Friday 22nd 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 3rd
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 23rd 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 24th 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 19th 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 25th 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 26th 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 27th 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 28th 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 29th 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.
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