among others. Many of these stalls had been at the Mindil Beach markets a couple of nights ago too.

We met a man here who was selling a book who looked very familiar to us. It wasn't until we got chatting and worked out it was Monte Dwyer who was spruiking his own books. Monte is a retired TV weather man and really did have the gift of the gab. So much so, he talked us into buying his first two books as “talking books” and his most recent book. His first books are tales of how he had been given a motor home to travel about Australia gathering stories for a radio station he was working for. We thought we’d listen to this once we’d left Darwin.

 After a number of different dishes (including Laksa, Pork balls, crepes, paw paw salad among other yummy goods) and a very good coffee and smoothies, we headed into Darwin CBD for a wander around.

Our first stop was the Crocosaurus Cove attraction right in the heart of town. We arrived just in time to see them feeding three different crocodiles which was very interesting. They look so placid in their tanks however they are very big animals and most here were around 5m long and ranged from 500kg up to around 900kg. The biggest thing you realise though is for all their size, they move a lot faster than they look like they should. Somewhere on our travels we heard their reaction times are about 40 times quicker than ours and when you add all that muscle and the clamping force of their jaws, well, let’s just say it’s no wonder we don’t stand a chance if we get within striking distance.

Trish and the kids also got to feed some of the smaller crocs. There is a platform you walk out onto which has a perspex wall around it and you hang a piece of meat over the side on the end of a fishing rod. The crocs then jump up and take the meat. I think everyone enjoyed the feeding. They also have a number of other animals there, snakes, lizards, skinks, goannas and turtles which they feed. We also attended a live feeding of an olive python named Spartacus. This was done in a presentation room and involved a dead rat. It was very very fast and hopefully we got it on video.

After the presentation we got to hold a bearded lizard, a Stimpson python (small snake) and a blue tongued lizard.

We then visited the info centre however it was 2:50pm and it closed at 3pm so didn't get much info!

Richard then dropped the girls off at the Palmerston Water Park.  This is a free park which has different water activities (but no pool for some reason in this one – we've seen others with pools).  The main attraction for the big kids was the water slide where you lie on a rubber mat and slide down a very big slide – great fun!  They have Life Guards and a kiosk there – very well set up for a free park.  I think Darwin has three different types of water parks.  I guess it’s like playgrounds in Sydney but it’s too hot for biking/playing on the swings etc so they have water activities.   Richard raced back to the campground, whipped off a trailer wheel and hub to check what type of bearings he needed to buy for the next bearing replacement if required. He then raced on down to Super Cheap Auto and bought the bearings and other parts as well as a brush to wash CJ when the opportunity presents itself. While at the shop he received a phone call from the tyre people who told him the tyre was buggered and could not be repaired as the steel belts had been broken. Richard is beginning to think the tyres (which were reasonably cheap) aren't really made to do what we bought them for even though they are rated as such.

Sunday 24^th August

This morning after a bit of a sleep in we headed into town to visit the Museum and Art Gallery. Richard thought he’d probably enjoy the Military Museum more so after dropping off the girls headed over there.

The Military Museum was amazing. While the actual building was quite small, there was so much information there as most of it was interactive on touch screens about all aspects of WWII and how it affected Darwin and the rest of the top end.

In short, the Japanese had invaded neighbouring countries to the north of Australia and on the morning of 19^th February 1942, launched an air strike on Darwin. Several hours later they launched another. There had been a certain amount of lethargy in Australia regarding the invasion by the Japanese even though there was a strong military force in and around Darwin. This, of course, changed everything. In total around 240 people, both military and civilian, were killed. The majority of the military bases were effectively neutralised for differing lengths of time and many planes and ships, both Australia and American were destroyed. The military set up bases further south (some at the campground we stayed at near Adelaide River) to regroup and regain control of the sea and air. There were around 100 air raids on Australia during the following 20 months however around 90% of them were on Darwin and surrounds.

We did learn later that large numbers of aboriginal settlements were also bombed (due to them being on the coast which was bombed extensively) but no-one knows how many people were killed there since aboriginal settlement numbers weren't known.

Outside the actual museum building were many items of memorabilia, jeeps, trucks, large and small mobile guns, histories of rifles and pistols used among others. One of the most interesting was one of two massive guns which were built into the hillside in a huge concrete bunker which you could go down into where they had displays of the Vietnam War as well as being able to see how the gun was moved from side to side and up and down and where the shells were stored.

The NT National museum is also really interesting.   They had an art exhibition of aboriginal art on display with stories of all the artists and what the paintings meant.  One of Trish’s fav’s was a Toyota made primarily of grass and other recycled materials.  One large croc caught was on display (he was stuffed).  “Sweatheart” was a 5.1m, 780kg male croc who lived in a river on a local station and started attacking tinnies on the river.  His name comes from the name of the river rather than any romantic tendencies he had!  The theory was he thought the sound was like another male croc in his area challenging him so he went out to fight it.  While he never actually chomped on any people,  his boat attacks were getting more and more frequent and he was tipping people into the water so it was decided he needed to be relocated. During the relocation he was dosed with a tranquiliser before being tied up and towed back to the jetty.  During the move he got caught in a branch under the water and had to be freed.  Unbeknownst to his captors the tranquiliser had shut down his “anti-drowning” system which all croc’s have.  This meant that, sadly, he drowned whilst being moved.   The capture was on video and it made for interesting watching, but the general consensus amongst the kids and Trish, and indeed all the other people watching the video at that time, is that we won’t be croc hunters when we grow up!

They also had a fabulous display on the cyclone Tracey which occurred Christmas 1974.  This is the biggest natural disaster in Australia’s history.  Before the cyclone, housing regulations in Darwin were very loose meaning most houses weren’t built for such wind.  They had a sound room where actual recordings of the cyclone were played.  It made for eerie listening.  One of the loudest sounds was of corrugated iron sheeting being dragged along the ground and hitting other objects.  This was actually one of the biggest obstacles and causes of damage as the sheeting would crash into other objects and damage them, or in some cases embed themselves in trees.  After the cyclone, a number of people got sick or died due to infectious diseases carried by inadequate sanitation due to the fact that water and sewage systems were damaged.  The building codes were tightened up post the cyclone, but over the years have relaxed a little.

We then went and visited a friend’s mum and husband who have been coming to Darwin to escape the winters for 10 years. They have a caravan here which they take too and from Sydney when coming and going from Eastern Victoria.  It was good to catch up and learn a bit of info about Darwin and Kakadu. We also learnt a couple of nights ago, Darwin had experienced it’s coldest August temp ever! Believe it or not, it dropped right down to 13 degrees and we had to put a jumper on first thing in the morning. Although, as soon as the sun hits you, it’s warm again and we reckon in around 30 minutes it can add about 10 – 15 degrees taking it from coolish, to quite warm in no time at all. At least at this time of year you can escape the heat in the shade but it must be uncomfortable building up to the wet season.

There are a large contingent of people who move up here for the winter, from all over Australia and New Zealand.  They either leave their caravans here or tow them up and all go back to the same place each year.  They all do the normal things they’d do at home – bowls, golf, fishing, bingo etc – they just do it in a warmer place.  They have gardens and lawns (they water and mow them) and have a very comfortable life.  It was great to catch up and see them and we even got some fresh fish to take away!

We then headed to the supermarket to stock up on items for our departure from Darwin tomorrow and headed back to the campground for some dinner where they were playing a movie for all the kids which included a free paddle pop which was a fine way to end the day.

Monday 25^th August

We headed out towards Kakadu National Park this morning although prior to that we had to stop into the tyre shop to collect the wheel and see what the actual problem was with the tyre as Richard was a bit sceptical. Sure enough, while the hole wasn't that large, when you pushed through the hole you could see the steel belts coming through which, while Richard is no expert, he didn't think was a good thing to happen. We also sent off the broken driving lights as they have a 12mth warranty but of course that’s not much good to us now.

We had also put Monte’s first CD in and listened and he was very funny so we were looking forward to hearing the other CDs.

On the way we stopped at Fogg dam to look through the information centre.  This is twitching (bird watching) heaven up here and whilst we marvelled at the brightly coloured and interesting birds we didn’t really appreciate the diversity and numbers of the birds.

We then carried on to Adelaide River to do a Jumping crocodile cruise.  These cruises hang meat off fishing hooks off the side of the boat and the crocodiles propel themselves half out of the water (they don’t really jump, they just swim up really fast) to get it. The smaller crocs are the most exciting as they can get almost all of their bodies out of the water.  The boat we were in wasn’t very high out of the water and we all had a great view of the action.  This is natural behaviour for the crocs as they can leap up to get birds from trees or the odd unsuspecting animal from the river bank.  Sadly one also leapt up into a boat and dragged a man overboard not so long ago (the man wasn’t hanging over the boat at all – just standing at the back of it whilst it was moored at the jetty).  This started a lot of talk over the jumping croc cruises and are they changing croc behaviour.  It was a very interesting cruise and a bit scary in places since we were so close to the action!

We stopped just outside the National Park at Mary River Resort and Campground. This was a really nice place to stay, first of all they had very nice grass, a fire pit (although it is now in the low 30s during the day) happy hour which ran until 6pm (which we made by about 10min after setting up) and a nice little pool. It looks like they make most of their money from tourist groups in coaches as they have a nice little restaurant which is also set up for breakfasts and sure enough, a coach of tourists arrived at around 6.30pm, two of the women heading straight to the bar with their luggage, before even going to their room!

We had some very nice homemade hamburgers for dinner and sat around the fire reading for a while before turning in.

Tuesday 26^th August

We headed into Kakadu National Park and visited the Bowali Visitor centre just before you get to Jabiru. Most of the visitor centres have some really good information and also many photos and artefacts from around Kakadu. They were also showing a short film which had been made in 2013 which followed the different seasons of Kakadu. According to the local people, there are six seasons, Gudjewg (Monsoon Season, Dec – March), Banggerreng (Harvest/Storm Season, April into May), Yegge (Humid Season, May into June), Wurrgeng (Dry/Cold Season, June into August), Gurrung (Hot Dry Season, August into October) and Gunumeleng (Pre-Monsoon Season, October – December).  These seasons are defined by the weather rather than a calendar and relate to what the animals and plants are doing.  It was very interesting and made sense.

After a quick stop in Jabiru at the Kakadu Bakery for lunch and to get some fresh bread we then headed out to Ubirr to check out some rock painting. There are many stories told on the rock walls and we were lucky enough to get there when a guide with 4 young ladies in tow was giving a talk on the first handful of paintings so learnt a bit there. We did have to move on as it was very hot and we were really feeling the heat. We drove around the corner to Cahills Crossing as this was one place a few people had mentioned was great for croc watching. We did take a wrong turn and ended up driving across the crossing but thankfully the water was low at around 40cm so we got to drive past the crocs on either side without having to stop on the causeway to let one pass. We did see a photo somewhere of the water level being high and a group of people trying to cross in their Landcruiser only to get washed off the edge and being stuck there and having to climb out onto the top of the truck to avoid the crocs.

We then headed back to refuel at Jabiru before travelling onto our National Park campground at Murdagal. The campgrounds are very well run and have a ranger stationed at most for the dry season. They come around at about 6pm and collect the camping fees but for this you get hot showers, flushing toilets and some also have drinking water so you don’t have to carry your own. At most campgrounds they also have a talk on a number of different topics about the area. After dinner we took our chairs along and listened to a 60min talk and slideshow on the 6 different seasons experienced in Kakadu and what happens during each which was very interesting after learning some of this from the info centre. The rangers name was Christian and he was very passionate about the whole area and what was happening and went onto explain that to the Aboriginal people, the six seasons are everything and everything which happens in them are all related. Examples given were when particular flowers appeared, different types of animals were good eating or some plants were ready to be harvested.

Wednesday 27^th August

Today we were up early to visit the Nourlangie Rock art sites which also had three different talks on. Again it was Christian giving all three talks which were all very good and he talked about the land and how it was viewed both spiritually as well as physically, about kinship and the laws of the land and also about the rock paintings and how and why they were done. The kinship one was very interesting as he attempted to explain how this worked. While from the outside it looked fairly simple, it was incredibly complex however what it did mean was that if a traveller went into another land (or estate), they were able to work out just from their skin name who in the visited tribe were their mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, cousins, nieces, nephews etc etc so that while the Aborigines are from different clans, they are all one people. Along with knowing who was who, there were also some very strict rules around obligations and avoidances. For example, you could not even look at your sisters (avoidance, if broken, could end in your death) and you had an obligation to your mothers, however, your uncles (and fathers) had an obligation to you to show you where you could and could not go, what you could and could not hunt etc etc and so it went on. At least we think that gives a basic summary.

Some of the rock art at this site is the oldest in the world and it’s possible some of this art is over 30,000 years old. Much of the art has been lost due to age and weathering however there are still some amazing pictures telling stories of hunting feats, cultural celebrations, rules for men and women and many other tales.

We headed back into Murdugal to pack the trailer up and as it had been so hot, we drove to Gagudju Lodge in Cooinda where there is a public swimming pool which was very nice. A quick top up on fuel and we carried onto the Warradjian Cultural Centre. This was interesting enough however we had already learnt much of the info from the ranger talks so we didn't spend too much time here and left after having an ice cream.

We drove onto our next campground at Gunlom Falls. It was our first visit back to gravel for a couple of weeks and the last 11km in (total of around 40km) was very rough. However, after setting up camp and having some dinner, we headed over to another talk on the area around Gunlom. There are a lot of minerals in the area including uranium. Not far from the campground there was a uranium mine which was abandoned when Kakadu become a National park. There are also other mines which were also abandoned in the park, the largest a BHP mine which had been just left with machinery about everywhere as well as radioactive soil and the like. In the 80s, the Government had BHP clean it up.   However there is a working mine within the confines of the National Park (which isn't a National Park at all, but a Commonwealth Reserve) called the Ranger Mine.  Weird concept.

The ranger also told a story of a Dutch man who had driven in to this campground a few years ago during the wet season despite all the “campground closed” signs he had to drive around to get there.  The campground was mostly under water so he decided sleep in his car for the night on high ground before driving out.  He woke in the middle of the night to find the water was starting to come into the Landcruiser so he hopped out, taking his sleeping bag and pillow, removed a couple of the doors from the toilets in the toilet block, put them flat across the rafters (the water was about toilet seat height through the block) and slept there. Some days later as the water was still up, he heard a helicopter so had to dive into the water, swim out through the door and then climb onto the roof to wave. He was very very lucky someone in the helicopter was looking as they saw him, came around to pick him up but couldn’t from the toilet block roof so he had to swim about 30m to the water tower so they could get him. This might all sound fine, only when the water gets this high, as it can do more often than not, the saltwater crocs take the opportunity to spread out all over the plains looking for food. The ranger thought this man must lead a very charmed life.

Thursday 28^th August

Today we were up early for a walk to the top of the falls with the ranger. We got a running commentary about the falls and the local area and we also saw where the river runs and how the whole area changes in the wet season. We decided it must be quite interesting coming back after the floods have disappeared as things must have changed a lot but it would also be a lot of hard work as the toilet blocks etc have usually been flooded and they also have to check for saltys and remove if any are found. There is nothing really to stop them from coming up the creek to the base of the falls all year round, well, except for the 5.2m croc whose territory is right at the mouth of the creek and he has no interest in coming up as he’s too big to find any decent food. It is possible that a smaller male might come up though as he might enter the big crocs territory and be chased up here by the big croc. We didn't swim in the bottom pool.

It was fairly hard going up the hill clambering over the rocks but once at the top, the view was brilliant. Oh, and the “Infinity Pool” was also pretty good too. We had seen photos of the falls during the wet season and while it was a trickle today, you could see where the water had worn away the rock over time.  We splashed around here for at least 2 hours and got some great photos. Thankfully we’d come up in the early morning which meant the climb had been in the shade, however, it was pretty warm on the way back down to pack up the trailer.

Once packed up, we headed out on the rough road, back to the Kakadu Highway and headed towards Pine Creek where we turned south and drove the hour or so to the Big 4 campground in Katherine.  We had enough time to set the tent up and grab a beer during happy hour while the kids had a swim before having some dinner and turning in.

Friday 29^th August

Today we packed up and went for a swim in the Katherine hot pools. These consisted of a number of pools along a small river that were nice and warm.  A very nice way to start the day!

Then we headed off on the road towards Kununurra in WA.  The drive was all on the tarseal and including coffee breaks took about six hours.  We listened to some more of Monte’s stories which were great because he’d been to some of the same places as us. During the drive the scenery had changed a bit, there were many hills around which looked like they were made from lego. There were also more and more Boab trees.

The border crossing into WA involved a quarantine checkpoint to stop possible contaminated fruit and veggies coming in.  Each car gets checked and we had to open our fridge, freezer and storage area’s to prove we didn't have any contraband.  We knew about the restrictions so didn't have anything we shouldn't but we have heard stories of people who had stocked up before leaving Katherine who had to throw all their fruit and veggies out!

It was then a short drive into Lake Argyle campground which looks over Australia’s largest man-made lake. They have a fabulous infinity pool here (although Trish liked the natural one at Gunlom Falls better) which looks over the lake.

Borroloola, Lorella Springs, Mataranka, Katherine, Adelaide River, Litchfield, Darwin

Links to both sets of photo's and exploreoz tracker.

Saturday 9^th August

Today we headed off towards Hells Gate Roadhouse. The track said it was around 70km of 4wd track but it was the best 4wd track we’d driven to date and I reckon we averaged around 60-70kph. While driving this track, we came across two 2wd cars going in the other direction. While the track was pretty good, there was one relatively deep river crossing which I think may have stopped these cars so we wondered how they were going to get on there. After finishing the track we were back onto the blacktop just before Doomadgee when we had our first, and hopefully only, flat tyre. We have two spares as well as a repair kit however looking at the gash it didn’t look like the repair kit would fix it so on with the spare. This is the first time we have had to use the highlift jack but it all went to plan. We arrived into Hells Gate and topped up on fuel and had an ice cream. We had thought about staying there however it wasn’t really far enough on our way to our next stop so we carried on for another 130km or so to a free camp beside the Calvert River. We did however cross over into the Northern Territories so had to take a photo of the border as it was the only State or Territory none of us had visited. One thing about this part of the world, they have brilliant sunsets. We took a couple of photos through the trees however they won’t really do them justice. After a quick spag bol it was time to hit the hay as there’s another big day of driving tomorrow.

Sunday 10^th August

Most days Richard has been checking under the trailer for any damage, the springs and the wheel bearings. This morning, the wheel bearings were a bit loose and being a good boy scout he did have some spares so thought he would change them at our next stop which was to be Butterfly Springs. However, some things just don’t go to plan as we found there is also something going wrong with CJ.

We got into Borroloola where we eventually decided to stay so we could change the trailer wheel bearings and check to see what the problem was on CJ.

The wheel bearings went without a hitch however try as he might Richard could just not find the problem with the car. It had just started a weird clonking noise (he thinks from the front right) and also pulling to the right and feeling a bit wallowy.

Anyway, managed to get blog uploaded and some of the pictures as well (although not published as yet) so not a bad night after all.

Unfortunately there was no pool at the (one and only) campground so the kids did what all kids do without a pool – played under the sprinkler for the afternoon!

Monday 11^th August

Richard tried to get hold of the NRMA however with no public phone and no Telstra phones with us he decided to head to the local mechanics. Talking with one of the guys there he said if there’s nothing obviously broken or cracked then we should be ok but also said to check the rear air bags.  Richard had done but thought he’d let the air out and put 20psi back in. This didn’t help at all but we decided to push on towards Butterfly Springs anyway. We had been thinking of going into Lorella Springs also which was a turn off before Butterfly Springs but had read and heard some not so good reports. The road in is 29km and while the first 6km were ok, the remaining 23 were not and were slow and painful being rough and corrugated. While the trailer handled it well, CJ ended up with the unusual clonk getting louder and more frequent.

We got into Lorella Springs to find we had to watch a video of the station which was quite interesting. The station is approx. one million acres and most people come in to camp at the base camp and then drive, walk, fly out to other destinations on the property. There are a number of gorges which have swimming holes that are river fed and a number of other swimming holes which are hot springs. The main camping area is like a island with a moat as they pump hot water from a spring on a nearby hill to a small creek which completely surrounds the “island”. You can swim in any part of this creek as it is around 30 degrees. You can also camp at some of the more remote spots and there is also a 30km stretch of beach which is part of the property however I think you need to take the chopper for that one. While it doesn’t seem too busy at the moment, there are many keen fishermen who come here with their boat/4wds or hire the chopper to fly them to more remote areas to catch that ever elusive big fish.

Anyway, while Trish and the kids took a swim in the hot springs, Richard took the spanners to CJ and tightened everything he could find, double checked for any breakages but still couldn’t find anything so joined in the swimming.

Happy hour runs around 5 til 6pm so from the hot pools it was to the bar to swap some stories with other folk. Beer is usually $8-9 but it’s a dollar cheaper at happy hour. Fuel is an astronomical $3/litre with a big sign apologising for the price and to only take as much as you might need to get to where you’re going!

Tuesday 12^th August

After recommendations from the office we headed out to Nannies Retreat. It’s about an hour and a half drive through some of the property and then a 1km walk. We arrived out there and found it was a lovely swimming hole. It was around 30 degrees outside but probably low 20s in the water which was very nice and refreshing. Some of the rock formations are amazing in this part of the world as you may see in the photos. There is also a cave which you can walk through and come out the other side. We stayed here for about 3 hours and sat in the sun and had lunch. Amazing to think NSW and Victoria are having snow!

We headed back to the campground surprisingly arriving just in time for happy hour and to swap some more stories. Even ran into a young couple from Oamaru who have been living in Aus for the last 3 years and are on their way to Darwin to look for work.

Wednesday 13^th August

This morning we headed out towards Mataranka however we thought we’d have a few stops along the way so might stop in at a free camp before getting there. Once we’d negotiated the 29km out from Lorella Springs, which took almost 45min because it was so rough, we had a short drive to Butterfly Springs. It was a nice little camping area and we were looking forward to having a swim in the water hole however the water looked a bit stagnant so we only had a short dip. On the right hand side of the pool though were some rocks which are home to thousands of butterflies. It is just amazing seeing all these on the rock walls and even more so when you disturb them and they all fly off. Once we’d left here the road got quite rough and corrugated and was slow and painful however we came across the graders at work and from then we more than doubled our speed to at least 90kph. We made the decision to push on right to Mataranka as the road then turns to asphalt which meant we could get in at a reasonable time rather than stop for a night before getting there. Once we’d set up the tent, we headed back into town for something to eat and to get some beer. Richard had a Mataranka Burger which he reckons is the best one so far. We then stopped in at the local pub (bottle shop closes early) for some take out beer. Richard went in by himself and reckons it was the roughest pub he’s ever been to. There were no tables and chairs and everyone in there was very drunk, so much so if that had been Sydney or Melbourne they would have been turfed out hours before. There weren’t that many people in their however he had to negotiate his way around the staggering people to get to the bar. Once at the bar there were 2 young white girls serving and he noticed one of them handing over 2 x 30 can packs of VB to one of the aboriginals who could barely stand. You hear about the alcohol problem in this part of the world but seeing that makes you think the republicans aren’t helping at all and are just after money.

Thursday 14^th August

Today we drove into town to see some Barramundi feeding at another campground. The fish there were around 1m long and have been trained to be fed by hand.  They are unable to be released into the wild again as they will not get their own food. Trish got into the water and fed one of the fish which don’t have teeth but rather eat the fish whole. We then had a very nice coffee and Mango smoothie with scones, cream and jam at the local Stockmans Cafe. There is also a small aboriginal art gallery here which was also very good.

We then headed out to the Mataranka Homestead Tourist Resort where they have a replica of the Elsey Station homestead which was used in the movie “We of the Never Never” which is an autobiography of a woman who married a man who was a partner in a cattle station on the Roper river and decided to move to the station with her husband. They play the movie every day at midday however while you could sort of understand what was going on, the sound was pretty bad and while there is a dedicated smoking area, it’s only separated by a painted line on the ground. We did manage to see it to the end. There are also hot pools here but while Richard was booking CJ in for a service in Darwin, Trish and the girls walked down and had a look and decided it was too busy and we’d be better going to the hot springs back near where we were camped.

The hot springs near our campground are called Bitter Springs and they are about a 10min walk from the campground. They are not really hot pools but a flowing creek so you can hop in at one point, float down to some steps, hop out, walk back and do it again. There are small turtles here but we didn’t manage to see any. The water is around 35 degrees which is very very nice.

Friday 15^th August

Today we had a short drive to Katherine so after a quick dip at Bitter Springs after packing up, we hit the road. We arrived into Katherine at around 1pm, dropped into the info centre and Woollies (was amazing to see such a large supermarket as we hadn’t seen one for a few weeks) then onto the Big 4 campground just outside Katherine. It was also nice to set the tent up on grass rather than rock or dirt and dust (or all three!)

We then had a swim in the pool, the first swim in a “normal” pool for weeks and it was a bit odd as it tasted of salt and wasn’t very warm at all. Happy hour was at 5 and we enjoyed a beer beside the pool before calling it a day.

Saturday 16^th August

Katherine has a community market on every Saturday so we headed there for breakfast. It was fairly small but did have an amount of fruit and vege, some good coffee and a selection of breakfast foods. After a bacon and egg sandwich we headed back to camp to hang out some washing before heading out to Katherine Gorge or Nitmiluk as the locals call it. There are 2 boat rides you can do, one which does the first two gorges and one which does the first three. Being on a bit of a budget we chose the 2 gorge option which was still $240 for all four of us. We would have liked to take the helicopter rides however these started at $99 for 9 minutes! The boat cruise was fantastic and the commentary was well polished and very funny. It’s about a 25min ride up to the first point where you get off and walk about 400m to get on another boat to cruise on up to the actual Katherine Gorge. The walls to the gorge are very high and impressive and Richard wonders what happens in the wet as some of the rocks must come down into the water. We did manage to see 3 fresh water crocodiles on the trip. You can also hire a canoe and paddle up and jump in for a swim.

We headed back to the campground to get the washing in and then headed off to the rodeo. Neither Trish nor Richard had been to a rodeo for around 30 years and things have become a lot more professional in that time, well, at least in Australia and probably in NZ too. The kids really enjoyed the whole show and the bull riding was the favourite event for the night. Richards phone ran out of battery about 5min prior to the Bledisloe game so had to wait until he returned to the campground to find out the score.

Sunday 17^th August

After packing up we headed north to Edith Falls. Emily has another cold and wasn’t feeling very well but we did manage to get in for a swim after a quick bite of lunch. The water wasn’t too bad, it can’t have been as Trish got in, and the view was very nice too. So, after an ice cream we hit the road again to Adelaide River and setting up camp on Mt Bundy Station which is a working cattle station of around 4,000 acres carrying around 1,000 head of stock. The cows are all Brahman and mainly go to live export to South East Asian countries. There are a number of horses here as well as a large Brahman bull called Nigel who loves bread. Most of the facilities here were built by American soldiers during WWII when they had to move south after all the bombing in Darwin. The Adelaide River area played a large role in WWII housing thousands of soldiers when they were evacuated during the bombing.

Every night at 5pm they have a “happy hour” around the campfire at Mt Bundy however it’s more of a meet and greet and swap some stories. There are around 30 odd people here and it was great cause both Trish and I felt very young amongst the grey nomads. Although, I do have to say we are quite envious of them being able to stay in one place for more than 3-4 days and not having to move on because they need to get home. Some folk we talked to work on the BDM principle, that is, they will only go home for births, deaths and marriages. Earlier in our travels we did come across a couple in their 70s who have not been home for 6 and a half years as the kids and grand kids prefer to come to them where the weather is nicer during winter.

Monday 18^th August

Today we headed towards Darwin as we had to see the service guy as well as get some fuel and groceries. It was around an hours drive but when we got there we found there were other things we needed to do also. Emily had run out of Flixotide (asthma preventer) and as it’s a prescription drug we had to go to the medical centre, see a doctor, then go to the chemist. One of the iPods had a shattered screen so we also had to drop that in for repair. Richard is still on the look out for a drivers side window control box but the only one the parts place had was almost $300 and he had seen them on eBay for around $60. On the way back to Adelaide River, we stopped into Crazy Acres which was advertised as having one of the best mango smoothies. They also make their own ice cream and while the banana flavour was nice, the lime one was a bit waxy and left an odd after taste. The mango smoothie however was the best we’ve had so far.

We then headed back to Adelaide River and checked out the War Cemetery. It has been extremely well maintained and looks very good. It’s such a sad memorial as there are over 400 headstones and a number of these are for unnamed people.

Tuesday 19^th August

We headed into Litchfield National Park today. First stop was the nearest town to the National park called Batchelor. When in the grocery shop, we saw the headline that someone had been eaten by a crocodile while fishing from a bridge on the Adelaide River. Of course this is the river we are staying near (not that near though) and there is a bridge in the Adelaide River township so we thought it odd we hadn’t seen anything. We had to buy the paper and found it was further downstream where there are tour operators who take boat loads of people up the river and hang bits of meat over the side so the crocs jump up for it. The last person to be taken had been taken somewhere in the NT and had been in a boat and had not been leaning over so there’s lots of talk about teaching the crocs to jump for their food.

Anyway, we then headed into the National park and stopped to check out some info on the two main termite mounds we see on the side of the road.  These are the magnetic and cathedral termite mounds.  There was also a photo opportunity beside a huge termite mound.

We then drove onto Buley’s Waterhole and had a wonderful swim. There are about 5 different pools in the rocks, some around 4-5m deep so you can easily dive in from the rocks beside them. While the water was coolish, it wasn’t too bad.

Next stop was Florence Falls, which had two routes down into the pool area, one just steps, and the other a 1.1km walk. We chose to head down the 135 steps on the way down and jumped into the pool with about 50 other people. You could swim out and then get behind the waterfall itself which was fun. The kids chose to walk back via the steps and Trish and Richard walked back via the alternate path. The alternate path was very nice and a lot of work had been put into it, we think to make it able to weather the monsoon season rather than having to rebuild it after every wet season.

It had been very hot there and after visiting The Lost City, a walk through many stacked rocks resembling a city, we headed back to Batchelor for a burger and fish and chips before driving back to our camp at Mt Bundy Station.

Wednesday 20^th August

Today we had a look at the Railway information in Adelaide River.  There was also a lot of information on the bombing of Darwin in WWII.  The volunteers had collected and displayed an amazing array of WWII and railway relics and Richard and Trish spent a good hour and a half wandering around.  It was very interesting to see the details on the role that Darwin and Adelaide River played in the war.  Adelaide River was used to farm the food that supplied the troops in Darwin.  It was also used as a recreation area for the troops and then later when Darwin was bombed was used as the hospital.

We headed back into Litchfield NP and visited Wangi Falls. It’s the largest of the falls in Litchfield which means there’s a lot more people and also a campground and cafe. We had a swim here and it was much easier to get in and out as there were steps down to a large sand bank rather than the rock climbing we had to do to get into Florence Falls. You could also sit under the waterfall however it was like needles into your head and shoulders. Once again, we hit the road after an ice cream heading towards Darwin. We did have to negotiate about 20km of gravel corrugations which we hadn’t missed at all. We arrived into the Free Spirit campground in Holtze which is enormous and possibly the largest campground we’ve visited so far. While having dinner, there were about 8 fighter jets flying laps above us. It was very loud but thankfully it stopped about 8 so we could all get to sleep.

Thursday 21^st August

Today Richard had to drop CJ in for a service and have a few things repaired so we decided we’d have a catch up day on the washing, photos, swimming, blog and organising other things we need to do tomorrow.  That afternoon we headed into Darwin for dinner at the Mindil markets.  These are held twice a week and feature mostly food stalls.  Everyone goes down to the beach to watch the sun set (it was pretty nice), then go back up to get dinner.  We wandered around, trying different foods – Richard had a crocodile hamburger (tough), and a bit of shopping..

Thursday Island, OTT, Morton Telegraph Station, Musgrave, Normonton, Boodjamulla NP

Quick note: we are having issues getting reliable internet so are struggling to get the photos up to the internet however there should be loads in about a week all going to plan.

On with the story.......

Thursday 31 July 2014

Today we enjoyed a trip to Thursday and Horn Islands. Thursday Island (or TI as the locals call it) is the centre for business admin for the Torres Strait Islands with around 3,500 people living there. The Torres Strait people are of Polynesian/Melanesian decent rather than of indigenous Australian decent. There is however a group of TI people who are recognised, and recognise themselves, as Australian indigenous and as you can imagine this has caused problems over the years.
Thursday Island replaced Somerset (on the mainland) as the business centre because of its deep harbour, closeness to the shipping lanes and the fact it is sheltered from much of the weather which happens in these areas. The harbour is tricky to negotiate and still requires pilotage where a pilot is put onto any vessel coming into port.
The majority of the people living on TI are government employees, Defence and Quarantine being the main departments. House pricing is almost as bad as Sydney house prices as an average three bedroom house is around $700,000 so the government have had to build many housing estates to accommodate the folk who are unable to afford the average home.
TI has a rich history in defence and played a major role in the second world war. We did a tour and visited the Fort where the 3 guns commissioned remain and a maritime and war museum have been set up.  The guns have been fired once during the war when a boat didn’t advise who they were so the gun fired warning shots.  The boat identified itself as a “friendly” and all was well.
In the 19th and 20th centuries there was also a very large pearl harvesting industry as well harvesting of beche de mer (sea cucumber) and trochus shells. Pearl harvesting is still done on a small scale but since the invention of plastic buttons the demand decreased. There were many Japanese men working in the pearl industry here and as time went by there were many deaths as the pearls had to be found at deeper and deeper depths .
TI as several primary schools, one high school and a tafe (polytechnic).  There are three pubs and 13 churches on the island!
Horn Island is larger than TI and has a small village with small resort and shop. A ferry goes between TI and Horn fairly regularly and takes about 20min to get across.   Horn also supplies water to TI from several large dams and also receives all of TIs rubbish which is used as land fill.
 We did a tour here with Heritage Tours and were bussed around and looked at many different areas of WWII significance.  Horn Is played a large part in WWII as an airfield which was home to many bombers and fighters and was also the 3rd most bombed town or city in Australia. TI strangely did not receive as any bombing raids as there was a rumour that a Japanese princess was on TI but this is only a rumour and has never been confirmed.
It was a big day out and we were all happy to get back to Loyalty Beach.
We did have a stop in at the wreckers to borrow some wire to “fix” the LPG tank guard. While there, the guy mentioned they had pulled out 45 cars from the OTT to date.

Friday 1 Aug

This morning we returned the wire to Bamaga Wreckers, filled up with fuel and headed south having ticked off one of the “must-dos” of our trip in visiting the tip. On the way back to the Eliot Falls camping area, we stopped into one of the more notorious OTT crossings which is called Nolans Creek. We arrived in there to find about 5 other cars camped in there, one of which had been pulled out and was just drying out before they carried on. They had set up some camp chairs down near the water to watch people go through. The main problem with Nolans Creek is that it is quite deep, over most bonnets as you drive through which is why the local wrecker in Bamaga has his phone number on a tree nearby. Rumour has it he charges $2,000 to recover your car! The water is very clear and the young kids there were swimming in the shallow part. As we were talking to some of the people there, four young blokes pulled up in their Hilux and Landcruiser. They were very dirty and had obviously been camping up and down the track so they did the walk through the creek to check depth and line etc (after jumping in from a bank a couple of times) then promptly drove through without any drama at all.
We wussed out of doing the crossing (still a long way to go you know!) and back tracked the way we’d come in and headed to Fruitbat Falls for a swim which was lovely. We then continued onto Eliot Falls where we set up camp once again then jumped into the water which was fantastic. Our vote was Eliot Falls over Fruitbat Falls because of the big rocks to jump off.
Dinner that night was sausages and “squeaky cheese” (haloumi) cooked on the fire.

Saturday 2 Aug

After packing up we headed back down part of the OTT and came upon a tricky looking river crossing across Cockatoo Creek. We stopped and had a bite to eat for lunch and Richard walked across and wasn’t really too sure how to attack it. After 10min or so, some folk turned up on the other side and after the obligatory walk through, drove through it no problem. A few minutes later, another car turned up and also had no problem so we headed on down to the creek. The river did have some big holes but in the end it wasn’t too bad and less deep than some of the other rivers we’d already crossed getting to Eliot Falls. There was also a quite steep bank to get out once you’d left the river but with the guidance of another driver on the other side it wasn’t too bad either. While talking to this driver, he mentioned of all the tracks he’d been on so far, this was the only crossing to have a croc warning sign on. So, all four of us had been walking around in the river and Didge and Trish had crossed to take some GoPro footage as well!
We then drove further along the OTT to a crossing called Gunshot. This is one of the notorious crossings because the entry to the river is so steep. We think there are about 8-9 entries into the river, only one of which Richard thought we would attempt (not that we did as there is a bypass road back a bit) and even this one was fairly steep. Going South to North would mean you’d come down the bank and would have gravity on your side, however, North to South would mean you’d have to have a winch. When we parked up, I had a chat to the 4 young blokes we’d bumped into at Nolans the day before. They’d camped here the night waiting to see some action before they attempted it themselves. We found out they’d done the entire track from South to North and were now heading back down the entire track again. They both had winches and knew they had to use them but they were just deciding which bank to tackle. A couple of the banks were near vertical and unless you’ve a dedicated 4wd for that sort of thing, we couldn’t see how you could even come down most of them!
We did hear a story about a family that got stuck in one of the crossings (Palm Creek – the first crossing of the OTT) overnight.  They had a camper trailer on and got stuck going across.  There was no-one around to pull them out so their truck & camper had to stay there the night!
Richard thinks we may well have to visit the OTT again but CJ might have to have a bit of new gear to tackle some of the tricker crossings.  Trish thinks she is busy for this holiday so some of the boys might have to go with Richard.
We drove onto Bramwell Junction to collect the trailer (which was thankfully still there!), then onto Morton Telegraph station for the night. Morton has a very nice grass camping area which was a welcome change after dust and sand.

Sunday 3 Aug

We spent some time rearranging the trailer and car, did some washing ($6 per load – most expensive so far!) and changing fridge connection as it had fallen out a few times over the rough, corrugated roads. (Note to Dave T, you know how you were talking about changing to Anderson plugs? Well, the fridge end has been done for you! Happy to sort out your car when we are back).
We found out Morton has a runway which has a plane come in once a week to deliver a mail bag which they deliver for local folk. The station also caters for many large coach tours.
We had packed up and were on the road to Musgrave Roadhouse around midday. It was a big drive and the road was the roughest of the lot so far, some of the corrugations you could really only do about 30-40kph. You need to experience how rough these roads are, we did manage to see a fairly new 200 series Landcruiser which had just speared off a corner on the corrugations and there are many, many stories of suspension failure and trailers falling apart. One couple we ran into mentioned a trailer failure which had the A frame on one side of the road, the tray part on the other and all their belongings strewn across the road between the two earlier that day.
Got into Musgrave (the last remaining telegraph station house) fairly late and had dinner there at the restaurant, once again, nice hamburger however not as nice as the Archer River one.

Monday 4 Aug

We had parked up beside a young family who were travelling for 12 months (3 kids are all under 5!) and decided to have a mini convoy to Normanton. We got an hour or so into the drive and found them parked on the side of the road with what looks like a bent chassis as the tray was bent up although it wasn’t obvious where the bend was so weren’t sure that was where the problem was. We travelled together crossing the Mitchell River which used to cause all sorts of problems to cross as it is very sandy and wide and the local station landowner would charge $1,500 to pull you out. Thankfully there is now a causeway so it wasn’t a problem. We stopped on the other side of the river and had a sandwich for lunch and this was the first time on the entire trip we’d actually felt it was hot.
Thankfully the road wasn’t as rough as the previous day but there were still some rough and corrugated patches and was a fairly long day arriving into the Normanton camp ground around 6.30pm.

Tuesday 5th Aug

We had tried to figure out what the problem was with the other car which meant there were a lot of other folk coming around and offering advice/help also. Great thing about this travelling thing, generally there are many other folk offering to lend a hand if they can. There wasn’t much we could do so we’re not sure how they got on but when we have some phone reception we’ll give them a call as it would be good to meet up again.
We had a look around Normanton, checked out the statue of the largest official crocodile shot (Krys is his name and he’s just over 8m long!), did a big grocery shop, bought some oil to do an oil and filter change and then hit the road to Burke and Wills Roadhouse. While we don’t know that much about Burke and Wills, we believe they were the first two to go overland from Adelaide to Darwin (or there abouts). The road to the roadhouse was sealed all the way which was excellent for a change. After a quick fill up and an ice cream we headed out for Adels Grove campground right next door to the Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill) National Park. We arrived in the dark so found it a bit tricky to find a spot but did manage to find a lovely shady spot in the aptly named Grove.

Wednesday 6th August

Today we explored the park to find a great swimming spot in the river.  There are freshwater crocodiles in the river but these are timid and will stay out of your way (unless provoked).  The swimming spot has a pontoon and swing rope so was a great place to spend the afternoon. We were a bit nervous about the crocodiles for a start but there were lots of people coming and going in the river and none of them got eaten so we figured it was ok!

Thursday 7th August

Today we went into Boodjamulla National Park to canoe up Lawn Hill Gorge.  The gorge is amazing – steep red walls and amazing views.  Along this first section we found our first freshie (Freshwater croc) in the wild. The freshie is not as big nor aggressive as the salty and is much more timid however it’s not unheard if he gets annoyed to have a go at people so it’s not a clever thing to get too close. The canoe trip goes up the first gorge then you have to drag the canoes over the pass to reach the top of the gorge.  This takes you up to the source of the river (spring and run-off fed) which is where there are many fish waiting for tasty morsels to come in from the springs and run-offs. It looks like the fish might also be fed from the canoes the way they were following us. On the way back we stopped at the pass and had a swim where the falls are. It was nice for a swim however in the back of your mind is the fact just a few hundred metres away there is a croc sunbaking on the bank, at least there was when we paddled up! When dropping the canoes off we were told the croc had actually disappeared for around an hour, just about the time we were swimming but he was back there when we came back again so must have found some food elsewhere thankfully. Emily did say she didn’t think he was very big but we figured at around 3m if that was hanging onto your leg it’s plenty big enough.
We then travelled down the road a bit further to visit the Riversleigh fossil site which is open to the public. At the bottom of the small hill, there is a large manmade rock which doubles as an info centre and a toilet. It fits really well into the whole view as it’s not obviously out of place. The walk takes about half an hour and it was very hot (mid 30s) so with hats and sunscreen on we took a wander looking at fossils of large fresh water crocs, large flightless birds, carnivorous kangaroos (who knew!) and turtles.
Back at camp we jumped into the water and had a swim and the kids met 2 girls almost exactly the same age as our two so they had a ball and it was fairly dark when we managed to extract them from the water. Dinner was a “stove top Pizza” cooked on a fire on the cast iron fry pan which Emily stated was “the best meat lovers pizza” she had ever had.

Friday 8th August

Today we had planned to head off however the kids had found a couple of friends, we had to at least write the blog (if not upload!)  as well as change the oil in CJ so we figure it would be a while before we can do all of those things so we’d do it today.
The Kids had arranged to meet up at the river at 9.30 so Trish sat in the shade beside the river and updated the blog while Richard went in search of firewood. With both morning tasks accomplished we had to drag the children out of the water at 12.30 to have lunch but shortly after lunch they were quickly back in the water while Richard changed the oil and filter and Trish added more to the blog.
After coming back from the oil change, Richard thought it was time for a swim so wandered down to where the kids were. They weren’t there however as there was a freshie about 5m away from where they had been swimming all morning. He was well hidden in the bamboo and obviously hadn’t been bothered by all the noise and commotion. The kids had moved down to a much safer spot however it was too shallow and not in the sun so they came back to the pontoon where the croc was only to find he was no longer there. While it didn’t stop the kids jumping in for another 15min, I could tell it was on their minds.
We had enough firewood to cook a sausage stew in the camp oven so this we threw in a whole heap of vege and some sausages and viola, our first use of Cath and Pete’s camp oven completed successfully.
We had a social evening with the other family the kids had made friends with which was a wonderful change from just ourselves.