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Crossed WA border
Yay crossed the border today into WA. Sure is a good feeling to be back in our home state! We are definitely sandgropers! And loving the Kimberleys! We drove 230kms today arriving at Lake Argyle. Along the way we stopped at Bradshaw Bridge over the Victoria River. Big river! We got through the quarantine inspection without a hitch, declared a jar of honey that got tossed and a banana skin. The officer checked the car, our portable fridge and the van and fridge for any offending fruit and veges – didn’t find anything. There is nothing quite like the Kimberley colours. Amazing colours and scenery. Really have to see it to believe, the photos don’t do it justice. After getting setup we hopped onto a 3 hour sunset tour. It was fantastic. After watching a 45 minute, 1970s video of the construction of the ord irrigation dam, we hopped onto a bus down to the boat ramp onto a very nice boat for our tour. Our guide was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic despite being in the job for 14 years. He has lived in the area for 20 years and really has an affinity for it. Definitely a Kimberley boy. The boat was only half full which gave us lots of room to move around. Shortly into the trip the boat stopped to give us all the chance to jump into the water to cool off – yes another hot day. The water temperature was 24 degrees and it was beautiful and cooling. The lake is huge! It is the biggest man made lake in Australia and covers an area 18 times bigger than Sydney Harbour. Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe is five times bigger apparently. There was a couple onboard from Canada who live near Lake Superior and they said Lake Superior is humongous compared to Lake Argyle. If you could drive across it it would take 8 hours and to drive around it takes 20 hours! So the Canadians thought Lake Argyle was a small lake although you can’t swim in Lake Superior as it is too cold. Lake Argyle was constructed in the late 60s early 70s. Quite a feat in its day. Its sole purpose is to feed the Ord River diversion dam and to create hydro electricity, 2/3rds of which supplies the Argyle Diamond mine. When Lake Argyle was completed it was predicted it would take 14 years to fill, it took 5 years! This was due to some incredible wet seasons and of course the cyclone (Tracey) that destroyed Darwin in 1974 contributed significantly to the fill. As a result the Argyle Homestead went under water before it could be moved and hasn’t been seen since! If you have your own boat and GPS you can dive it (about 14m down) which would be so interesting to do. Our guide has dived it and said everything is pretty much as it was and you can make out everything. Organised diving trips used to occur but stopped with the introduction of liability insurance. We only touched on a 1/4 of the lake today it is so big. At some points you can’t see any land just water right to the horizon. Its deepest point is 45m. At the moment it is only 20% full to capacity and on average varies by about 5 metres every wet season. The lake does have freshwater crocodiles and we saw a few on the banks. Did you know that crocs have their mouths open on land for a couple of reasons, the ultra violet rays from the sun clean any bacteria in their mouths and to cool their brains. Freshies don’t eat birds as they can’t digest the feathers, salties will eat them. We saw a female excavating an area in which to lay her clutch of eggs but she was disturbed and went back into the water. A little later we saw a patch where a female buries her eggs each time. A researcher sponsored by the Uni of Sydney is researching the crocs and has placed a camera there for observation purposes. We saw a short eared rock wallaby and wallaroos. Sadly the short eared rock wallaby was an old boy who had been kicked out of his harem by a younger stronger male. He has many battle wounds to show that he was once the dominant male but age has caught up to him and now he is on his own. He looked sad. Unfortunately cane toads have been spotted on the islands and at the spillway 4kms away from the caravan park. Mainly in the wet season but they are here. Our guide was very knowledgeable, interested and involved with local wildlife and spent time with croc researchers and knew a lot about all other species in the area. He said some research has shown that cane toads eat themselves out of a habitat and it is predicted that within 70-100 years time there won’t be any cane toads, which is good news but what devastation will they have caused by then! We noticed there were some fires on one of the islands and the it turns out that some of the local indigenous folk are against tourism and continually set fires to deter tourists. This particular one had been burning for 100 days! The damage they are doing to the flora is devastating and if the flora disappears so will the local bats as the bats pollenate the shrubs and trees and of course it snowballs from there. Short term thinking for no real gain. The trip was good it included soft drinks, tea, coffee, bickies, dips and crackers and another swim whilst watching the sunset. Looking forward to the next couple of days seems a lot to do here and we can take Coco with us, bonus. It gets dark so early here. 6.00pm it is dark whereas we have been used to it getting dark at 7.15pm. Take a bit of getting used to.
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.
