Westward Ho

Kakadu was quite an experience, probably better than we were expecting.  I think we came away with a better understanding of the indigenous population, many of whom still live fairly traditionally.  It was interesting that they still prefer their traditional foods, and when a rogue crocodile is caught and killed, the meat is distributed within the community.  Talking of crocodiles, we were quite surprised to hear on Saturday that a man had been taken and killed by one in the area we had been in only a few days before.  He had been fishing with his family, and apparently washed a bucket over the side and the crocodile took him.  We were told quite firmly on the cruise we did not to put arms etc outside the boat as they crocs can jump 3/4 of their length out of the water.  We saw lots of people fishing from small boats and always wondered just how safe they were.  Will make a few rather nervous I think.

Turning onto the Stuart Highway we were met with an invasion.  Caravan after caravan after caravan in both directions.  Yes, the southern invasion had caught us up.  Spaces will be at a premium from now on.

We booked the car in for a service, but again it was another long weekend (that's four in about eight weeks) so we didn't want to spend that amount of time in Katherine having been there on our way north.  So we decided it would be much nicer to have a couple of nights at Edith Falls, about 60 k's from Katherine.  We had stopped for a swim but hadn't camped there.  I knew that it is a very popular camping area at this time of year, and being the Friday of a long weekend, it would be even more so.  We had planned to have a good look around Pine Creek, an historical gold area, but opted in the end to make this just a quick breeze through, which had us arriving at Edith Falls around midday.

And how lucky we were.  We got what we believe to be about the best caravan site there.  Many of them are parallel to the road and not very inviting.  We had to back in but it was a huge site and quite private compared to the others.  Best of all, the top of the van was in the sun for the solar panels, but the sides of the van were shaded.  After setting up and lunch, it was off for a couple more swims in the huge bottom pool.

The weather was still quite hot, so we decided to do the walk to the top falls early in the morning.  These had been closed the time we came through, and the walk was so worthwhile.  The pools were delightful and the views down the valley quite breathtaking.  It was lunch time before we got back, so then of course time to have another swim in the bottom pool.  It's a hard life.

Sunday we drove into Katherine and the place was buzzing, traffic everywhere.  The supermarket was packed out, and the shelves empty.  I had to make do with a few alternatives.  I couldn't believe that there was 1.5 metres of empty shelf area, which I discovered used to hold various varieties of tinned tomatoes that I was trying to find.

The rest of Sunday and all of Monday was taken up with a massive clean - loads of washing, and major clean inside and out of the car and the van.  I guess they look good until the next dirt road.  We had planned to leave Katherine on Tuesday after the car was serviced, but in the end he didn't finish until lunch time, and we discovered our auxillary battery that runs the car fridge had died and a replacement would not be available until the next morning, so it was easier to stay another night.  The caravan park here is very pleasant.  It's about twelve k's out of the town on a working property.  Lots of huge trees so lots of shade and green grass.  Just perfect for camping on.  But what a shock we got this morning - we had to put our doona on.  We can't remember the last time we have used it.  So the nights are now getting quite cool, considering it was not many nights ago we were still using the fan overnight.

So Wednesday after getting our new car battery installed, we headed off into the land of no phone and internet.  Because we had now got away earlier in the day, we changed my original plans and decided to continue on to Timber Creek and the Big Horse Creek Campground.  The first 100 k's were mundane, but then we got near the Victoria River and the scenery started to take on a life of its own.  Beautiful brick red cliffs, bright blue skies and green dotted around it.  It was just before midday when we stopped at the Victoria River Roadhouse to take in the scenery.  I checked my faithful Wikicamps (fortunately if content has been downloaded, you don't need an internet connection), and discovered our proposed camp is very busy at this time of year, and people were suggesting to arrive by 1.00.  Checking the GPS, if we didn't stop we would be there at 1.05! So we decided against the walk at Victoria River, and stopping to explore Timber Creek on the way, and headed straight to the camp.  We got the second last site, and the last decent one for a caravan.  After lunch we drove the 10 k's back into Timber Creek and looked around this remote town.  There was a very interesting museum at the original police station, and we spent some time there after being given a guided tour.  We also drove up to the lookouts which had great views of the town and the expansive Victoria River.  The town had phone reception, but we lost the signal as soon as we left the town.

Victoria River from the lookout near Timber Creek

Beautiful big boabs

Our campsite at Big Horse Creek Campground

The next morning, we packed our lunch and headed into the Judbarra/Gregory National Park.  We drove into Limestone Gorge area, and firstly did a very nice lookout walk which included the interesting white waterfall.  We then did the two k each way walk into the gorge.  About 700 metres of this was through the river bed, which was very rocky and hard going.  In retrospect, the walk was a bit disappointing as there used to be a campground there, but everything has not been maintained, and you could not even get near the billabong any more.

Impressive white waterfall

We drove on further to the Bullita Homestead.  The homestead is from the 1960's, and it did give you a really good idea of how hard life must have been back then.  No air conditioning, not even insect screens.  We had been told at the museum that the area had a very high suicide rate, and we could understand why.  There was a reproduced letter from the woman who lived in the homestead during the 60's.  One night during the wet, her husband was away droving, and she went to bed early because of the insects coming in when the lights were on.  She was awakened by a huge snake knocking over things in her kitchen, and then discovered that the river was rising.  She ended up spending the whole night hanging on to a dead tree with just her head above the water.  At one stage she tried to reach a live tree that was nearby as it was higher, but wasn't able to get there.  A few hours later this tree was washed away in the force of the water.  Everything in the house was ruined by the mud.  A hard life indeed.

Huge boab at the homestead

Overall though, we thought the National Park was a little underwhelming, I guess because we had been spoiled with such great scenery.

On Friday morning after a detour to the historic Gregory Tree, our next stop was the campground at the Zebra Mine, just within the NT/WA border.  Zebra rock is found only in this area, and was quite interesting.  We were given a guided tour of the gallery and heard the history of the mine.  They only open in the peak season, and have only been going for two years.  There were quite a few campers there, so word is getting out.

Boab tree inscribed with the arrival and departure dates during the expedition of the explorer Gregory.

The next morning it was a short drive of about 45 minutes to the Keep River National Park, still within NT.  This is supposed to be a mini Bungle Bungles, so the real thing is going to be something else.  Our campsite was lovely, and we immediately decided to stay two nights.  This is the best type of camping, plenty of space and a lovely open fire.  We did the 2 k walk from the campground before lunch, and it was so spectacular, we did it again late afternoon to see the colours change with the setting sun.

Lovely bush campsite

From the walk near our campsite

Extraordinary colours

The next morning, we were up early driving the 18 k's to the other campsite to try the walk there.  This was an 8 kilometre loop, and was very enjoyable.  Some of the route is rated as moderate to difficult and we did it quite easily.   In fact we are finding with all the walks we have done, these walks are getting easier.  A couple of months ago we were puffed going up half a dozen steps, now all this rock climbing seems easy.  It took us two hours to complete the circuit.

Starting on the 8 k walk

Beautiful scenery

View from the top

More great scenery

and breathtaking colours

So feeling emboldened with our success, Jim suggested we try the 3 k one half way between the two campsites.  Just what I had been thinking, so off we headed.  The info sign rates this one as easy, let's go for it.  Who the hell rates these walks!  This easy walk was like a goat track, narrow, rocky and up and down.  Plus when we reached the end, it was not very interesting at all.  Oh well, that was 11 k's we walked for the day, and we were still in one piece.