The Top End

On leaving the Douglas Daly area we called in at Fenton Airfield, which was built in 1942 and was used by US and Australian air forces until 1945. In the area used as an aircraft graveyard we viewed a few small relics from the planes that were consigned there, some as a result of two Japanese attacks on the airfield in 1943. As we travel the highways in this part of NT we have seen signs to many old airfields and realise how involved Australia was during WWII.

We spent 3 fantastic days in Kakadu National Park. We went on a sunset boat cruise at Yellow Water. The Yellow Water wetland is part of the South Alligator River floodplain and the boat trip was on both of these. At this time of year many of the waterholes are drying out and the wildlife is becoming concentrated around the remaining water. During the boat cruise we saw thousands of water birds, some other birds and many crocodiles. As the trip finished we watched a red sunset over the water.

The next day we drove to Jim Jim falls, down 50km of corrugated gravel road then 10km of 4WD track. After this it was a 1km walk through forest and over big boulders to get to the plunge pool at the base of the falls. Only a mere smudge of water was coming over the falls but with the cliffs rising to 150 metres it was impressive. Al braved the cool waters of the plunge pool and took a dip before we walked back to the truck.
On our last day we visited two Aboriginal rock art sites, Nourlangie and Ubirr. Both sites have interesting rock art and at Nourlangie there was a huge rock shelter, big enough for several families to live in. Near Nourlangie we went to a billabong that had lots of birds and water lilies. We timed our visit to Ubirr to see the sunset over the nearby floodplain. At Cahills Crossing on the East Alligator River we went crocodile spotting, it wasn’t hard to spot them and we saw several of a reasonable size.

After Kakadu we drove to Litchfield National Park, which is very different. It is greener with more trees and has several easily accessible waterfalls. We spent a lovely afternoon at the Buley Rockhole, which is a stream with about 10 small cascading waterfalls each running into a lovely rock hole. The rock holes are 5 metres across and some are more than 2 metres deep. The water temperature is perfect. We found a nice pool and spent the afternoon swimming and relaxing in the shade. While we were sitting on the rocks we saw two water monitors climb out of our pool. They must have been under the bank while we were swimming.

We spent a couple of days in Darwin before Nicky caught a plane to return to Christchurch, our month with her passed very quickly. We are now camped at Manbulloo cattle station camp ground, about 10km west of Katherine, so are poised to head west to the border into Western Australia.

We are noticing the steady increase in daytime temperatures as the summer season approaches. For the last 3 weeks daytime max has been into the 30's. Yesterday it hit 36 deg, and at the moment it is about 35 deg. It's pleasing that the truck copes with pulling the caravan in these temperatures. The temperature gauge never moves from its normal position (maybe it's jammed) even with the aircon going full blast for our benefit, although the radiator fan cuts in and out periodically. We have had no rain since 2 June with clear blue skies since the end of June until about a week ago. The pattern now seems to be clear skies in the morning with a few clouds building up during the day, providing some welcome shade. Needless to say, sunsets and the night sky are amazing.

During our foray into Northern Territory we have done significantly more driving than in previous weeks. It is really starting to come home to us how big this country is. We have now been on the road for 19 weeks, travelled 16500km, of which 11600km has been with the caravan on.

Still Rocking Around

We spent 2 days exploring the West MacDonnell ranges area and as part of the road we travelled is unsealed and quite corrugated we left the caravan in Alice Springs. Our first stop was at the town on Hermannsburg, a small town where a Lutheran Mission was established in the 1870’s. The town had a 3rd world look with dead cars and lots of rubbish lying around in the backyards of the houses. Quite a bit of rubbish had spilled out onto the roadside too. By the town was a large solar power installation that supplies 50% of the town’s electricity needs. Further down the road is Gosse Bluff, the site of a comet impact crater, formed 142 million years ago (approx). The ring of debris thrown up out of the crater is much the same size as the hills in the neighbouring ranges. We were able to drive into the crater, which is about 5km in diameter, although when formed it was 25km in diameter. We camped overnight at a National Park campsite in Redbank Gorge. We set our tent up on the red dusty ground amongst a scattering of trees. Beside us we had a picnic table, gas bbq plus 2 gas rings and a place for our campfire, not bad for $3.30 per person per night! A couple of kilometres down the road was Redbank Gorge, the place we had come to see. Water has carved a narrow gap through the mountain range creating a narrow, steep sided gorge. There is a permanent waterhole there with surprisingly chilly water. (see photo) The next morning after packing up our tent we headed off to visit 4 more gorges, Glen Helen, Ormiston, Ellery Creek Big Hole and Simpsons Gap, all of which have permanent waterholes and all are a little different to look at. We also stopped at the “Ochre Pits” which are a traditional site of the Aborigines for gathering ochre. The ochre is in a bank of a stream bed and there are different colours of ochre side by side. (see photo) After returning to Alice Springs, the next day we visited a couple of gorges in the East MacDonnell ranges and as the gaps in these were much wider they were less dramatic than those we had seen in the west. There were some Aboriginal paintings here though. Before leaving Alice Springs Jill and Nicky went on a sunset camel ride. The ride was for an hour and as 4km per hour is a camel’s favourite pace they didn’t get to venture very far into the desert. It was good fun. The gait of the camel gives a gentle rocking motion for the rider and the saddles were comfortable. A person on foot led the train of 8 camels and the woman who took our group had walked from Alice Springs to Shark Bay in Western Australia, by herself with 3 camels. None of the camels liked being ridden so she walked all the way! Jill and Nicky also visited the Desert Park in Alice Springs, which they found to be excellent. It had a good display of birds, examples of the 3 types of desert habitats in the area (river, sand and woodland) and there was a free flying birds of prey show. Three and a half hours at the park disappeared in no time. During this time Al went to the transport museum and Old Ghan museum.

On the Road Again
After leaving Alice Springs we spent a night back at the Devils Marbles then stopped a night at Banka Banka Station. The station is one of 3 owned by Kidman Group and all 3 are managed as one. The stations cover 13,000 sq kilometres the largest paddock is 535 sq kilometres. As well as 8 jackaroos the station employs a mechanic, grader driver, road train driver, boreman, cook, accountant, manager and a pilot. The next day we called in at Newcastle Waters and looked through an old pub and store. This town used to be a major gathering point in the droving days but the sealing of the Stuart Highway led to road trains taking over the moving of stock and thus to the town’s demise. Our next night was at Daly Waters where we camped at the pub. Like many of the pubs in this area it was quite old and has a character all of it’s own – the walls lined with banknotes from many countries, caps, sports shirts, bras, panties to name some of the items. Daly Waters has quite an aviation history being a centre initially for Qantas as an international stopover between Brisbane and Singapore then as a base for the US and Australian air force in WWII. We visited an old hangar and drove down the old airstrip 2.1km long.

At Mataranka we found the first of the hot springs that have been a feature of our next three camps. There are two springs at Mataranka and from our campground it was just a few minutes walk to one of them. The pool was widened and deepened by soldiers stationed there during WWII. The spring comes out from underground at 34C, which is a perfect temperature for swimming in. At Katherine our campground was also near at hot spring, this one a little cooler at 32C but nice and refreshing on a hot day. The third of the hot springs was at the Douglas Hot Springs, north west of Pine Creek. Instead of swimming in the river heated by the hot springs we ventured further down the road, which turned out to be very corrugated and very dusty in places, to a lovely gorge. We swam in the Douglas River, which was surprisingly warm and swam to a pool that was almost enclosed by cliffs. (see photo)

Rocks, rocks and more rocks

We are now on the Northern Territory leg of our trip. Our first sight of an impressive display of rocks was at the Devils Marbles, which is 160km south of Tennant Creek. Here there are huge boulders many of which have been eroded to round shapes and erosion has also led to some boulders being balanced on top of others. One night we watched a lovely sunset from a vantage point on a rocky outcrop. There were a few clouds on the horizon to add interest to the sky, which has been virtually cloudless since the end of June. We had two nights camped by the rocks and spent a couple of hours one day wandering around the groups of rocks marvelling at their shape and size. We were up early one morning to watch the sunrise turn the rocks to a rich red colour.

After Nicky joined us in Alice Springs we went to Uluru. We walked the 9.4km circuit around the rock, which gave us an understanding of its size and shape. It has many crevices, caves and valleys, some showing evidence of water having flowed there. The rock truly is an amazing spectacle standing on it’s own on a flat plain. We saw both sunset and sunrise over the rock, which turned its already red colour to a deep hue.

We spent a day at the Olgas, a group of 36 tall rocky domes. These are about 50km from Uluru and were easily visible from there. We walked the circuit track around one of the domes and from a lookout on this track we had a great view across a semi circular valley to many of the other domes that make up the group. These rocks are much more uniform in shape to Uluru.

From here we went to Kings Canyon and found the canyon rim walk most interesting. We went up a short steep climb to the top of the canyon, walls which range from 100 to 150 metres high. It was an awesome sight to look down into and across the canyon. The walk took us along near the wall of one canyon then into an eroded valley where there we many layered rocky walls. Beehive shaped rocky domes with a labyrinth of pathways between them. On the return to the car park we passed by the opposite edge of the canyon for another view of the sheer rock walls.

On the way we also got views of Mount Connor. This relatively unknown table topped mountain is 3 times the size of Uluru. Opposite the lookout to Mt Connor we climbed a small sand hill to discover a large salt lake. The sand here is very red, about the colour of paprika.

After a day in Alice Springs to catch up on washing and shopping we will set out on our next expedition, to the West MacDonnell ranges.