Mataranka Thermal Springs

Friday 31st July 2009
At Nitmiluk Caravan Park, just opposite us, were a couple of tour buses which arrived late yesterday. They are on a 17 day trip from Alice Springs to Darwin going via the Tanami track and the Gibb River road - not a bad effort for large buses. We found out that the buses have specially modified suspension to cope with the Gibb River road and Tanami track.
The passengers had to put up their own tents (one each) and set up their own sleeping quarters. Now that's quite a job every night and then pull it all down in the morning, back on the bus and off to the next destination. I'd reckon they all need a big holiday after doing this for 17 days.
We are travelling in much greater comfort and our bed is comfortable and always ready.
We left Nitmiluk National Park early this morning for the 30km drive back into Katherine where I dropped Ilse and Andrea at the supermarket while Alexander and I went onto the Fishing Tackle shop to procure a few essential items needed for our food gathering and hunting efforts.
We were driving out of Katherine by 9am heading further south towards the cold but not too far as we don't want too much of a temperature shock.
We arrived at Mataranka before lunch and immediately proceeded to set the crab net we got at Katherine. After lunch we rigged our fishing rods and walked down to the Thermal Springs. The springs run into a long and deep natural channel where we could very clearly see the bottom. Pandanus Palms lined both sides of this channel and the whole place just looks liked a little tropical paradise.
The water temperature was a bit over 30°C and very pleasant. We spent a long time in the water and on occasions got a little whiff of rotten egg gas which emerges from deep below the earth and vents out in the surrounding mud. The whole area just oozes out water everwhere.
On our way back to the caravan we made a little detour into the bush and up the bank of a billabong where we chucked a few lures and enjoyed the environment as this is the first place in a long time where we have no threat from Saltwater crocs. Freshwater crocs are in this area but we didn't see any nor did we find any evidence of their presence.
The kids spent the rest of the afternoon playing with friends they had made and we were chatting to other campers, chucking lures and checking the crab net.
Neither the crab net nor the fishing netted a catch so we had our last bit of Barramundi for dinner.
We can certainly notice how far South we have already travelled - as soon as the sun sets the temperature drops. I'm not looking forward to returning back to winter.

Katherine Gorge

Thursday 30th July 2009
We haven't really spent enough time in Kakadu and at some time in the future we will come back and attend all the talks and demonstrations on offer throughout the park. Next time we will also spend a few nights in each location so we get to experience the lot.
The mozzies were out in force last night and this morning - we even had to eat our dinner in the caravan. Last night was coolish again and I have to say that I don't miss those warm and humid nights we had in Darwin.
By 8:45am we were on the Kakadu Highway heading towards the Stuart Highway and through Pine Creek towards Katherine. Along the way we had a 40km detour into Edith Falls (photo 1) which has a very nice plunge pool with clear water and nicely maintained gardens with picnic table not far from the water. It's a very pretty spot which would be great fun for swimming on a hot day but it was only 24°C when we arrived just before lunchtime. The place reminded me a little bit of Litchfield Park but the waterfalls weren't quite as dramatic.
Back onto the Stuart Highway and another 40km down the road and we reached Katherine. We have already travelled through Katherine on our way to Darwin but now is the time where we are finally turning for the cold temperatures at home. Wodonga is still 3500km away so we want get there too soon but we will get there.
We checked out the visitors centre in Katherine, filled up the car, collected our mail, did some shopping at the supermarket, booked a Katherine Gorge boat cruise and then drove out Nitmiluk National Park campground where we parked the caravan and had just enough time to make our way to the boat ramp for the 3pm boat cruise. Katherine Gorge (photo 2) is wide, a little bit like Geikie Gorge at Fitzroy Crossing but much longer. Katherine Gorge consists of a total of 13 Gorges but most tourists only see the first two. Our trip on the cruise boat took us a fair way up until the Gorge came to a rocky end and we had to get out of the boat and walk for about half a kilometer to the start of the next Gorge just after the rocks. We boarded another boat and headed up the second Gorge which was not quite as wide but had very steep and high rock faces on both sides.
At the end of this Gorge the boat did a U-turn and we were on our way back. This little trip took nearly two hours and we spotted a few freshwater crocs on the side of the gorge and a yellow tree snake on the walking path between 1st and 2nd Gorge. All in all quite a nice Gorge in its own right but not quite as spectacular as some of the others we have seen on our trip.
Back at the Caravan we cooked yesterdays Barramundi for dinner and Vicki had a [late] birthday cake for Alexander (photo3) . Ron and Vicki had left Cooinda a couple of days before us but we have caught up again.
Tomorrow we'll be on the move again to our next destination somewhere south of Katherine.

Yellow Water Fishing

Wednesday 29th July 2009
It looks like the whole family is now back in good health although still suffering a bit of a cough.
This morning we made our way to the Warradjan Aboriginal Culture Center where we met Lizzy, a very quiet and softly spoken Aboriginal woman who'd been out collecting plants from the bush to give us a demonstration on bush craft. But first on the agenda for us was to meet Lilly, the baby "Agile Wallaby" which was orphaned due to it's mother getting killed for bushtucker. Lilly arrived on site inside a backpack carried by the ranger who is it's new mother. Lilly came out of the backpack and straight into a fabric pouch where she was very comfortable. We all had a hold and a cuddle of this cute and furry creature.
Then is was onto some hard work - transform Pandanus leaves into string, getting strips of sand palm leaves and weaving them into useful articles and turning Kapok fruit into a paste ready to be used as a dye. Alexander and I made a little fire to boil the Kapok slurry and dye some of the natural materials stripped from the plants. It was indeed a very interesting morning as Lizzy was quite happy to tell us everything we wanted to know about her people and country. During this time she patiently taught me how to separate the layers of sand palm leaves and produce the raw material for the weaving. It took me the best part of the morning to get the hang of this. Later in the morning a bus load of styled and well dressed European oldies arrived on the scene. They were from Switzerland, spoke German, had their own tour guide with them, and were proudly displaying their arrogance and ignorance. The tour guide was explaining to them, in German, how I, sitting next to Lizzy, was stripping those sand palm leaves and how difficult this process is. You can just imagine the looks on their faces when I said to them (in German) that this work requires great skill indeed and that's why only Austrians can get it and the Swiss can't!
We had a quick lunch at the caravan and then joined a fine young gentleman by the name of Dean Jackson for some serious work in his office. Dean's office is on a fishing boat out on Yellow Water, that's where he earns his living as a fishing guide! This time of year Barramundi is pretty dormant and very lazy due to the cold water so most people don't even bother fishing for Barra at this time of year. However, we haven't got the option of coming back later when the fishing is good so we placed our hopes in Dean, who's been doing this for over 13 years, to try and land our first ever Barramundi. To make matters worse, in Kakadu one is only allowed to Lure fish, bait is off limits. The only thing we had in our favour was Dean's knowledge and experience. His first job was to teach us (that's Alexander and me) how to make the lure look attractive to fish - believe me this takes a big effort and is very hard on the wrist. I'm sure it also causes RSI, but that's an occupational hazard in many other offices too. Once he had us producing the right lure action while trolling we went into some pretty narrow (4mt wide) areas of water with a bit of structure beneath. We were casting and retrieving with that special action - my wrist is still hurting now, but Dean reckons if it doesn't hurt we're not doing it right. We had quite a few close calls where the Barra spit the lure and others where we slowed down or sped up the retrieve as he was just about to strike. By 2:30pm the first Barra was successfully landed but like most fish at this time of year well below size, 55cm is the minimum. By 3:30pm Alexander started to land Barra and we were pretty happy to have caught Barra but still had nothing to put on the dinner table. Over the next few hours we landed a few and lost a few but after 5pm I finally hooked one that put up a decent fight and ran with the line. We got him into the boat and he came in at slightly over 58cm - large enough to keep and with the nice silver colour which indicates he's come up from the saltwater recently and will be delicious to eat.
We got of the water just before sunset with a total of 9 or 10 Barra landed but only the one keeper who was filleted for us by Dean and is now in the fridge ready for the dinner plate tomorrow night.
The afternoon out on Yellow Water was nothing short of spectacular, the crocs came right up to the boat and we saw them fighting with each other in the water. They sure make a huge splash and wave when they move about. Dean bled and washed our Barra in the water just on the side of the boat, but apparently crocs are not like sharks so they are not attracted by blood. One croc came and stalked the boat from about 8 meters away, Dean reckons we were in his sunning spot, but a few movements on the boat soon made him go under the water. However, he surfaced again whiteout making the slightest of noises some 5 meters away from the boat. Dean got a Lure and smashed it hard on the water surface and that seemed to make him go away again.
We even saw a Sea Eagle gently descend, elegantly grab a fish out of the water while getting only his claws wet, and then flying away with the fish as his meal. Being out on Yellow Water for an afternoon is just like sitting in on the shooting of a David Attenborough documentary.
We'd like to spend another week at Kakadu but unfortunately we have to move on towards the colder parts of the country, so tomorrow we'll try and get to Katherine Gorge.

Aboriginal Culture

Tuesday 28th July 2009
I woke up this morning feeling a little bit better but still on the slow side and a bit dizzy. Ilse had to do the driving to a place called Maguk where we walked for about one km to a water fall with a large plunge pool. The walk took us through a beautiful monsoonal rainforest with crystal clear water flowing through it. We had to cross the creek twice, first was a foot bridge but the second crossing was rock hopping. From the second crossing onwards the track ran along the rocky bank of the creek with the other side being lined with Pandenous Palms.
At the end of the creek we found the large Plunge Pool with crystal clear water and plenty of good size fish clearly visible below. As with most fresh water pools there were a few people swimming despite the croc warning signs all along the path and even as far back as the car park.
The crocs are being "managed" in these areas - this means that during wet season crocs move into these areas and in the dry season most of them move out, the one's that don't get trapped by the rangers and relocated further downstream. However, occasionally a croc makes it's way back up the creek durring the dry and for this purpose a croc trap is set downstream of the freshwater pools. The theory is that a croc going upstream is caught in the trap and never gets to the pool where people swim. All warning signs point out that crocs sometimes enter these pools undetected and will make a meal of swimmers.
The crocs are so plentiful here that we have even seen one from the car while driving over a bridge.
Lunch was back at the caravan and our afternoon trip took us to Nourlangie, another of the locations that make Kakadu a world heritage area. We timed out trip to coincide with the ranger talks at the various Nourlangie sites.
The first was at the Anbangbang Shelter were archeologiest have done some carbon dating and found that Aboriginal people have been using this shelter for over 20,000 years - that a long time in anyone's book. The Pyramids in Egypt are said to be over 5000 years old and western civilization started in the ancient city of Sumer around 7000 years ago. The last Ice Age ended 12,000 years ago and this place has provided shelter for 8000 years before that.
The place may not be as impressive as the Pyramids, but it sure is much older and it was still in use when David Attenborough filmed here in the 60's.
From the Shelter we walked around to the "Inclined Gallery", a place where we listened to another talk on "Living Culture". Here we learned how Kakadu and it's sacred sites are still in use today by the traditional owners and how the park is managed in conjunction with them. There are sites in the park which are not to be photographed and other sites where males (irregardless of race) are not allowed. Some places are completely off limits to everyone but the most senior elders who know and understand the ancient ways.
Not much further along, at the Anbangbang Gallery, we admired the rock art and learnt that the picture created by the rock art is of no real importance to Aboriginal people, it the act of creating drawings on rocks (or any other medium) that is significant. Hence, its very difficult to establish the meaning of drawings unless one was actually present when it was created. That is also the reason why drawings are just layered upon older drawings, with some of them having 15 or more layers, each with a different drawing, that have been created over many thousands of years.
At this Gallery we were informed about "Law Land and Family", a extremely complex subject in Aboriginal culture. In an effort to keep the gene pool of this relatively small population clean there were (and still are) many complex rules and the ranger gave us a rudimentary understanding of the very basic concepts. An important part of this system are names and everyone is identified by about 4 names (a bit like westerners first name and surname). From these names one would automatically know who can be married to whom. Males start with "Na", females with "Al" and the next part after that is repeated at a fixed sequence for 4 generations. This is only one part of a total of four which make up the whole name.
The other important part of a name is that it determines what part of nature one takes responsibility for - I guess back then everyone looked after the land (like rangers do today) and one's name determined whether one had to look after certain animals or fish or maybe some plants.
Before white man came to this part of the country with all his diseases and other incompatibilities there were 22 clans in this area, each with their own culture, law and language - today there are only two left. Most Aboriginal people here speak 4 languages plus English. They speak their own clan language, their wife/husbands and two or more of the neighbouring clans.
By the end of the talks we were certainly much better acquainted with some aspects of this ancient culture but have really only scratched the surface of an extremely complex social structure.
We had to rush back to the caravan so we could have dinner before attending the next event which was a talk and slide show on Wetlands and their Wildlife. Very interesting to hear about the changes between the wet and dry season and how the fauna changes. One of the more remarkable fish we heard about was the Archer Fish which spits water up to 3mt into the air, with deadly accuracy, to "shoot" his prey (insects) out of the air and scoop them up when they land in the water.
Another astounding fact is that the salt water tides run 110km inland in this area and where we have had our cruise on fresh water wetlands, the wet season will bring Sharks and all sorts of other sea creatures a long way inland.
After another pretty big day were ready to hit the sack so we can be well rested for tomorrow which is our last day at Kakadu.

East Alligator

Monday 27th July 2009
Today marks our 11th week on the road and it doesn't seem that long ago when we left Wodonga - I can't believe that we have already been on the road for 10 weeks. Our intention was to take 13 weeks, so today was the start of our last 3 weeks on the road.
My flu was bad today, Ilse drove the car - I was only running on half steam and found the going hard, especially during the middle of the day when the temperature was 34°C.
The mornings in Cooinda are cool and very pleasant so we had a leisurely breakfast under the awning and then got on the road heading towards Jabiru. Just outside of Jabiru is the Bowali Visitor Centre which has a fantastic display on local flora and fauna but this time all through the eyes of the traditional owners. In the middle of the centre is a large pond with all sorts of native marine life.
Our next stop was Jabiru, a small township with a population of 2000 and a number of basic facilities and shops. On the edge of town is Lake Jabiru, but as always, no swimming due to crocs.
We filled up the car and found a really good Bakery in Jabiru where we bought lunch before travelling the remaining 40kms to East Allgator and Ubirr.
East Alligator is one of the three Alligator rivers running through the park and out into the sea. The first explorers to come into the area named the three rivers West, East and South Alligator due to the high number of crocs in the rivers. As they had been to America before and knew only Alligators, they couldn't tell the difference between the Alligators and Salties (Estuarine croc).
The photo on the right is taken at the East Alligator River just downstream of Cahill crossing the entry point into Arnheim Land. On the left hand side of Andrea but over on the other shore is a Saltie sunning on the bank, every so often it goes in the water and patrols the shoreline just in case anyone decides to come into the water.
I have often wondered why crocs sit on the river banks with their mouth wide open - the Ranger says crocs have to regulate their brain temperature by opening their mouths to varying degrees and letting the breeze blow through. Their body temperature (they are cold blooded) is regulated by heating up in the sun during the day and returning to the water after sunset as water is warmer than the air during the night. In general, during the dry season crocs are a lot less active than during the wet when the water temperature in is the 30's.
At the Cahill crossing the crocs chase the fish during the tide change, quite a spectacle to witness from the observation platform at the crossing.
Next on the Agenda was the world renown ancient Rock Art at Ubirr, however, after we got out of the car and started our walk Alexander showed how unhelpful he can be, so we turned back to the car and returned back to the caravan where both kids worked on their school work and journals for the whole afternoon.
I had a badly needed afternoon rest and slept for the reminder of the day before getting up to have a shower and publish the blog.

Kakadu - Yellow Water

Sunday 26th July 2009
The family is still suffering from the flu and I'm also showing the first symptoms but today is the day we had to move on so we got up early enough to a temperature of 21°C and loads of humidity. I worked up a big sweat while packing up the caravan in slow motion but still had it all finished by 8am. We left Darwin around 8:15 and headed south on the Stuart Highway for a short distance before turning east towards Kakadu National Park.
Along the way we stopped at the "Windows to the Wetlands" center near the Adelaide River bridge and had a look at the interesting displays showing the intricacies of wetland Flora and Fauna. Alexander had no energy whatsoever, he mainly sat around and found the going fairly tough.
After this stop we didn't have another stop until we got to our final destination. At the Adelaide River bridge we could have gone on the Jumping Crocodile Cruise where the big Salties jump vertically out of the water, for their full body length, to get a chicken or whatever other bait is being used.
Unfortunately we were all too sick to go on this cruise and I was happy to finish driving as soon as possible. The track took us across the Mary River and many other small creeks, past Jabiru where we turned South (towards Pine Creek) and then into Cooinda which is really just a caravan park and petrol station very close to Yellow Water, a large Lagoon system running of the South Alligator River.
After we set up the caravan and had a bite to eat the kids had a bit of a rest before we went on the Yellow Water sunset cruise. A large boat took us out on Yellow Water and into the South Alligator River where we saw the incredible wildlife which makes Kakadu world famous and a World Heritage Area.
The bird life is unbelievable with Sea Eagles, Whisteling Ducks, Magpie Geese, Jabiru's, Brolgas, Kingfishers, Bee Eaters and many other species right next to the boat. One of the more curious birds is the so called "Jesus Bird" - it got it's name because it can walk on Water.
This was also our first opportunity to see Saltwater Crocs in the wild. They certainly are big and dangerous animals but the tourist boats don't seem to bother them at all. Salties have no natural enemies, other than another Saltie, so they can be quite confident that nothing is going to harm them. The safety briefing on the cruise did say not to bother with life jackets as survival chances are minimal for a person in the water.
Although we saw a few crocs, there were many we never got to see. Looking out in front of the boat I could see this sudden movement of water as if a large body, submerged just below the surface, suddenly dives deeper and leaves this quite substantial whirlpool on the surface. This happened many times, so I'm quite sure that there's plenty more crocs lurking just below the surface, should an unfortunate tourist fall in the water.
Towards the end of the cruise we stopped to enjoy a magnificent sunset over Kakadu viewed from Yellow Water. What a glorious end to the day.
When we got back to base Alexander and Andrea didn't eat much and I was the only one left with an appetite. As soon as Alexander hit the pillow he was asleep. I think I'll suffer the same fate tonight ....

Last lazy day in Darwin

Saturday 25th July 2009
Alexander has also fallen ill and was up during the night regurgitating some of his dinner. Andrea was feeling a little bit better in the morning and so was Ilse, and I'm the only one in good health at the moment. Alexander also turned 10 today but he was in no condition to enjoy is birthday and didn't really want to do anything other than sleep all day.
However, we can't allow small things such as illness interfere with our holiday - "The Show Must Go On".
We drove into Darwin to visit the famous Parap Market where I had some fried food for breakfast but the rest of the family didn't have any brekky at all. Alexander was continuously on the lookout for somewhere to sit down and Andrea was not much better but Ilse got a big boost of energy from the fact that we went to a market. The most interesting thing in this market was the Asian fruit and vegetables, most of which I have never laid eyes on before. I bought a fruit called a Thai Apple which looks nothing like an apple at all. Vicki bought some Jack Fruit which apparently tastes similar to banana. We stocked up on frozen Mangos and a few other fruit and veg and as a final treat I had a Crepe filled with Banana and Nutella and whipped cream on the side. I'm certainly not going hungry just because the rest of the family is off colour.
Our next stop was Joan's place at Nightcliff, where I went for a BBQ last night, so Ilse could also meet Joan and see the nice house on the foreshore. After a short stopover we moved onto the Nightcliff shopping centre to stock up with food for the next few days in Kakadu.
We arrived home around midday and Alexander fell asleep while sitting at the caravan table - see picture 1.
Sometime in the early afternoon we had a little bit of lunch and the kids went into their bunks to rest and recover while watching a DVD - they were even too tired to fight with each other or argue with us.
Later in the afternoon we took a short drive to a special gardening centre just down the road where they they were selling the most amazing Stone ornaments. From Gargoyles to large rocks turned into a letter box they had things I have never seen before. The most impressive was a very well made family of Dinosaurs in real life size - see picture 2.
I was the only one that had dinner tonight so I cooked for myself but later on Ron and Vicki came over and we tasted the Thai Apples and the Jack Fruit and then slaughtered a fresh coconut (from one of the palms in the caravan park) for it's milk and flesh.
On the subject of fruit - today we have learnt, from the ABC gardening talk back, about a fruit with a very bad smell (and taste) that grows around Darwin and we were amazed to learn (from the Horticulturalist on the ABC) that the Aboriginals named this fruit "S#!t Fruit". Apparently it's very healthy but nobody can work out how to make it palatable.

Tomorrow we'll be on the move again, this time to Kakadu National Park heading for Cooinda Lodge Caravan Park.

A day in the Caravan

Friday 24th July 2009
Andrea has come down with the flu overnight and had a temperature of 39.3°C this morning. I went to the Palmerston shopping centre to get some more medicine and we decided to spend the day at the caravan giving Andrea a chance to recover. By lunchtime Ilse was also laid up in bed with similar symptoms and we weren't going anywhere.
This morning I discovered that when I buy the Melbourne Newspaper "The Age" they charge $2 freight which raises the price from $1.50 to $3.50 and that's for yesterdays issue! The local paper "Northern Territory News" is a bit like our Albury Wodonga paper (Border Mail) but costs only $1.20 in Darwin and $1.40 in the Country.
The local paper has a fishing section were people can email their brag pictures and stories so everyone knows what everyone else has caught. Today's paper carries the headline story "What A Bunch Of Clowns" referring to the Council which has waived the site rent for a circus in exchange for tickets - I suppose the core issues are the same no matter where you go in this country. People with their snout in the trough trying to get more than their fair share and diddling the honest rate/tax payer in the process.
It is however interesting to note that for a comparatively small city with a population of only 120,000 Darwin records more than 4 assaults every day and has many alcohol related issues. The place is still a bit of a pioneer outpost and now that we have experienced the best time of the year, I can understand why it hasn't progressed much from an outpost.
Now is the coldest and driest Darwin has to offer and it's not very nice as far as I'm concerned. The overnight temperature dropped to 22°C and 92% humidity. Yesterday we put a cushion out to dry in the sun but didn't bring it in until a couple of hours after sunset - it was soaking wet from the humidity. There is heavy condensation on everything and with this much moisture around things get smelly and will not dry unless exposed to direct sunlight during the heat of he day. Today was 34°C and although the humidity dropped to 30% it was still very oppressing and activities would have to be restricted to swimming pool and other air conditioned venues.
If this is the best/driest time of the year I hate to imagine what the wet season is like.
Today we finally unpacked the little DVD player to keep the kids entertained while staying in the caravan. Unfortunately our site doesn't have any shade during the day so we've gotta keep the aircon going to keep the inside temperature down to 27°C during the daytime.
After a day of rest and nursing Andrea and Ilse, Alexander and I went to Dave's sister Joan for a BBQ. Joan's house is in Nightcliff, right on the beach opposite the boat ramp and without a fence the house is virtually part of the local park - what a great place. A wood fired BBQ provided some warmth for the others who thought that 25°C was quite cold - they were obviously real Darwinians!
Joan told us how the house was destroyed by cyclone Tracey in 1974 and how the house lies in the cyclone tidal range and how they are not allowed to stay in the house should a cyclone approach Darwin.
After a very nice night at Joan's place Alexander and I went back home to see how the flu victims were getting on and to get a good nights sleep after a rather hot day in Darwin.

Arafura Fishing

Thursday 23rd July 2009
Out of bed by 4:30am, a little bit of brekkie and of into the city for a fishing charter. Ilse and Andrea stayed in bed and had a girly day with Vicki. Us men-folk went out for some hunting and gathering.
The charter boat had a total of 14 fisher men and women on board and we headed out into the Arafura sea for some off-shore fishing.
Alexander hooked a Jewfish early on but pulling him up was beyond his strength and Dad had to help out and reel him in (and get the picture taken). At over 1mt in length he was a good size but not overly large for a Jewy. As it turned out, this was the only Jewy and the only fish of real size taken for the whole day. The rest of the day was spent hooking Tricky Snapper, Rock Cod, Spanish Flag and similar reef fish but nothing worth keeping.
This charter wasn't near as nice or professional as the one we did in Broome and the skippers lack of local fishing knowledge was evident by the low number of fish caught. However, it was a nice day out and Alexander hooked plenty of fish, which were much larger than what we catch at home, to make it a memorable experience for his upcoming birthday.
We were safely returned to land by 3:30 in the afternoon and back at the caravan park by 4pm for a shower and a little rest before heading out to Mindil Beach market, the most famous market in NT or maybe even Australia. The market is held in the parklands just behind Mindil Beach and has many bling products designed to attract girls (or their money to be more precise). We menfolk headed straight for the food stalls and tried the various foods on offer. Most foods came from somewhere in South East Asia and were cooked by stall holders from that nation which gives the whole market a real multicultural flair.
By 8pm we were back at the caravan filleting the Jewfish caught earlier in the day and by 9pm we were ready for bed after a very long day.
On of the facts we've learned today was that drink driving laws are quite different in NT. Any driver caught between 0.05% and 0.08% is dealt with as a traffic infringement with a $100 fine and 3 demerit points. It also permissible to drink and drive at the same time, that is, a driver drinking a stubbie while driving is quite acceptable in NT.
Things are certainly different up here ......

The big Midgee Resistance test

Wednesday 22nd July 2009
We are getting to know Darwin quite well and we can find our way around the major parts of town without referring to the map.
I took my car in to get the 15,000km service done - hard to believe that it's just 3 month old and has already done so many km's. While the car was being serviced Ron and I got our shopping fix at BCF - more fishing gear!
By time the car was finished it was nearly lunchtime and we went back into town for food shopping, a new camping chair for Andrea and a smaller camping table. A quick drive around the wharf to check out potential fishing spots and then we met up with John (thanks Davo for organizing this one) to check out the local fishing scene. We took John's boat down to the Boat Ramp at Buffalo Creek and then went by boat in an Easterly direction before heading up into the next creek.
First we went up a couple of small side arms and dropped a total of 7 crab pots baited with catfish heads and tails. These were tied onto the mangroves in parts where the waterway was just wide enough for the boat.
The we went to another spot with a little beach where John got out of the boat to cast a net for live bait. This exercise would be a bit too risky for me as a tourist but the locals know how to live with Salties and reckon there's no problem in knee deep water even with crocs living in the area.
The catch was only three bait fish but we went to a deep hole at the mouth of a side arm, anchored and started to do some bottom fishing with live bait and with frozen squid.
The total catch was 3 Rock Cod, which are quite nice eating fish, but they were not big enough to warrant keeping.
Six crab pots were pulled up empty and one had an undersized Mudcrab in it. It just wasn't our day - well, there's always tomorrow!
The sun was disappearing below the horizon when started heading back to the boat ramp at Buffalo Creek. We spent most of our fishing time in amongst or very close to mangroves which is where the Midges (Sandflies) live and attack mostly in the hours before and after sunset. The bites cause large skin lesions which last for two weeks or more and itch very badly - we've seen many travellers that have suffered from these nasty critters. Apparently the love to suck blood from Southerners. Vitamin B1 in the body is supposed to prevent bites - we have been taking B1 tablets daily for the last few weeks.
Although we've seen the Midges amongst the Mangroves, it appears that we have come through these close encounters without any bites.
It was well after dark by the time we arrived back at the caravan park. Just enough time for dinner and than off to bed - another early start (5am) for Alexander and me.

NT Museum

Tuesday 21st July 2009
First task for the morning was a quick trip to Bunnings where I bought a yellow tube for our outdoor light to make it less attractive to insects. On the way back we called in at the caravan dealer across the road to see what's happening with my new annex springs, but 8:30am was a bit too early for Tony. We hung around the caravan and got stuck into school work for a while, then rang Tony and organized replacements for our annex springs.
It was late morning by time we left for the city where our first destination was the "Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory". One of the first displays just after the entrance is "Sweetheart", the 5.1mt Estuarine (Saltwater) Crocodile which was captured in the 70's and put 780kg on the scales - what a monster. It got it's name from the Sweet's Lagoon where it resided until it was captured. The reason for it's capture was that it was attacking fisherman in the tinnies in particulare the outoard motor.
It's strange how different crocs display quite different and unique behaviour. In yesterdays newspaper was a picture of a 4mt saltie which has taken up residence in Fogg Dam and is quite happy to be on the road in close proximity to cars and people.
The museum also had a remarkable display on cyclone Tracey which destroyed Darwin on Christmas Eve in 1974. A short movie on a big screen shows pictures of the destruction the morning after and a sound booth plays a recording of the noise experienced by residents in their homes during cyclone Tracey.
The marine section of the museum has a strong focus on maritime vessels from Indonesia, just to the north of Darwin. Many of the vessels have been seized by customs and are now on display in the museum. It is quite amazing (and surprising) how some of these ships made it across without falling apart or sinking.
After the museum we fetched some lunch from a local takeaway before proceeding along the coast to East Point where we inspected the rocks and the mangroves, but took great care not to disturb the sandflies.
The photo on the right was taken at East Point with the Darwin CBD skyline in the background.
We stopped at BCF to get a camping clothes line and check out the fishing tackle.
Tonight, back at the caravan park, it appeared to be a little bit cooler but once the breeze dropped it was back to aircondition weather again.

Darwin

Monday 20th July 2009
The night at Batchelor was quite warm and we are back to using only sheets. We packed up in the not so hot morning hours and hit the road around 9am. The trip to Darwin was short and quick, just on an hour and we reached the Free Spirit Resort Caravan Park. There are hundreds of caravans in this big park and there was a queue at the gate when we arrived. The park has three swimming pools and numerous amenities. Not really my preference of parks but that's what it's like close to the big smoke. The park is in Pinelands, a suburb around 20km from Darwin CBD.
Before we drove into the caravan park we called in to see the Caravan Dealer across the road to see if we could get new springs for our annex. He had some springs on order but everything in NT is somewhat slower than the rest of Australia so it takes 7 days to get products from the East Coast delivered to Darwin.
We have heard that NT stands for "Not Today, Not Tomorrow, Not on Tuesday and Not on Thursday", and they are not joking! Everything up hear is happening a half speed or slower, even the checkout chicks at the supermarket are only going half the speed we are used to in NSW and VIC.
Setting up the caravan in the heat was rather exhausting and I worked up a big sweat in the process. I can see why they work only at half speed up here.
The first thing that we noticed was the very loud roar of the Air Force fighter jets taking off from the Darwin Airbase just up the road. They are so noisy that they interrupt conversations between people on the ground. After about 10 of the noise makers took off, we found out that the defence forces are currently conducting an exercise and this noisy air traffic is only intermittent - what a relief.
Darwin is built around its big airport, so no matter where you are there are always aeroplanes overhead.
We took a drive into Darwin and booked a fishing charter for Thursday at the tackle shop up the road. In Darwin CBD we called into the visitor information centre before heading North to a couple of camping and fishing shops - the BCF shop up here is much much bigger than the Albury shop!
The next stop was the big shopping centre at Casuarina - this place is a real metropolitan shopping centre, much larger than anything we have in Albury Wodonga. We stocked up on food supplies as it has been well over a week since our last decent food supply in Kunanurra.
Dinner and a bit of computer work bring the day to an end and we are already looking forward to exploring this interesting place in more detail.

Wangi Falls

Sunday 19th July 2009
We had Baked Beans for brekky to remind ourselves that today is Sunday.
Today's task was to explore the far end of Litchfield National Park where Wangi Falls, the main attraction, is located. On the drive in we passed a few tour buses as they do the near end first. There appear to be quite a number of tours buses running day trips out of Darwin into this fantastic park.
Wangi Falls (photo 1) is about 70km from Batchelor but the roads are all bitumen in excellent condition. We got to the Falls before the masses arrived and were suitably impressed by the high vertical rock walls and the two water falls cascading down into the pool. The whole area was like a suburban park with concrete paths, aluminium benches, good toilets and even a kiosk selling food and drink which is very rare in Australian National Parks. The pool was surrounded by lush green vegetation and many of the Pandanous Palms which grow everywhere near water in this park.
However, on the approach to the pool there was a big sign (in 5 languages) reminding people that Saltwater Crocs inhabit these waters and one has to be on the lookout at all times. I sent the kids (with goggles) into the water first to establish that are no crocs around before I entered the somewhat cold but clear pool. A bit further out, in the middle of the pool, there was a nice sand bank with shallow and warm water where people met for a chat. I joined into the activity and gained some more camping info from fellow campers.
During my long swim (chat in the water) the kids were busy looking for fish and anything else they could find. I ended up with a new pair of Adidas Sunnies from the bottom of the pool.
By lunchtime the place was swarming with people from both cars and buses and we couldn't even find a free picnic table. We did what we normally do, prepare sandwiches at the back of the car and eat them while standing around.
On the way out we stopped at Tolmer Falls (photo 2) to take a few pictures and arrived back at Batchelor in the early afternoon. The kids had a swim in the pool and we had a bit of a rest.
It appears the cold snap is over now. Last night was just under 20°C and today was 33°C. Even after sunset the temperature stays around 25°C which make living outside very pleasant.
Tomorrow we'll be in Darwin and it looks like we've got a lot more exploring to do and I suspect we'll have to do some fishing as well.

Florence Falls

Saturday 18th July 2009
Another cold night at Bundy Station - only 14°C in the morning. The locals are freezing and we are certainly feeling the cold.
Our camp was packed up shortly after breakfast and we were on the road heading further North towards Darwin. Before we get to the big smoke we have another two nights in Batchelor near the entrance to Litchfield National Park. We pulled into the Big4 Caravan Park at Batchelor shortly after 9am having travelled only 50km from our last camp. After a setting up camp, resting and chatting we had a bit to eat and then departed for a bit more swimming at Florence Falls in Litchfield. Today being weekend we encountered a lot more Darwinians in Litchfield than yesterday, no wonder it's only an hour out of Darwin.
This time we took goggles for the kids so they could check out the marine life in the Plunge Pool. The predominant species is the Sooty Grunter which is found in abundance and with quite good size since there's no one fishing in the pools. We were wondering if fishing is allowed as there are no signs to say otherwise. Those fish look pretty well fed and would make a good dinner for us.
After a couple of hours swimming we walked back up the 135 steps to the car park and made our way back to Batchelor where the day eventually came to an end with a frozen Mango and Ice cream desert.

Litchfield National Park

Friday 17th July 2009
Night time at Bundy Station was rather cold and we had to use a sleeping bag on top of the sheet. We stayed in bed until 8am when it was warmer outside the Caravan than inside. After brekky and a bit of a chat we went for a drive to Batchelor, about 40km up the road, where we checked out the Town Centre before entering Litchfield National Park, the Jewel in the Crown of NT National Parks. The park certainly lived up to the promise and our first stop was the Magnetic Termite mounds. These mounds are long and narrow and aligned to the cardinal directions. The Magnetic Termites live in flood prone areas and can therefore not move underground like most of the other termite species. To survive the temperature changes on the surface they build north-south aligned mounds which only expose a narrow edge to the sun during midday but a wide edge in the morning to gather warmth. The termites move around inside the mound to keep their body temperature in the correct range.
The first photo on the right shows one of the big termite mounds but it's a normal "Cathedral" mound, not a magnetic one.
Our next stop was Buley Rockholes which reminded me a little bit of Woolshed Falls in Beechworth. The creek cascades down over rock formations and has washed large holes out of the rock leaving behind crystal clear pools of water. The second photo shows one such waterhole but only a small one. We went up and down the creek exploring every hole and waterfall and the kids loved playing around in the pools and watching the fish.
There were plenty of other people around as we are still in NT school holidays and this park is only 100km from Darwin. I'm not sure how long we stayed there, probably a couple of hours, but the kids didn't want to leave this fantastic place.

Just a short drive up the road was Florence Falls (photo 3). From the carpark we had to take a short walk to the lookout where we could see two large waterfalls from a good vantage point high above. The well made track to the "Plunge Pool" included 135 stairs down to the bottom of the gorge. The Plunge Pool was the most amazing place I have seen in a long time, two waterfalls coming down from a fair height, a huge pool beneath with steep rockfaces either side of the waterfall and the water running out through the base of a very dense forrest with palms and rocks. A stunning sight straight out of a fantasy story book - I would have called them "Paradise Falls" as the area looks the way one imagines Paradise.
We had another long swim in this hole and admired the beautiful environment for quite some time before walking back up to the carpark. On our way back to Adelaide River we called in to check out a couple of Caravan Parks in Batchelor since we are shifting camp to Batchelor tomorrow morning.

Mt Bundy Station - Adelaide River

Thursday 16th July 2009
The campfire had enough hot coal to cook pancakes for brekkie this morning - kids love pancakes. We were packed up and back on the Stuart Highway by 10am heading for Adelaide River - total trip distance around 100km. About 3km from Adelaide River is Bundy Station where we made our camp for the next two nights. Although not a "real" station, there are a few buffalo and cows in the front paddock and plenty of horses around the place.
A peacock is also wandering through the camp grounds and the horses, roaming around free, came for a visit to see if we had any food for them.
After lunch we checked out Adelaide River which has a Pub, General Store, Primary School and a couple of Service Stations.
It's claim to fame is the Wartime Cemetery which is a mixture between Cemetery and Botanical Gardens. Being located 100km from Darwin, Adelaide River played a very important role during WW2 and was chosen as the place to bury the casualties of war including the post office workers killed in the attack on Darwin.
We also drove over the low level river crossing and saw the crocodile warning signs (for salties). We have also been told that Mt Bundy Station, where we camp, has one Saltie upstream and another downstream.
The flood level of the rivers in this region is incredible - the level gauge at the crossing in Adelaide River has a top level of 13mt (see photo) and the level where we stood is already 6mt above the river. These gauges are not just for decoration, on the bridge opposite there was a heap of driftwood from the last wet sitting just below that 13mt mark.
Back at Bundy Station the kids tried the swimming pool and I sat in the shade to see the day out. Now that we are back in a phone reception area we will also catch up with emails and business matters to fill in the evening.

Hot Springs

Wednesday 15th July 2009
Douglas Daily Tourist Park is nice place with basic facilities about 100km from Adelaide River. They even have fuel bowsers at the park but at $1.90/lt I'll wait until we get to Adelaide River. Next to us was a Family with 3 kids on holidays from Darwin, it didn't take long before our kids made friends with them and had a good time playing together.
Our days activity was to check out the local are and in particular the Douglas Hot Spring which are only a short drive from the park. The scenery at the springs is quite spectacular with the river flowing through sandy ground and palm trees along side. The river emerges from the ground in hot springs, the water flowing along just after the springs is actually too hot to touch, 60°C they reckon. There are a series of springs popping up with a distance between them. As the water flows along it cools down and then another spring mixes in with it. The areas where cold and hot water flow together are ideal to relax in the water (picture 1) as one can find a nice spot with just the right temperature around 30°C.
It's just like having a cold and hot water tap and adjusting the temperature. Once I had explored a bit of the river I settled into such a near perfect place and started to chat with the other people around me. After 4-5 hrs in the warm water the worms started to bite and I had to drag the kids away from the warm water and sand to go back to the caravan for a late lunch. The afternoon was spent with a bit of fishing in the Douglas River right next to the camp area. By the time the sun went down we had hooked a couple of Sooty Grunters (locally called Black Bream) and two turtles but nothing worth keeping.
Back at the camp our neighbours had already lit our communal campfire and the kids were playing with their new friends. We cooked our tea (Mackerel) on the fire and had Bread and Butter Pudding (cooked in Ron's camp oven) for desert. We didn't got to bed until pretty late as we sat around the fire and talked to our neighbours (who originate from Melbourne) about life in Darwin.

Douglas Daly Tourist Park

Tuesday 14th July 2009
One of the changes in the environment are the number of bugs and little critters which come to the lights during the night.
In WA there were virtually none whereas here in NT there's plenty of them. Last night was also the first time we noticed the air traffic in and out of Darwin airport.
We had a good night at Mathison rest area but at about 3am a carload of German tourists pulled in and set up their tents disturbing the otherwise quiet night.
Ron got the fire going in the morning and we had baked beans on toast for brekkie. The people opposite our caravan gave us all their vegetables as they were heading towards the WA border where Quarantine collect all fruit and veg.
We got going eventually and after about one hour on the road we arrived in Katherine where we parked just on the edge of the CBD and then walked to the post office and bank before refuelling on our way out. Katherine is a neat little town with lots of shops and other infrastructure. A large part of the population is indigenous and like most towns up here Katherine has special rules governing the sale of alcohol.
Our travel direction changed from East to North as we headed up the Stuart Highway in the general direction of Darwin which is not that far away.
We had our lunch stop at Pine Creek in the park next to the old railway display and then continued on to a small place called Hayes Creek where we left the Stuart highway for the 40km drive to Douglas Daly Tourist Park. There is no town at this location on the Douglas River, just a Tourist Park with Diesel Generator Power and unlimited water supply. The hot springs around this area provide all the water to keep the Douglas River flowing all year round.
After our caravan setup we went for a drive 2km down the river to a location called The Arches (photo 1) where the Douglas River flows through some rocks which form an arch due to the washout beneath. After these rocks the water emerges to a nice swimming hole with a sandy beach. There are fresh water crocs in the area but salties have not been seen for quite some time.
A little bit further up the river at "The Weir" we could see a few Black Bream swimming in the water. Although these waters are famous for Barramundi it is now a little bit too cold for Barra so we tried our luck using lures and bait but coulnd't entice a single Black Bream to take either. We had to admit defeat and eat canned Tuna for dinner.
Alexander managed to get one of my good lures snagged in a tree on the other bank of the river. This meant that I had to cross (picture 2) these [potentially] croc infested waters to retrieve my lure from a tree. You'll be happy to know that the resident fresh water crocs stayed in hiding while I crossed and the salties are probably a lot further downstream (we assume).

Northern Territory

Monday 13th July 2009
The tyre place was my first stop today - at 7am I rocked up, handed in my old tyre and $370 later drove away with a new Tyre. By 8am we were driving out of the caravan park heading towards Katherine. Not long after leaving Kununurra we crossed the border into Northern Territory where we stopped to take a photo before continuing on to Timber Creek to top up fuel. The scenery has changed somewhat since we left WA, a lot more rolling hills and much lusher vegetation. The rivers on this side of the border actually have water in them and it's starting to look a lot more like how I've always imagined the Tropics. As we crossed the border into NT we also lost 1.5hrs as we are now on Central Standard Time. With the time difference and all that it was already lunch time when we pulled up for morning tea. By the time we pulled up for our nightly stop, at a Rest Area called Mathesion, it was really too late for lunch so we had snacks and started the cooking fire. Sunset is now after 6:30pm - a big improvement over the 5pm sunset in Kununurra. Once we had good cooking coal Ron's new Hill Billy camp oven was put into action to make a beer damper. With the beer damper pronounced a success we proceeded to cook Ron's Barramundi Fillet and then the mince and potatoes in the fire. Once all this food was consumed it was time for desert, Berries on chocolate cake and ice cream.
Tomorrow we'll continue onto Katherine, which is only 100km up the road, and then to Douglas Daly for our next stop.

Wyndham

Sunday 12th July 2009
We left not long after breakfast for the 100km drive to Wyndham where we really didn't expect much and our expectations were met. However, along the way to our destination we went past the East end of the Gibb River road which is a bit of a landmark. There isn't much at Wyndham apart from a crocodile park, a large concrete croc, a boat ramp and the Five Rivers Lookout (picture 1). We checked out the boat ramp first to see if the locals (all Aboriginals) were catching any fish but apart from a few little catfish there was nothing. There was however no shortage of locals trying to sell us carved boad nuts. While we chatted away with the locals a small tinny pulled up with two adults and two children. They came from a 12mt catamaran anchored not far away. The two boys were 9 and 11 yrs old and had spent most of their life (the last 7 years) living on board the catamaran cruising the Philipines whilst being enrolled in Distance Education for their schooling. The parents reckon that it's time to get the kids back on land so they can attend high school. As they were 2 and 4 years old when they left Perth neither of them have ever been in a class room nor have they got any school mates or other friends.
Life is cheap in the Philipines, so they just lived of the rent which they collect for their house in Perth. If it wasn't for the kids they wouldn't go back to the suburbs.
Our next stop was the Service station where the fuel was about 16 cents cheaper than in Kununurra and the bloke that runs the servo also runs the tourist info from the servo counter. The next destination was the Five Rivers Lookout (picture 1) high above Wyndham where we got a great view of the area and all the rivers feeding into it. Although it was pretty impressive, it must be awesome when they rivers are flowing strong during the wet season.
A bit further out of town was a 7km dirt road leading to Parrys Lagoon. The Lagoon (picture 2) was a real oasis in the dry landscape and the birdlife was simply stunning. It was the first time we spotted Brolgas in the wild. There were countless ducks, moorhens, kites, sea eagles, egretts other species we have never seen before. We spent a bit of time in the bird hide before we had our lunch on this beautiful lagoon which was full of water lillies.
On the way out we stopped at a couple of pretty Boab trees, which are abundant in this particular region of the Kimberley, and also at the old Telegraph Station overlooking the lagoon.
Back on the bitumen I noticed that the 4WD wouldn't disengage and then I briefly heard a couple of strange noises during acceleration but couldn't quite figure out what was wrong. However, a few kilometers further, just after we turned to "The Grotto", it all became clear when the noises were more pronounced and I stopped to investigate and found the left hand rear tyre was flat (only on the bottom!).
A quick tyre change on the side of the road (picture 3) saw us pulled up for 15 minutes - we gave "The Grotto" a miss and turned back towards Kununurra, now without a spare tyre for the car.
Back in Kununurra we tried Ron's tyre fixing kit but found that the tyre had suffered a bad cut, probably from a sharp rock on the dirt road. Although Ron fixed the hole the tyre is in very poor condition and wouldn't last if put back on the car. I will try to get a new tyre before we depart tomorrow morning.
Back at the caravan our generous neighbour Peter, who's been on a Barrmundi fishing trip, gave us a couple of Barra fillets to whet our appetite. Needless to say the Barra was beautiful and we will try go on a Barra fishing trip during our stay in NT.
Tomorrow will be a big day, new tyre at 7am then hitch uo the caravan and head towards Katherine. We will camp out tomorrow night so I will not be online to upload the blog but hopefully we'll come back to civilization some time on Tuesday when we should arrive in Douglas Springs.

Kununurra Show Day

Saturday 11th July 2009
Today was the one of the biggest days on the Kununurra Calendar - the main show day of the Agricultural Society. Since our Caravan Park is just across the road from the main gate we had to go and check it out for ourselves. Ron, Alexander and I had a good look at all the prize winning cattle which were mainly Brahman and Brahman cross breeds. There was also the big machinery and when I say (write) big, I mean big - we saw some serious tractors on display.
Poly pipe (for watering) is a very high turnover commodity item in the Kimberley. They sell 50mm (2 inch) pipe in 1.7km length - in VIC/NSW the same product can only be sold in 400mt length due to transport restrictions, but up here the big road trains carry 30 of these huge rolls at once. One particular station up here is currently laying this pipe at a rate of 18km per day!
Irrigation is certainly big up here but the Pastoral Cattle Industry is also very substantial with the average breeding herd size around 3000 head and some of the developed leases over 10,000 head.
We called at the Fisheries department stand to get the good oil on local fishing and enter a competition where we had to estimate the size of a crab shell.
The show also had the usual sideshow alley and a pavilion where the local cooking and vegetable entries were on display. The biggest pumpkin on show was 77kg - what a whopper!
Of course there were also the usual fatty food stalls but all we had was a couple of Fuji apples from a "Healthy Eating" stall.
While we were at the show the girls did a bit of shopping and we met back at the caravan for lunch. As today was a bit of a lazy day I had a little afternoon siesta before we departed for a little bit of fishing at Lake Kununurra where we were hoping to catch some Silver Cobbler or Catfish. Down near the pump house at the back of the golf course was our spot. We were a little bit cautious as a big saltwater croc has been sighted in the Lake and the department has traps set to try and catch him. We cast out and then stand 4 or 5 mt back from the waters edge so we can run if the salty decides to show himself. Crocs are rather slow on land but unbeatable in water.
Two days ago our Bungle Bungle tour guide Jimmy told us about his friend who was camping with his girlfriend a good distance away from the waters edge to be safe but during the night a croc came out and tried to drag them into the water with tent and all. Luckily they both escaped through the other end of the tent so all the croc got was an empty tent and they both lived to tell the tale!
Ron caught two catfish and Alexander caught one whilst I was very busy re-rigging rods to keep up with Alexanders tangles and snags. The fish were too small to eat but they made an interesting grunting noise when out of the water. The catfish seemed to bite on beef just as well as they did on squid.
Back to the caravan on sunset and our new neighbour told us all about his Barra fishing trip and showed us the photographs - we drooled over pictures of the 76cm Barra he caught.
After tea we were treated to another fireworks display from the show and the band kept playing music until late into the night, long after we had gone to bed.

The Mighty Ord River

Friday 10th July 2009
Domestic work filled in part of our morning before Alexander, Andrea, Ron and myself drove to the Ivanhoe crossing (Picture 1) which is a permanently submerged stretch of road across the Ord River. Alexander got a ride across the water in Ron's car whilst I remained on shore to take pictures as they went through the water. In Picture 2 on the right, just to the left of the car is a rock a bit further into the river, if you look closely you will see a crocodile resting on that rock only a few meters away from the car.
After the first excitement for the morning was over we went back to the caravan and packed our bags for an 11:30am tour pickup. The tour bus took us to the Durack Homestead now located just outside Argyle Village. The Durack family were the first to establish a cattle station and build a Homestead in 1884 after a 2 year journey from Queensland with wagons and 2000 head of cattle. They established Argyle Station which was submerged when Lake Argyle was filled. The Homestead was relocated and is now available for viewing. However, most of the station buildings and equipment is still submerged as the Lake filled within two years instead of the forecast 10 years and caught everyone by surprise.
Lake Argyle has risen by 1mt during a single day last February and evaporates about 3.5mt every year - evaporation is by far the biggest user of Argyle Water. Only 10% of the water flowing out of Lake Argyle is used for irrigation, the remaining 90% flows straight out to sea. The amount of water inflow during the wet season is unbelievably high and this Lake has the capacity to supply the whole of Australia with fresh water and still have plenty left over.
The Duracks didn't have all of this when they settled in the Kimberley but they battled on and established a live export market for their cattle shipping them from Wyndham direct to Asia. If only they knew that the real value of their land was in the Diamonds and not the pastures!
Our bus driver had lots of information to impart and we had a very interesting trip to Argyle Village and then onto the Argyle Dam wall (Picture 3) which is a tiny wall, only 300mt across the top, for such a huge expanse of water. It is the most efficient dam in the world as far as effort required for the amount of water gained.
The bus took us to the bottom of the wall where we boarded a cruise boat for the 55km journey along the Ord River back to Kununurra. The boat was very impressive with two 350HP outboards and a planing hull it achieves a speed of 35kt.
The guide was fantastic and knew just about everything about the flora and fauna in this area. On our cruise we saw many fresh water crocs and various birds including a Jabiru.
The landscape starts with near vertical rock walls either side of the sometimes narrow river and ends in the flat, wide waters of lake Kununurra. The colours range from the iron ore reds which are so typical for the Kimberley, right through to the lush green of the vegetation on the banks which sometimes looks like jungle. I can not find the words to describe this unbelievable landscape but I have included photo 4 on the right hand side to illustrate what I mean.
We headed up a little creek to see for ourselves what happens when the floods are really big and creeks rise by 10mt or more - the width of the creek simply doubles and everything is washed away.
Along the way we pulled into a bush camp stop next to the only permanent waterfall on the upper Ord River. This little hideout has a toilet and water plus shaded tables and chairs where we had our afternoon tea with scones, carrot cake and fresh local fruit.
The colours on this landscape are very well defined during daytime but as the sun gets into the last hour of the day the tones soften and the lanscape is bathed in a gold and pink blend which makes for a totally surreal scene. Picture 5, the one with the reflection was taken at Maxwell's Creek just before sunset and shows the soft golden pink tones.
We had to depart this idyllic creek in hurry to ensure we didn't miss the sunset over Lake Kununurra as shown in Picture 6.
An indicator of how fascinating this landscape looks is the number of photos I take - today 218, yesterday 276. When I get back home you better not ask me to see the holiday pics unless you have a week to spare!
We arrived back at the caravan park around 6pm and found the 37th Annual Agricultural Show already in full swing on the showgrounds opposite the caravan park. There was plenty of activity with bands playing, rides and all sorts of stalls. As a special surprise we were treated to fireworks just after 8pm - I can still hear some noise now but things are definitley quitening down ready for the big show day tomorrow.

A day at Purnululu

Thursday 9th July 2009
Out of bed at 5am, no brekkie, pickup at 5:30am from the caravan park, 6am take off from Kununurra Airport right on sunset.
The flight took us over the Packsaddle irrigation are to the proposed Ord Stage 2 area and then to Lake Argyle. This amazing expanse of water is actually considered an "Inland Sea" which means that boats on Lake Argyle have to comply with the same regulations as Ocean going vessels.
The Lake itself holds 10,000 Gigaliters of Water which equal to 10 Million Olympic Swimming Pools or 22 times the water in Sydney Harbour or 4 times the water in Lake Hume (when it's full). It's the largest manmade lake in Australia with a surface area of 1000 square kilomenter. It's also home to 25,000 fresh water crocs and a large population of catfish which is "exported" to Perth under the name of "Silver Cobbler".
After having passed the Lake we were in pretty remote country where 2 large cattle stations are located. One is the "Lissadell Station" with about 8000 head and the other is "Texas Downs Station" with 10,000 head. Texas Downs Station can not be accessed by road train due to rough terrain so their cattle are mustered up Cattle Creek and across Bow River to Lissadell Station's cattle yards.
The Bow River is the natural border between the two stations but in the dry season stock can cross the Bow. Cattle are branded and therefore can be indetified but those born out in the wild will belong to whoever brands them first.
Over a few more rocks and past the now closed Bow River Diamond mine and we could already see Purnululu National Park, a world heritage area, which contains the famous Bungle Bungles. The flight path takes us past these bee hive rocks and we appreciate their impressive shapes and colours.
The Bungle Bungles are formed round by a combination of the geology that makes up the rock and constant South Easterly winds blowing in from Tanami Desert which starts just here at the Bungles.
We landed at the Bellburn (dirt) airstrip and were greeted by our Aboriginal guide Jimmy who took us a short distance to the Wilderness Camp in a small 4WD bus. We were served a cooked breakfast before our departure (on Bus) to Cathedral Gorge. The walk from the carpark into the Gorge went through the dry creek bed all the way up the end where the gorge widens out to a cathedral like structure with a little lake inside it.
We learned that the striped appearance of the Bungles comes from the red (iron rich) Sandstone and the black cynobacteria which grows on it's surface.
After the walk back out of the gorge and another drive we consumed our packed lunches before walking into Echidna Chasm which is a steep valley surrounded by 200m high vertical walls. As we walked through the dry creek bed into the Chasm we encountered palm trees against the spectecular red backdrop of the steep sandstone walls. Further in the Chasm narrows down to one person width but still 200mt vertical walls. We walked all the way to the end of the Chasm before returning to our bus for our trip back to the airstrip. Along the way we stopped for a short walk up to Kungkalahayi Lookout before we had afternoon tea at the Wilderness Lodge. Around 4pm we arrived back at the airstrip and were greeted by our pilot who shoved us into the Gippland Aeronautics "Airvan" where every passenger gets a window seat. The flight back gave us another perspective of the Bungles before our track back to Kununurra. Along the way we checked out the Argyle Diamond mine which produces 25% of the worlds diamonds. They are best know for their pink diamonds with fetch a huge amount of money due to the "silent auction" sales method employed by the mine owners Rio Tinto. This mine produces 20 million carats of diamonds a year.
Back over Lake Argyle and in for a close look of the dam wall which is surpisingly small, only a fraction of the Lake Hume wall. Whoever worked out that such a small wall would capture such a huge amount of water was very clever indeed. We followed the Spillway Creek all the way back to Kununurra where we landed spot on sunset at 5pm. Needless to say that by the time we got back to the Caravan we were ready for bed - thank god that tomorrow's tour doesn't start until 11:30am.