The long journey home

Hi there folks, here I am again with my last post from this trip. As you might well appreciate we have have made it home after 8 weeks on the road. Our trip was cut short in comparison to what I had hoped but circumstances were against us and here we are back in Bairnsdale.
When last I wrote we were in Darwin when it was extremely hot: What a change in the weather gods!
After leaving Darwin town we headed south but first made a detour to the Territory Park. This park is based on similar lines to the Desert Park in Alice Springs with the park divided into different areas you would see in the territory: woodlands, monsoon forest, wetlands etc. They have a section for night creatures where you wander through a dark enclosure to watch snakes, rats, owls and other night creatures go about there business unaware they are being spied upon.
Rangers give talks about all sorts of topics: Pelicans, Crocodile safety, with the best section (as far as I'm concerned) the Birds of Flight talk and demonstration. Black Buzzards (that have to be related to Wedge Tailed Eagles), Barn Owls with the silent flight and the best of all (according to me) the mighty Jabiru.

Jabiru at Territory Park

We saw this bird fly in pick up a fish and fly out; how marvelous to see this majestic creature so up close and doing what comes naturally. The interesting bit about this also was we were packed in with some school kids during this show and up until the show started you could hear the noisy chattering of regular kids, but when the show began you could hear a pin drop, so enthralled were they by natures beauty. 
After walking around for several hours and it becoming very warm, we headed out and south to Litchfield NP. We have been here a few times before and love the place. The scenery, history are wonderful but plunge pools are the best in the entire NT. We stayed at Wangi Falls which still looked amazing even getting to the end of the dry season, waterfalls were still cascading over the two areas and people were everywhere swimming, sitting under waterfalls etc. At 37C it was a very refreshing dip in the pool with both Paul and I staying in for quite sometime.

Wangi Falls - Litchfield NP

In the mornings our camp was visited by little wallabies, then later as the sun came out - skinks. All very fascinating to watch the creatures go about their daily business without too much disturbance from us.
From here we made it down to Katherine again, catching up once more with Shane and Kaye who had only 8 weeks left in there stint up there before looking to come south to some cooler climate again. We went for a drive to Katherine Gorge and found out where all the bats from Bairnsdale made their new home - here! 50,000 of the screeching things hanging out of every tree. I only hope they stay there and don't come back to us in East Gippsland.
We then spent another few days in Alice for the final clean-up and shop before our final assault on going home, spending a few lovely nights alone on the road, now able to have a campfire and getting some well needed sleep as the weather was cooling down.
Now a couple of funny things happened on our last few days or actually nights, out. Firstly we stopped about 30kms out from Port Augusta on a free camp winding out the back from the road. Unbeknown to us for a short time at least, we also had a train line a bit further out the back from our camp. This was no big deal when the first train, about 5pm went chugging along with its freight toward Darwin but after we had lit our campfire for the night and had some tea the wind sprung up and made life a little uncomfortable, so with campfire dampened we both headed into our camper.
Paul, as is relatively normal, was in bed before 7pm and I sat and read my book, played on the Ipad until a half sensible time of trying to get some sleep (about 9pm). It took some time to eventually find sleep and by the time I got their another 3 trains had passed our site. When Paul stirred around 2am to go the the toilet he loudly informs me with great gusto "Hey Chook, there goes another train"! 
Well to say I was not impressed by being woken up with his hollering about another B*&^$$# train is an understatement. I then informed him there had been already 3 trains passed, and no I wasn't impressed with being told about another one.
By the morning before we left we had seen 7 trains on the line behind our camper! Who knew it was going to be like Flinder's Street out here?
Our final morning was also memorable but for a different reason. We had met up with old friends of ours Gael and Norm, who were traveling back to their home in SA from a family reunion of Gael's. We had been in contact with them and were aware of their preferred route home so when we came through Loxton (SA) and actually passed them it was a squeal of the brakes as both of us turned around to catch the other. After the usual greetings it was decided we go towards Pinaroo and seek a place for the night on the side of the road that would fulfill our needs to have a campfire and house two camper/caravans. Norm found our site; an old school site set off the main road  with plenty of firewood and fairly flat - perfect!
Now we do carry a portable diesel heater for attachment to the camper in extreme cases of cold but as the night went on, we were lulled into a false sense of security as the campfire burned bright and warm. The giveaway should have been the coats and beanies we had on, but no Paul did not connect the dots or the heater. By the time we went to bed (after a few ales) it was freezing.
We no sooner get into bed (at least I had my hot water-bottle) than Paul says "do you want me to hook up the heater"?
I feeling sorry for him having to get out again in this cold said no it would be okay we'll just have to snuggle down a bit more.  The night wore on and seemed to get colder, but still with the doona over my head and snuggling down even more eventually the sun dawned.

A tad cold!

Norm was already up with last night's fire cranked up again and flaming beautifully. Although I was reasonably comfortable now with the heat in my bed it didn't take long to get out and get a bit closer to the fire. It was by far our earliest morning at 6:45am SA time but because we had to cross the border into Vic this morning Paul felt 7:15am had a better ring to it.
More beanies and coats as we stood around the fire cooking our toast when Gael comes out with a thermometer and informs us we had a cold night as it was -2.5C in her van now and -7C out in the open. No wonder my mirror on the camper had lovely little crystals on it!
After our pack-up, breakfast and fire dampening it was time to say farewell and head in our respective directions.
Well the trip was uneventful but long, traveling from Loxton all the way in one day! But we are here and it is nice to be home although I'm still struggling with settling into a pattern after tripping nearly everyday: I guess it will all come back in time.
Bye for now hope you enjoyed the trip.

Mindel Market - the sign says it all!

Jabiru

Wangi Falls - but look closely and you will see quite a few Orb Spiders dangling over the water.

One of the many salt lakes on the way home

Heavy Tree gap - Alice Springs

Kakadu and Darwin

Hello from the top end and a very hot and sticky one it is. Some locals saying it looks like the build up to an early wet season, with clouds starting to appear in the sky and humidity rising.
Darwin is what I remember from previous times; an appealing city with a slow easy pace almost like a big country town.
There is some development going on but according to the Minister of the Territory they need more people and he is now calling on FIFO workers to cease and make the workers of mines live in the territory. Good luck with that if economics have anything to do with it!
Anyway enough of the everyday life what I really want to concentrate on this episode is our week in Kakadu, which in one word can be described as AWESOME!
We started on the south side of Kakadu after obtaining our pass and were told by Kaye and Shane we MUST go to Gunlom (a 4WD road to a plunge pool). This proved to be a very rough, corrugated, arduous journey with the end result a very dry patch of dirt in the shape of a camp. Yes, there was a plunge pool with a very friendly freshwater croc as resident. Yes, we did go swimming, but other than that there wasn't that much to do. Not the best first impression I must admit but if we had stayed a few more days they were having some ranger activities on the weekend that may have been worthwhile. After another 39 kms out we headed to Coowinda on South Alligator River, where we went a bit more civilized in the caravan park.
From here we did our most expensive adventure by taking a boat cruise out on the river just before sunset. Along with about 100 others spread over 4 boats, we had a lovely time cruising up and down the river looking at all sorts of wildlife; crocodiles, Maggie Geese, Black Bittern (very rare apparently), Small Kingfisher (also rare), Whistling Ducks (of which there are many), Egrets, Herons etc. Life is certainly plentiful on the wetlands and this is into the dry season now!
After our sunset we then returned to base where we

Not sure if he was so pleased to see us.

indulged in a Pizza at the bistro, sitting alongside some lovely Dutch people out here for a 28 day tour.
Our next stopover was Jabiru to stock up on a few essentials and to have a quick look at the Ranger uranium mine, a few kms out of Jabiru. Quite a big mine in full action by the number of cars at the entrance to the mine. As nothing held our interest in Jabiru we then headed to the East Alligator camp site. This by far was the best place we found in the park; ranger talks on aboriginal art, ancient rock formation, kinship etc. We even had the opportunity and privilege to do some weaving with some lovely ladies from Arnhem land. 
Ann and Jennifer showed us the process of stripping the Pandanus palm leaves, then cutting them into strands, colouring them with plant matter by boiling them in water, and finally the actually weaving. I have a new respect for these ladies as they plied there talents making us 'balanda' (foreigners) look very tardy. The actual weaving was the easy part; I couldn't get the hang of the stripping the palm fronds for love nor money, yet Ann, particularly, made it look oh-so-easy. All in all a great morning.
I have skipped over the major parts of our time here but there were other walks, talks and interesting places to see and do. Cahill Crossing for one, which is a causeway between Kakadu and Arnhem land, where the crocs actually line up at the causeway, on an incoming tide, to catch the barramundi. Wild!
Please enjoy the photos I have posted as well and I will talk to you another time.  

Jabiru walking on dry floodplain

Could be from Game of Thrones but also a great place to hide from the heat and grind seed.

Cahill's Crsossing

South Alligator river

Ubirr looking over floodplains

Ann and Jennifer showing us the techniques used in weaving and making the colour they use.

Ramsar declared wetland bird hide and Lotus Lilly

Katherine and the top of Australia

Well we have arrived in Katherine after saying farewell to Rob and Ruth back at Threeways: they heading towards Queensland and starting the journey home.
We had a lovely time with them exploring much of Binns Track and the Davenport Ranges. Once again stayed at a station - Murray Downs where we had to share the amenities block with some of the mustering people. With a helicopter starting at 6:00am it was certainly a rude awakening to another bright shiny day (of which we seem to have many). Most days the temperature is around 33C with nights down to about 15C. With what we hear about at home on the weather stakes is sounds like we are in the right place.
The Davenport Ranges, as I said were very pretty, especially the southern end with many rock-holes with water a plenty to be seen. An old tungsten mine, that looks like it could start again tomorrow, was explored on foot around the machinery and old slurry heaps. Apparently it actually hasn't been used since the last world war, but certainly doesn't really show its age too greatly.
We saw some feral donkeys with some of them very noisy during the night, especially when we were stopped at Old Police Station Waterhole a wonderful spot amongst gum tress, green grass and much water. Even enough water for Paul to cast a net and find us some very tasty Red Claw (much like a yabbie).
We all took the short walk around the waterhole to see the ruins of the police station which apparently was abandoned around 1944, following the mine demise. To have a police-station out here must have been one hell of a job, trying to keep the peace between miners, pastoralists and the aborigines.
After our few luxuriant days of 'peace and serenity' it was off to discover Whistling Duck Creek:oh what a disappointment compared to what we had. The place was extremely overgrown with snake invested (looked it anyway, although didn't actually see any) grass, no water in camp area and only 3 out of 16 campsites able to be used. Some of the sites actually having anthills about 12" high!
There was a nice big waterhole if you walked 500 mts, but as it was only a day area and it was hot, we kept our stay to one night and left disappointed.
A few nights in Tennant Creek with some washing, shopping and other incidentals with one night out at a concert for Harmony Week. With kangaroo stew and damper for tea and some great indigenous music we all had a lovely evening except for the cold wind that night.
Onto Bitter Springs after we left the Widdowson's where he spent a lovely night with some wildlife scaring the life out of us. After dark we had a visit from a small wallaby (except we didn't know what it was in the night) that rattled the rubbish bins and scratched around on our ground sheet. Next morning it came again but this time we were awake and quite happy to see the little critter.
Bitter Springs is also well known for its thermal pools and both Paul and I lapped up the clear warm water both in the evening and before we left in the morning; very nice to wake up to.
Now in Katherine where we have caught up with Kaye and Shane who are working at the caravan park. Great to see these two who still seem to enjoy their nomadic life working and holidaying around Oz.
We leave tomorrow and head to  Kakadu NP, so I'm looking forward to seeing another part of Australia I have yet to see.
See you again sometime soon.

Old Police Station Waterhole

Red claw for breaky

Where telegraph line was joined between Alice Springs and Darwin

One of two chairs Paul found on the roadside.

2017 Our Outback Adventures

Hi fellow travelers, I'm back again for this years adventure into the outback of Australia.
This year though I will not be blogging on a regular basis, but as things happen and when feeling inclined. Yes, I know all a bit slack, but this year I intend to enjoy the holiday without the added pressure of doing the blog.
We started this adventure on July 8th and after hi-tailing it through to Alice Springs to catch up with Rob & Ruth (traveling friends from previous journeys), we then did a few weeks around the outskirts of Alice. South to Chambers Pillar, Rainbow Valley and Owen Springs. Then onto the East McDonnell Ranges and a trip out to Ross River, Arltunga, Hale River Homestead with a short, but very eventful trip into Ruby Gap.
Much of the time we have encountered John McDouall Stuart's exploits as he traversed the continent from South to North opening up the overland telegraph path and old Ghan Railway.
Kidman, Elder and other historical names have been constant in establishing pastoral connections here and even the name Grollo has become part of the country as Mr Rino Grollo owns Ross River Homestead these days!
Gold mines, garnets - not rubies as was once thought, other gem stones and valuable minerals have been encountered even doing some prospecting ourselves (see pictures of my find later in blog photos).
4WD in some interesting conditions; water crossings, rocks, sand to name some of it.
Then there are the cultural aspects to the trip with many rock carvings, Dreamtime stories and aboriginal legends to admire and respect.
All in all the trip has been great with some wonderful country hospitality, scenic sunsets and amazing views - may it all continue.