Lovely Darwin

Darwin has been wonderful in so many ways, but we will probably remember it primarily through our stomachs. We’ve eaten some fantastic food while we’ve been here – it is quite tempting to just stay here forever and eat ourselves into oblivion.

We ended up at various markets quite a few times, with all sorts of wonderful Asian food – freshly made, beautifully sour, sweet and chilli paw paw salad, fresh spring rolls, Cambodian rice pancakes, satay sticks of tender seafood, lemongrass tofu, all sorts of noodles and laksas and vegetable omelettes, and sweet sticky rice with banana fritters….. And the Moorish café with its fantastic tapas, especially the duck sausage with fruit chutney and the jewfish in coconut and lime… And the High Tea in the tropical gardens of the Burnett house, an original 30s tropical style house…


And the real coffees in the mornings… oh it has been SO good. It is going to be a bit harsh to be left to our own devices again. Breakfast is OK and dinner we usually have something good and interesting, but lunch is getting a bit boring – I don’t think I’ll want to look at another salad sandwich (with turkey or tuna) again after this trip!

We have loved Darwin – the laid-backness, the lush tropical gardens, the intensely pale aqua colour of the water, the whole tropical vibe. But we do realise that we are here when the weather is most perfect – 28 degree days, cooler nights. Possibly in the middle of the wet season we might not find it quite as idyllic! But right now we’d almost be happy just to stay and find out.

From Mindil Beach (where the famous sunset/night markets are) the sun sets over the water, and you’d think no-one had ever seen an ocean sunset from the number of people down there – check it out!?!?!


And then this impressive looking ship obligingly sailed in front of the sunset for all the snappers on the beach!

Crocs, rocks, barra and art

This has been Kakadu for us – crocs, rocks, barra and rock paintings. With the addition of wetlands, birds and basket weaving – but that made the title a little long!

It was very exciting to get to Kakadu for both of us and like any place that takes on near mythical proportions in your mind, it took us a little time to adjust the reality to the myth. Coming to understand that the vast majority of Kakadu in the dry season is DRY open woodland in various stages of being burnt was probably the major thing. But spending a week there meant we could ease right into it and come to appreciate the reality of Kakadu. And we loved it.

We started in the south at Gunlom, a big ‘plunge pool’ (in the vernacular) at the base of a waterfall coming down the Arnhem escarpment. Any crocodiles had been removed from the waterways so that you could swim in the cold and deep, green water. (Although they don’t guarantee anything and one of the Aboriginal rangers said she’d never swim there where she couldn’t see the bottom).

We then stopped at Mardugal Billabong, and explored that lush billabong in our tinnie, and spotted our first large saltwater crocodile in the water on the opposite bank. This solo croc, however, paled into insignificance when we put the tinnie into the big Yellow Water billabong the following day.

In amongst the water lilies and pandanus and floating grasses of this incredibly beautiful wetland was A LOT of crocodiles – we think we counted at least ten and one was enormous. At this point our tinnie felt more like ‘tiny’ and Nic spent most of the time with her heart beating slightly faster than normal. But they were all sunbaking and taking no notice of us whatsoever, and we were leaving them well alone, unlike the constant stream of tour boats that were getting in real close so all the tourists could take close up photos. There seemed to be lots of fish in there, and Tim caught his first (undersized) barra.



We came back to Yellow Water later, for a sunset and again for a dawn, and watched the incredible number of birds, and wild horses and the fish sploshing around. This was the Kakadu of our imagination.


We also spent a bit of time exploring the famous rock art sites at Nourlangie and Ubirr, and saw some incredible paintings. A lot of paintings were of barramundi, and it made us laugh to think that the obsession with barramundi started thousands of years ago, and that these paintings are the ancient equivalent to the fishing pages of today with blokes proudly holding up their catches. (The predominance of barramundi paintings is probably better explained by being part of the selection of non-sacred paintings that is OK to show us whitefellas, and they possibly have more of a spiritual dimension anyway, but we like the thought of an ancient fishing magazine!)


And it was in Kakadu that Tim caught his first legal barra! We were camped at Ubirr, near the East Alligator River (which is the border with Arnhem Land) and close to an old fella (and his son and grandson) who knew the river intimately. They took Tim out fishing in their dinghy and within a few well placed casts at a ‘secret spot’ he had caught a decent barramundi! Given the number of active looking crocodiles that Tim saw on this little fishing excursion it is probably a good thing Nic wasn’t there, especially armed with her knowledge (thanks to the Croc Attack book that seems to be in most NT newsagents!) that at least one fatal and one near fatal attack has happened on this particular river. Which probably accounts for the extra strong warning at the river crossing.



Nic, meanwhile, was doing something safer and more appropriately feminine - basket weaving with dyed pandanus fibres with some Traditional Owners and a bunch of other visitors. In the peak tourist time, Kakadu has a great range of free talks, slideshows and art and craft demonstrations/ activities, mostly by the Traditional Owners, and we made the most of the opportunities.

We also drove across/through the East Alligator River briefly into Arnhem Land to the Gunbalanya community and the Injalak Art Centre. We couldn’t get the permits to go any further into Arnhem Land because it is booked out in advance for the school holidays, but it was great to get a taste of it. It was so beautiful, we desperately wanted to keep going through this beautiful escarpment country bordering the verdant and teeming floodplains – would anybody really notice if we were sidetracked for a few hours?

Back in civilisation

It felt like a long time (and it was definitely a long distance) since we’d left Cairns, and we hadn’t had much in the way of towns – so little wee Katherine felt like quite a big city when we got there! We stopped off first at Mataranka for a night especially for a swim in the crystal clear, 34C thermal springs, which was delicious.

On our first morning back in civilisation we met the most wonderful and inspirational couple, Win and Arthur, both in their early eighties and still bush camping in pretty remote areas. Arthur made the camper attachment for their 4WD himself twenty years ago out of aluminium sugar tins from the sugar factory in Mackay where he used to work. They are onto their third Landcruiser ute but the camper bit, with its thousands of rivets, is going strong! It sounds like they’ve had such a long history of camping that they can’t get used to the new, more regulated camping rules, and in Kakadu they had been moved on by rangers a few times. Win and Arthur were heading where we had just been (and vice versa) so we were able to swap tips and maps – lucky for them as their map of the Limmen/Gulf area looked like it was circa 1965! They were so gorgeous, it brings a smile to our faces every time we think of them.

Apart from restocking on food, water, and battery charge, Katherine was all about visiting Nitmiluk (or Katherine Gorge). It had been pretty quiet where we’d been for the last few weeks, so the school holiday/peak period took us a little by surprise, and we had to beg in order to hire a canoe to go up the gorge. But when we finally did get into a canoe it was well worth it, the tiny bit of the gorge system that we saw was beautiful. And we saw quite an impressive looking freshwater crocodile sunning on the bank.




We were in Katherine for Territory Day, which means that fireworks are legal for the night and all the empty shops in town are taken over for a couple of days by fireworks sellers. Tim kept looking longingly at these big packets of fireworks and Nic was having to forcibly drag him away. We went along to the ‘community’ fireworks at the showgrounds, but we were a little late, and saw the last few as we were walking towards the showgrounds. We probably expected them to last a little longer than 10 minutes!

We also spent a night at the northern end of Nitmiluk National Park, at Leilyn (or Edith Falls). In the dry season the waterfall aspect is pretty nonexistent, but there is the most beautiful cold, green pool to swim in, surrounded by sheer rock walls, and a fabulous walk up to the top of the falls to other little rock pools. It is a really beautiful spot.

Service clubs of Australia

Over the months we’ve been a bit taken with various service club buildings. It possibly started with RSL buildings in South Australia, where in comparison to the huge glitzy NSW clubs, these RSL’s looked a little downmarket.



This fascination moved onto CWA buildings.



And Masonic Temples.



And any other hall or institute we could find.




And Girl Guides Halls!

Home on the Road

We’ve had requests for a few more photos on our camping set up – so here is a little photo essay for your delectation.

Firstly – our most basic set up (Basic Set Up A), commonly found on an overnight stop, especially when the weather is fine. Note the terracotta flooring on the patio (or at least the coloured shadecloth!) and Tim putting on his matching socks.


Basic Set Up B – when expecting overnight rain, we prop up the little awning on the end window and stick the Drifta under that.


Just a little celebration of the Drifta itself (albeit set up on quite a sloping site). It is quite a heavy thing when all packed up, but the Drifta has been GREAT. If I’d had to do all the cooking on a flimsy camp table, or the tailgate of the trailer, while shuffling through boxes of cooking equipment, I think I would have gone quite mad by now. Love the Drifta.


An active demonstration of cooking (well making a coffee) with the Drifta in Basic Set Up A.


See a typically messy inside of the tent, but demonstrating the ample room for sitting and reading the paper out of the rain (something we’ve had to dodge quite a few times on our trip so far!)


Now we move to an example of a set up for at least a couple of nights – as the awning does require just a little bit more effort to get up and down. Note also the full extent of the Drifta being well used (I think I was making some post surfing pikelets at the time!)


Another variation on a theme – started out as a Basic Set Up B, but when we got stuck here at Adels Grove for an extra couple of nights we put up the awning. And then the rain stopped anyway. Note the raincoats and the fire which was necessary for warmth - in a place that usually advertises the benefit of all these trees for shade in the heat!


And the whole damn shebang – awning with extra mosquito/sandfly netting. This is the only time that we’ve put the whole thing up – the insects were intense here at Leichardt’s Lagoon near Normanton. But then after we’d put this up it rained for an entire night and drove all the insects away!

Limmen NP

You might be getting the picture that our experience of sunlight has been intermittent for the last couple of months. On our second day in the NT when it was yet again a uniformly grey day, it was starting to really get us down. All this amazing country in the Limmen National Park that we were driving through just looked drab and dull.

So when the sun came out the following day it was amazing – we were rediscovering sunshine! Marvelling at how the light changes throughout the day, how it makes shadows and how it can burn! We are SO happy to have sunlight back.


And what a day to have the sun come back! We drove 30km in on a very rough track to the Western Lost City, part of a chain of ‘Lost City’ formations, which are weathered sandstone cliffs. What remains is the most amazing shapes that look sometimes like giant termite mounds, and other times like some city out of Star Wars. And we saw so many faces in the shapes – check it out! All very fabulolus.



We spent a few days in the Limmen NP, it was beautiful isolated country. Spent a couple of nights at the Limmen Bight River Fishing Camp – which was really just bush camping by the river with a bit of drinking water available.


And we got the boat into the water in search of fish. But everyone camped there had tales of woe when it came to fishing – from Graham and Judy who’ve been coming there for 12 years and were very friendly and full of good tips for us, to the bunch of blokes who’d driven 3500km in 2 days from Wagga Wagga for a 3 week fishing holiday. Nobody, it seemed, was catching much at all. Blame the unseasonal weather and the very cold water?

We had a great time exploring the river in the tinnie anyway and Tim caught a few fish worth keeping – including this big queenfish that will give us plenty of meals. Looked out for the big crocodiles that apparently live in the river – but still haven’t laid eyes on a big one as yet!

The Gulf Track

With all this unseasonal weather the roads in NW Queensland have been open then closed then open then closed and we were undecided about whether or not to risk the unsealed and apparently rough Gulf Track which runs between Normanton and Roper Bar in the Northern Territory.

But we did finally go on that track, and the only challenging bit was leaving Lawn Hill and driving up to the Gulf Track on a couple of tracks through cattle stations. It was pretty boggy in patches and Elsie and Larry ended up completely caked in mud. We stopped for a night at the lovely Kingfisher Camp on the Nicholson River, which could have so easily been longer, but we needed to push on.


And after all our indecision, the Gulf Track was completely fine. A big wide graded road with the odd creek and river crossing. Through mainly flat country, but much more forested than either of us expected - there were some big trees in parts.



It was pretty exciting to get into the Northern Territory and we camped that first night by the Robinson River, finding a little spot just by the river and away from the road. After about an hour a car pulled up and a middle aged couple said ‘Do you mind if we camp here?’ Given it was our first secluded bush camp in a long time, we actually did mind a little, but we couldn’t really say so, and so ended up with Ken and Kay from Babinda, south of Cairns, right next door! We have speculated before with others whether people who do that are scared of the dark or something, but in this case it seemed to be that Ken was just really keen for a chat. And we did have a good chat with them around our campfire, mainly Ken telling us stories about his encounters with crocodiles and snakes, and he is obviously deeply fascinated with both.

Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill National Park)

The weather just gets weirder and weirder. We went to Lawn Hill NP, near the border of Queensland and NT and it feels like Tasmania! It was really cold for a couple of days, and we had a full 24 hours of rain that closed the roads for a day.

We managed to do a big long walk around the gorge before the rain really set in, and all the walking notes had handy hints like ‘make sure you do this walk in the early morning, out of the heat of the day’. The country we were walking through country LOOKED hot and dry and harsh, but we were in layers of clothes, running a little to warm up and trying to keep out of the biting wind. It was mad!

The beauty of the spectacular gorge and surrounding country was overshadowed a little by the sheer craziness of the weather. It was an amazing oasis in the gorge, and the beautifully clear green water would be so inviting to swim in when it was warm!

Gulf of Carpentaria

We left the lush tropical rainforest behind and headed inland and it took us a couple of days to adjust to the difference in the country, just a hundred or so kilometres from the coast. The transition seemed so sudden into dry, scrubby, red dirt, ‘outback’ Australia – and the opposite end of the spectrum from the rainforest. Amazing.

We did some big drives to get to Normanton and Karumba – on the eastern edge of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Stopping overnight at the Innot Hot Springs, which was essentially a basic caravan park with a series of old fashioned pools containing water of differing temperatures, straight from the springs. Just the ticket after a long day ‘in the saddle’!


Near the laconic wee town of Normanton we stopped awhile beside a billabong with a few grey nomads. The setting was idyllic with abundant birdlife and colourful amenities however with the arrival of the inevitable rain the fringes of the campground soon became a quagmire and Elsie even got bogged for the first time as we tried to find a back way out of the camp.




Tim fished a bit on the Normanton River and in Karumba, but everything seemed wrong, and locals were telling us so. ‘You need to be here when the tide is x and the moon is y and use z for bait and and and….’ Needless to say all we caught were catfish.

The Norman River was the first really crocodiley river we’ve spent any time next to, and we did see one baby and heard another splash into the water. But despite Nic’s fears we didn’t see a full sized croc. The replica in Normanton of the biggest crocodile ever caught was enough to give us nightmares.