Litchfield National Park

Tuesday 28^th June

Litchfield National Park

We were woken up this morning just on daybreak to the sounds of a peacock calling out.

Today we planned to visit LITCHFIELD NATIONAL PARK.  It was high on our agenda of ‘must do’ places to see, and everyone we had spoken to, had raved about it. Naturally we were quite excited to be finally getting the opportunity to see it.

It was about an hour’s drive to the park and then the road travels through the park for about 80 km.  As you drive through the park there are side roads to the various points of interest that the park is renowned for.

The first one we came to was the Magnetic Termite Mounds. 

Sounds interesting, doesn’t it?  There are about 200 mounds spread over about 5 acres, they are all built like a wall, and they are all orientated north/south. 

There is only one particular kind of termite that build their mounds like this, and they do it so they can control their body temperatures,  going to the sunny side or the shady side of the mound, depending on what they require. So the next time someone calls you ‘termite brain’ don’t be too offended.

Just across the road from the magnetic termite mounds was a huge mound made by a different type of termite.  This particular specimen was over 5meters tall and estimated to be more than 50 yrs old. 

There are literally millions of these types of mounds all over the place here in the Northern Territory.

The next stop over was called the Buley Rock Hole.  We had no idea what to expect here, but judging by the number of cars at the car park, it was obviously a big attraction.  A short walk brought us to a small stream tumbling down a series of waterfalls which in turn had carved out sizable pools, ideal for a swim.

What a beautiful spot.  We had been told there were places to swim in the park and had come prepared with our togs.  We stayed for about half an hour while Cameron tried out all the holes, jumping and diving off the rocks.  We had to bribe him to get out, by saying we would call in again on our way out of the park.

Our next stop was Florence falls, further down the same stream.  Here the stream dropped vertically for about 50 meters into a huge pool, and we all enjoyed a swim here before heading off to the next attraction.

Tolmer Falls, our next stop off, could only be viewed from a lookout.  They drop about 100 or more meters into a gorge, and at the bottom are several caves which are home to some of the world’s rarest bats. 

Consequently you are not allowed to walk into the bottom of the falls.  The scenery around these falls was quite spectacular for its stark ruggedness.

Our next port of call was the Wangi Falls, and I’ll bet you all pronounced that wrong.  Remember this is Australia, so it’s not Wangee, but Wangeye.  Anyhow, again a spectacular sight.  A lot more water this time.  Normally you can swim in the huge pool at the base of the falls, but like Katherine Gorge, they had still not done a saltwater croc count, so there was no swimming allowed. 

Our last call was a place called Walker Creek which we had been told was good for swimming, but it wasn’t.  Too small and shallow, but Cameron had a bit of a splash anyhow, and the creek itself was very picturesque. 

From there we headed back the way we had come, stopping in at the Buley Rock Hole again where this time we all had a swim, staying until the sun was almost set.

From the photos, it looks a bit dangerous to be diving in, but believe me, those holes are DEEP.  I tried diving in and touching the bottom, but gave up.  My ears were bursting and I ran out of breath, and I still had a long way down to go.

As we were travelling in there was a lot of smoke in the air, from controlled burn offs along the road side.  We had become quite used to this phenomenon as it is used a lot to prevent forest fires. 

As we drove out again, we passed a couple of places where they were still setting fires,  and when we got back to the main road there was a big red sun setting through the smoke.  It looked very spectacular.

Overall we were a bit disappointed with LITCHFIELD.  I think possibly we had built it up in our minds to expect a lot more, and had even programmed 2 or 3 days to visit it.  Now we had done it all in one day.  We are now left wondering what KAKADU will be like, as many people have said LITCHFIELD was by far the better of the two National Parks.  Only time will tell. 

Tomorrow we will head north again and spend a couple of days rest and recreation, and getting ahead with school work, at or near BERRY SPRINGS, which is about 50 km south west of Darwin.  From there we will move into Darwin itself.

Mount Bundy Station

Monday 27^th June

Katherine Gorge to Mt Bundy Station

We packed up the van and drove the 30 odd km back into Katherine to get some groceries before heading north again.  We had learnt from our maps that there was a huge caravan parking area next to the Information Centre in Katherine, with Woolworths just across the road. An ideal set up for travellers like ourselves.  You could get information and groceries all in one hit.

They were right, it was huge, and just as well.  Everyone else must have read the same information as we had. There must have been well over a hundred caravans, motor homes, camper vans, and camper trailers, either parked, trying to park, or just leaving.  What a shambles.  Luckily we spotted a space where someone had just left, and managed to sneak in and park before someone else spotted it.  It would have been a great place to have a caravan smashing derby.  The boys from Top Gear would have had a ball.

Loaded up with groceries, we headed north towards PINE CREEK, about 90km away.  We had decided we would stay in KATHERINE and have a look around the town, on our way back down from DARWIN.

At PINE CREEK we fuelled up, and also spent some time having a look through their Rail Museum. 

Then it was on northwards again heading for MT BUNDY STATION about 120km away, where we intended to stay the night.  MT BUNDY STATION is a fully working Cattle Station, which also caters for tourists, and is about 3km east of the small town of ADELAIDE WATERS.  The station homestead and camping grounds are alongside the Adelaide River.

As we drove down the driveway we spotted about 40 water buffalo grazing in a paddock beside the drive.  Some of them were sporting some amazing sets of horns. 

Our campsite is sort of part of the farmyard, and there are three or four horses, several dogs, a couple of peacocks, and half a dozen guinea fowls, wandering around the caravan.

We look straight out onto a paddock about 20 acres in size, which contains among other things,  about half a dozen horses, a huge Brahman bull, an assortment of birds including storks and ibises,  hanging around the water hole, which apparently has some fresh water crocs in it, an assortment of red and grey kangaroos, and a few wallabies.  Talk about being rural and peaceful.

After setting up camp we went for a walk down by the river, and I spotted a small fresh water crocodile just as it dived off the branch it was lying on, and swam across the river.

Later on, just on sunset, I took a drive along the road and spotted about 50 kangaroos in a paddock.

Cameron soon found another boy about his age camped down by the river, and that was the last we saw of him. He came back after dark to get a torch to go spotting for Cane Toads.  We could have told him he didn’t have to go far, a couple had taken up residence in the toilet block, but we didn’t want to spoil their fun.  They came back later with a tiny little tree frog they had found.

That night we were lulled to sleep to the sounds of all sorts of strange bird calls, to be woken up later by a barking owl, which makes a sound just like a dog barking.

Mataranka Hot Springs and Katherine Gorge

Friday 24^th June

Daly Waters to Mataranka

It was just a short drive of 177 km from DALY WATERS up to MATARANKA.  We arrived at the Mataranka Homestead Motor Camp and were soon set up.  As we travelled up we could see the bush and scrub changing rapidly, and starting to look more and more tropical. Mataranka Homestead Motor Camp has been established beside the famous Mataranka Hot Springs where 30.5 million litres of water a day, at a constant temperature of 34 degrees, bubbles out of a spring then runs for about 100meters through the bush before it meets the Roper River.  

Between the springs and the river they have dammed the creek to make a swimming pool, and it is to this that everyone flocks year round to enjoy the nice warm water.  There were hundreds of day visitors at the camp, so we decided to delay our swim to later in the afternoon when hopefully it wouldn’t be quite so busy.

Mataranka is also the location for the Cattle Station named ELSEY, which is famous as the setting for Jeannie GUNN’s book ‘WE OF THE NEVER NEVER’.  This tells the story of her life there in the early 1900s, and it has also been made into a film.  The old ELSEY STATION Homestead was sited about 10km south of Mataranka Hot Springs.  Unfortunately the old homestead is no longer standing, but its original site,

and the cemetery where a lot of the characters of the book are buried,

has become a tourist attraction, and we decided to visit it before going for a swim.Saturday 25^th June

A replica of the homestead was built for the film, and this is now open for display at the Mataranka Hot Springs.  

On our return to our motor camp we had a look through it before heading off for a swim in the ‘Hot Pool’.

Our delaying tactics had worked, and there were only about 10 other people in the pool when we got there.  Although it was pleasant relaxing in the 34 degree water, it was a little bit disappointing, as it wasn’t hot enough to enjoy as a spa or cold enough to be a refreshing swim.  Perhaps we are getting too fussy.

We rounded off the day by enjoying a very pleasant evening sitting outside in the lovely warm temperatures.  Gee it’s good to be back into a warmer climate.

Mataranka to Katherine Gorge.

Another short trip today of 149 km.  MATARANKA to KATHERINE is only 130km, and then another 20 km out to KATHERINE GORGE, which is part of the NITMILUK NATIONAL PARK.  KATHERINE GORGE is famous for its spectacular scenery of high cliffs where the Katherine River has gouged its way through the landscape over millions of years.  The motor camp is situated in the park alongside the Katherine River, just at the point where it comes out of the 13 or so gorges it has carved in the landscape.

We hoped to either hire canoes or take a boat road through some of the gorges.  We called in at the Information Centre and booked a caravan site and also enquired about canoe hire, only to be told the canoes were not available yet, as they still hadn’t done a Salt Water Crocodile count in the river, to ascertain its safety.  A sharp reminder, that we were now well into crocodile country.  So we booked a 4 hour boat cruise for tomorrow instead.

There is a beautiful swimming pool here at the camp,

so no prizes for guessing where Cameron spent the rest of the day, and as it turned out, half the night as well.  The water was bloody freezing, but that didn’t seem to worry him.  The Northern Territory school holidays have just started, so there were quite a few other kids here, and he has been having a ball.  It’s really good for him to have a chance to mix with kids again after being stuck with adult only company for so long.

Just on dark, a guy set up his guitar and speakers by the pool, and after tea  Christel and I spent a lovely night sitting by the pool listening to the music and supping on our ‘refreshments’, while Cameron and his new found buddies enjoyed themselves in the pool.  What a lovely night, reminded us of the warm tropical nights of Rarotonga.

There were about three kookaburras taking advantage of the lights around the pool, to zoom backward and forwards across the pool snatching moths and whatever else caught their eye.  Just beside the pool is a bunch of trees that a small colony of fruit bats have decided to call home, and they kept us entertained with their continual scrapping and arguing, until shortly after dark when they all left to go feeding for the night.

We couldn’t help but compare it to what we would have been doing at this time back in NZ.  Christel couldn’t resist the temptation, and as soon as we got back to the van she sent off a rather cynical email to everyone she wanted to upset.

Sunday 26^th June

We were booked on a 4 hour, 3 gorge cruise, to start at 11.00, so there was time for some school work beforehand.  Then we packed some lunches and drinks and walked the 400 metres or so up to where the tours left at the end of the gorges.  On the way we passed a huge colony of bats hanging in the trees, alongside the river.  The colony was spread over about a hundred meters along the river bank, and was about 30 to 50 meters wide. 

It must have contained well over a million bats.  As you can imagine the smell of bat shit was less than pleasant.

We boarded our boat and were soon chugging upstream into the first gorge.  Our tour guide quickly pointed out two or three fresh water crocs sunbathing on logs at the side of the river.  They blended in perfectly with their backgrounds and were bloody hard to spot.

We cruised up river admiring the spectacular cliffs overhanging the river, and after about 2 kilometres pulled into the bank where we had to walk about 500 metres upstream past some rapids to start the next gorge.  

Here we climbed into another boat and continued our cruise upstream. This second gorge was the most spectacular, and has been used as a back drop for several films and TV Shows.

Then, after another kilometre or so the same thing again before entering the third gorge.

At the top of the third gorge we again pulled into the bank and then took a short walk into a side gorge to a waterfall with a big pool under it.  Here we were invited to have our lunches and a swim. Unfortunately only Cameron had his togs so we sat and watched him and a few others cool off in the pool and under the waterfall. 

Then it was back into the boat for the return journey all trying to outdo each other trying to spot crocs on the river bank.

Back at camp we all cooled off in the swimming pool and then as it got dark, sat by the pool enjoying dinner and music and the lovely warm night air.  A beautiful end to the day.  Tomorrow we will head north again to MT BUNDY STATION just outside of ADELAIDE WATERS.



Alice to Daly Waters

Wednesday 22^nd June

Alice Springs to Tennant Creek

We left Alice Springs at about 9.30 heading north, hoping to get as far as Wycliffe Well about 370km away.  We stopped at CENTRAL MOUNT STUART for an early lunch, and then at BARROW CREEK (where we met the roadman with the snake on the way down) for fuel.  We then continued on to WYCLIFFE WELL arriving there at about 2.30pm.

At this stage we had decided we may as well continue on to TENNANT CREEK as we all felt good enough to carry on. After a refreshment break and a beer, we continued on to TENNANT CREEK, arriving there just after 4.00pm.  A distance of 525 km, our longest haul with the van so far.

We booked in to the same motor camp we had used on the way down, and enjoyed another evening with Jimmy Hooper, the bushman.  You may remember we tried witchetty grubs last time we went to his show.  Tonight it was kangaroo tail roasted in the fire.  It was beautiful, but like last time, we were among the few prepared to give it a try.

Thursday 23^rd June

Tennant Creek to Daly Waters.

We were away from Tennant Creek by 9.30 heading north again.  This time we hoped to get as far as DALY WATERS, about 420 km away.  We stopped for fuel at RENNER SPRINGS, and then called in to the old drover’s town of NEWCASTLE WATERS for a look at their historic old pub and to have some lunch. 

About half way between RENNER SPRINGS and NEWCASTLE WATERS we met a couple of Road Trains which had just pulled out onto the road from the BARKLY STOCK ROUTE.  The dust falling off these trucks as they picked up speed on the sealed road after travelling for hundreds of kilometres on the dirt roads, was incredible. 

North of NEWCASTLE WATERS we met another one which had just come off the BUCHANNAN HIGHWAY, with the same clouds of dust falling off it.  Quite impressive.

The road north was much the same as we had been travelling, long flat straights with nothing much to see except the scrub on both sides of the road.   

We still can’t get over the lack of cattle, or stock of any kind.  It’s nothing for us to travel all day and not see any cattle, despite the fact that we are travelling through some of the biggest cattle stations in the world.  Even kangaroos and emus seem to have become non-existent.

We got to DALY WATERS at about 4.00pm, to find the motor camp pretty well full, however they jammed us in along with hundreds of other campers and caravans.  DALY WATERS is famous for its pub.  Built in 1930, it is full of character, and is particularly know for its collection of women’s unmentionables.

How or why this fad started is not known, but it seems a lot of women who visit the pub get an unresistable urge to remove their underthings and hang them wherever they can in the pub.  I wasn’t lucky enough to see this ritual occur, and Christel said she wasn’t about to oblige, but I did notice she took a very long time when she went back to the bar to go  to the toilet later that night.

Their nightly meal menu is beef or barra, the latter being the famous Barramundi, which is found in most Northern Territory waters.  After being told the servings were huge, we decided to get one meal of each, split them, and share with Cameron.  This worked out great and we all had a good feed of both.  Sorry, but have to say it, Barra tastes better than Snapper.

We ate our meal in the indoor/outdoor dining room, while we listened to a bloke singing songs accompanied by his guitar.  After he had finished, another guy, calling himself ‘Chilli’, came on and did a one man comedy and singing show. 

He was excellent and had every one in stitches.  Most of his jokes were beauts, and his poems were extremely funny. We ended up buying a CD of his at the end of the show.  It was basically a recording of what we had just listened to, but I wanted it for some of his jokes and poems.

 As we travelled north, we noticed the temperatures starting to climb. It was good to be away from those zero degree nights we had been experiencing in Alice.  At last we are back in the warm weather.  Tomorrow will be a short trip from Daly Waters to Mataranka and its famous Hot Springs.