AUSTRALIAN ADVENTURE: Kununarra - Litchfield National Park 20/8/12

Kununarra - Litchfield National Park (Northern Territory)

We stayed in Kununarra for 3 days at a very nice caravan park beside the Lake. We couldn't go swimming there due to crocodiles. Kununarra is only 35 kms from the border of Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

It was established in 1960 to service the Ord River scheme. The Ord River runs through this town and was first dammed (diversion dam) in 1963 to form Lake Kununarra. During the 1970's, further up the Ord River, (55kms) another dam was made and this flooded a one million acre cattle station, called Argyle Downs, to create a beautiful lake called 'Lake Argyle' which is the largest man-made lake in Australia.

Without agriculture, Kununarra would not exist. The land is irrigated from Lake Argyle which has enough water to irrigate most of western Australia if it was possible. Lake Argyle is also a major tourist attraction. Cruises operate up and down the Ord River and also within Lake Argyle.

Ord River

Catfish and Turtle in the Ord River

We liked the town of Kununarra very much. We found it to be a welcome change after the dryness of the interior as it was clean and tidy with plenty of lovely green grassy areas. There seemed to be no shortage of water. While in Kununarra we went to the Zebra Rock Gallery. This rock is found only in this region. It is pale coloured siltstone with dark spots and stripes, said to be 600 million years old. This rock is made into jewellery, clocks, ornaments etc. Very interesting.

Zebra Rock

We also visited the Sandlewood Factory. Sandlewood tree plantations are being established and in a few years will be able to produce a large range of Sandlewood skincare and lifestyle products.

Dam wall Lake
Argyle and view from Ord River (right)

We took the sunset cruise on Lake Argyle which was very informative regarding the history of the area and the formation of the lake.

Fresh water crocodile on the bank

We were out on the lake for a few hours seeing many freshwater crocodiles sunning themselves on the banks. Fortunately there are no salt water crocs here as we finished the cruise with a refreshing swim in the lake together with a complimentary drink and refreshments as the sun was setting.

Watch out for that croc behind you!

After leaving Kununarra we passed through the border into the Northern Territory. We had been travelling in Western Australia for the past 5 months. What a big state. There were many highlights during our time in this state.

Two happy bikers

One of our overnight stops on the way through to Katherine was a very nice rest area 10 kms outside the small town of Timber Creek. During the evening there we were visited by a couple of groups of Aboriginals who came out to this camp site from Timber Creek with their cartons of alcohol as they are not permitted to drink in the town. Needless to say as the evening wore on they became very loud and sometimes abusive to each other. Most of what they were saying to each other you couldn't understand except for the appauling language. Eventually around midnight it quietened down as they were picked up by the local Ranger or fell asleep. They didn't cause us or other campers any trouble as they kept to themselves and didn't interfere. We don't understand their problems so we can't condemn their actions. The weather over this period during the day was around the mid 30's, quite warm at night but smoky and hazy which was the result of burning off throughout the area.

Burning Off

Timber Creek

Katherine

When we arrived into Katherine we felt we were getting near to Darwin. Katherine has a population of 11,200. Here we stayed in a caravan park called Springvale Homestead which had a lot of interesting history from it's days as a cattle station which was established in 1878. The swimming pool water came from under the ground so it was naturally heated. Katherine also has some warm water springs (they are known as hot springs) about 34 deg. We expected them to be hotter like thermal hot springs so were a bit disappointed.

Springvale Homestead warm water pool Katherine

Original Springvale Homestead

Katherine is known, mainly, for it's famous Katherine Gorge, in the Nitmiluk (Katherine) National Park. We were looking forward to visiting the Gorge as we hoped to paddle our kayak up the river. When we got there we found we had to pay to put our own kayak in the water and had a time limit to be back by 4pm. Lots of tourist attractions seem to be a lot more tightly regulated and controlled that it spoils the experience. As we were there in the dry season the river was split up into sections. We were only able to take the kayak up to the end of the first section as we couldn't carry it through to the next. We probably didn't get to see the best of the gorge. Those who hire kayaks to use on the river leave their kayak at the end of each section and pick up another kayak at the beginning of the next. There are quite a number of cruise tour boats taking people up the gorge and where the river finishes people walk between each of the river sections to pick up another boat further on. We prefer a quite, peaceful, natural river or lake any day.

Katherine Gorge

The town of Katherine has a rather large Aboriginal population. Unfortunately as with most towns that have Aboriginal populations the behaviour is typical i.e. sitting around doing nothing. Very sad!!

After leaving Katherine we stopped at a lovely place 20kms off the main highway, called Edith Falls. This was a beautiful location with a large natural swimming hole fed by a waterfall which is fun to swim under. While staying here we did a good walk taking us to other waterfalls and pools further upstream.

Edith Falls and rockpool

Waterfalls and pools upstream

A refreshing swim

We were now heading North towards Darwin and did a side trip in to Litchfield National Park.

Litchfield National Park

This Park contained some more beautiful waterfalls and swimming rock pools which we enjoyed, especially as the water was quite warm. It was fun swimming right under the water fall or behind it.