Darwin to Kakudu

Day 121

Pack up and head off into Kakadu national Park 240km away.

Now I have been hearing about Kakadu since before I arrived in Australia and Carmen also has never been up this way before so we were both very excited to finally get there. It is the largest National park with the highest concentration of Aboriginal rock art in Australia in an area as large as Israel (20,000 sqKM). There are two main highways through the park and a lot of little side roads leading off.

After entering the park we drove to our first stop at the Aurora Kakadu in the South Alligator region. We payed our entry fees to the park ($25 each for 14 days)and continued to the campsite. Not a wild, remote bush camp but a resort with a pool and electricity! Set up, plug in and go straight for a swim (It’s blindingly hot again).

In the late afternoon when the intense heat of the day is slowly lifting we head off for a 4KM woodland walk to Anggardabal billabong.

The billabong itself was beautiful and there is a floating pontoon walkway to get you right out over the water (Easy dinner for the crocs we thought as we walked along it).

The ever present flies seem particularly harsh in Kakadu, generally in the whole Northern Territory they are a pest beyond belief, persistent and accurate. They buzz around your head and then swoop in for a landing somewhere annoying. But these flies in Kakadu seem even more intense than that. We have never experienced flies like it.

Day 122

Up and pack up early as we are heading off to a free ranger walk/talk just down the road at the Mamukala wetlands. Just us and another couple this morning so almost feels like a personal tour with Victor our Aboriginal ranger. We stroll along with the ranger pointing out all sorts of bush tucker and explaining the traditional uses of all the plants and we end up at the wetlands where we see literally thousands of Magpie geese (another traditional bush tucker) feeding and lots of other migratory birds who come here to escape the cold from all over the world.

The talk finishes and we walk to the bird hide overlooking the wetlands and sit for a while.

Head to Jabiru and one of Australia’s greatest achievements in Architecture, the croc shaped hotel!

I am more than excited and Carmen has to tell me several times to keep my eyes on the road. We do a lap and the strangest thing is that from the ground it could be anything! You can never get a good view of it (except from google earth). Disappointed we fill up with fuel and head off.

A short drive away is the Visitors centre so we have a look around. Not much chop to be honest, the displays are full of facts but not really engaging and all seem a bit static. There is the usual range of tat on sale at the shop as well and so we come away only slightly cooler and not much the wiser.

Onto Ubirr in the East Alligator region and one of the parks oldest rock art sites. We walk to the Anbangbang gallery (along with the flies) and see a range of paintings from 5000 to 20,000 years old. A lot of it, whilst you can make out what it is the story behind it is not known but one they do know is about two sisters and how they ended up becoming the two lumps on a croc’s (salt water) nose.

There are hundreds of pictures to look at and the walk leads you up to the top of an escarpment overlooking wetlands and onto Arnhem land in the distance.

Walk back down past hundreds more pictures telling hundreds more stories and head on to our stop for the night at Merl campground and much more of a bush setting this time.

Set up and you could say it was warmish in the van and no chance of a swim this afternoon so have to sit it out with a series of cold showers to stay a little bit cool at least and get some rest bite from the flies.

After the heat has died down again head out on the bike to look at Cahils crossing into Arnhemland.

This is the main way of getting into Arnhemland but crossing is tidal and so is impassable a lot of the time and even when it is it doesn’t look very inviting, plus you need a permit to go over (as with most Aboriginal owned lands).

Day 123

Another milestone today, Four months on the road! We feel like we are just settling into it now, it’s all getting quite comfortable.

Head off to our second rock art site at Nourlangie rock in the Nourlangie region.

A chance to hear another Ranger talk, this time all about the Aboriginals occupation of this site, which date back at least 20,000 years and a chance to look at literally hundreds more rock paintings, the flies certainly seemed to be enjoying themselves buzzing about with renewed passion and vigour as well. The ranger explained that some of these (as in Cooktown) had been repainted over the years and so what we were actually looking at may only be 100 years old.

Just up the road and a short walk is the Anbangbang billabong and another chance to see migratory birds this time in a much smaller billabong (Kakadu seems to be mainly about billabongs and wetlands).

Head onto our next stop and as there are no opportunities for swimming (the crocs are swimming in all the rivers) we head to Gagudju lodge in the Yellow water region as it has not one but two pools! Spend the heat of the day cooling off and are very glad for it (It’s over 40 deg again).

Late afternoon and a short drive away are the famous Yellow water wetlands. Stroll along a boardwalk out over the wetlands and see an incredible amount of wildlife (including lots more flies), from barramundi just under the surface to a variety of birds and even a croc floating about up the river (definitely no swimming then).

Day 124

Take full advantage of the facilities and have a quick swim first thing before we pack up and leave heading for Gunlom falls in the Mary river region and finally a 2WD accessible, safe swimming hole.

Its 100 KM along the highway and then 40 KM unsealed to get there and the unsealed bit is full of corrugations and is pretty rough in places. Polly makes it without too much struggle but she looks like she has had a bath in dust afterwards and I promise her a good shower when we get back to civilisation.

Set up for two nights (we couldn’t face that unsealed road again tomorrow) and head straight for a swim in lower pool beneath the falls, there is a sign saying enter at your own risk but there’s also a sign saying no diving so…...

As it’s the end of the dry season there isn’t too much water flowing over the falls but you could imagine what it must be like in full flow. The water is lovely though, cool at the bottom and nice and warm near the surface so fun for all the family and we while away the afternoon keeping cool and trying (but failing) to avoid those pesky flies.

Day 125

It’s Sunday so it’s beard update time.

Week 5, I'm enjoying the moustache more than the beard this week (Carmen isn't enjoying any of it!).

Up and out on a walk (hike) before it gets too hot to the top of the falls and a series of plunge pools.

The walk (climb) is straight up the side of the escarpment and even in the relatively cool (It was 30 deg in bed last night) of the morning it is hard going so we are relieved to reach the top and able to swim. The various pools are glorious and we swim and sunbathe the morning away.

After the walk back down and some lunch head back down to the lower pool again and spend the afternoon swimming and diving, chatting and relaxing.

The sun goes down and (thankfully) seems to take the flies with it only to bring the mosquitos out!

Edith falls to Darwin

Day 115

Heading onto Litchfield National park today 200KM (odd) up the road so set off and pull into Adelaide river to fill up. As I get back in the van I notice the remains of a switch lying on the floor and realise it’s the hazard switch off the dash!

Probably not a good thing but the van started fine and we were off again, however as I flip the indicator to leave the garage. Nothing. No tick, tick, tick. Definitely not a good thing.

We pull over and fiddled with the indicator but still nothing.

Luckily there was a mechanic up the road who after an hour (and $66) had bypassed the switch and we were on the road again (with no hazard lights).

We thought we might take this opportunity to call and book Polly in for a service and some minor repairs in Darwin.

Arrived at Litchfield National park and it all looked a bit hazy as we started to drive through the park as we got a bit further bush fires were burning right on the side of the road!

Walls of flame burned in an inferno all around us (I may exaggerate slightly) but we wound up the windows and you could see the road was clear so drove on.

We have seen a number of bushfires so far and most of them have been controlled burning of the scrub to regenerate all the plants come the wet season. Traditionally the Aboriginals would do this to the land every year but now there are roads and towns in the way and so it has to be more controlled.

Not that it feels very controlled when the side of the road is on fire and the smoke is so thick you cannot see in front of you!

Arrive at Wangi falls and its hot, not just a bit warm but hot and sweaty. We are just about at our Northern most point so far and the further North we go it’s just going to get hotter. Set up in one of the few remaining spots (miles away from the toilets) and headed straight down to the falls for a swim.

The falls were busy as this is a popular spot with the locals and you could see why, Deep, cool swimming hole with a good sized drop on the waterfall and rocky bits to clamber on. Perfect!

Spend the afternoon keeping cool and people watching (good to see a few people around with beards these days).

Returned to the van and had a lovely sausage sizzle for tea.

Day 116

A visit to the Cascades this morning which, as the name suggests is where a river ‘cascades’ over rocks. We thought it would be just a short walk from the car park but half an hour later in the blinding heat and we are still clambering over rocks and crossing creeks (much to Carmen’s’ amusement!). We do eventually reach the cascades and beautiful they are too.

Swimmers already on we are straight in and spend a good half an hour cooling down before the walk (hike) back to the van and continue on to Florence falls where we set up camp (in the stinking hot) for a couple of nights and go to find the swimming hole.

A short walk and down 135! steps and you are there where you are greeted by not one but two waterfalls falling into a clear (and cool) swimming hole. A bit rocky getting in but once you are it is perfect, some good deep bits to dive down to and rocks just below the waters surface that you can sit on and people watch.

There are also lots of black Bream (sooty grunter) in the water and some of them a reasonable size and they are not shy to the point where you can actually touch them under the water.

Climbed back up the 135 steps and felt like we needed a swim again to cool down and (against all common sense) lit a fire to cook our dinner on.

Day 117

Up and it’s already hot first thing in the morning so we are straight down for a morning swim, not via the 135 steps this time but a slightly longer walk (and far easier) around the falls and past the lookout to the swimming hole.

Beautiful again and far less crowded first thing in the morning so we stay a while and enjoy the peace.

When we do return to the van (via the long way) it is very hot (37.4 deg in the shade) and so after a spot of lunch we head straight back down to the cool water and spend the rest of the afternoon swimming and reading and swimming again. Collect firewood and cook on the open fire again in the evening and realise that we have been a week without power now.

The solars are doing their job very well and keeping the fridge (and more importantly the beer) cool throughout the stinking hot days and we are wonder how we would have ever coped without them.

Day 118

Time to pack up and head for civilisation but stop at one more rockhole in Litchfield before we go. Blueys rockhole, just a 5 min drive away is much like the cascades (but a much easier walk) with a series of small but deep and cool waterfalls and pools.

Also call in to see the magnetic termite mounds on the edge of the park. Perfectly aligned North South as a method of keeping the mound cool (to minimise their exposure to the hot midday sun) they look like a field of gravestones and we also see the cathedral mound which must be 3 metres tall and is amazing to think it was made by tiny termites.

That’s it for Litchfield but we both think that Kakadu is going to have to be pretty good to beat this.

Just an hour (or so) drive away is the capital of the NT, Darwin. A bustling metropolis compared to where we have been. Our usual pop into the tourist information (and supermarket) and we head out to our campsite (Shady lane) and book in for 3 nights. Start setting up and plug ourselves in to the much needed power only to find that something is not working and in fact we still have no power!

Try a different lead and several different plugs but still nothing so I check all the fuses and make sure the power board is working (it is) but nothing seems to work.

So annoyed we move our shopping into the camp fridge and hope that Monday’s service will be a ‘cure all’….

In the absence of a television we settle in with the wireless to listen to the AFL quarter finals match between Carlton (Carmen’s team) and the West coast eagles.

It was a good, close match but Carlton lost it at the end and so that was the end of their season for this year.

Day 119

Beard update – Week 4

Bearded man

A morning of rest and a chance to catch up on some much needed Washing.

Get the bus into the city (so I can have a drink) in the afternoon and as it’s red hot again find solace in the shape of an Irish pub called ‘Shenanigans’ (it was as bad as it sounds) as we sit down with our drinks England Vs Georgia comes on the big screen in the rugby world cup and we (I) cheer the boys on. We don’t stay for the whole match but England are looking good when we leave so I was happy to leave the boys to it.

Head over to the Mindil beach markets and feast on oysters (Thai style) and take away food and thoroughly enjoy every mouthful!!

Get the bus back to the van and for the first time since we left Sydney we put the tent up to store all of our stuff in whilst Polly has her service in the morning.

Day 119

Up pretty early as we want to get Polly in for her service. Drop her at the garage, bid her farewell and get the bus into town.

Stroll down to the waterfront precinct, a new development in an area that was bombed heavily during the war and have a stroll around. It’s OK, there’s no atmosphere to the whole thing though and it all feels a bit new and faceless.

They do have a manmade Wave pool which does look pretty good but as soon as it opens it is descended upon by hordes of screaming kids and we beat a hasty retreat into town.

It’s long overdue and so I get myself into a barber for a haircut. 5 minutes later (and feeling a lot lighter) we stroll up to the Supreme court to look at a huge aboriginal mosaic (the largest in Australia!), called ‘Milky way dreaming’ depicting a dreamtime story. It’s pretty good as well and seems a fitting place to have it.

Time to go back to the garage and pick up Polly. $255 later (and quite a bit of waiting around)we finally get her back. She’s been fitted with the donated light and is looking much better for it although they didn’t have the switch and tried to charge me $102 + $20 air freight from Sydney (for a switch!) so I politely tell them (whilst swearing under my breath)that I will leave that for now and thank you very much.

Next stop is the Caravan repairers to have a look at our electrical problem. It’s a quick job and so another $40 lighter we head home, jobs done.

Still hot and sweaty when we get back so it’s straight into the pool for a cooling dip.

Day 120

Up and time to look at a bit more of Darwin so drive to Fannie bay (Ooo Errr missus) and pay a visit to the Museum and Art gallery of Northern Territory (catchy name I know) its actually very good with a few dinosaurs and lots of native animals on display and a good bit on cyclone Tracey with a sound room where there is an actual recording from the cyclone. Amazing the noise and we were both glad we hadn’t been here for the real thing.

Called in at Fannie bay gaol where there were still prisoners (in Victorian conditions) being held until 1979 and the site of the last hangings in the NT. All a bit grim really but quite interesting.

Into town to keep a couple of appointments where Carmen was waxed and Richard did his tax!

Call in at a breakers yard on the way home and lo and behold another of Polly’s cousins donates the much needed switch for $25 (a lot better than $120) and 3 seconds later and we have working hazard lights again (I probably could have been an auto electrician)

Return to the van park and stay out of heat for the rest of the afternoon and start to pack up for our onward journey into Kakadu National Park tomorrow.