Sun, 17th to Fri, 22nd July - Darwin

I went down like a ton of bricks with a really bad cold, so I spent the next four days in bed.  Sightseeing had to be postponed until our return from Tuross.  Rick went to the car races at Hidden Valley on the Sunday but was disappointed in the quality of the meeting.  He spent his days washing the car and swimming in the pool and generally catching up on maintenance while I was so sick.

Earlier we had organised with Kellie to pick us up in Canberra when we arrived so we could surprise everyone else.  But, on the Tuesday we heard that John needed Kellie to go with him to Hay on the day of our arrival, so poor Kel had to let the cat out of the bag about us coming home.  Never mind, it still worked out OK as John and Kel were able to leave a car in Canberra on their way through to Hay so we could drive ourselves home to Tuross.

Wednesday I was still not well, but was able to get up so we went for a short drive to get out of the van for a while.  While out we had a phone call from our bank to say that someone in America had used our credit card, so we had a bit of mucking around to get that sorted out. Thankfully, the bank was on the ball and got on top of it quickly.

On Thursday Rick also started feeling a bit off colour.  We spent the day getting a few things done in  readiness to fly home, and drove to Fannie Bay to have lunch.  On Friday neither of us were feeling 100% but we managed to pack up and get the van and car ready to go into storage.  We had a cab booked to pick us up at 6am the following (Saturday) morning to take us to the airport.
 

Hidden Valley Raceway

The beach at Fannie Bay

Sat, 16th July - Darwin

One of the big sellers at the Mindil Beach Markets on Thursday nights is leather stockmans whips.  We were woken early to the sounds of children all through the park trying to master the art of 'cracking' these noisy things.  We were soon to learn that we would hear this day and night for the next week.

The day before we went for a drive and ended up buying two new doona covers from a Spotlight store for the van.  On opening one of them we found that it contained two pillow cases but they didn't match each other, so we had to return to the store to swap the set.

Rick decided to go to the Speedway at Hidden Valley in the evening so he rang Steve (Steve and Linda were staying in another park a short distance away) and invited him to go too.  I stayed at the van as I was starting to get a sore throat ... I'm not sure if I picked something up at the markets or from the park's swimming pool. There are some interesting signs to be seen when driving around the Northern Territory.

 

Leave your dirty books at home!

Darwin Speedway at the Hidden Valley Race Complex

Fri, 15th July - Darwin

After fiddling around all morning we drove to one of the wharf areas but found access was for authorised vehicles only.  We then headed to the Darwin Aviation Heritage Museum which is home to one of only two B52 bombers outside of America.  An excellent and informative display of aviation both civil and military and well worth the visit.  It has an excellent display of the bombing of Darwin and we were both surprised to learn that there was more bomb activity in Darwin during the war than there was in the attack on Pearl Harbour.  This information was generally kept from the Australian people at the time to avoid panic.  We spent quite a few hours here before heading back to the park.

Port of Darwin with its cyclone warning system

B52 Bomber wing (note Rick to the right of the pic)

Did you know .... ?

Small aircraft parked under the tail of the B52 Bomber

Thurs, 14th July - Darwin

On Thursday morning we drove into Darwin city and were surprised at how small it was.  I was looking forward to a shopping 'injection' however Darwin city wasn't going to be it.  Many of the shops had closed up for good and others just didn't look appealing.  We were looking specifically for a camera shop and eventually found one, but the salesperson wasn't in the least bit interested in talking to us.  We left the city and on the way back to the caravan park we called into a couple of camping stores for a look and also found a helpful staff member in the camera section of a Harvey Norman store.  I learned later that the place to shop would be Casuarina Square, however Myer and David Jones still aren't represented in Darwin.

For $10 per person the Big 4 Park puts on a bus into the Mindil Beach markets on Thursday nights.  We decided to take advantage of this and wished we hadn't.  It took ages for the driver to get the bus through the traffic all headed to the markets and beach.  It is apparently a 'done thing' to go to the beach first to watch the sun set over the water and then wander around the market stalls.  There were thousands of people all jostling and eating so it was almost impossible to stop to look at anything.  We finally managed to find something to eat and somewhere to eat it (standing up) and then watched some of the entertainment which included some very talented flamethrowers.  The bus finally returned to pick us up at 8:30pm (and none too soon for most of the passenger's liking).  There is another free bus put on by the caravan park each day to the Casino, but it leaves at 9:30am and doesn't return until 3:30pm each day so we gave that one a miss.

Mindil Beach

Watching the sun set over the beach

Mindil Beach Markets at dusk

Wed, 13th July - Adelaide River

Before leaving Adelaide River we had a look through the Rail and Telegraph Museum next door.  The guide was a lovely guy but a bit of a pain, wanting to explain every little nail and screw on display, so we extracted ourselves gently but fairly quickly and left him with the next pair of tourists.

We then had a look at the Adelaide River War Cemetery with its beautiful gardens.  At the back of the cemetery we were able to get quite close to a Brahman who looked a little scrawny.

About two hours later we arrived at the Big 4 Howard Springs Caravan Park located approximately 30kms south of Darwin.  We were placed on a corner site (no neighbours) with plenty of room and in a relatively quiet spot.  Most sites were occupied due to the school holidays.  The park was very pleasant, with a distinct tropical feel and two nice swimming pools.

We had decided some time earlier to fly home from Darwin for a couple of weeks as a surprise to the family.  We had two important birthdays to celebrate (John's 30th and Will's 18th) plus Ricks' carpal tunnel had been playing up a lot, so he booked in to have them operated on in Canberra.  We booked our flights home for the 23rd of July and would return to Darwin on 7th of August.  The Big 4 Park was happy to store our car and van for $10 per day while we were away, and as we were flying out of Darwin at 6:30am they would collect the vehicles and reinstate them onto a site for us ready for our return.  We were able to leave our fridge running on gas while we were away, but we made sure that most of our food was consumed beforehand.

The scrawny Brahman

Gateway to the Adelaide River War Cemetery

A big old fig tree outside the Cemetery

Our site at Howard Springs

Sun, 10th to Tues, 12th July - Katherine Gorge

We woke at 5:30am to the sounds of birds and the helicopter warming up for the day.  It gets moved it to the front of the service station during the day for advertising purposes.  We packed up and drove approx 350kms to Katherine.  We had been advised via a friend of a friend not to stay in the township of Katherine as you a liable to wake up and find all your wheels missing!  We decided instead to head out to Katherine Gorge.  We had to say goodbye to the others as they both have dogs and Katherine Gorge is in a National Park.

When we arrived we discovered that the advertised price of $33 per night for a site was in fact $39 per night so we weren't impressed.  We did find out later though, that it was free to use the washing machines.  We were sent to an area of drive through sites set aside for large vehicles and found it full of 'whizz bangs' (small campervans) and trailer tents ... once again not impressed, as we had a bit of difficulty getting in and around the log barriers, etc.  Fortunately Rick is an expert at putting the van in tight spots.  At least we have mobile phone and internet but no TV.

We visited the information centre and booked a cruise through two of the four gorges for Monday afternoon.  We went for a swim in the pool and later caught up with the washing as the machines were free.  Rick cooked some beautiful roast lamb for dinner.

On Monday we rose early as there were a couple of extremely noisy kids nearby, and spent the morning catching up on cleaning, etc.  Late in the afternoon we walked down to the cruise boat for our guided tour down the Gorge.  On the way to the boat, we came across trees full of fruit bats ... all screeching and carrying on.  We were advised by our cruise guide not to stay too close to them as they tend to drop ticks.

The Katherine Gorge is beautiful.  It actually consists of three gorges, but we chose to only cruise through two which took us 2 hours.  The Gorge was closed to canoes, etc because due to the unusually heavy wet season there was the possibility of salt water crocs being in the river.  There were signs on all the lovely sandy beaches warning to stay away as they are croc nesting areas.  Along the way we saw traps set to catch the salties. 

Later in the evening we spoke briefly to a lady setting up camp across from us ... if you could call it that!  She was setting up her bedding on top of a picnic table in the open, as she was travelling alone and couldn't be bothered setting up her tent.  The poor woman woke the next morning to find that the roaming wallabies had managed to get into all her food in the back of her Subaru Brumby and spread it all over the ground ... what a mess!!  The wallabies know exactly how to get at food.  People camped next to us wandered over to the showers, leaving a plastic container on their outdoor table.  Rick and I watched as a wallaby wandered over and had a bit of a sniff around.  Rick managed to scare it away just as it knocked the container to the ground ... fortunately the lid stayed on.

We had a bit of a sleep-in on Tuesday before packing up and heading about 50kms further up the road to Edith Falls.  It costs $18 per night to camp there but there weren't many sites and they were all way too small for our rig ... and they wouldn't take EFTPOS either.  We had a look at the swimming hole and falls and decided to keep going.

We stopped at Pine Creek and prepared our own lunch in the van.  The food is nearly always much nicer that way!  As we walked around the van we noticed there were 4 squashed and dried out cane toads on the road ... thankfully we didn't come across any live ones.

After lunch we kept heading north to Adelaide River and checked into the showgrounds there for $10 per night which included water but no power.  We also had some TV reception.  The showgrounds were adjacent to the main railway line between Adelaide and Darwin, so at around 5pm we watched the Ghan heading north.  We had been advised by different people along the way that due to school holidays, all the parks in Darwin would be full so we decided to try to book ahead.  We had no trouble, and booked into the Big 4 park at Howard Springs which is about 25kms south of the city.

Sign says 'NO' campervans, etc.

One of the trees full of thousands of bats

One bat decided to take off

Warning!!  Keep off - crocs nesting!

Some of the beautiful scenery in the Gorge

Saltwater croc trap

One of the many freshwater crocs to be seen along the way

The pretty Edith Falls

A termite nest completely covering a fence post at Adelaide River

Sat, 9th July - Victoria River

Yesterday actually marked day 150 on the road (5 months).  It was extremely windy during the night so we were awake early and left Lake Argyle at 7:30am WA time.  We said goodbye to Steve and Linda and Kevin and Faye (SL & KF) and went to the dump point within the park to empty the cassette toilet.  By the time we drove back past our site on the way out (approx 15 mintues). someone had already staked a claim to our site by putting their chairs and table on it.  They must have been watching and waiting for us to leave.  We drove the short 7kms to the NT border and immediately lost 1.5 hours.  Hopefully now it won't be dark at 5:30pm.  We were surprised to see the 130km speed sign once we crossed the border.

We stopped at a little town called Timber Creek and had our lunch.  While there, the others (SL & KF) caught up to us and we travelled ahead as a group, looking along the way for somewhere suitable to spend the night.  We suddenly heard Kevin on the radio up ahead warn of some pigs on the road.  When we rounded the next bend there were around 6 or 7 huge, black wild pigs splattered all over the road.  A road train must have come across them during the night.

We stopped further on at the Victoria River Roadhouse and Caravan Park (in the middle of nowhere) and decided it was good value at $20 per night for power and water and well away from the road.  We also had mobile phone and internet but no TV reception. Parked adjacent to the roadhouse was a small helicopter advertising scenic flights over the Coolibah cattle station made famous on the TV show 'Keeping Up With the Joneses'.

Rick and Steve spent a couple of hours watching the end of the V8 races (Steve has a satellite TV dish) while the rest of us sat around for a pleasant chat enjoying the extra hour of daylight. 

The NT/WA border

They must be better drivers up here ...

Kevin and Fayes' Regent caravan and vehicle

The Coolibah scenic flight helicoper with the Joneses picture painted on it

Someone has a sense of humour ... read the sign

The Victoria River behind the park ... no swimming ... too many crocs ... note the old bridge.

Wed, 6th to Fri, 8th July - Lake Argyle

We drove the 80kms from Kunnunurra to Lake Argyle arriving at around 9:30am.  We needed to get there early to make sure that we could get a site.  As it happened, we ended up being on the best site in the park with views across the gully to some beautiful red cliffs.  Steve and Linda and Faye and Kevin managed to secure sites here too.  There is only one caravan park at Lake Argyle which was originally set up as accommodation for the workers on the Order River Dam.

Lake Argyle is Australia's second largest (Lake Gordon/Lake Pedder, Tasmania is the largest) artificial lake by area and there are over 70 islands throughout the lake.  At normal full supply level the area of the lake formed by the Ord Dam is 980 square kilometres and impounds 10.7 million mega litres (8.6 million acre feet) of water, over 18 times the volume of water contained in Sydney Harbour. If the lake ever did flood to its maximum capacity then the volume would more than triple – Sydney Harbour could be filled more than 54 times. 

We set up camp and went for a swim in the infinity pool with beautiful views overlooking the lake.  We then drove out to the Spillway to have a closer look at the rushing water we had crossed on our way out to the caravan park.  When we returned to the park, we booked a sunset cruise on the lake for the following evening.  All through the northern part of WA, water has been scarce and we have purchased water many times.  At Lake Argyle we were told we could use as much as we liked and were encouraged to wash our car and van on grassed areas, and even asked to water our sites.

On Thursday we drove out to the Spillway again and then called in to the Durack homestead Museum.  The Durack homestead was in the path of the water when the dam was flooded so it was dismantled and moved piece by piece to higher ground.  It is now a museum displaying the history of the Durack family and the Ord Dam.  While we were in the museum,the caretakers had to remove a Cane Toad from one of the rooms and dispose of him.

At 2.30pm we were picked up and transported by coach to our boat for the sunset cruise.  The cruise gave us some idea of just how big this 'inland sea' really is and was thoroughly enjoyable.  We saw some crocodiles and Euros (a type of wallaby) and many Whistling Kites.  100kms south of the Lake is the famous Argyle Diamond Mine.

Some scenery on the way to Lake Argyle

Our campsite at Lake Argyle

Sunset from our campsite

The Ord River Dam wall

Enjoying the view from the infinity pool

The Spillway

Some of the flora in the area

A cruising croc

View from the top of the dam wall

Part of the Ord River downstream

Sun, 3rd to Tues, 5th July - Kunnunurra

After a terribly disturbed night of sleep we were up at 6am and packed up by 7:30am.  Rick picked up all the empty beer cans and beer boxes left by the rowdy lot the night before and generally tidied up the area.

We drove about 30kms into Kunnunurra and checked into a park on Lily Creek Lagoon where we were only a very short distance from the waters edge.  Early mornings and late afternoons we could see small freshwater crocs swimming in the Lagoon.  We spent the morning catching up on washing again before driving out to Apex Park adjacent to the Diversion Dam on the Ord River.  There are crocodile warnings everywhere and definitely no swimming allowed.  The dam was the first stage of the construction of the Ord Irrigation Scheme and was completed in 1963.  It comprises 20 gates that are raised or lowered to regulate the water level of Lake Kununurra.  Due to all the wet weather they have had up here, there was a huge amount of water being allowed through the diversion dam even to the point of flooding parts of the park.  There were aboriginal people everywhere throwing handlines and nets into the rushing water in the hope of catching a Barramundi.  We didn't see anything caught here although there was a carcass of a cooked on on the grass that would have been a metre long.  You are only allowed to have one Barramundi in your possession and it has to be at least 55cm long.

We left the diversion dam and drove out to a Zebra Stone gallery.  Zebra Stone has been placed at 600 million years and the only deposits in the world have been discovered in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia.  It has beautiful random patterns of red through a cream coloured background.  The stone in the gallery was carved into all shapes and sizes for ornaments and jewellery.  Another offering at the Zebra Stone Gallery is fish feeding.  Included in your entry 'donation' is one slice of bread to feed the fish.  We walked a short distance from the gallery to a small jetty and threw some bread in ... all of a sudden thousands of catfish came from nowhere.  In among the catfish were a few Barramundi, but they had to be quick to get in and get some bread.

We left there and went out to Ivanhoe Crossing which is a causeway constructed as part of the original road from Wyndham to Katherine in the NT.  Due to consistently high water levels the crossing is closed during the wet season and it was well and truly under water while we were there.  We saw several people catch Barramundi in the churning waters but swimming is prohibited due to the presence of crocodiles.  There was a small shallow area of water in front of the crossing and as a 4x4 drove through it, a young Aboriginal girl of about 10 years of age grabbed hold of the bumper bar and allowed herself to be pulled through the water.  I heard later that when the crossing is open the youngsters go from one side to the other in this way all the time.  There was another cute little guy of about 5 years of age who was just playing in the swirling rock pools.

On the Monday we went into two diamond shops with the idea of buying something for me as a reward for quitting smoking.  As I've put on some weight, I couldn't get any of my rings off to trying something on, so we left without purchasing anything.  Oh well, maybe later.

Tuesday saw us have a clean up during the morning and then we drove out to the Romance Sandalwood factory.  Western Australia is home to over 161-million hectares of the native Sandalwood species Santalum spicatum, making this the largest natural Sandalwood resource in the world.  The shop was full of beautiful soaps, fragrances, cosmetics and Chia seed.  Chia is another relatively new crop in the area (Bakers Delight now sell Chia seed bread).  We bought some to put into our home made bread.  From humble trials a few years ago the Ord Valley in Western Australia's far north has now become the largest producer of Chia in the world.  The crop originates from Mexico, looks like lavender and produces an oil seed which is rich in omega 3.  The Hoochery Distillery was just down the road, but they wanted $2 for a taste and their bottles of Rum sold for around $60 so we didn't spend much time there.

We telephoned the caravan park at Lake Argyle (our next destination) and were advised that they wouldn't take a phone booking for the next night.  We just had to drive out there and they said they would find us a place somewhere.  Lake Argyle isn't far from Kunnunurra so we knew we would be able to get there fairly early in the morning.  After 5pm we drove to the pub to purchase supplies ... we could only buy one carton of beer and two bottles of wine between us.

Sunset over the lagoon at the caravan park

Look closely at the white buoy in front of the houseboat ... there is a freshwater croc resting there

Diversion Dam

Flooded Apex Park - note the flooded shelter

An Aboriginal woman using a handline and a young Aboriginal boy ready to throw a net

Zebra Stone 'eggs'

Rick feeding the catfish

Ivanhoe Crossing ... note the 'Road Closed' sign

Cooling off in the rock pools

Ivanhoe Crossing