Darwin to Devils Marbles

Darwin and down to the Centre

Darwin

Darwin is the capital of the Northern Territory and is the most northern City in Australia. We arrived into Darwin 1st September and stayed in another Seventh Day Adventist caravan park as we did in Broome. It had only 12 sites in a lovely grassy tree lined area. The only stipulation in staying there was that we didn't drink alcohol or smoke, so we had withdrawal symptoms after a week!! (joke). It was only 15 mins drive away from the CBD so it was very convenient.

SDA Caravan Park












  Nearby was a water park with waterslides and a huge swimming pool. Nigel enjoyed the enclosed twisting slides and it was all for free. Amazing.



Darwin is full of WWII history as it was heavily bombed by the Japanese in February 1942 with many lives lost. Quite a few ships were sunk or damaged in Darwin Harbour. Very similar to the Pearl Harbour attack. The City itself is attractive and has a laid back feeling as there doesn't seem to be the rush and bustle as there is in other major cities. Not very many high rise.




Gun from a sunken American warship

Government House Darwin

There are many attractions to go and see while in Darwin. Some of the attractions we went to were the Darwin Museum and Art Gallery where they had a room set aside for an exhibition for Cyclone Tracy which destroyed most of the city in 1974. It was very interesting and it included a small room where the sound of the actual cyclone was played. Following this we went nearby to the Mindil Beach Markets which are held every Thursday and Sunday evenings. It was full of colour and atmosphere ending with everyone going on to the beach to watch the sunset.




Darwin Sunset

Mindil Markets















Another great museum in Darwin is the Military Museum which also has a sight and sound display on the bombing of Darwin. It was most informative and we learnt a lot about what went on during the war in this area of Australia.

As Darwin doesn't have any beaches around the CBD and also because of the threat of crocodiles and stingers a newly developed waterfront precinct has been made to compensate. There is a great wave pool and an area of the sea sectioned off so people can swim without fear.







Swimming enclosure

Wave Pool












Beat that Crocodile Dundee

As Darwin has lovely warm evenings we spent one having dinner on the Stokes Hill Wharf. Nigel could remember having fish n chips here on his previous visit and enjoyed it so much he wanted to take Carol there to have the same experience. Unfortunately, the meal didn't match up to the lovely evening we had so it was a bit disappointing.






Kakadu

Leaving Darwin we drove through to Kakadu which is a national park full of Aboriginal culture plus tropical vegetation and wildlife. From the main highway south, Kakadu is a sidetrip of about 450km out to the furthest point of Ubir then back to the highway south again in the shape of a triangle. We timed it to arrive at Cahills Crossing Ubir at about 3pm. The reason for this is that the river at the crossing is tidal and high tide was about 3pm. Cahills Crossing is the border crossing between Kakadu and Arnhem land. At high tide the river floods the crossing and at that point fish swim across and crocodiles wait on the other side for a good feed. Well we did see the fish swimming across, but there were only two disinterested crocodiles who were obviously not hungry, so the fish lived to see another day.

Cahills Crossing Ubir

After dropping the caravan off at the campsite we went to see some Aboriginal rock art, then walked up to a lookout overlooking the wetlands and listened to a ranger give a talk on different facets of the area, the history, the flora and fauna. It was quite a beautiful setting as we watched the sunset with flocks of birds and the slight haziness of the smoke from burning off. In the evening back at the camp another ranger gave a talk together with photos on an outdoor screen of Aboriginal rock art and their interpretation which was quite interesting.

Rock Art

Lecture at the lookout Ubir

Another must do in Kakadu is the Yellow Waters Billabong cruise at Cooinda which is on the road back out to the main highway. We took the sunrise cruise so it was an early rise that day. The cruise took us up the river viewing much birdlife which were becoming active at that time of the morning. It was very serene in the early morning light. Quite a few crocodiles were also visible either lazing on the banks of the river or just lurking just below the surface. The vegetation was lush and green with beautiful water lilies out in flower. Following the cruise a hearty smorgaborg breakfast was provided at the hotel in Cooinda.





 

Yellow Waters Cruise at sunrise


Leaving Kakadu after 3 days we passed through Katherine once again, stopping off for a laze in the hot (warm) springs.

If anyone has read the book or seen the film "We of the Never Never" by Jeannie Gunn, Mataranka is the setting for this true story set in 1902/3, which recounts the story of Jeannie Gunn who travelled from Melbourne to live with her new husband on the remote Elsey Cattle station. The main attraction at Mataranka is the hot springs of which there are two. Bitter Springs and springs at the Mataranka Homestead. Both of these springs are crystal clear water. At Bitter Springs you can float down with the flow for a couple of hundred metres then get out and walk back to the beginning again or swim back against the current which is good to get the heart pumping. At the Mataranka Homestead there is the actual film set replica of the original Elsey station in the movie "We of the Never Never"




Bitter Springs

Jeannie and Aeneas Gunn

Elsey Station (replica)

Mataranka Springs



An overnight stopover at Daly Waters features the old historic Daly Waters pub. Also Daly Waters happens to be Australia's first international aerodrome as it was used as a stopoverfor the 1926 London to Sydney air race. Later the aerodrome was used as a refuelling stop by Qantas and as an airbase in WW2. The original hangar is still there which contains various memorabilia.

Inside Daly Waters Pub

Daly Waters Historic Pub

Daly Waters Aerodrome

We were now heading south to the centre, Alice Springs and Uluru (Ayers Rock). We passed through Tennant Creek and now commenced a huge side trip of hundreds of kilometres to the centre and back to Tennant Creek before heading East to Queensland.

On the way we stayed overnight at the "Devils Marbles" which is a popular stopover for travellers. These unusual rock formations have been shaped by wind and weather to form rounded shaped rocks which look as though they have been placed on top of each other. some of them look as though you could give them a push and they would topple over. Around the campsite it is not unusual to be visited by a resident dingo. During the night the howls of dingo's could be heard.











Further down the road we stopped briefly at Wycliffe Wells. This town has been made famous by the many UFO sightings and strange happenings that have taken place in this area over many years. More kilometres down the road and we came to the Aileron Roadhouse where there is an Aboriginal art gallery plus these enormous statues of an Aboriginal woman and her daughter spearing a goanna lizard. On the hill is another huge statue of an Aboriginal man.

Note size against Carol at base

Next stop Alice Springs.









Kununarra - Litchfield National Park 20/8/12 - 31/8/12

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.





Wangi Falls Litchfied NP

Florence Falls Litchfied NP







There were also some unusual termite mounds which looked like tomb stones together with some huge mounds several meters high.




Now thats a termite mound!

Tombstone like termite mounds

Next stop Darwin