Heading East

Daly Waters Country and Western and Rock 'n Roll singers

View from our table at Camooweal Billabong

About 10% of the Corellas that came to visit late afternoon

Whistling Kite over our heads

Campsite at Barkly Station - excellent - note red dust!

Mount Isa Muck heap

Brolga fun

Pacific Heron waiting patiently for fish

Good old fashioned green budgies - must have been smuggled in

Lazy Pelicans that rarely moved over our 2 days

Egret stalking fish

Tom the Drover tells it like it was

Pacific heron startled by photographer

The view you see in the rear view mirror of Mt Isa.  Some claim it is the best view in town.

Sunset at Camooweal Billabong

Brolga feeding time

Mount Isa housing - close to work!

Pelicans herding together for fish

And then they close the trap

I want some of what he has been on, says Ray

Our mascot Wally - carved in Tassie by an 85 year old

Alone but not lonely in our red dust campsite on a World War II airstrip

Backtracking from our current position in Mt Isa, I note that we finished the last blog at Daly Waters, after a fun evening of drinking, eating and dancing in good company.

From there we headed along the Barkly Highway, again along kilometre after kilometre of arrow-straight roads.  Here there are no suggested speeds (other than the 130 in the NT), but they do warn of Crests and occasional Bends as if they are the devil himself!  The obvious stopping point was the Barkly Homestead, where we spent 2 nights in a beautifully shady campsite (albeit a bit dusty), but with excellent facilities, pool, pub and great coffee!  Getting sufficient exercise "on the road" is difficult, especially when there are no mountains in view, so a pool is a welcome sight, and we've been lucky in this regard just recently.

The lovely couple we met and dined with at Barkly told us of their favourite camping spot at Camooweal Billabong, a short 261 km from the Homestead; a good day's drive when you're not in a hurry.  We found the entrance to the site and managed to nab a prime spot right in front of the billabong, with was teeming with bird life.  We weren't the only ones with the Billabong in mind, and the first night there were dozens of caravans and motorhomes strung out along the waterway.  However, as with all sites, people come and go and by the 3rd night, the campsite was all but deserted - or was that our fault???  On day 2, we walked up into "town" and a kilometre or so west of town to the Drover's Camp.  There we were fortunate to be given a guided tour by Tom, an ex- (or is that retired) Drover, and spent a profitable hour and a half or more learning all there was to know about old-time droving.  As I'd just been reading Hell West and Crooked by Tom Cole, I managed to nod and sound knowledgeable in all the right places.  Tom gave us a detailed lecture in front of a large map of Australia with all the old stock routes and stations detailed, before taking us into the well-equipped shed and yarning about the old days.  A really worthwhile visit we both felt.

Camooweal, meaning Place of Big Winds, lived up to its name on our first day there, with a sudden and fierce dust storm which rushed through and over the billabong, coming and going within 1 minute, but that minute managing to deposit enough red dust both inside the motorhome and out, to plant next season's spuds!  We weren't fast enough getting the windows closed and by the time we had, peace reigned once more!

We sampled the delights of the Pub for a good steak lunch - really the only place in town to eat, although the Post Office sells fruit, veges and some general groceries.  City people complain when they go into the local Post Office and see the myriad junk that now takes over from stamps and service, but it's quaint being able to buy fruit and veges with your stamps!!!

We left Camooweal reluctantly for Mt Isa, stopping for an overnighter at an old WWII airstrip, just 50 km west of Mt Isa.  There was no shortage of room there, and we drove off into the bush, camping in deep red dust, but enjoying the solitude of not being able to see another soul; the stars that night were pretty spectacular too, despite Mt Isa being so close.  The down side to that campground was another film of red dust which added to the airstrip's coating, necessitating a good old clean up and shake out at Mt Isa yesterday.

Our campground at Mt Isa has lovely green grassy sites, and a pool large enough for a decent swim.  We drove up to the Lookout on the first day, and to the Underground Hospital, before parking the motorhome at the Discovery Holiday Park a short drive, or a 40 minute walk from the "Centre" of Mt Isa.

It's always worth poking around places like this, to discover some of the quirky history, such as the Underground Hospital.  It was feared that Mt Isa would be a target of the Japanese after the bombing of Darwin in 1942, so the Hospital Board decided that an underground hospital was needed to handle casualties in the event of attack.  The site was a hill beside the existing hospital, and was built by volunteers from Mt Isa Mines, and equipped with surgical, medical and maternity facilities and even an outpatients depart and operating theatres.  Fortunately it never had to be used, though for the rest of the war and for some years after, it provided a place for a cool and quiet sleep for nurses on night shift.  It fell into disuse and early in the 1950s the entrances were covered with earth.  The facilities was rediscovered in 1977 and although some parts were white ant eaten, and partially collapsed, it was repaired and is now open to the public, alongside the old hospital and an example of a tent house from the 1930s.  The restored 1937 tent house is set up alongside the old hospital and features canvas walls and roof, with a separate tin roof over all, allowing movement of air to cool the house.  It is also filled with "historical" furniture and artefacts most of which were a feature of my own childhood home!!!

Yesterday we took a tour of the Hard Times Mine, a purpose built mine, complete with fuming, roaring and rattling machinery.   Along with another 20 hardy souls we were kitted out in orange paper jumpsuits, steel capped boots and helmets with head lamps, descending in an Alimak Cage to a series of tunnels complete with mining gear from various eras.  Our guide, Tony, an ex-miner and a real people person, brought the mine to life for us with tales both good and bad of mining life and characters.  We even had coffee in the crib room while blasting took place further down the mine - or at least the boom and crash sounds of blasting sounded, reminding us all of why none of us had ever become miners!  A dark and dangerous job indeed.  However, a worth while visit and a couple of hours well spent.  Tony even gave us a lift back to the caravan park afterwards - a 5 minute drive for him, but a 30 minute trudge uphill in the afternoon sun for us - and we were very grateful indeed.

Returning from our late afternoon swim, Ray noticed that one of our front tyres was so badly worn that the inner part of it had wire showing, so after many phone calls this morning, we have located new tyres which have been promised for overnight delivery tonight.  With any luck we'll be back on the road tomorrow afternoon, and with great-grandchild No. 2 promising to arrive a week earlier than anticipated, we are keen to get to Mackay in double-quick time.

Keep your fingers crossed that (1) the tyres arrive tomorrow, as promised and (2) that the current tyre hangs in long enough for the 2 km drive to Bridgestone!!!

Crocodiles on the Alligator

Long necked turtle - Nourlangie Rock

Laws to Live By - Nourlangie Rock

View from top of Ubirr Rock, Kakadu National Park

Panorama, Ubirr Rock, Kakadu

Nourlangie Rock

Aboriginal cave art, Nourlangie Rock

Lightning man, Norlangie

Rock art, Nourlangie

Early morning mist, Cooinda, Kakadu

Magpie Geese, Kakadu

Sunrise, Cooinda, Yellow Waters cruise

Salt water crocodile, Cooinda

Jacana, Cooinda

Morning mist, Cooinda

Yellow waters cruise, Cooinda

Sea eagle's breakfast

Lotus, Cooinda

Heron in danger

Cooinda cruise

One of the larger salties, 4 metres?

Kingfisher, Cooinda

Jabiru (now Black necked stork; wrong, it's head and neck are irridescent green)

Water Buffalo, Cooinda

Warning - not too close!

Sunset, Cooinda, Yellow waters cruise

After the idyllic days at Wangi Falls swimming in crystal waters we somewhat reluctantly headed north towards Darwin.  Our objective was Kakadu National Park which these days is almost an outer suburb of Darwin.  The best indication of how good an area is comes from fellow nomads, not always grey, and a reasonable percentage had said “Kakadu – Kakadon’t”.  We were being bombarded with photos of the adorable little Sylar and there was some temptation to just head straight for Mackay to have a cuddle.  We did resist the temptation though and found that Kakadu had heaps to offer after all.

So up the Stuart Highway towards Darwin we drove, took a sharp right to Humpty Doo and Woolworths to stock up for our next adventure – no bush tucker here, just wholesome whitepella stuff.  We asked a well-dressed lady of our age if she was a local and was the butcher better than Woolies and she replied that she always buys at Woolies because she only eats clean food!  She also confided that anything she can’t get in Humpty Doo is not worth having.  She doesn’t even go to Darwin, which is about 50 km up the road!

Well stocked and with a full fuel tank and gas bottles we headed east – since Adelaide it had mostly been north. Jabiru is the most eastern end of Kakadu but there is little to see on the way.  However we found a lovely well-watered and tree-ed Caravan Park at Mary River (no it doesn’t go all the way to Queensland) where we lashed out for a sunset crocodile cruise, with guide Geoff, in a 30 foot tinnie.  We would have preferred higher sides especially when the Geoff told the story of a young couple who hired one of their little boats and were taking photos of a Wallaby drinking at the river’s edge when a crocodile leapt out of the water and took off its head.  We saw about five crocs (2 salties and 3 smaller freshwater) within striking distance of the camp ground, the salties two were 4-5m long.  More trepidation and a worry that the signs suggesting we go no closer to the river edge than 5 metres probably understated the problem.

Most people had said there isn’t much at Jabiru and they were right but the Kakadu Tourist Park called and we overnighted anyway.  Our aim was to head slightly north and stay in a bush camp near Ubirr rock for a few days – that changed when we found that this is the mozzie capital of the world – they could literally carry you away.  We spent the day travelling and looking at some really fascinating rock paintings and climbing the surrounding rocks. Ubirr had some really beautiful paintings and the view from the top was stunning, Nourlangie had more paintings – equally beautiful, set in an amazing array of rock passages.  We had enough time left to head for Gagadu Resort at Cooinda where we had pre-booked a couple of nights with sunrise and sunset wetland cruises included.

People had raved about this place and we were not disappointed.  A beautiful resort with two stunning pools and a bar/bistro – much better than the dusty bush camp, even though the mozzies were still thick. 

The sunrise cruise left the jetty at 6:45 with the morning mist still shrouding the river surroundings, moisture dripping off every leaf.  It’s little wonder that the mozzies like the place.  The two hour cruise started with a warning that crocs can lift themselves out of the water past their back legs.  No comfort in that when it would allow them to join us in the seats.  Lucky the boat was full so they wouldn’t have fitted.  For two rapturous hours we cruised the South Alligator River (misnamed by an early explorer for the large number of crocodiles which he mistakenly called Alligators, having just arrived from the Americas) and the extensive surrounding wetlands.  We were up close and personal with about a dozen crocodiles and a vast array of birds, sea eagles (go Manly), jabirus, kingfishers, whistling ducks, cormorants, darters, jacanas, egrets, ibis, herons, Nankeen night herons, and the ubiquitous magpie geese to name just a few.

Ray took over 700 photos in 2 hours and the afternoon cruise was equally stunning, yielding about 600.  The remainder of the day was spent sorting and culling down to 500, only 25 of which are included here. The piece de resistance for the afternoon cruise was finding a large water buffalo and getting him close to the side of the boat.  Ray shot him about twenty times and the two shots included here indicate that he probably didn’t appreciate the invasion of his privacy. The morning cruise also included a buffet breakfast and we will say no more in case Ray’s cardiac specialist gets to read this.

We were a little deflated to leave Cooinda after such an exciting two days that really had made Kakadu for us and we headed south for the start of the long trip back to Mackay and then home in early December.

There were other hidden delights in Kakadu but for many of these it is necessary to have 4WD.  No doubt our trusty Ford could have made it down some of these tracks, but it really doesn’t like corrugations  - and neither do we.

Travelling through Pine Creek we made a very special find – Maysie’s Café.  We had a real old-style lunch; salad sandwich on white bread (for Sally) and fish burger for Ray.  The salad was fresh and crisp, the place clean as a new pin.  The chocolate milk shake was in keeping with the statues of James Dean and Kylie Minogue? and the hundreds of old pictures of movie stars on the walls.

We overnighted last night at a roadside stop, peaceful enough once you manage to shut out the noise of the road trains.  On our way out this morning we stopped just short of Mataranka to sample the delights of Bitter Creek.  It’s another hot spring, smaller than that at Mataranka, but with a gentle flow downstream to a bridge.  There’s a ladder to climb out at this point, but it is possible to swim back upstream – just a lot of effort, so most people walk back along the trail and do it all again.  The stream is quite narrow but lined with thick bush and pandanus, and the orb spiders make their webs across the narrow parts of the stream, so it’s head down at that point so as not to disturb their carefully constructed webs.

Tonight the NT (not to be confused with the Tasmanian) culinary trail continues at the Daly Waters pub.  The campground is dusty but shaded and has power and water.  The pub is the most incredible place (see photo last blog) and the menu tonight is Barra on the Barbie with salad.

Happy hour starts shortly so we’ll away and enjoy our first evening out for quite some time.

PostScript - Daly Waters Pub lived up to its reputation, with a wonderful Barramundi meal, well cooked, and fresh caught.  The second surprise was the wonderful music provided by 3 different groups, 3 different styles, and we ended up dancing for an hour or so to the old rock and roll we used to know.  Good food, good wine and a jolly good time was had by all.

Now on our way to Tennant Creek and our next Turn Left - for Mackay and ultimately, home!

Water, water at last!

Nitmiluk (Katherine) Gorge

Intrepid canoers at Nitmiluk Gorge (braving the crocodiles)

Jedda Rock, Nitmiluk Gorge

Freshwater crocodile, Nitmiluk Gorge

Wangi Falls, Litchfield National Park

Top of Wangi Falls, part of our morning's walk

Cathedral termite mound, Litchfield

Wangi Falls and swimming hole, through pandanus

Entry to Wangi Falls swimming hole

Self-evident

Daly Waters - not sure whether the owner really can't spell or is just acting dumb!

Daly Waters Pub

Mataranka hot springs

Underwater selfie, Mataranka

Some idiot trying to take a selfie

Termite mound, great prop for it

Bats, Nitmiluk Gorge

No problem, but the designated area had a croc trap set on the other side of the river,
and we saw a freshwater crocodile lurking just upstream!

The next part of our journey started at Tennant Creek, a whistlestop on the way to Mataranka, but with all the requisite facilities such as IGA, butcher (who was also the Baker, but according to Ray and his Dad jokes, not the Candlestickmaker) and the wonderful Katerina’s Café on the main street.  That was a great find – a Greek café run by the beautiful and vivacious Katerina and her husband Nick, who did the cooking.  The  food and coffee were fantastic, so we went back the next morning for breakfast – Katerina recommended Nick's Augozouna which was a plate of grated onion, tomatoes and feta on 3 eggs – delicious. 

Next stop after an overnighter at a free camp at Newcastle Waters, was Mataranka with its beautiful lush fan palms and crystal clear 34 degree Celsius waters of the sandy-bottomed thermal pool, just a short walk from the campground.  The water flows from Rainbow Springs at an amazing 30.5 million litres each day!  

Mataranka is known as the Capital of the Never Never.  This area was home to Aeneas and Jeanie Gunn, who wrote the famous book about Elsey Station, titled “We of the Never Never”, which is now part of Australia’s folklore.  It is claimed that once you visit Mataranka, you’ll Never Never leave!  Mataranka is also the traditional country of the Mangarayi and Yangman Aboriginal people. 

After 2 pleasant nights at Mataranka, we headed into Katherine township to stock up on food before moving on to Nitmiluk National Park (Katherine Gorge), 30 kms from Katherine.  Katherine has possibly the busiest Woolworths in Australia, with literally hundreds of motorhomes, caravans and "others" parked all around town and heading there with their myriad plastic bags.  (NT is another place with a "no bags" policy, and if you forget, it's 15c for one of their own, plastered with advertising).  As usual,Woolworths had only a few checkouts open, with the mandatory self-check queue winding back into the aisles, but we made it back to the van without a divorce, well stocked for the weeks ahead.

The first European to pass through this country was Ludwig Leichhardt in 1844 but it was John McDouall Stuart who, on the 4^th July 1862 named the Katherine River after the second daughter of his patron, James Chambers.  European settlement came with the completion of the Overland Telegraph Line, when the Telegraph Station was established at Knott’s Crossing.

Nitmiluk Gorge winds along 12km of sheer rock cliffs, most more than 70 metres high.  Consisting of 13 separate gorges, Nitmiluk Gorge is a maze of waterways sculpted from the sandstone over millennia by the Katherine River.  The Jawoyn people have Nit Nit (Cicada) Dreaming.

We spent 2 nights there but, unusually, didn’t attempt any of the Gorge walks.  Instead we took the Two Gorges boat trip on the river, changing boats between gorges 1 and 2 and walking about 400 metres to board another boat in the second gorge.  Nitmiluk is owned by the Jawoyn people and our guide for the boat trip was very personable and informative about the local area, including the story of Jedda Rock in the Gorge.  For those of you who haven’t seen the 1960s film Jedda, it’s a Charles Chauvel film and, according to the guide, a true representation of the tribal ethos of the time.  We managed to get a copy of it in Katherine, so it’s available for loan if anyone wants to see it.

Evidently Nitmiluk didn’t have the good rains that the rest of the Territory enjoyed a few months ago and the water level is lower than usual, though during the wet season there is sometimes up to a 13 metre rise in the water level in the gorge.  It was possible to hire canoes to explore the gorges, but as there were signs everywhere warning about crocodiles (and we saw a freshwater crocodile in the so-called “swimming hole”) we decided on the boat trip instead.  Cowardly perhaps, but no-one can give a 100% guarantee that there are no salties in the waterways, and we weren’t willing to chance it.

Next stop was Wangi Falls, Litchfield National Park. Litchfield NP covers approximately 1500 sq km and contains numerous spectacular waterfalls, magnetic termite mounds and rainforests. 

We weren’t able to get into the National Parks campground at first try, so stayed the night at the Safari Park about 4km down the road.  It’s essential at this time of year to cruise the campground first thing in the morning to find a spot which has just been vacated, which we managed on the second day.  Wangi Falls is such a beautiful spot for swimming and walking that we stayed 6 nights.  No internet, secluded campsites and wonderful swimming hole fed by a spectacular waterfall.  We joined a talk the first day by local Aboriginal woman, Joan, about all the local trees, pandanus, food sources and secret women’s business (sorry, I can’t divulge that as at least half of you are male!)

Wangi has been such a peaceful stay after the long hours of straight roads to get here.  It’s finally full summer and we’re really enjoying the sun and the heat after such a long winter in Tasmania, Victoria and South Australia.  It’s only a few days since we stopped the using the diesel heater at night – and already we have both fans going!

We travelled to other parts of the Park, such as Florence Falls (very beautiful, and for swimming, but 135 stairs down (and of course back up in the heat after a cooling swim under the Falls), Buley Rocks, which was a magnificent set of rock pools with water flowing into them, but in danger of being loved to death, and the old abandoned Tin Mine which was opened in 1906, and closed a few years later.  Interesting history though.

Litchfield is certainly a magnificent National Park, but really in danger of being over loved.  I can only think that one day Parks might have to introduce a ballot system for overnight camping, such as applies in a few places in Tasmania.  Luckily we had one of the secluded bush camping sites so could swim morning and evening, when the crowds disappeared back to wherever they came from.  Although at least swimming with lots of people in the middle of the day cut down the chances of crocodile attack - I must say that my morning swim to the Falls had me wondering what was lurking!  During the Wet season, saltwater crocodiles migrate from one pool to another, and before the season starts, the rangers have to capture any stray crocs which may have taken up residence.

So here we are for a second night at Batchelor, which played an important part as the base for General MacArthur's bombing force from December 1941, with thousands of troops stationed here during World War II, and the discovery of uranium in 1949 (remember Rum Jungle?)  It's a well-treed and therefore relatively cool and shady place, with a sign directing you to "Town Centre", and a small sign saying "Town Centre" right outside the general store and Tavern - that's it folks!

Batchelor has been an important stop for us in that we were able to be part of the excitement of grandson Chris and his partner Brittney's first baby, a boy, Sylar, born yesterday afternoon. Thank goodness they waited until we were back in Telstra range! 

Humpty-Doo tomorrow to stock up once again for Kakadu.