Fauna, Rock Art & Sunsets

Darwin, beautiful one day…..and the next. The climate here at the moment is perfect, warm days, slightly cooler nights, just requiring a light blanket. Darwin is a spreading town, reminiscent of Canberra, but with palm trees. We have immersed ourselves back into “culture”, with a visit to the movies (Harry Potter), Mindil markets for the fabulous food and stunning sunset over the beach, and Parap markets for their delicious fresh juices.  We spent a week in Darwin and then headed out to Litchfield National Park for some respite from the Grey Nomads and some more stunning waterfalls. Had fun on a 4wd track with a couple of dog-leg river crossings and camped at Tjaynera Falls. We enjoyed the refreshing swimming and the quiet nights under the always amazing star studded sky. Then back to Darwin for some minor maintenance (brake shoes), to restock before we head across to WA and for the exciting arrival of Camilla.  Aunty Camilla arrived on Thursday and we have been swept along with her energy and that of her friends. The girls have been taken shopping and spoilt. 

With another Couch in town comes the inevitable car trouble, not that she is cursed, but there is some coincidental alignment of planets or energy. We were taking Milla on a little drive when the car broke down. Much mirthful discussion of the Couch curse ensued whilst Russ tried to solve the problem. Thankfully a semi trailer stopped and towed us up the road and back to the caravan park. Russ and the Grey Nomads have diagnosed the problem as water in the tank, so Camilla is off the hook as a Jezebel, and we can blame “Dirty Darwin Diesel”! (But then again ….Couch’s and cars…). Camilla’s fabulous friends have come to our aid, preparing dinner when we all arrived on their door step, and lending us their car. Russ is currently draining the fuel tank, and replacing the fuel filter, so hopefully that will solve the problem. We are of course lucky that this problem occurred in Darwin and not in the middle of no-where. The girls were a little bored this morning (Sunday), so voluntarily retrieved their maths books out of the school box and sat and did maths! This is what can happen without television or the distraction of electronic toys…amazing!

 So we maybe here for an extra day, as tomorrow is a public holiday (Darwin Cup Day…they love their horse racing up here). We are possibly going to enjoy some jazz music this afternoon, if the car is back on the road. Anyway, it’s a great place to stay a while…we’ll let you know for how long. 

Warning! Achtung! The following pictures are very nerdy, so stop now if you find pictures of birds and rock art boring.

Looking back towards Anbangbang (Nourlangie) across the swamp

A Forest Kingfisher

Magpie Geese

Hello Mr Crocodile!

A Jabiru

Sunset at Yellowater

Rock Art at Ubirr

Incredible detail of a long neck turtle

Yes it's a Thylacine!

Great view across to Arnhem Land...just ignore my silly face.

A Women's only site...bye Russ.

Red-winged parrot

Blue-winged kookaburra (they laugh differently, like they have a mouth full of marbles)

Northern Rosella

Red-tailed black Cockatoo

Scaly Breasted Lorrikeet (Rare in NT)

Crimson Finch

Chestnut-breasted Mannikin

Gorge-ous

Edith Falls

Swimming on top of the world...top of Gunlom.

View from on top of Gunlom Falls, looking out over Kakadu

At Jim Jim Falls (only accessible by  4WD )

Jim Jim Falls

Twin Falls...notice Ellie & Russ in bottom left corner! No swimming allowed here...but who said you couldn't put your head under the water fall! 

Crocodile trap at Twin Falls...notice the shoulder of wild boar in the cage  on the right...yum yum!

Stunning walls with ferns and palms at Twin Falls

Swimming On Top Of The WORLD!!

By Ellen

At Edith Falls we were swimming up the top of the falls!

At Gunlom we were swimming up the top of the falls!

We were climbing up steep hills with loose rocks, trees in the middle of the path

(most likely to save us) also the rails.

Edith falls is near Katherine in fact it’s 30 k’s away.

Gunlom is in Kakadu NP extremely beautiful.

Swimming up the top of both falls is warmer than swimming at the bottom

(because the sun shines on it more often also the gorges hide the sun).

At Gunlom it was like an infinity pool.

At Edith Falls we saw snake #24

At Gunlom we saw snake #25

Now at Jabiru we saw snake #26

A heap of snakes in 3 beautiful places!!!

 

This is Winter?!....

By Maeve

Swimming, ice blocks and sunburn? What’s happening? As a matter of fact whats happening is winter, though, not as you’d think winter to be.

We’ve recently been swimming in some lovely thermal springs down in a town called Mataranka where the water is normally 33 degrees ( too warm for me) with millions of tourists (terrorists)  crowding them.

The best was Bitter springs, with its crystal clear waters and pandanus banks, it was heaven all over again. You would swim down a winding 300m river to get to the end of the Bitter spring’s thermal pool.

There was one more spring at a homestead renowned for the movie setting of the famous book “We Of The Never Never”.

It was a pity that the spring was turned into something more urban, with concrete walls and that the spring had been blocked off for reasons I don’t why. We were talking to a group of 3 people about the place and we mentioned the river next to us, and about us swimming in it, and they went wide eyed at us as if we were crazy, “I wouldn’t swim in there” one muttered “I’d never swim where there’s crocs” said another.

So yes there are crocs, freshwater crocs, but I went for a swim. (I’m 

 scared of the estuarine crocs)

We went to many falls all of them stunning and picturesque, my favourite was Jim Jim.

 Now that day was a wonderful and quite a hilarious trip.

First off we went to Jim Jim on a windy, sandy, bumpy and corrugated road, obviously destroyed by those elephant sized tourist busses!

Jim Jim was beautiful, with a 1km walk to the plunge and beach pool it was worth the walk. The Beach pool was my favourite out of the two, it was refreshing and cold but I relished it on that hot day, with its clear water and deepness. I constantly dived down and swam under water for ages, it was fab-u-lous. I stayed in for ever swimming all through it while mum swam for 5 sec; I had to be forced out, as I don’t feel the cold.

Next was Twin falls, now here comes the hilarious part, the road to twin falls was similar but with one large river crossing. Once we got to the actual twin falls part we parked the car, and had lunch “where’s the number plate gone” said mum ?…uh oh. The number plate had come off at the front, “I bet you its in the river” said dad, “or in a crocodiles stomach” I said.

We decided to go for the walk first which included ( to get to the actual walk) a 2 minute cruise. Ellie saw a freshwater croc and a short-necked turtle.

The Twin falls were named “Twin falls” because there were two identical falls side-by-side.

On the drive back home we kept an eye out for the missing number plate, even in the trees as it is a habit of people who find number plates to put them there. We got to the river crossing without any sign of it. The river crossing is 1m deep and 20mtrs wide, so the whole time going through it we were staring on top of the water for a floating object… no sign of it “bugger it” said dad, and just as we were about to leave the river crossing…. “there it is” yelled dad! But it was underwater. So we tried to get it with a long stick… that didn’t work, soooo dad drove back in and stopped, hopped out of the window into the water and plucked our number plate “BH 47 EO” out of the water while mum stood there with a long stick in case a saltwater crocodile came along so she could distract it.  (They live in there). We all cheered, he reversed out of the river crossing, and we got back in the car…um.... let’s call it a

flooded car! Ellie’s and mum’s side was flooded on the floor, while dad and I kept dry. “OH NO” gasped mum, “THE BOOKS UNDER MY SEAT”! “ OH NO” cried Ellie,” MR SQUIGGLES”! (Ellie’s toy hamster), they had both got wet as well as other things.

So we mopped up the floor but not completely and we all got a fantail.

 P.S

Neither of the girls has mentioned all the bushwalking we have done, including  a 12KM walk into Butterfly Gorge, the second gorge at Nitmiluk. We are getting very fit.

You know you're in NT when.....

Looking out over first gorge at Nitmiluk

Stop for morning tea on the way to Butterfly Gorge

Looking north from Butterfly Gorge

Look Mum...no hands!

That's far enough for me!

Looking south from further around the rock ledge

Russ just kept going around another ledge

The top of Edith Falls, Ellie in foreground and Russ in upper left corner.

Miss Maeve enjoying floating down the channel between rock pools above Edith Falls.

Aye Karumba.

Some times you just have to go with the flow. From Laura we were hoping to take the Burke Development Road to Karumba, but unfortunately we were warned that the high river crossings and the rough road would make this difficult.  We also took our cue from the Murri folk returning to Kowanyama on the Gulf – they were taking the long way on blacktop, rather than the dodgy dirt roads. So we had to backtrack quite a way to use the Savannah Way. This meant travelling through Mareeba and the beautiful Atherton Tablelands once again. We stopped at Mount Surprise overnight and travelled on to Karumba the next day. The landscape was again dramatic, with mountain ranges and dry savannah.

Karumba is a fishing haven, all three caravan parks were full, with grey nomads from Victoria, South Australia and NSW, who stay for 3 to 5 months every year. They all had boats and small dogs or poodles. Luckily we were directed to the garage, where they are in the process of developing another caravan park. The owner we were told, may or may not let us stay, depending on his mood. Thankfully Russ employed our secret weapon, a late afternoon arrival, no room at the inn story and the small child. Yes we could stay. We were the only campers, right on a small wetland, filled with birdlife. Perfect! We enjoyed the magnificant sunsets and some delicious fish and chips at the pub. Karumba is the only town with direct access to the Gulf. This would have to be one of the flattest seas in Australia. If you don’t fish, and you’re not of retiring age, there’s not a lot else to do in Karumba – so our stay was brief.

From Karumba, we headed west for Burketown, passing the Burke and Wills Camp 119. This was the most northerly point reached by Burke and Wills expedition in 1861, believing they had found the Gulf. Unfortunately it must have been the wet season, because they were actually quite a distance from the sea and had found the swampy wetlands instead.  Sadly they returned south, with few provisions, too white to learn from the blackfellas how to live off the land, and perished at Cooper’s Ck in SA (….. all except King that is).  Burketown was fairly nondescript. We moved on to the stunning Lawn Hill, or Boodjamulla National Park. The Lawn Hill Creek, a crystal clear body of water that runs all year, winds its way through the high orange/brown rock gorge walls. The limestone in the rocks makes the Tufa, which is a crystalised rock formation that is the result of calcification. We hired canoes and paddled up the 6 km of creek, over rapids, and via a short walk between waterholes, where we had to drag the canoes. Saw a couple of freshwater crocodiles sunning themselves on the banks. Despite the crocs (the freshies don’t seem to like our taste), it was a delightful place to swim. Met some lovely people, the Jessups from Brisbane, who we went canoeing, swimming and walking with. The girls had fun playing with several children in the camp. They have missed the company of other children. Travelling around has given us the opportunity to meet many interesting people. We visited Riversleigh, the world heritage fossil site, and were able to see a sample of the many mega-fauna remains fossilised in the outcropping rocks.

From Boodjamulla we took the ‘back  road’ through Lawn Hill and Bowthorn stations, to Kingfisher camp, situated on the Nicholson River. Many creek crossings, some deep, and even more gates made this a very interesting route, that traverses a huge cattle station.  Some of the best patches of bulldust that we’ve yet seen. We were also lucky to see a cattle muster in progress. Kingfisher Camp is a beautiful grassy campground, between billabongs, with abundant birdlife, and hot showers which we hadn’t had for several days. The water was heated by a “donkey”, a metal drum over a fire that the caretaker kept alight. Again, the girls were able to play with other children, spotlight of an evening, being the favourite game.

From here we kept going west, along the Gulf, and the Savannah Way, via “Hells Gate Roadhouse” over the border into the Northern Territory and on to Borroloola, on the Western side of the Gulf country. This road followed some stunning mountain ranges, with ridges of black shale running through the sandstone, and over 19 creek and river crossings. The land became greener again, with pandanus and cabbage palms lining the clear water of the creeks. The landscape was alive with colour, with numerous wattles in flower, white and orange flowering eucalypts and stunning red and yellow/orange grevillea trees. We have been sharing the driving, but thankfully Russ has been at the wheel for the more challenging river crossings. I tend to get the rough sections of road and the suicidal kangaroo jumping in front of us.

Of interest may be the food and fuel situation. The maximum we have payed for diesel has been $2.20 per litre (@ Bamaga). Chicken and fresh produce of any description have been very difficult to find at times, especially in the Cape and Gulf regions. Bread, when available, costs around $5.00 a loaf, tomatoes are $8.00 per kilo and we haven’t seen a banana now for weeks. Beer is costing $60 a carton for XXXX, and wine when sold, is around $25 for a 2litre cask of Yalumba. Many areas we have been through have had various alcohol restrictions. In some towns, it is the elders who have set restrictions or banned alcohol altogether. In the Northern Territory, it is the federal intervention that has set the rules, such as being breathalysed at the point of sale when buying beer, having to show ID and the sale of wine is either banned or cask wine after 2pm only, and only 2litres per group/car is allowed. Ellen has just gone through her third pair of thongs, and has moved on to "Crocs", so will loose her thong tan that we have all developed.

A Rainbow Bee-Eater

Surfs up!

The Burke & Wills Expedition

A Blazed tree left by the expedition at camp 119

The fossil of a thigh bone of a megafauna bird 

Hello, smile, its a World Heritage site

Lawn Hill

Maeve & Lilly

At the border on the Savannah Way

At Carrabarrini Conservation Reserve

Little girl lost at the Lost City.

Daly Waters

Bitter Springs thermal pool at Mataranka

But I digress! From Borroloola, we continued on west, via the Carrabarrini Conservation Reserve. Here we walked amongst the “pipe organs” of the Lost City. These are pillars of coloured sandstone rock that have been formed over the millennia by erosion. Stunning flowering eucalypts, grevilleas and the rare Hooded Parrot made this a wonderful experience. Camped beside the road, and continued the next day to Daly Waters, where we joined a real road, the Stuart Highway. We are now camped at Elsey National Park, just out of Mataranka, on the Roper River. This is the setting for “We of the Never Never”. The Roper River has featured in many books I have read over the years, including Xavier Herbert, and here I am, swimming and canoeing in it! Unbelievable (or perhaps you just had to be there!). It is a lovely spot, though somewhat mosquito ridden. We have caught up with some school work, another bucket of washing and some much needed lazy time. Maeve has managed to enter the Dorothea McKellar Poetry competition, with her entry submitted from atop a hill, that we had to drive up, over a rocky road, to get internet reception! Very apt, with sweeping views of this sunburnt country. We’ll let you know how she fares.