Broome (still there)

We are now in Broome and it is a little cooler, around 28, quite comfortable.  At night it drops even lower, this morning I had to dig out a merino top!  We are sitting in the library using the wifi.  I remember sitting here 15 years ago writing out by hand a witness statement from a sexual harassment incident I had witnessed while working in Perth, then faxing it off, how the times have changed!

Broome is pumping, this is peak tourist season and we were lucky to get a camp site.  We rolled into town without a booking, the first camping ground was full and luckily at the second someone had just cancelled a booking so we could have that site!  Will post more on this stay soon!

Windjana National Park (2 nights)

After a 1 night stop over at a free camping area between Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing we headed for Windjana Gorge.  On the way is Tunnel Creek where you walk through a wide cave with a creek through it, about 750m long.  It was lovely and cool in there with amazing calcite formations, stalactites and all that stuff.  Windjana is a small national park with a 3.5km long gorge as the main geological feature and the mass of freshwater crocs as the main wildlife feature, there were heaps of these lounging and swimming in the creek running through the gorge.  I walked the gorge early in the morning and saw so many cool birds and towards the end of the gorge some crocs a little too close for comfort. Once again campfire time was very social with a family from Sydney one night and a family from Victoria with 4 boys under 11, the lot of them sleeping in a swag each!

Looking out of Windjana Gorge

A lounging croc

In depth discussion while lighting the camp fire

Purnululu National Park (2 nights)

Another World Heritage Area famous for the Bungle Bungle Range (the world’s most exceptional example of cone karst formations!) We spent the first night at the Bungle Bungle Caravan Park just off the main highway then in the morning left the camper trailer behind to avoid towing it in, as we had heard the 53km unsealed road was rough as!  It actually wasn't too bad compared to the Gunlom Falls access road but anyway we enjoyed camping more simply, so with the roof tent and a wee dome tent we had picked up along the way (more gear!) we survived (hats off to you Kate and Antony for the lightweight way you are travelling!!).  That first day in the Park we visited the southern area at Piccaninny, Cathedral Gorge was beautiful and a nice place to escape the heat.  

Enzo and some bungles bungles 

Looking into Cathedral Gorge

Looking out from Cathedral Gorge

At our camp site in the Walardi camps we encountered another curious kookaburra, a blue winged one this time, so lovely! We also encountered a family from NSW with two girls and we proceeded to have a good old time around the camp fire (stew again).  The next day we visited the northern area with the enchanting Echidna Chasm.

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Lake Argyle (2 nights)

Lake Argyle is the largest freshwater lake in Australia and is the result of a hydro scheme built in 1971 on the River Ord.  The power feeds the local network and supplies 80% of the power needed at the Argyle Diamond Mine.  There is loads of great birdlife, fish and thousands of freshwater crocodiles.  These crocs have skinny soft snouts that cannot deal with large chucks of meat, which is reassuring as we went swimming in the lake on the sunset cruise.  The cruise was great with guide Josh (a kiwi) telling us all about the lake and the wildlife.  We saw quite a few crocs, fed some big catfish and jumped off the back of the boat to be thrown a can of beer or passed a glass of wine, it’s a hard life!

Josh the Kiwi showing us the extent of the lake

Sunset on Lake Argyle

The resort here is great with the most amazing swimming pool, an infinity pool overlooking the lake, the water temperature is lower than the lake at this coldest time of the year but given the outside temp it is perfect for cooling off.  We are still getting used to the time zone change, you turn your clock back 1.5 hours when passing the NT-WA border, so waking at 5am, sunrise is about 5.30am which I am watching as I write this.  We are now 4 hours behind NZ.

The beautiful infinity pool at Lake Argyle

Two rat bags in the pool!

Progress Report

Here I sit at the lovely Lake Argyle Resort.  We have crossed the border from NT to WA, this involved a quarantine check of our vehicle and trailer for plant, fruit or vege and nuts, stuff like that.  Below are the posts for several stunning national parks we have stayed at since leaving Darwin.  I tried to post the photos for the Kakadu write up in Katherine but encountered technical issues and found even my IT department (2 children) could not resolve the issues, so these are now on the blog.

We have covered 8,000 kms and it is the end of week 7, so almost a third of the time through the trip. The temperature varies between 30-35 degrees during the day and drops off a bit at night, thank goodness! Going on a sunset boat trip today on the lake so will post a write up about that before we leave here! 

Judbarra-Gregory National Park (2 nights)

Another large National Park (13,000km2) on the western edge of the Northern Terrority and another gem in terms of wildlife and geological formations.  Luckily the first night in the small camp site at Bullita was the night that the Ranger did a slide show about the parks history, the plants, birds, reptiles and animals.  The Ranger, Ian, is based at the Ranger Station near the camp site with his partner Jenny, who is also a Ranger.  He pointed out that having a male and female ranger worked out really well as there is a close working relationship with the traditional owners who have aspects of life that are men’s business and woman’s business.  The bush campsite was great with only a few others campers due to the access road being rough.  We tried out our recently purchased camp oven over the fire, stew and damper,yummy!!

Leon keeping an eye on the stew while Enzo writes his book

In the morning we checked out the ‘calcite flow’ (the residue from a dried up waterfall rich in calcium carbonate), the ‘tufa dams’ (walls of limestone deposition and algae growth in the dry river beds), stromatilites (prehistoric signs of life formed by bacteria under the sea/lagoons many millions of years ago) and the limestone walls of a gorge. 

Then we checked out the old Bullita cattle station homestead and out buildings, there is a crazy old boab tree there which features in the all historic photos of the site.  By lunchtime the temperature had reached 35 degrees so we retreated to the awning of the camper and took turns sitting in the cold water in our large washing tub to keep cool because we could not swim in the river, jolly crocodiles!

The crazy boab tree at the old Bullita Homestead

Stromatilite on the calcite flow walk

Kakadu National Park - Gunlom Falls (2 nights)

Another cracker of a camping spot! The road into the site is 40km of rough stuff so mainly camping trailers and off-road campervans were camped there, heaps of families.  At the foot of the falls is a large pool with signs warning that crocodiles can enter the area undetected so be careful, needless to say we only saw a few crazies like us who ran into the shallows, dunked under and then run out again! The better swimming was in the top pools where crocs don’t go due to the altitude, you walk up a steepish track and then find paradise in those plunge pools; we spent most of the day there lounging around like lizards in the sun. 

Gunlom Falls from the bottom

At the top of Gunlom Falls in the natural infinity pool

I spotted these little rainbow bee-eaters down by the bottom of the falls, the wildlife here is amazing if you stop and look.   The first night a herd of wild horses thundered past the camp site, an impressive noise in the dead of night!  At first I thought it was a herd of water buffalo but I then heard some neighing, so yes it was horses.  They and, get this, donkeys run feral in the park.  We spotted a large herd of donkeys on the way out of the park, it looks really strange and unexpected.  We then went to Katherine for a night stocking up on supplies before heading westward towards Broome.

The beautiful Rainbow Bee-eaters

Kakadu National Park – Jabiru (4 nights)

I am pretty sure the Kakadu is the most amazing place I have ever been!  Not just the natural environment with its range of plants, habitats, geological features and wildlife, but also the cultural and archaeological importance, we are talking rock art that is well over 20,000 years old.  We went to Park Ranger slide shows at the camping ground in Jabiru about what the Rangers do and the history of the water buffalos (they were introduced in 1830 from Asia and reached numbers near 200,000 until being culled back big time in the 1980s).  We also went on two Ranger walk/talks where they tell you about the rock art and its significance to the aboriginal people.  Without these brilliant insights it would be easy to miss out on some of the spirit of Kakadu.  The park is jointly run by the Northern Terrority Government and the traditional owners and they work together to ensure this World Heritage Listed site stays pristine, including the managing the issue of uranium mining which is a hot one!

Ubirr is one of the sites that features rock art and a climb to the top gives great views cross the wetlands, plains and distant escarpments.  It is located near the border of Kakadu and Arnhem Land (Aboriginal land with restricted entry) and the only East Alligator River crossing between the two areas is Cahills Crossing (a ford).  After the ranger talk at Ubirr we went down to the river crossing to see if we could spot a croc and we arrived just as a 4WD had followed a truck over the ford at high tide and had slid off the ford.  It was stuck in the middle of the river with the female driver screaming her head off, we then spotted our croc, apparently named Nigel-No-Friends, and the whole situation felt a bit tense!  People on the river bank where all yelling at her to stay calm and wondering what to do when a flat bottom tour boat came around the corner and o the rescue.  We found out that night at the ranger talk that they had dispatched their fire truck to make the rescue and that it happens quite often due to people not waiting for the tide to go out a bit.

The rescue taking place!

The view from the top of Ubirr 

Nourlangie is another extensive great rock art site and Ranger Annie gave 3 talks during the morning we visited, she had a really amazing grasp of the cultural significance, although she called it ‘kindergarten knowledge’ compared to that of the traditional owners.  

Adelaide River Croc Cruise (on-route to Kakadu)

Someone recommended this to us the morning we left Darwin so we stopped on the way to Kakadu to check it out.  This cruise was on a small flat bottom boat (which is good because it can’t tip over when everyone runs to the side where the croc is!) with about 30 people onboard.  Over an hour and a half Morgan the boat driver introduces you to a number of crocs who live in this stretch of the river, some little ones and some very big ones!  Brutus is the largest at 5m long, he is estimated to be between 80 and 100 years old and doesn’t have many sharp teeth left; he also lost a leg some years back in a scuffle with a bull shark at the river mouth!  Morgan hangs some heat on a rod and the crocs jump up and try to get it, he gives to them after a few jumps but one dude, Rocket, only jumps once then swims off and sulks, cute!.  It was a strange feeling getting that close to the crocs but also an eye opener to their speed and stealth before going into the Kakadu.  Leon got to have a turn driving the boat!

The big old Brutus swimming towards the boat!

The Dominator

Darwin- Part 2
Still in Darwin, the bug laid us low for longer than we anticipated.  The boys are making the most of having loads of kids to play with here in the camping ground while their parents lay about suffering.  We managed a quick trip to the Darwin Waterfront which is fantastic and modern.  The boys commented “We don’t have anything cool like this in Chch”, but all I could think of was how much our new TERRACE will look like this, offices and apartments above dining and shopping, bring it on Chch!  Leon, who avoided the bug enjoyed the wave lagoon on the waterfront

Leon at the wave lagoon

Me and the boys

The Darwin Waterfront

Darwin (4 nights)

I write this as Enzo and I are recovering in the shade from a tummy bug, John and Leon have gone off to the Mindil Beach Sunset Markets…..we have extended our stay another night so we can all visit the wave lagoon on the Darwin Waterfront tomorrow as we weren’t up to it today.  Um, if this is winter I am not sure I could stand summer!  There is a pool at the camping ground for cooling off, next to the squash courts (how they can play in this heat I do not know!). 

The central city of Darwin is really compact and there are some high rise apartment buildings (maybe 12 floors max).  But there are not many old buildings left since the Japanese bombings in WWII.  The Darwin Military Museum was worth a visit to learn all about that side of the city’s history.  We are here over the Aussie Queens Birthday Weekend so there are all sorts of things going on such as the Greek festival and we came across the Army firing off some cannons and putting on a free BBQ (Leon took advantage of that!). 

Leon at the Military Museum

As an aside….The drive through bottle stores here crack me up, we visited the ‘Thirsty Camel’ drive through to find several lanes to choose from, one was called the ‘browse lane’, that is for those who aren’t sure what they want yet, the other lanes are those who can place their order as they drive in and then collect the goods from the dude who has run around after them collecting the goods and they make the payment through the car window!  Somehow this feels wrong!

Car spotted from a rally in progress (Priscilla style!) Seeing all the cars took me back to the Undie 500

Heading to Kakadu next but only in the areas where crocodiles have not been spotted of late and they consider the area safe!!

Lichfield National Park (2 nights)

Next stop was Lichfield National Park, you enter the park from the east via a town called Batchelor, also known as ‘Rum Jungle’ (sounds like heaven). Ok, it’s getting really hot now! But luckily this park has many treats for swimmers at Florence Falls, Buley Rockhole and Wangi Falls.  We ran into the family from Adelaide so compared notes on where we had been since Alice.

As you drive into the park you encounter two varieties of termite mounds, magnetic termite mounds (these little critters have an internal compass that allows them to build their mounds in a north-south alignment so they always have shade) and cathedral termite mounds (tall mounds with ribs, like a buttresses).

The boys and a 5m high Cathedral Termite Mound

More great falls - Wangi Falls

Nitmiluk National Park (2 nights)

After a food stock up in Katherine we headed into the Nitmiluk National Park.  First we checked out the Katherine Gorge on the west side of the park, we had a quick swim in the Katherine River but it was very wide, deep, murky and the crocodile traps at the river’s edge were a bit un-nerving.  The hundreds of bats hanging in the trees were very loud and smelly and sent us fleeing to the other side of the park, north of Katherine.  We set up camp at Edith Falls in the most awesome camping area just next to the falls and its associated pool.  There were heaps of freshwater fish including barramundi, it was great just swimming around with goggles on checking them out!  Apparently it is croc-free at this time of year!

We walked up to the upper pool of the falls and were lucky enough to see a Mertens Monitor (cool lizard) lounging on the rocks in the sun – made my day!  We meet some more Aussie families travelling around, one for a year and another for two years!

The stunning Edith Falls

Progress report

We have now been on the road for 4 weeks and have covered 5000 kms.  We haven’t had internet access for over a week so there are 6 new posts below, it will be another week or so before we get to Darwin so will post stuff about where are heading next (Katherine Gorge and Lichfield National Park) then.  Hope all is going well in NZ, we feel really out of touch in terms of current affairs, but I guess that’s the definition of a holiday! 

Mataranka – 420km south of Darwin (3 nights)

This piece of paradise is located in the Elsey National Park.  It is where the Australian classic “We of the Never Never” by Jeannie Gunn was based.  The book tells the story of her life as outback station manager’s wife in the early 1900s.  It was later made into a movie in the 80s, they play the movie at noon every day at the Mataranka Homestead camping ground where we stayed so we watched it – I enjoyed it!.  There is a thermal pool feed by the Rainbow Springs where we hung out several times a day.  The water was about 30 degrees, which was slightly cooler than the air temperature!  Bitter Springs are also nearby where you drift down the crystal clear river with googles, I was lucky enough to see a turtle! The place felt really tropical with peacocks and wallabies hanging out at the camping ground and all sorts of crazy birds.  Once again we ran into familiar faces from other stops along the way and met some new ones.  It was nice to stop for a while and enjoy a reasonably fly free spot, next stop Katherine Gorge!

Mataranka Thermal Pool

Campsite at Mataranka

Daly Waters Historic Pub (lunch!)

On the way from Longreach to Mataranka we stopped off at this historic pub on the recommendation of many people (boozers?) we had meet along the way.  Despite it being only 11.30am I had a pint of XXXX, just for you Dad! We then had some pies for lunch so we could linger for a while longer at this great pub!! If Deb or Cherie had been with me we might never have left that day, in fact many people stay the night in the pubs informal camping ground and lap up the evenings band and bbq.  But we continued northward to the lovely Mataranka!

Midday beer at Daly Waters Pub

Longreach Waterhole  - 750 kms north of Alice (1 night)

This stop-over site was a gem from the Free Camping Guide Book.  It meant driving 12km down a sandy corrugated road but was worth the effort.  It was not packed out with the usual suspects and being able to camp right next to the water where hundreds of pelicans were fishing in groups of about 20, was magic!.  There were egrets, shags and whistling kites all over the place.  We arrived early in the day so made the most of the bird watching and in the evening had a camp fire.  On the down side the biting insects in the evening were dynamite and as usual went for me only!

View from our campsite

Devils Marbles - 390 kms north of Alice (1 night)

This place is magic despite the sheer mass of flies!  It has enormous orche boulders balanced precariously atop one another.  In terms of camping it’s really just a stop-over spot to break up the journey north, but it was certainly packed that night with caravans and tents.  As with Uluru the sunset and sunrise were dramatic in terms of colour!

West MacDonnells National Park – just west of Alice (3 nights)

Wow! This park is amazing with its gorges and waterholes of icy water for cooling down.  We camped at Ormiston Gorge which had the largest waterhole and a sandy beach, but visited Simpsons Gap, Ellery Waterhole and Redbank Gorge.  The latter was reached via a 1km rocky walk so there were less people there, we swim up the gorge for a hundred metres or so then rested on a sunny ledge.  We were lying there warming up and stoking a friendly gecko when Enzo said calmly “Oh look there’s a snake over there!”.  A long skinny black one, never a good sign, it was about 3m away which was too close for our liking so we made a hasty retreat back down the gorge.  We also saw black footed rock wallabies lounging in the shade in most places we stopped. 

At Redbank Gorge after swimming up the gorge

The National Park Rangers are very friendly and back at camp there was a nature talk one afternoon where the young ranger told us about the various wildlife signs to look out for, such as their droppings (too much information perhaps).  There was a great walk from the campsite out to far  end of the gorge and then you walk through the gorge crossing icy water at one point (up to my chest height) holding your pack above your head.  I took off early one morning to walk it and then John did it the next day, fantastic scenery in a quiet environment (no offence kids, but…).

the waterhole at Orminston Gorge

Alice Springs (2 nights)

After 2 days out at Uluru we headed for Alice Springs, it was getting hotter by the kilometre and we were pleased to see the pool at the camping ground!  The boys were also pleased to see a jumping pillow where they soon found some buddies, a couple of kids from Adelaide who are doing generally the same trip as us over 5 months, their parents Kate and Antony are tagging along too.  Hopefully we will meet up with them again along the way as it was great to talk to some younger people for a change!

We visited the town centre (no book shops!) and the Reptile Centre where we learnt about geckos, lizards and snakes.  Terry the crocodile was out of town so we didn’t get to see him.  Enzo bravely held the olive python and Leon and I held a bearded dragon lizard, my favourite!

A cheeky bearded dragon lizard