The Top End and East Kimberley

We’ve just been into Western Australia to see the East Kimberley region. After Kakadu and the surrounding areas of Darwin and Katherine in the ‘Top End’ of the Northern Territory, we thought the natural beauties of this country couldn’t possibly get any more spectacular. But the Kimberley is just amazing – and we only saw a relatively small portion of it and none of the northern coast line of WA and none of the Pilbera region.

Currently we are about to travel back through the NT to make our way to Central Australia over the next two or three weeks. But for now, and the sakes of the chronology of this blog journal, I’ll go back a few weeks to when we arrived in the Top End.

Katherine

Katherine contained some beautiful springs and swimming holes around and within the Katherine River – you need them because it is so hot up here (ranging from 34-38 degrees). The Katherine Hot Springs are absolutely pristine, which is pretty amazing considering they have been a refuge from the heat for many thousands of years. The town itself wasn’t much, but there was a Woolies there so we could do some decent shopping after the small, essentials-only Outback road stops. You can’t buy grog (take-away) before 2.15pm in the Top End.

The Katherine Gorge is some way out of town and is well worth the visit. There is ancient rock art and the river/gorge system is vast and impressive. There only seems to be fresh water crocs inhabiting these waterways, which is ok because from what I can tell there haven’t been any freshie attacks for yonks (although dogs don’t seem to count). And they don’t have the orthodontic equipment to maim in the way that the salties do. It is only a ‘no go’ for swimming if salt water crocs are known to have inhabited the waterway in recent times.

Some of the locals don’t seem to worry too much at all, while others don’t go near the water. To help get a better understanding of this area, I bought the book ‘We of the Never Never’ which was based on life at a cattle station in this region over 100 years ago. It was one of the best reads I’ve ever done, giving an insightful feel for this land, its raw, harsh beauty and those who inhabit it.

Darwin and surrounding regions

We then continued on up to Darwin where we stayed for a couple of weeks to explore and spent a week with mum, Liz’s mum Kay and sister Sally and Sally’s daughter Sophia. Over several days we drove around the various natural springs and waterways in the region, and in and around town itself. Berry Springs and the many spectacular falls and plunge pools in Litchfield National Park (Buley Rocks, Tolmer Falls, Florence Falls and Wangi Falls) afforded much needed respite from the heat. Darwin itself is fairly modern with good infrastructure. Nice place, but the f$#@ing heat… The ‘blow ins’ did a coach tour to Kakadu one day while we did some domestic stuff (we would be taking our van there soon).

Another day the kids went to a croc park in Darwin and handled snakes etc, and we found an out of town Aboriginal cultural centre (run by a really nice white bloke who thought he was one of them) where there were more snakes and birds to handle, along with paintings and other stuff that cost up to $15,000 a piece. We bought a small didgeridoo for two hundred bucks. (See Katherine and Darwin region pics here.)

Kakadu

After farewelling the relos, we headed into Kakadu and based ourselves at Cooinda. Many more kilometers were covered in a few days exploring this area, visiting rock arts sites and lookouts to some of the most exquisite and vast country we’ve seen. We did a scenic tour in a plane for an hour and it was only by doing this that we were able to fully grasp the scale and varied beauty of the Kakadu landscape. It really is an awesome place – massive escarpments, huge wetlands, incredible bird life, huge tidal rivers etc.

A boat trip on the Yellow Waters takes you into the heart of this place for close encounters with the wildlife. There are crocs everywhere, and they’re all salties (they eat all of the freshies). Returning from a day’s outing in the car one day we picked up an Abo guy who was hitching in the 37 degree heat half way between Ubirr and Jabiru. He got in behind me next to the kids and wanted to go to Jabiru (which was on our way). He smiled after I gave him some water and the teeth he did have were the same colour as his skin. We drove him right into his community and on the way out Charlie asked why ‘Abodijines don’t brush their teeth’, and Tabitha added ‘and use deoderant?’. Then she said ‘they only have enough money for beer’. To which Charlie concluded, ‘everyone needs money for beer’. There are so many ants in Kakadu that when camping you need several cans of insect and surface spray just to keep them at bay every few days. (See Kakadu pics here.)

East Kimberley

It was then ‘back on the road again’ (which we play each time we move on – even Charlie knows the words to the Willie Nelson classic) to make our way 800km west over two days to the Kimberley. We based ourselves in Kununurra, and to our amazement it is even hotter in this region than the Top End. When you cross the border, quarantine inspectors check your car and van, and we accidentally forgot to discard some veges that morning but the inspector was happy to take them off us. We later found some potatoes we all missed which are the most offending item.I was in the van park pool and noticed our inspector in there, too. I told him about the potatoes and he looked like he saw a ghost. Hed reckons we got away with paying a $250 fine. ‘Where were they,’ he asked desperately. I told him and I think he’ll be more vigilant next time. WA doesn’t allow any fresh fruit and veges into the State, the wowsers.

We drove the 200km round trip (including creek crossings) to the El Questro Wilderness Park which, naturally, contains various beautiful gorges and hot springs (but it’s not much relief going from 38 plus degree heat into 34 degree water, no matter how scenic it is). Yesterday was a huge day. In the morning we did a two and half hour scenic flight over the Kununurra region (which includes the irrigation area, the massive Lake Argyle, the huge Argyle Diamond Mine, and the Ord River which runs out from the Lake, and, confusingly, with a part of the river itself being dammed to form Lake Kununurra although it just looks like a wide section of the river) and then over 200km south to the Bungle Bungles.

All very awesome, including landing on the lake and having morning tea on a deserted island. While there the pilot had to clean up after both kids had vomitted. He cleaned while we sipped tea and looked for diamonds in the rocks on the beach. The lake is so big it is classified as an inland sea and gives off a horizon like the ocean. For the Pratts, there are some impressive power lines around the lake, which contains millions of very tasty (no joke) catfish.

That night we went to a rodeo (pronounced up here ‘row-dee-o’, not the American way ‘row-day-o’). Some of the cowboys (or stockmen) got absolutely smashed by their bucking broncos. One got hammered up against the fence right next to us and Tabitha had to cover up her ‘steak burger’ to stop the dust getting onto it. The people there were fairly wild. We left early because we were buggered but it looked like it was going to be a huge night of partying on. (See East Kimberley pics here.)

Currently we are preparing for our return to the NT. By the time we get back to Katherine we will have done over 3,500km since we were there nearly four weeks ago (and our last blog post). We’ve met some incredible people: locals, other travelers and those who started out travelling but became locals. All the guides are passionate about their jobs and are so knowledgeable. Surprisingly, there are many families doing what we are doing, only most are taking several years to do it (with most of those picking up work along the way to keep them going). One thing I’ve noticed as a VB drinker travelling around Oz is that every pub sells the stuff, AND in my favourite vessel, a tinnie. Otherwise you’ve got to drink what the locals drink (whatever that is). Got a love this country!

All our pics can be found here.

The Outback

We have been in the Outback for the past two weeks, only passing from remote Queensland to the Northern Territory a few days ago (everywhere in the NT is remote). We now have 10,000kms on the speedo. It’s been about 35 degrees most days, so it’s bloody hot. For the past week or so we’ve been mainly staying in van parking areas behind pubs (the pub is also a servo and bistro and there is usually nothing else at most of these Outback towns). Combine pubs and extreme heat and you end up with a lot of alcohol drunk (drunk being the operative word, but not for us). It’s so hot most pubs have a pool.

We have just arrived at Katherine and the heat and humidity is only going to strengthen as the dry season moves way and the wet is about to begin. We will be in Darwin in a few days so luckily the wet really doesn’t start for about another few weeks or so. We are thinking we will then drive 500 clicks to Kununurra to see the Kimberly region before doubling back all the way to The Three Ways (or Tennant Creek) and doing Central Australia, which in contrast to this region is fairly cool, especially at night.

Anyway, picking up from the last blog, we really enjoyed Port Douglas and that region, visiting Mossman Gorge, the Mossman Sugar Mill, the Daintree River and Cape Tribulation. The reason why we are a bit late here at the Top End is because we spent so long in FNQ. From there we drove through the Atherton Tablelands into what is called the Savannah. The Savannah stretches all the way into WA and includes virtually all of the Gulf country, which is spartan but beautiful in a wild sort of way. Hot springs surprisingly spring up all over the place, with the water being supplied by the Daley and Barkley artesian tablelands here in the NT.

We went to a God forsaken place called Mount Surprise, which as we’ve since found out is symptomatic of most Outback towns (as described above). But we loved it. When we go to a pub now, the kids walk right up to the bar and sit down on stools, just like locals. We will have to change this behavior when we get back to the civilized States. Tabitha was even allowed behind the bar at Daley Waters. We then went via Normanton to Kurumba (see if you can find it on the map) to see sunsets over the Gulf. Around this part of Australia you don’t get much dual carriage roadway. They are often just a single bitumen lane, and a very narrow one at that. So when a road train comes towards you, you slow down real quick and find somewhere safe to pull off the road, hoping (praying) you can do this before he gets to you. We stumbled upon the Gregory River at Gregory Downes and were able to (free) camp on the pebbly river bed next to the fast flowing river. We held on to air tubes and blown-up wine cask bladders as we floated on the current of the river. Snorkeling, I could see huge barra under the old bridge in this river hundreds of kms from the gulf, where all female barra are supposed to go to reproduce. In the pub there is a photo of a 4m saw fish caught by a local in the river. Scary!

We saw the gorge at the Lawn Hill National Park (no sealed roads out there where the Century zinc mine roadtrains come from) and back to the Burke and Wills Roadhouse before going to Mount Isa for some relative luxury (flush dunnies and hot water). Isa had an underground mine tour but poor Charlie was too little to join in. We then stayed at various homestead/pubs before arriving at Katherine today, again for more luxury. Our most embarrassing moment was at Isa after free camping when our fridge just failed to work after being powered on gas for a while (as opposed to AC mains power or running DC off the car). We got a “fridgee” to come and look at it and after scratching around and his head for some time, he asked if the plug switch inside the van was turned on (just as for a fridge at home). Ah, nuh. Oops. We managed to keep him for the whole hour to check a few things to get our money’s worth (I should have just called you Ben!). But the grey nomads in the van next to us had a better story. The old bloke took off one morning for a 400km trip and when he finally arrived at his destination, after several stops, he noticed that his bikes and the bike rack had clean broken off the van’s rear bumper bar. We laughed for ages wondering what might have happened if a car/van was behind and what they might have witnessed. He said he didn’t see anything - like most grey nomads he had a big van and you can’t see much behind you.

Anyway, we are all well and looking forward to seeing my mum, Liz’s mum Kay and sister Sally with her daughter Sophia in Darwin for a week from 10 Sept. I have a 27th year school class reunion on that night in Sydney and am thinking of flying back to join in for the night. Anyway, all the best for now. Some great pics here – check out the roads.

The Snell clan.