Day 34, Thursday 15 July
Hi, we arrived in Derby this evening after a sprint across the great Northern Highway from Purnululu.
A lot ( amazing) happened in Purnululu, still trying to process it all – a special place . Will post about it more when we can make sense of the overwhelming number of experiences/sights / images we captured. Suffice to say, a highlight of the trip so far.
Off to the Horizontal Waterfall via seaplane tomorrow… holidays are hard 😉
Day 31, Monday 12 July
Today the pilgrims crossed to the promised land , 14 days late and with most of the Gibb River Road blown or compromised. But that’s a first world problem, we are grateful to be on leave … our thoughts to friends in lockdown in NSW .
Up at 5.40 AM ( fruit bat clamour and middle aged man’s bladder). So some Bogan dust coffee, pack up ( stealthy and quiet so as not to wake up the entire campsite) and on the road early . Fuelled up in Katherine , including a slightly better coffee from the local Scottish restaurant, then heading west on the Victoria Highway. Some more fuel in Timber Creek, then the Border.
There was a queue when we arrived. And a lot of grumpy people sounding off on the UHF. But it took less than 2 hours to get through … a walk in the park compared to crossing African land borders back in ‘99 in a different life.
The scenery along the Victoria Highway was amazing. In another time, not subject to COVID restriction time compromises, it would be great to linger and take it in . Unfortunately, we didn’t get any decent photos to share as we whizzed past 🙁.
Now in Kununurra. Stunningly beautifully situated campground on the lake . Have introduced ourselves to the local fresh water croc sunning on the grass , and witnessed a beautiful sunset .
Heading out to Purnululu tomorrow😀.
Saturday- Sunday, 10-11 July, days 29-30
Left Darwin late Saturday morning, buoyed by the announcement from the Premier that WA would open the border to the Territory on Monday 12/7.
An uneventful drive back to Katherine, a brief lunch stop at Adelaide River. Set up and in the pool by 4pm – the ambient air temp was around 34 Celsius, the pool felt like 14 C ❄️.
Up early Sunday morning to get a walk in prior it getting too hot to be pleasant. We ended up doing a return walk smidge under 10km to a place above the first gorge called Pat’s Lookout. No info provided on who Pat was… how do you get a place named after you, but no one cares to explain? (Mark does love an interpretive panel… much to Ness’ ongoing boredom 😐)
The rest of Sunday was an idle mix of swimming and sitting in the shade reading, early night in anticipation of breaking camp early on Monday for the ‘dash’ (450 odd km) to the Border.
Days 26 – 28, Wednesday to Friday, 7-9 July
Three restful days in Darwin, on Larrakia Land (we acknowledge their traditional custodianship of the land and offer our respect to the Larrakia elders past, present and emerging. We have been staying in a lovely, shady ( air conditioned 😁) cabin. Fantastic morning walk along the esplanade at Fannie Bay to East Point and back, some pool work and a few repairs and gear tweaks. Great to catch up with Dave B prior to him disappearing to Antarctica as a Station Chief at the end of the year) – far easier to visit Darwin than Casey Station!
Great news on Friday afternoon – Western Australia is opening its border to the Northern Territory on Monday at 0001hrs. So the trip is a go again! We have lost two weeks in WA, meaning the Gibb River Road is now unworkable without compromising a lot of other plans / locations. We will be able to get some time in Purnululu early next week, after we enter through Kununurra on Monday.
Leaving Darwin this AM (Saturday 10th) and heading back down the track to Katherine. Idea is to be in closer striking distance to the border for whatever shenanigans that brings. Plan is to do some more walking around the gorge tomorrow 😁.
Days 24-25, Monday -Tuesday, 5-6 July 2021
Monday began ( after two espresso coffees , of course) with a pleasant walk up and around the escarpment- memories of our Jatbula Trip three years ago….even insomuch as it was getting a bit toasty as we got back .
The afternoon involved an admin trip to town to grab a cable for the solar panel… and a loaf of fresh bread 😋. After lunch at camp and Mark ingesting too much bread we went for a lovely ( very cold ) swim. After a cleansing ale and dinner back at camp it was an early night . Not much sleep due to the ‘festival of bats’ happening over the camp site.
Tuesday morning . Still can’t get into WA – were supposed to be on the Gibb River Road in the Kimberley by now. Made a D to head north to Darwin for a few days R and R . Great brunch at the Finch Cafe in Katherine, into Darwin by 1730. Kicking back now in air conditioned bliss, ( it’s humid), bit of admin with the battery system tomorrow morning , dinner with Dave B planned for tomorrow night.
Days 22- 23, Saturday/ Sunday, 3/4 July
Well, escaped Alice Springs bright and early . Three weeks in and still not in WA though!
A long day’s drive – over 900 km and 10 or so hours. Ness did the long leg driving to Tennant Creek. We had a quick stop to stretch at Barrow Creek and a slightly longer break for lunch at the Devil’s Marbles. As most people probably know, these feature over a few hectares , just adjacent to the Stuart Highway, about an hour south of Tennant Creek. A product of differential weathering and erosion of a granite belt, the results are interesting- although Mark’s hurried photo doesn’t do them any justice.
Refuel at Tennant Creek, then onto Daly Waters, around another 4 1/2 hours up the Stuart Highway. A lot of road trains and an even more incredible amount of really big and slow moving caravans. We were grateful for the 580nm of torque and 200kw of power the Amarok provides when you plant your feet – it makes overtaking road trains and wobbly caravans a fair bit easier!
Another feature of the afternoon’s drive was the sheer number of caravans crammed into the road side stopping bays and camping – neither of us have ever seen anything quite like it . Turns out this was a preview for what awaited at Daly Waters.
We arrived at Daly Waters around 5:30 pm to find the place heaving with people and caravans. We waited a while in a queue at the pub to find out the place was about 110% full 😳. Even the overflow camp ground was full. We were offered ( and accepted) what was pretty much a dusty space in a carpark behind the caretaker’s place . 20 or so minutes later we were set up and wandered back to the ( interesting) Pub for a cleansing ale and a great pub dinner.
Sunday. Up early and on the road again, destination Nitmiluk ( Katherine Gorge). Pleasant drive , got to Katherine around 11:30 am.
While refuelling in Katherine we saw a very strong contender for the 2021 Darwin awards. This legend had climbed onto his roof rack with the diesel hose and was refuelling Jerries lying on horizontal on the roof. 🤔
Pleasant campground at Nitmiluk Gorge on Jaywon Country tonight. We acknowledge the Jaywon people’s traditional custodianship of this land and pay our respects to their elders past, present and emerging.
After a bracing dip in the (lovely) pool we walked up the Gorge a little bit to a lookout to watch the sunset. Not quite as spectacular as what we saw when last here because of some cloud, but good nonetheless.
Walked home in the twilight to a dinner of Crispy Skin Barramundi , salad and Chardonnay by the pool . Thanks to GB!
Day 21, Friday 2 July 21
Lockdown lifted at 1pm today , a day earlier than expected. 😀
We busted out of the trailer park ASAP, heading back to the East to check out Yeperenye – known by their Euro names as Emily’s and Jesse’s Gaps.
These are sacred sites for the Arrente People, there is rock art present dealing with the origin story of the ranges and the Caterpillar dreaming which is important to it. The first site is a women’s site , the second a men’s site. The local people have requested no photos of the art , we respected their request.
The rest of the afternoon was spent in re-organisation and maintenance. After our enforced sojourn in Alice we are over it … and living in a poorly supervised day care centre for feral kids as their parents did goodness knows what .
We are heading North tomorrow, crossing the Tropic and chasing warmer climes. Also hoping the WA border opens so we can resume our planned travel.
While prepping this post had another Ring – Neck Parrot drop in. He checked out Ness’ phone , said G’day and loitered with intent for quite a while .
Day 20, Thursday 1 July
24 hours down, 48 to go. A lovely day weather wise, sunny and not a cloud in the sky. A bit of a (masked) walk in accordance with the restrictions to and along the dry bed of the Todd River through Heavitree Gap. Ness ‘rescued’ a kid who had managed to lock himself in a bathroom at the caravan – lots of banging and calls for help , no adult supervision for in sight , apart from that a lovely sleepy and quiet day.
Day 19, Wednesday 30 June 21
The day started beautifully. Clear, warmest morning yet on the trip… and visitors for breakfast. A family of Ring-necked Parrots dropped in.
After bidding adieu to the feathered drop-ins we went out along the Ross Highway to the Eastern MacDonnell Range, landed at Trephina Gorge. As Kath Day-Knight would say, two words: Stunning!
The day was warm – the warmest yet, so we opted out of the 9 km / 4 hours each way Grade 5 walk to Hayes Waterhole and took the Ridgetop Panorama walk instead. It delivered on the ‘panoramic’ label.
After the walk we had a picnic lunch in the creek bed. As we got back to the car a fella was taking great delight in telling everyone that Alice Springs was going into lockdown at 1 pm … ( it was now 1.30pm) . That piece of info was initially rated ‘F8’ on cred / reliability, but was we drove back to Alice the procession of 4WD with Queensland plates towing vans streaming past us towards the East added credence to the tale.
Back in radio reception range – and the news confirmed. 3 days lockdown. Purnululu now looking shot , we will ride out the next three days and see what transpires. FFS, get vaccinated people !!
Day 18, Tuesday 29 June.
So , the old saying about life , lemons and lemonade ? Today , instead of crossing into WA as planned we spent our time on a brilliant day trip to the Western MacDonnells.
Away late/ish, because of sleep 😀👍 and then Coffee and Ham and Cheese Omelettes 😀😀, we decided to head west . Great choice , awesome views of the ranges and Mt Sonder. Followed by sensational sunset on the way home ( again). Photos not as good as we would like as using old ish iPhone. The digital camera Mark bought for his Kandahar holiday in ‘14 has irretrievably died. 🤨
Plan is to check out the Eastern MacDonnells tomorrow!
A phenomenon of the pandemic has been a massive reduction in international air travel – leading to the requirement to have somewhere to park the aircraft not in use. The answer for some Asian based carriers has been to mothball aircraft in Australia’s central desert. Which creates the strange sight of seeing more aircraft across from the runway in Alice Spring’s airport than you would normally see taxiing to the gate in Heathrow or Changi. Counted over 5 dozen from the roadside – and pretty sure the actual number is higher than that .
Ness’ and Mark’s Wandering
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