TIME TO HEAD FOR THE QUEENSLAND COAST THEN HOME

As we didn't catch any decent fish we stopped & bought a couple of kilo of prawns & some beautiful fresh king salmon on our way out of town. They are really nice. We both reckon now we've seen Karumba we wouldn't bother to come back again & we've spoken to a few other people since who feel the same way. If you don't fish you're pretty well an outsider. Would you believe that when some of the regulars have happy hour they ring a bell to let their friends know! You know you're on the outside then!
We stopped in to see the historic Gulflander train at Normanton as it was out on a trip on our way up. From what I understand it's not really the train that's so important, as there were several different trains that did the trip, but it's the actual journey from Normanton to Croydon & the fact that the lines were built so many years ago in 1891 because of the gold rush & to overcome the 'most flooded & rotten country in Australia'. They used hollow steel sleepers packed with mud that withstood flooding & most of the original sleepers are still in place. The  train has recently been restored & still does a weekly trip to Croydon. We didn't bother going on the train trip 'cos we would have had to come back for the car & van!

We headed off to finish our trip across the Savannah Way which actually starts in Broome in W.A. & finishes in Cairns. We've now driven from  one side to the other & lots of it is dirt but lots more interesting! So much better than bitumen, & then you add in the river & creek crossings, gorges, waterfalls; that's what I call fun!
From Normanton we headed through Croydon, Georgetown, Mt Surprise & then down to Undara National Park to do a tour of the lava tubes. Around about 190,000 years ago there were actually 164 volcanoes in this region alone. Who would have thought?

The lava flow from Undarra covered a region of about 55 square kilometres. When a volcano erupts the outer makes a crust & the lava continues to flow through it; this eventually makes a hollow tube. The tour was great; really interesting. They took us into a couple of different tubes & one had water flowing through it & the reflections were incredible. It's definitely worth doing. The accommodation at Undarra is pretty unique; there's a caravan park & also a heap of old railway carriages that have been done up like new & made into units.

The 'top end' has been great; we're pretty sad about leaving it (especially the beautiful warm weather!).  The bird life has been amazing; so many water birds, emus both large & small, there have been so many different types of kangaroo, wild pigs (on one road there must have been about 20 or more!), several pretty big snakes, wetlands, national parks; you name it. It's been beautiful & so interesting. 

After Undarra we headed off through Innot Hot Springs where if you're not in the caravan park you actually have to dig into the sand on the riverbank to get any water, (so we didn't bother). We kept driving until we came across a lovely rest area beside the river just before Ravenshoe where we lit the fire & settled in for another beautiful night.

The next morning we headed up to Atherton. We've been there before but it's such a lovely area. We drove back through Yungaburra which is a gorgeous little town with lots of cafes & a huge old pub. After a lovely lunch in one of the cafes we headed off & drove the 'waterfall way' once again. We did it about 4 years ago on our way back from the cape & it's just lovely. 

We'd also stopped at a dairy near Millaa Millaa where they make their own cheeses, yoghurts & dips & we had to stop once again & buy some as they were so good! (and have an icecream of course!)  The views on the tableland are magnificent; it's so green, so mountainous & beautiful. I could almost live up there!

We drove down the mountain then to head for Paronella Park as Phill really wanted to see it once again. On our way down a guy came over the CB radio telling everyone to watch out for the cassowary on the side of the road. They call this area the 'cassowary coast' but we still didn't quite catch on to what he was saying until here's this cassowary standing in the ditch beside the highway! I tried to quickly get a photo but only got a tree!
Paronella Park is amazing. It includes a castle, a grand ballroom, a theatre, beautiful gardens, a grand staircase all built by hand by a Spanish cane farmer many years ago. The current owners are fixing it up.  We were going to go through it again & stay there but we could see it from the suspension bridge over the falls & it hadn't changed much since last time we were there so it wasn't worth the $38 each to go in. It usually includes a spot in the caravan park but it was full up anyway.
So we carried on down the road until we found a great park beside the river & set up camp for the night. Roast lamb & veges with a lovely glass of wine beside the campfire on the banks of the river. Ahhh, the serenity! 

We had planned to head down the coast straight for Hervey Bay but Alan & Carol (our friends from Adelaide who we'd met over in W.A.) were heading up towards Cairns on the inland roads & we wanted to catch up with them. So, when we got to Townsville we once again headed inland through Charters Towers & down to Clermont where we spent a night together & what a night! It was so lovely to see them once again after 2 years. We spent the afternoon talking then had a 'few' drinks around the camp fire before heading up to the pub for dinner after which we headed back to the caravan park to once again sit around the fire & have a bottle of port or two.


We really didn't feel like getting up the next morning and another night with them would have been lovely but we had to head off again 'cos we're starting to run out of time. Thanks guys for a great night!
We'd been going to head further south from there to meet up with Garnie & Marg; our other friends we'd met in W.A. who come from Tassie but they're heading for Inskip after that so we decided to head for Hervey Bay & we'll catch up with them on the way home.

We stopped at the Calliope River Campgrounds on the way back; another wonderful free camp site. We were amazed at the size of the area & there must have been 60 or more vans there! You can camp on both sides of the river for about 500 metres, even on the sandy shore right on the side of the river. It's just lovely. Sometimes I can't believe where you can camp for free! We are so lucky.

On our way to Hervey Bay the next day, we stopped in to see our friends Errol & Neriel at Childers. They're on 17 acres there & it's just beautiful & it was so nice to catch up with them but not for nearly long enough. 

Time to head for Hervey Bay & see Bec, Chris & the kids. We'd booked into the caravan park instead of parking in their front yard as we thought it would be nice for them to come down to the beach. Trouble is, the weather's been terrible. We've had dinner at their place each night now as it just hasn't been nice enough down here for much at all. The boys have been sleeping over so we've had a bit of extra time with them so that's been great. We took Blake shopping for his birthday watch yesterday & he's so proud of it & he looks so grown up with a real silver watch on his arm! Here he is showing it off!

We woke up this morning to the sun trying to peep through the clouds & thought we might have had a better day. The kids got a bit of time making friends on the beach & Bec & Lexi came down but no sooner had they jumped on the playground than down it poured. Bugger. Back to the van again. So much for sunny Queensland!
We can't really complain though. Up until now we've had the best weather; mostly up around 30 degrees all the way & hardly any rain.
We can't get onto Garnie & Marg so we don't know what to do tomorrow and it's getting windy now to go with the wet so Inskip probably wouldn't be very nice. We'll try them again in the morning, otherwise we'll head home.
8 weeks & about 12,000 kms have gone by pretty quickly. We've had a ball but now it's back to work to start saving up for the next one!

GREGORY DOWNS TO KARUMBA

We pulled out of Lawn Hill National Park and called into Adele's Grove to have a look around. We'd met 2 couples who really bucketed the place but we disagree; we thought the place was really nice, very shady, beautiful gardens and right on the river. No power or water and only hot showers for $34.00 per night seemed a bit steep to us compared to the N.P. so we're glad we didn't stay there though!  The road out was pretty rutted & boggy so with rain coming we're glad to be out of there.

From there we went to Gregory Downs and fuelled up then headed back to the Savannah Way via Augustus Downs Cattle Station. It must have been one of the worst roads we've been on; lots of ruts, bog holes & damage. After a very long day of driving we headed up the Burketown road to see the Leichhardt River. It's awesome; at least 1/2 a km wide but not a lot of water at the moment.  There's also a waterfall; it would be incredible to see it in full flood. The amount of rivers & creeks in this area is amazing; I had no idea!

We headed on to the next camp spot but we'd just pulled up and set up camp and got the fire out when there were a couple of claps of thunder and within a couple of minutes it was starting to rain. Not wanting to be caught on such bad dirt roads in the wet & chance getting bogged, we quickly packed up and hightailed it towards Normanton. We were hoping to make it to Little Bynoe River but it was already late and the sun was long gone when we came across Flinders River.  It was full of water (there's a causeway to get across) with plenty of room to camp beside  it and we'd outrun the rain so we set up beside the river. What a lovely place to camp; so much better than any caravan park. We lit the fire and settled back with a drink before cooking dinner & hitting the sack. We woke just on sunrise and peaked out the back window; what a beautiful sight to wake up to. So many birds! There were pelicans, brolgas, cranes, plovers and so many others; it was amazing! They reckon about half of Australia's birds live in the N.T.  JJ decided to catch a fish for breaky while I got the bucket out and washed the caravan; I've never seen it so dirty!  J.J. had no luck fishing and I'd finished washing the van so we settled for weetbix & a cup of tea.

On the road again, we stopped in at Burke & Wills camp spot no:119 where Burke died. It's hard to imagine what these early explorers went through. We have a lot to thank them for.

We rolled on to Normanton where we both looked at each other and laughed. There is bugger all in Normanton. A run down BP service station, a purple pub, 2 little stores, a few old buildings and the historic rail museum where the Gulflander runs from. After hearing that's it's the only major town in the gulf we'd expected so much more!

 

So, on to Karumba to find our caravan park. Once set up I did an oil change on the old girl and gave her a wash (the Landcruiser - not JJ) while J.J. went to catch our dinner. The cruiser is ready to go but we had to go and buy barra & chips for dinner.

I think the only thing anyone comes to Karumba for is to go fishing. The whole town is full of 4 wheel drives, boats & boat trailers. The carpark outside the caravan park is full of boat trailers. The caravan park is full of 4x4's. People stay here for months on end & everyone goes out fishing every day. The fish cleaning tables always have a line-up & the place stinks of fish. We can't get over it; we've never seen anything like it. Who knows what they do with all the fish? You can only eat so much. There's always a line up at the boat ramp; it's like Queen Street. 
 

The owners of the  caravan park reckon it's boat rage; not road rage. They reckon it's interesting to just sit out on the water & watch how everyone reckons they have their own space & watch out anyone who gets into it! We're feeling a bit out of it; we don't do much fishing. We've thrown the line in a few times but only caught a few bream that are too small & we've thrown them back.

Tonight was nice; they put on a roast so we went over & had dinner with a heap of other people then went up the pub to watch the footy.

Tomorrow we head off again. It's time to head towards the east coast. 

LAWN HILL NATIONAL PARK

A young couple we met over in W.A. 2 years ago told us that Lawn Hill National Park is the most beautiful place they've ever seen. Gee, that's a big call to make. A few other people have also told us it's beautiful. Well, we're now there & we agree; it's beautiful but we wouldn't say the MOST beautiful . I don't think either of us can actually point at any one place we've seen & say that it's the MOST beautiful. But, in saying that, it's definitely one place we're glad we came to & one we'd recommend to others.

Before we left Bourketown we went for a drive up to the river (the Albert) which is the only means of getting to the gulf from there so you'd need a boat. (No, we weren't about to jump into a crocodile infested river in our little blow-up). 
I liked this sign near the boat ramp; couldn't resist it! There's not a lot to see in Bourketown so after a quick drive around we headed back down the 'track' to Gregory Downs where you turn towards Lawn Hill. It's probably the worst road we've been on yet. As you can imagine it gets pretty wet up there & when the dirt roads are driven on when they're wet, they become very rutted. Bits of the Savannah Way had been graded but not all & definitely not the road up to Bourketown.

Lawn Hill is beautiful in parts & ugly in others. During the wet the creek is flooded & now, in the dry there are the remnants of the floods; huge piles of dead palm leaves & trees that have been knocked over & many others with no soil left around them & are only holding on by their roots. You could almost make a horror movie in one part of the lower gorge; it's kind of eerie. It's full of tufa formations which are a form of limestone & apparently very significant in geology but they're really ugly! It's something to do with the fact that it's all spring fed.

Then there are the other parts; the middle gorge is beautiful. The only way to get all the way up the creek is to paddle so that's what we did. You paddle up the first part of the gorge to the Indarri Falls which are also made up of tufa but they're beautiful. There are about four drops. You can swim there but it was way too cold today; the sun had a bit of a problem coming out. (We've left the beautiful weather back in the Northern Territory.) When you get to the falls, you have to carry your canoe to the top gorge & you can then row up to a part where there must be springs all over the place; there's water coming from every direction & it's pretty warm but I still only had a paddle.

This afternoon we did a couple of the walks. One was to a sacred Aboriginal site and then we went on to the lower gorge. Then we went for a walk to the lookout over the falls & then on to the walk around the cliffs overlooking the middle gorge. The views are beautiful. 

We were booked in here for another night but it's really not necessary; we've seen all there is to see & there's supposed to be rain coming.

I was in the front of the canoe today & wanted to get a photo of Phill rowing & of us together in the boat so I took a couple over my back & then a few self portraits. What do you think?????

THE SAVANNAH WAY

We ended up doing the Savannah Way! We got to the turnoff & just couldn't resist it. We knew that if it got too bad on the first section, we could head back down to the highway via another way & we've had no problems; it's not as bad as we were told & we've had the best times. We've finally got away from the mozzies & it's cooled down enough that we can sit outside of an evening and cook dinner over an open fire. What more could you want than to be out in the bush sitting beside an open fire with a good glass of red?

And the stars are amazing!

This is what we've been waiting for; there's only so much highway you can drive, it's so much more interesting doing the dirt roads & river & creek crossings. None of the rivers have been very deep but a couple of them are really wide. The Gregory River would be getting on for a kilometre wide when it's full, but there's a concrete causeway to drive over. There aren't many rest areas & not many places to stop along the way so this is how we had coffee! On the road. There's not much traffic either!

The whole of the Savannah Way is very remote. There are just a few towns along the way; Borroloola is very small, Wollogorang used to be at the N.T./Qld border but it's closed now. Hells Gate Roadhouse (good name hey?) is next. It has an interesting history; back in the 1800's there was no law west of there so very few people were game to travel past there. It's just a cattle station, roadhouse & some dongers now.

The next town was Doomadjee which is a quite large aboriginal
settlement. We saw a heap of the local kids behind a really high wire fence & when we waved they started to throw rocks at us! Tonight we're in Burketown; the first part of the road into here wasn't too good! Burketown is the 'Barramundi Capital of Australia'. It's on the Albert River & it's only about 25k's from the Gulf of Carpentaria but there's no road up to the water worse luck. We had to come up here to get fuel so we decided to stay for the night. We'll have a bit of a look around the town in the morning before we head down to Lawn Hill National Park. We've been wanting to get to Lawn Hill for years so we're really looking forward to it.

EDITH FALLS & KATHERINE GORGE

From Kakadu we headed on to an old gold mining town called Pine Creek where we found a lovely cafe called Mayses Cafe & had one of the biggest & best steak sandwiches ever. Next, on to Edith Falls which is in the top part of Nitmiluk National Park where we set up camp for the night. Normally you can swim at the base of the falls where there's a really big pool which runs into the river but they're still getting over the floods from the wet season so that section was still closed.

We walked up to the top of the falls where there's quite a large area to swim in & a really good view down the river. After a dip we did the round trip to the other side of the falls where there's a stunning view then back down to the other side to the river. That walk was very worthwhile!

We headed into Katherine the next morning & set up camp for a few days at Springvale Homestead where we'd stayed on our way up. They have a little restaurant here so Phill thought it would be nice to have a night off cooking & go out to dinner. I had the most beautiful lamb rack with red wine jus & vegies; yum. We went home & to bed after that & about 4am the next morning  I woke up suddenly & said to Phill that I felt sick. Well, put it this way; the next 10 hours or so weren't very nice. Put a bit of a damper on that lamb rack it did.

By that afternoon I felt well enough to go to the Katherine Hot Springs (which aren't really hot; just warmish). They're not in their natural state; they've made them into a sort of swimming pool with steps & rails but they're very nice.  We'd been booked in for the Katherine Gorge cruise that day but had to postpone. We had originally thought about canoeing up it but they're still waiting for the water to go down another couple of metres  before they're letting anyone canoe or swim in it.  Besides, we're not very good at canoeing; we'd probably never have got anywhere!

 

We had to grab a few groceries this avo so in to town we went. The shopping centre consists of Target Country, a chemist, a bakery, a newsagent, a cafe & Woolies. I started to get hungry & felt pretty weak after being sick so I bought a custard tart then looked around to find somewhere to sit down. There was nowhere! They have 'No Loitering' signs everywhere. They don't have even one seat in the centre; they really don't want anyone staying. Get your shopping & get out of here is what they're saying! (Of course, it's because a lot of the 'locals' have nothing to do all day so just hang around). After we finished the shopping we headed for the car & next thing a woman & little girl (indigenous) came running up to us & the woman asked if the girl could have our trolley. I had trouble understanding her so I said 'pardon?'. She said "Yes, I understand you. Can she have your trolley?" so I said yes, I guess so. Then Phill pipes up that he'd had to pay $2 for it! Well, these guys had a scheme going. I gave them mine as I didn't think it worth arguing over $2 & next thing they go to the woman in the next car & get hers! They were making a mint on shopping trolleys! I thought it was so funny; I couldn't help but laugh!

We finally got to do our lovely Katherine Gorge cruise today & it was definitely worthwhile. The Katherine River winds it's way through 13 gorges for about 12 kilometres from the tablelands down to Katherine. We cruised up the first gorge which was lovely thengot off that boat, walked about 900 metres then got on another boat in the second gorge.

That was probably the nicest one we saw; the walls of the gorge getting up to about 70 metres high with such beautiful colours & contours lining each wall. The commentary our driver/guide gave along the way was really informative & interesting too. He knew a lot about the history & the plant & animal life in the gorge. When we came to the end of that gorge we walked up to the 3rd gorge & changed boats once again.

After a lovely cruise down the river we turned around & on the way back we pulled into the bank about half way along & jumped off the boat & went for a walk. We were very impressed with the lovely plunge pool we came across at the bottom of a waterfall. It was totally hidden from view, you would never know it was there when you're making your way down the river. Just beautiful.
 

Well, we've basically finished our tour of the top end of N.T.  We've seen all we're gonna see & it's time to move on. We've phoned ahead to see what the roads are like along the Savannah Way as we'd like to go across to Lawn Hill National Park via Borroloola to Bourketown but we've been told they've had too much rain & it's impassable. So, it seems we have to head through Cloncurry once again. Lawn Hill is closed at the moment but as long as there's no more rain we should be right by the time we get there. As usual, we'll just take it one day at a time.

Yellow Waters is a well known part of Kakadu because of its wetlands, plant life & bird life. It's one of those places everyone talks about so we thought we'd better go. You couldn't drive in as even the carpark is still covered with water so the only way to see it is to do a cruise. We paid way more than we thought reasonable but didn't have a choice. So we jumped on the boat & drifted along the South Alligator Creek where we saw exactly what they'd said. 



We chose the early cruise so we could watch the sunrise. We saw water lilies & other water plants but not many flowers, a few crocs & heaps of birds; that's it. It's a very pretty area & we feel lucky to have seen it, but after two hours we were both very glad to get off.

We headed out to Gunlom falls after that. It's about 25kms of corrugated dirt road but it's worth it; the falls are lovely & of course I had to have a swim.

Then Phill wanted to go for a walk to the 'billabong'. As soon as I saw what the 'track' was like I said I didn't think it'd be worth it. But 'you never know if you never go' is our motto so we headed off.

What do you think?
 

The next morning we got up & headed to the Yurmikmik walks which we'd been told at the Info centre we really should do. We're certainly learning not to listen to many people. It's really hot up here; about 33 degrees. So, if you do these walks that are several k's long you want them to be worthwhile.
 

This walk had to be the worst we've come across. First you go over a rickety suspension bridge with a big red sign on it that says only 1 person at a time; scary.
Then you trek 2k's up through bush & rock to Boulder Creek which is a very small creek with lots of boulders in it! Exciting hey? Then you walk another 5 k's to the lookout. Well, the path was about a foot wide hidden amongst very prickly long dried up grass & I did not enjoy one step of it. We got to the lookout & really, it was the same as any other lookout. We had been going to go to Motor Car Falls which is further along again. (so named because a guy drove through the bush in 1946 & came to the falls & couldn't go any further). 

After what we'd already seen we decided not to go there, only to find later that we should have gone as they're very nice. You win some, you lose some. We ended up walking back up another track to the road & walked several k's down the road back to the car to avoid the 'pathway' again.

Anyway, that's Kakadu for us. Time to pack up the van & head back down the highway. Some say Kakadon't & some say Litchfield is much better but we wouldn't say either. Both are lovely but they're also very different to each other. Our favourite was Florence Falls & the creek walk there (in Litchfield) but Kakadu certainly is very interesting & also has some beautiful spots.

An early start & off to Jabiru Airport for our flight over Kakadu. We jumped into a 6 seater fixed wing plane that we later found out is about 35 years old, but we felt safe & I guess the pilot wouldn't seem so confident if it wasn't! We flew out over Jabiru to see the Crocodile Inn (a motel shaped like a crocodile) then over creeks, roads & wetlands on our way to Jim Jim Falls.

 

 

We did several loops over Jim Jim & Twin Falls so both sides could see. Jim Jim Falls are about 150mtrs high, Twin Falls are even higher & it has a lovely looking sandy beach at the bottom. The photos we've seen of the bottom of the gorges are absolutely beautiful; pity we couldn't drive out there.

From there we flew out over the  Arnhem Land escarpment and past some more smaller falls & up Deaf Adder Valley (yes deaf... not death; don't ask me why) which contains sacred Aboriginal sites so you're not allowed in.  We returned to Jabiru over the Ranger Uranium Mine before landing.  How they can allow uranium mining in Kakadu, a World Heritage Listed area, is hard to comprehend. There's been a lot of controversy about it over the years.

We had a lovely hour flying all over Kakadu & it really helps you appreciate the vastness of the area. It was great.

We drove out to Nourlangie Rock after that to see rock art dating back about 60,000 years & it was probably some of the best rock art we've ever seen. Each painting tells a story & it's so much more meaningful when you know what they mean. We came across a ranger telling dreamtime stories about magic siblings who turned into crocodiles, walked the outdoor lounge room 1000's of years old & heard about all the trouble you got into if you did the wrong thing by your tribe. Life was pretty tough back then.
 

We went for a drive down to the Warradjon Aboriginal Cultural Centre for a look & took about an hour to go through; it was so well done. It's amazing to see & hear how the aboriginals lived all those years ago & how some still do. I really think we both have a better appreciation of them now.