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Katherine Gorge
Wow another hot day upto 36 today. We headed to Katherine Gorge, 30kms east of Katherine. Katherine Gorge is part of the Nitmiluk National Park. The gorge winds along 12 kms with 13 separate sandstone gorges with sheer rockfaces more than 70m high in parts. Nitmiluk has been handed to its the traditional owners the Jawoyn community and they manage the park. No fee to enter the park surprisingly. The only way to really see the gorge as a whole is by a helicopter flight, canoeing but can only get as far as gorge 8 or boat cruises which only go as far as gorge 3. To cross from one gorge to another involves walking over rocks or sandy beaches with each gorge access becoming more difficult and varying lengths. Means carrying the kayaks in some cases 1.2kms! We did consider doing a boat cruise but they are quite expensive and from what we have read the furthest gorges are the most spectacular and the cruises don’t go that far. We did also consider launching the kayaks, $5.50/person/day but to get to the second gorge is 3.2kms of hard paddling against a current, into the wind on a hot day so again changed our mind. We aren’t that ardent kayakers. To be honest the first gorge is nice but nothing spectacular and to really see the speccie stuff involves a two day or more overnight canoe trip which we aren’t able to do. So we opted to do a 1.8km walk to the lookout and take some pictures. There is a really nice designated swimming spot near the boat ramp which had we had our bathers on we would have dived straight in. It was only opened recently after being closed most of the season due to a saltie being in the gorge. The swimming spot is opposite a croc cage – not sure if that is unsettling or comforting particularly that it is empty! The interpretative centre at the gorge is very interesting. The critters up here have a tough life with drought, floods, fire and severe weather being annual seasonal events. Cicadas for instance live underneath dry leaves on the ground and at the end of the dry season they emerge, drop their dry casing and merrily chirp away on trees. Now I know why there are so many jumping up from the ground when we walk through the trees to get to the river. We have got to know a 77 year old chap, Jim, from Denmark, WA who is travelling alone with his border collie dog Lindy. They have been on the road for 5 months escaping winter. They are staying here in the park in an unpowered site in a pop out camper trailer on the edge of the billabong. Nice chap tad lonely we think so we have been chatting to him and had a drink with him tonight. He has been here longer than expected due to some health issues but had the all clear today from the GP so is leaving tomorrow to head to Darwin.
Nitmilik National Park, Edith Falls (Leliyn)
Back from a visit to Edith Falls which is part of the Nitmiluk National Park. Edith Falls is 60kms north east of Katherine. There are two pools for swimming one being at the base and the other being a 1km climb up the escarpment but well worth it. The upper pools are much nicer and prettier than the base pool. Have to say this waterfall and plunge pool is one of the loveliest we have have seen so far. Even though there were a few people there, because there are three pools to swim in, they aren’t crowded and you can swim away to your own private possie. John found a swim through to a hole in the rock that had a trickle of water flowing into it. Looked a bit like a wishing well. The water was beautiful, clean, clear and cool and was a deep blue, it was also very deep. We did the loop walk back to the car and saw the waterfalls from different perspectives which was good to see. The lower pool was also lovely but more people and only a few entry points to the water which while OK when we were there, it could be tricky with too many people. There are a couple of pontoons on the waters edge and there is a kiosk nearby hence its popularity. There were some bigger fish in this pond like barramundi and sooty grunters (black bream). Edith Falls is a great spot and swimming is the main thing to do. Well worth the drive.
Phew some warm days up to 35 in the day and down to 20 at night. The nights are perfectly balmy. Had a day catching up with odd jobs yesterday, we both have colds and didn’t feel like doing too much. We did go to a presentation in the afternoon on the history of the homestead which was interesting. The land was bought by a doctor who chose it because of the fresh water springs. The homestead was built in 1879. It was leased to a sheep farmer from Victoria who drove 12,000 sheep through the harsh bush of the 1800s, the trip took many months. The land here is too harsh for sheep and only 70 survived. The sheep were getting grass seeds buried in their coats which then burrowed into their bodies and then into their vital organs eventually killing them – horrible death. When their meat was eaten grass seeds had to be removed from the meat. They then tried cattle which resulted in a similar fate. Finally in the 1900s the family Ronan moved in, they were authors and wrote books in the few years they were here. Currently the homestead is owned by Travel North who manage it as a tourist attraction and tourist park. The homestead backs onto the Katherine River where we take Coco for walks. Freshwater crocodiles inhabit the river and we caught a glimpse of one as it darted into the water off a log. There is one called Elvis who lives in the billabong in the park, he is about 3m long and is quite territorial and has been known to move campers away if they are too close to his billabong. He bit a cattle dog on the bum recently who got too close. Rare to see saltwater crocodiles in the Katherine River here but they can get in undetected particularly during the wet season when the river floods. There have been some significant floods here, one in 1998 when the river rose 21 metres and widened to 6kms wide. In this flood the homestead was flooded up to its ceilings and again in 2006 when it rose 19 metres and the homestead was flooded up to its window sills. So hard to imagine when you look at the river at the moment. You are allowed to canoe on the river here just getting the kayaks down to the river is quite steep so looking for easier access. Once the day cools down about 5.30pm we take Coco for a walk to the river. It is so peaceful and we are the only ones there. There is one spot on the river where many hawks seem to hang around, must have nests nearby. There must be close to 30 of them flying overhead and they perch together in the trees, I counted 12 in one tree without really trying. Amazing to see. We drove into the town of Katherine to stock up on groceries, First shopping centre I have been to where you have to pay for a trolley and return it to get your money back. A large indigenous population here with many hanging around. Stopped at the Katherine hot springs which look so inviting, same deal as Mataranka, constant 32 degrees and crystal clear aqua blue water. Quite tempted but when it is 36 degrees want to cool down not warm up. There were a few people in the water though. It is very very nice here and is a great location. The park is not too busy and we are hoping we will now only catch the tail end of travellers from now on especially as the weather is hotting up here.
Follow up from from last nights adventure. Two of the girls who live on the neighbouring property came over and apologised profusely for the commotion and scaring us last night. Apparently their cousin had lost the plot and let off firecrackers. Hmm, can only guess that the Police must have told them we had put a call in. Anyway all good and no one hurt. We were up early this morning so John could finish replacing the 4th shock absorber. All the others were fairly easy to replace the the last one was a bugger and took him ages to get the old one out. But he preserved and got it done. So take two we said our goodbyes again and headed out on the road to Katherine, 303kms south. Along the way we stopped at Adelaide River to refuel and look at the War Memorial as suggested by Murray. Glad we did, it was quite moving especially when you realise the young ages of some of the servicemen who lost their lives. A total of 434 servicemen are buried here. There was a memorial for the post office staff who were killed during the the bombing in Darwin in 1942. We had heard this on our walking tour around Parliament House. The cemetry was beautifully maintained with manicured gardens and plants. Thanks Murray for suggesting the stop. We are staying at the Springvale Homestead about 10kms north west of Katherine. The homestead is the oldest standing homestead in the NT. Will explore tomorrow. They serve devonshire teas and do a tour – sounds good to me. Took Coco for a walk around the park and there are heaps of wallabies and of course she is beside herself wanting to chase them. Quite a challenge to keep her on a tight lead. There is a waterhole in the park which is stagnant with algae but a lot of turtles, similar number to what we saw in Townsville with Sue and Fred. Found a beautiful boab tree in the grounds.
We had a wonderful time in Darwin and really enjoyed catching up with Murray, Julie, Sam and Monique and their friends. Actually wouldn’t mind coming back to the NT for a while and to experience a wet season particularly if the Ellis are still here. Unfortunately we didn’t get too far today, as we left town John was unhappy with the way the car was driving, said it was like driving on an ice rink and not stable, so got about 10kms and we turned around and went back to the property we were staying at. Discovered it was the shockies and John was quite confident he could replace them himself. We needed rear and front shockies and prices varied quite significantly from $650 to $400 for a set which were the same brand as the originals. So John spent the rest of day replacing the shock absorbers before going out in the evening with Murray and Sam to a rodeo. It was a hot and sticky day today about 34. While the boys were out at the rodeo Julie and I stayed home whilst she babysat Alex and Oscar. After the boys were in bed Julie and I were sitting outside chatting listening to the neighbours arguing in their backyard when all of a sudden we heard what we thought was a gunshot – we both took off to our respective vans and locking ourselves in phoned respective husbands to tell them to get home. About 5 gunshots went off before I called the police. I was worried we had another Martin Bryant on our hands and was too scared to leave the van, Coco was shaking as well. The police had had another call and were going to check it out. I was concerned for the boys being in the van on their own and after a while all was quiet and I looked out the window and saw Julie outside the boys van. Eric (property owner) was also there – he thinks it was probably fire crackers. Julie and I moved the boys into her bus with Monique, Coco and Jake and we waited feeling safety in numbers. Eventually the big boys came home and the adventure was over. Scary stuff though. It probably was fire crackers but who can tell the difference.
Spent the morning at Fogg Dam Conservation Reserve which is about 70kms east of Darwin on the way to Kakadu. It is well known for birdlife which is what we wanted to see. The dam wall is closed for walking due to a croc so we had to drive over it to get to a lookout. There is a lot of weed in the waterholes which unfortunately is introduced and is slowly choking the waterways and reducing the numbers of birdlife that now come to the dam. We did see lots of magpie geese and egrets. Also saw evidence of either pigs or buffalo at the waters edge. We did a walk through a paperbark forest via a boardwalk which was very nice. The paperbark is somewhat darker than other areas we have been too. We drove a little further to Windows on the Wetlands which is an interpretive centre all about wetlands. This was very good however if you were hanging out for a cuppa forget it here as the indigenous workers were both fast asleep on the couches in the cafe. Apparently they run the cafe and it is separate to the actual centre but still not a good look. We got chatting to one of the guides at the centre who was telling us about the number of introduced weeds, insects in the area and the damage it is creating, quite depressing really as it is such a big job to control if ever. They do cane toad round ups this time of year when the billabongs are drying up and a huge concentration of toads come to the water, one year they caught 250,000 toads at one trap! When you consider toads lay up to 25,000 at each laying, that is horrendous – how are we ever going to beat that problem! Eventually we had to bite the bullet and collect the car. A spring had gone in our clutch which meant we had to get a new clutch and while it was there we got them to service it - it cost – wait for it - $1500! We had thought $1200 tops. The hourly rate was $99/hour and there was 10 hours of labour. So an expensive exercise but we are so grateful it happening in Darwin not out in the middle of nowhere towing the van. We are finding Darwin is expensive though so not really surprised I guess. After this we went to the casino for a coffee. The casino overlooks the beach which is just beautiful and being another perfect day the water was a beautiful blue even if the tide was out. A shame that swimming in the ocean here is not recommended because of crocs. The next day Friday we spent getting repacked and ready for our departure back to Katherine on Saturday.
Did a heritage walking tour today around Darwin city and learnt about the Darwin bombings in 1942, the impact of Cyclone Tracy, the Port of Darwin and visited Parliament House. I didn’t realise that Darwin was bombed 64 times? It was a very interesting tour and we both really enjoyed it was a 2 hour walk and the guide was so informative that it ended up being 2.5 hours. A town is so more interesting when you know its history and a local can point out historic places and places of interest. Parliament was sitting today and we sat in the public gallery for a short time and watched proceedings. Here is a link for more info on the Darwin bombings. We then visited the Darwin Museum which has a great display on Cyclone Tracey which was also very interesting with audio accounts from actual residents who lived through the cyclone, pictures of the devastation and an enclosed sound booth that depicted the noise and feeling of what it would have been like to have gone through the cyclone, scary stuff. There was also a great display of the fauna and flora that live in NT. The mangroves, the reef, crocodile stomach contents, birds, box jellyfish, sea life etc, shells, butterflies to name a few. The nice thing about this museum is that is focussed on the NT not general as a lot of museums are. Well worth a visit. There is also an indigenous art gallery. The indigenous art here is quite different to other parts of Australia. A piece of trivia is that the didgeridoo is not a tradition common to all Aboriginal tribes, it is only traditional to the NT Aboriginals with other tribes picking up the didgeridoo over time. There must be a colony of bats nearby as every night at dusk heaps of bats fly overhead to start their night of foraging. Lovely to see. There is a bird called the Curlew that sounds like a child crying, quite an incredible sound and these birds come out at night and start their calling. The weather has been perfect, a constant 32 during the day and down to about 17 at night which believe it or not it a bit chilly! The cost of living here is quite high compared to other parts of Australia and housing is very expensive. Unable to buy anything for under $500K and that is a fairly average house in an average suburb. Rents are very high and very few available. Similar to north WA the demand exceeds supply and hikes up the price which makes living here very difficult for those people who earn a low salary to survive. In saying that it is very easy to get work here and businesses are ok if workers only stay for a few months at a time, I guess as it is such a transient town they have had to adjust accordingly. We voted today at an interstate polling booth, so that is one less thing we have to worry about, who knows where we will be on the 21st!
Started some sightseeing on Monday in Darwin. We toured the WWII oil storage tunnels. Two tunnels are open to the public. Darwin was the only refuelling point between Sydney and Singapore and was being bombed by the Japanese fighters in an effort to destroy the tanks and the war effort. After having above ground oil storage tanks bombed and replaced many times it was decided to store the oil underground. 400 engineers were sent up from the southern States to build these access tunnels nd storage tanks. As it turned out not all of the 11 planned tunnels were built and those that were finished weren’t used to store oil as the war ended before completion. In the 1970s one was used to store aviation fuel but the fuel had to be destroyed when water got into it. The tunnels are based at the wharf and across the road is a man made wave lagoon. This looked like great fun especially for the kids who are given huge inner tubes to sit on to amongst these huge waves. We were then heading to the Darwin Museum when we had major problems with the car, John suspects the clutch. Luckily when we were in South Australia we decided to join the RAA (Royal Automobile Assoc) who provide roadside assistance. For $165pa we thought was good insurance given where we are going to be travelling with the van on tow. We called them and the mechanic agreed it was likely to be the clutch. Fortunately a clutch specialist was 200m away and John was able to get the car into first gear and we managed to grind into the workshop. So there the car is and we probably won’t get it back until Thursday. We are waiting for a call from the workshop to tell us what is wrong and the $$ damage - we know it is a big job. RAA have supplied us with a hire car to tide us over in the meantime. We are grateful that we took out the cover as just in this scenario it has paid for itself. It was nice when we got home and a beautiful fish dinner had been cooked for us – can’t beat that! The following night we all went out to the Palmerston Tavern for 1/2 price Tuesday. Had the best herb crusted barramundi for only $11 and John had fettucine carbonara for $9 – can’t beat that either. All the meals looked good and such great value.
Arrived Darwin on Sunday 8th and are staying with friends, The Ellis’s we have met on the road (through Scott and Joanne from Dubbo). Murray, Julie, Sam and Monique are staying on a 2.5 acre property at Howard Springs which is 30kms south of Darwin. They are staying with another couple Shaun, Jeannie, Alex and Oscar in their respective rigs. The property belongs to a couple who are happy to have them park themselves on their land and pay a minimum weekly rent to cover water, power etc. It is an ideal setup and the two families are very well setup here and have been here about four months. Park accommodation in Darwin is very expensive during the dry season and literally doubles in price from May to September making it difficult for anyone who is semi permanent to stay in the parks. Both families are working and staying indefinitely at this stage. There are two dogs on the property, Jake who is probably about 7 and has obviously had a hard life as he looks much older. He has the sweetest temperament. Not a pretty dog a real bitsa probably a pit bull cross with who knows. He is a large dog and was used for pig hunting and has the scars to show it. His owner is in Kakadu indefinitely so he now lives a life of luxury. The property owners have a lovely dog called Jedda who is a kelpie german shepherd cross. She is a gorgeous dog but unfortunately she doesn’t like Coco so we have to keep them apart. Sunday was the beer can regatta at Mindil Beach in Darwin. The regatta is an annual event that has been running for 35 years and is very well known and popular with many interstate and I think, international competitors. After setting up we all headed down to the beach for an afternoon by the water and to watch the regatta and visit the Mindil Beach markets which are very very popular. The markets are known for their large variety of food stalls and it is almost a tradition to buy dinner and sit and watch the sunset for locals and visitors. It is hot and dry in Darwin constantly at 32 degrees in the day so it was nice to catch some shade and it was certainly cooler at the beach than where we are staying. Jeannie and Julie are distributors for Vanilla Mozzi. Vanilla Mozzi’s core product is an all natural insect repellant but they also make and sells other natural products as well such as wonder oil, arthiritis cream, anti itch. Their stall was very popular and they had really good sales that day. Mindil Markets are on every Thursday and Sunday evenings during the dry season. Other than the variety of stalls they have free entertainment such as bands, musicians and fire eaters. It was a really good day. There was a chap selling landscape paintings of Uluru and Kakadu using paint from spray cans. It was fascinating watching him paint these pictures using spray cans and it took him no time at all to produce these lovely pictures. Very very clever. There was lots of entertainment on the beach during the regatta with thong throwing and sand sculpture competitions and of course the beer can races itself. Some people of very creative with their ‘rafts or ships’ and I reckon a lot of alcohol must have been consumed to get the number of cans required to build a raft. There were hundreds of spectators lining the beach and of course the weather was just perfect with the ocean being calm as usual. The sunset was one of best sunsets I think I have ever seen, it was magnificent. It seemed to last for ages and the colours were incredible from pastel yellow, orange to vibrant reds, pinks and oranges. It was definitely worth the wait. Unfortunately our camera isn’t taking good sunset shots (we need to look into changing a setting) but gives an idea of the great colours.
Drove 285kms west today and stopped in Timber Creek. Another warm one, 37 degrees which is 4 degrees above average! Certainly having a hot winter in this part of the world. Thank goodness for air conditioning! Don’t know how those without manage. Along the Victoria Highway we saw some beautiful scenery – we are definitely in the north west. The colours are so Kimberleyish with deep reds, browns and oranges against the blue sky. The Victoria River runs parallel to the highway. We stopped in Timber Creek which is 187kms from the WA border. The caravan park is amazingly green and it is wonderful to have a green grassed site after the dusty sites we have had recently. Amazing how small things make your day. The river runs behind us and has lots of freshwater crocodiles. For a town of only 70 people it has two caravan parks, a pub and little supermarket. Very very expensive supermarket. The attraction here is the river and the Gregory National Park which I would liked to have spent sometime exploring but only here for the night and too hot to venture too far. The National Park is good for barramundi fishing. The caravan park has a very invited cool swimming pool and we spent some time there while the van cooled down. At 5pm the caravan park next door feed the freshies with lumps of meat hanging of a rope so we went to have a look at that. There would have been 4 or 5 crocs hanging around to be fed. They didn’t jump out of the water like the salties quite placid really. On the other side of the river there is bat colony and I reckon there were thousands of bats and we had obviously disturbed them as quite a few were flying around which I think it unusual in the daylight. So noisy as well. Saw some boab trees. As we are crossing the border into WA tomorrow and have to go through quarantine and it is a big no no to fruit and veges we are eating all our veges and fruit tonight. I actually gave some to the info centre here as the school cooks meals for the indigenous kids every day and happy to take fruit and veges from travellers. It is a beautiful still balmy night so going outside to make the most of it. Has the best shower I have had for ages, hot water, lots of pressure and a dry dry area! For a park in the middle of nowhere it is tops!
