DARWIN

 

Darwin is an easy going, carefree, multi-cultural city.   Parks and bike paths run all through the city.  We stayed at Lee Point, which was only 14 klms from the centre of the city.  Sunday afternoon we headed down to the Waterfront, where there is a wave pool & beach, beside a nice grassy picnic area.  Nicky Bomba Bustamento was playing on the stage for the Darwin Festival.  It was great people watching!  As Darwin was bombed in 1945, there is a lot of history around this city.  We went in the WW11 Oil Tunnels, which they never finished because of the cost.  The museum was interesting too.  Mindil markets are on Thursday & Sunday nights, full of entertainment, food and the normal market goodies. 

Wave pool at the Waterfront-

Free water park -

Loving the heat and we really enjoyed our week here in Darwin.  Off to Kakadu tomorrow, at 36’ we may struggle!!!!!

CRAB CLAW ISLAND

 

Crab Claw Island is only an island on a very high tide.  A single dirt track into Crab Claw Island Resort, built in the 1980’s (for a brothel), Rob & Laurel, Justin, Emma with their 3 kids, and us, made Crab Claw our home for the next week.  We launched the boat, set the crab pots every day and fished.  We were lucky enough to have this place all to ourselves for 7 days.  It was hot & humid,  we made good use of the pool.

Emma & Sonny were first to catch a fish, right out the front of the resort on a dead mullet.  90cm Queen Fish!!

We became friendly with the chefs in the restaurant and they spoiled us rotten.  Rob’s Birthday was on the 22nd and Mike caught a Barra, so we went to the restaurant for dinner and the chefs cooked up a feast with our crab & Barra.  It was a 5 star meal for a little price!

Sunrise at Crab Claw.

One morning Mike caught a shark and the chefs served it up, battered with chips wrapped in the old fashioned newspaper, absolutely delicious!  With the chilli sauce the chefs made, the crabs were to die for!

The only thing that bothered us was the sand-flies.  We all look like we have a disease.

LITCHFIELD NATIONAL PARK

 

Wangi Falls campground is central to everything Litchfield has to offer, as well as a beautiful swimming hole within walking distance from camp.  It is certainly heating up here in NT.  Definitely looking for shade & a swim at lunchtime.  By 5pm it is a nice temperature.

The lost city.

Florence Falls

Stayed in Litchfield for 4 days and still did not see everything.

KATHERINE

 

Springvale Homestead was our home for the next 4 days.   Big old trees, geese & kangaroos roaming and a spring fed pool,(which we only swam in once because of the green sludge around the edge.)

A nice swim at Katherine Hot Springs.

10/08/12 Rob & Laurel arrived safely. We canoed along Katherine Gorge for 4 hours.  Although there is plenty of water, the landscape is quite dry.

Douglas Hot Springs was our next destination.  A dry campsite beside a creek where hot water bubbles out of the ground, up to 60 degrees in parts.  The mornings here were cold.  Just before sunrise, we would warm up in the steamy hot springs.  Met up with Justin & Emma again.

THE NORTHERN TERRITORY

 

Hello to NT, our 6th state to visit.  The Zebra Rock Mine was our first stop and it was hot & humid.  Here, we were able to fossick for these very rare rocks, which are only found in this area.  Every afternoon the owner brings around firewood on this old bull truck, that they used to use for capturing bulls. 

 Next stop was the Gregory National Park along the Victoria River.  Hot & bothered, we tried to find some shade to cool off.  We visited the Bullita Homestead.  

Victoria River Roadhouse was the next stop.  The scenery here is very pretty.  Rich red and green ranges with a couple of easy walks to do.

From here we headed into Katherine to meet up with Rob & Laurel.

LAKE ARGYLE

 

Built in 1972, with a surface area of 740sq km, it is the largest man-made dam in Australia.  This is the glorious view from the pool at the van park(a must see).

The Durack Homestead is in the middle of this dam.  They were in the process of pulling apart every brick and relocating to higher ground, when the dam filled a lot quicker than they first thought.  Unfortunately, they lost cattle, equipment, furniture and half the original homestead.  Divers explore the ruins today.  I am currently reading Kings in Grass Castles by Mary Durack and it’s a great read.

Tomorrow, we say goodbye to WA.  We are all a little sad.

BUNGLE BUNGLE

 

We left the van in storage and took the tent as we were told the road into the Bungles was rough & rocky with a few creek crossings.  From the bitumen, 53klms of dirt road, up, down and around, we finally arrived at our camp(1&1/2hrs later). We navigated our way through gorges & chasms.

The intimidating Cathedral Gorge was impressive and in the wet a waterfall flows down through the black hole you can see.

Bungle Bungle’s orange banding is oxidised iron compounds and the grey band is formed by cyanobacteria exposed to water and wind. 

 

WYNDHAM & KUNUNARRA

 

Wyndham is a weird place.  It looks like a cyclone has just hit town, but the locals are very friendly and there is so much history here.  Five Rivers Lookout has a fantastic view of the five rivers all leading into the Cambridge Gulf.  Fuzzy the local donkey, was saved from a massive donkey culling 20yrs ago, happily roams around the caravan park.

We visited the Crocodile farm.  If this place was anywhere else in Australia it would have been shut down.  It looked like no maintenance had been done since it was opened in 1968 but the owner was a real character, very informative and funny. We had a great time!

After dinner mint sir?

 

Kununurra is a nice town set around a lagoon.  Extremely busy mining and tourist town.  Met up with friends again, stocked up on food to head south to the Bungle Bungles for 3 nights.  Bottle shops here are open from 2pm to 5pm with limits of 1 carton per person per day. 

Our view from the caravan park.