Day 14 – Katherine to Jabiru (Kakadu)

As we left Katherine this morning, we drove out through the main street which hasn’t changed much since we were here last. Then it was a forty km drive north, then about another 20kms to Edith Falls. They have really upgraded the facilities since we were here last. Concrete paths down to the water, a caravan park, lawn grass area and kiosk. The main attraction though is the 2km (quite steep) walk up to the upper falls. Only one word for these series of rockpools and waterfalls – breathtaking.

 

 

One of the prettiest places we have ever visited anywhere in the world (and we have travelled quite extensively). Absolutely stunning scenery all around. After our walk on the stony paths, up and down hill, it was wonderful to dive into the cool, clear, deep pools and swim around exploring the small cave like rock formations, and swim over to the waterfall.

Brendan managed to fight the current to swim through the waterfall, but it was too strong for us.  There was a power of water coming over the edge today.

There is a series of rock pools hidden behind rocky outcrops that you can clamber over and explore new pools. A wonderful place to visit, and a must do if you are up this way. We then walked back down the hill to the bottom water access point, past the green lawn area of the camp ground. Lily and I jumped in and had a swim around here too, looking at the pretty striped fish in the water. The temp was about 32 degrees today, so we were certainly ready for another swim.
 

 

After our beautiful stopover here for a few hours, it was back in the car for another 300kms up the road to the Kakadu National Park ($25 per adult entry here too!). We headed for the tiny town of Jabiru to our accommodation for the night, Anbinik Kakadu Resort. A beautiful, small caravan / cabin park – each powered caravan site with its own ensuite building (shower/toilet/sink).  There are only 15 caravan sites in total here.  The park is interspersed with huge flowering frangipani trees, banana palms and pandanas. After checking in, we hit the beautiful resort pool, which was (as a lot of places are up here), frequented by lots of German tourists.

As we travel we have used the WikiCamps phone app extensively to research and book our accommodation for the night. Written by fellow campers it is a truly up to date, wonderful resource for live feedback and prices about each town and each accommodation option. It also lists all the things to see and do (and feedback and prices) in the area. It’s a brilliant little app, and one we use every day.  Anyway, that’s were we found out about this accommodation place, and we could see it would get booked out quickly, so we rang ahead and booked two nights a couple of days ago. Glad we did, as they are booked out. Although we have infrequent internet/phone service as we travel, you can download the app content offline, and then it updates itself with new data when it can. Very handy!

After a cool down in the lovely pool, we headed up the road to Ubirr, which we remembered from our last visit 12 years ago, was stunning at sunset, and we were not disappointed. Ubirr is a short walk down a groomed path through the pandanas palms and gum trees, past many ancient aboriginal rock art painting sites (with explanations), then up a 250m steep climb up a rocky escarpment.  We were astonished at the hundreds of other people that were also up here in this remote place. (Even a big tour group of school kids from Kyabram).

As we ascended up the rockface, and stood on top, we witnessed almost a 360 degree view of the area. A breathtaking view towards the massive plains of Arnhem Land (no entry by white men without a permit) over verdant green wetlands, teaming with wildlife. As we watched the sun slowly sink down over the landscape, it turned the rocks an iridescent red, and lit up the sky in a riot of pinks and oranges – hard to describe, but just absolutely gorgeous. Another very favourite place in Australia to visit. Today, we visited two of our all time favourite places to see in this great big world of ours, not bad for a simple family from Sunbury!

 

Day 13 – Katherine

It was nice to have a bit of a sleep in this morning, and not have to rush off. This is such a lovely van park, it would be easier to stay much longer. Great amenities, lovely pool, beautiful shady area. We are only two minutes from the Katherine Hot Springs, so it was off to have a swim there first thing this morning at 9.00am (its already about 30 degrees).  The Hot Springs are just so beautiful, crystal clear water, white sandy bottom, fringed by palm trees, and gently flowing down towards a small waterfall. As we were there early there weren’t too many people, but as we stayed longer, the busier it got. We like these springs better than the ones at Mataranka. The temperature of the water is tepid, and the surrounds are just so pretty and peaceful.

 

After floating down the river, we climbed back in the car for the 10 min trip into town, and visited the information centre. After hearing that the gorge cruise would have cost us $260 for our family (for a two hour cruise), we decided to do the walk up to the gorge bluff instead. Katherine Gorge is 30km out of town, and an hour return walk takes you along the river and up a steep path onto the top of the cliffs. The view from the top is spectacular, and worth the sweat to get to the top.

 

We were advised that the swim area was closed today due to crocs in the vicinity. Funnily enough, we didn't argue!

 

We saw plenty of little grey wallabies grazing on the grass beside the river, tiny little things, some with joeys in their pouches.

 

We enjoyed our picnic lunch sitting at the tables at the information centre in town, watching the 20 or so swirling, majestic wedge tailed eagles above our heads. There are hundreds of them flying over the Katherine area all the time.

Back at the van park we had our third swim of the day, to cool off after a hot day. We are still adjusting to the hot temperatures, coming from such a cold winter.

Day 12 –Tennant Creek to Katherine

Off early again this morning for another long day in the car, one of our longest. 692kms -  taking almost 8 hours of driving.  And do you think with a new car to drive, that Brendan would be letting me do any relief driving at all? I think we all know the answer to that question!!!! (“I’m fine, I don’t need a break…..”). So far, I haven’t been able to wrestle the keys from his grasp. He absolutely loves this car, and is quite pleased when someone in the van park toddles up to him and asks him what he thinks of it for towing.  (Don’t get me started…..).
Our first stop, was at the tiny town of Elliott – time to fuel up, and have a quick stretch and a snack, then back on the road again.

As we drive we are now passing thousands of dark red, pyramid shaped termite mounds, up to about Sam’s height. It seems to be a Territory kind of joke to dress some of them up in clothes of varying types. From safety vests and helmets to a bride and groom, to lots of mangy tshirts. These are all out in the absolute middle of nowhere along the roadside (not in the towns), so I don’t know who goes to the trouble to stop and do it, but its quite amusing.

Today was the first day we have spotted a few kangaroos dead on the sides of the road – not many though. The only animal life we spot are the wandering cattle (no fences out here, just cattle grids, and free roaming), and a few dead ones that a truck has hit, and the hundreds of wedge tailed eagles we see (nearly always flying in pairs) hovering expertly over the roads, looking for food.

Our lunch stop today was the funny old, tiny town of Daly Waters. Renowned as a true outback pub, most people sit outside under the huge verandah’s looking at all the funny memorabilia around them. This is a place set up for tour buses (a lot of people fish in the nearby famous Daly River), and it really caters for tourists. The pub itself is a tiny one, covered in beautiful, rampaging purple bougainvillea in full bloom. Inside the walls are adorned with many things – collections of bras, knickers, money from all over the world – both notes and coins, thongs, hats, tshirts, and you name it –its there. The kids were most amused.

 

Next we stopped at the tiny town of Mataranka, famous for its two hot springs. The main town ones are in the midst of a thick grove of palm trees, beautiful clear water, with white sandy bottoms. There is a restaurant homestead and caravan park at this one, and people absolutely everywhere, swimming, soaking, eating, wandering… 

 

Having been here before several years ago, we knew to visit the nearby and much less populated Bitter Springs, which is much less commercialised. There was still plenty of people around, but Lily opted for a swim in the warm waters, enjoying herself immensely. It is 30 degrees in Katherine today, so we have now definitely hit the hot weather. Only yesterday in Alice Springs it was -2 when we left in the morning!

 

After a brief swim, it was back in the car and an hours drive down the road to our stop for the next few nights – Katherine. Katherine is a rough old town, and we were glad to drive out to our caravan park (Big 4 Low Level) 10 mins out the road, in a beautiful, secluded, shady, very large park near the towns Hot Springs. We stayed in this caravan park several years ago, so we knew it was a lovely one. Fantastic big pool fringed by palm trees, beside a large outside candlelit restaurant.  As soon as we had unloaded, plugged in our power and water, we hit the pool. At 6pm it is still 30 degrees, so we opted for a quick swim, and a late tea tonight in the van.

Day 11 – Alice Springs to Tennant Creek

Another long day in the car today, 550kms to Tennant Creek. By now we are experts at packing everything up, and heading off early, usually leaving the park before the grey nomads get going. Most of the caravan parks are fairly full, but we haven’t had a problem getting in yet.

Our first stop for fuel was at the Aileron Roadhouse, where some strange sculptures dominate the landscape. A huge aboriginal holding a spear on top of the nearby hill was the first thing we saw, followed by other strange sculptures around the roadhouse.

Next we stopped at the very old Barrow Creek Telegraph station for a quick walk around and a bit of lunch from the van.  The telegraph station, built back in 1871 out of local stone, was a vital communications link connecting the rest of the world with Darwin, continuing down south, through Barrow Creek, down the line to Adelaide and then across to other areas of Australia, all by morse code. This service was at its most important during the wars.

Next a brief stop at the Wycliffe Well Roadhouse. Well, a bit hard to describe this bizarre place, known for the most UFO sightings in Australia. The roadhouse walls were covered in newspaper articles about all the sightings around the place. Odd…. And a little bit creepy…..

 

Our final stop of the day before Tennant Creek was the strangely formed Devils Marbles. Huge red balls of stone, which appeared to be a conglomeration of quartz and other materials, apparently strewn around in various formations in different patterns.  The kids enjoyed having a clamber over top of them, seeing who could reach the highest point. Even dad joined in this game, much to Lily’s amusement.

We arrived at our destination of Tennant Creek about 4pm, and deliberately chose the Outback Caravan Park (out of town), as we had stayed here the last time we came through about 12 years ago. As Brendan checked in at reception, who should greet him, but a fellow Korean adoptee, who had married the owner of the park. Sam exchanged greetings (Annyong Haseyo) with her. Its nice shady park (a lovely sunny 23 deg here today), with lots of silvery white gums dotted around the pleasant surroundings. Lily and Sam immediately opted for a swim in the pool.

The town of Tennant Creek has little to offer tourists, apart from the Gold Battery which is still running, and quite a few shops. But as with most outback towns, everything is tightly locked down, and barred, and the ever present either police or security presence patrolling outside any alcohol venues gives a slightly uneasy feel to the place. Sadly we again witnessed many aboriginals of all ages, walking along carrying their cartons of beer off somewhere for the afternoon. Hence, we usually choose a caravan park slightly out of town.

Tonight the kids and ourselves were entertained, by exactly the same man (Jimmy Hooker) as we were last time we were here12 years ago. Jimmy, an old aboriginal man, sat telling his bush yarns with us around the campfire, as he cooked some damper, and chatted with the children.

Day 10 - Alice Springs

We started the day at the Old Ghan Legends Museum this morning. The kids played in the attractive, outside shady playground (playing huge dominos, chess, seesaws etc) while Brendan and I strolled around the interesting museum and clambered into the old Ghan carriages for a look. Fellow train buffs (that’s you Rod!) will be interested to note that one of the highlights is the inclusion of a diesel loco NSU58, one of the first to take over from the steam trains. We walked through the galley kitchen on the train, and the bar car, and dining car. The Ghan started taking passengers in 1927, and back then was a vital transport link for the country. The museum had a good range of railway memorabilia and a video on the old Ghan service. There was also an attached National Trucking Museum, which we didn’t visit today.

One of the most fascinating visits of our trip so far was to the School of the Air. This was established way back in 1951, by an inspired lady who recognised children living in remote conditions were lacking social contacts, and believed that radio could be used to provide a community aspect to the education of children living in these areas.

These days the School of the Air provides assistance to teachers, support staff, parents, home tutors and students to help educate isolated students and their families. It is essentially a huge public school, that sends out a team to install a satellite internet service (at a cost of $10,000 per farm/station met by the government) just for the duration of their children’s education years (year prep to year nine). It covers an area of 1,300,000 square kms (10 times the size of England). Some students live just 80kms away, others 1300kms. Most students reside on cattle stations, aboriginal communities, roadhouses, national parks and military bases.

We did a tour of the facility which was fantastic. We were able to watch the live broadcasts of the teachers, from their studios, and could see the 10 or so remote students in each classroom answering the teacher’s questions, or participating in class discussions, via a type of skype on the internet. We could see the kids faces chatting, and watch them writing comments on the screen as the teacher controlled the live camera feeds switching between herself, the individual students, their live chat box, and their schoolwork. (Sam and Lily were fascinated and absorbed every word). The students come into Alice about once a term for sports days, and other days to visit the school if they can, and the teacher tries to make a personal visit to each student’s remote location (usually overnight because of distance). Click on this pic below to enlarge it and have a good look.

 

Many of the remote families employ a school tutor, especially if they have a few kids (often a gap gear student, or retired person, trained up by the School of the Air) to manage the kids school work (especially the little ones who need someone sitting beside them while they do their work). This cost is met by the family and individual salaries are negotiated. The kids have one hour a day online with their teacher, and the rest of the school day they complete their correspondence lessons or work on projects.

Their school day is from 8.00am to 3.00pm, with regular breaks. Each school session is recorded, as often the kids are out helping muster cattle, or doing other farm jobs, so they can come in when they can and catch up on the lesson. We were fascinated to see the map of the huge area the school covers, and to pick out some cattle station names that we are now familiar with (from listening to the audio book “Middle of Nowhere”).

 

Next on the agenda was a visit to the Royal Flying Doctor Service Tourist Facility. Another wonderful place to visit and share with the kids some of the remote services available that we all take for granted. We were able to watch a big live map, showing where all the Flying Doc planes were currently situated, which ones were grounded, or in-flight. There are 63 PC12 single engine turbo prop planes available (and one jet on call funded by Rio Tinto), most staffed by a pilot, and a very highly trained specialist nurse. Only 10% of the planes are staffed by doctors for the real emergencies.  These docs do a specialist  year course in obstetrics , paediatrics and cardio training on top of their normal training.

 

There is also a 24 hour phone help line staffed by doctors that the remote stations can call in for medical help and advice. Each station has a huge comprehensive medical chest (sometimes housed in a special room and fridge set aside for the purpose)with everything numbered, so the doctors can assess and give treatment options over the phone.

 

We watched a very interesting film (complete with a holographic John Flynn) that explained the beginnings of the service, to current day. Very, very clever. We also walked through the museum, viewed the inside of a plane and its equipment, and browsed in the fundraising shop.  As the service is only funded 60% by the government, there is always a lot of fundraising happening to meet their needs.

Next up, just over the road to the National Pioneer Women’s Hall of Fame. This is a dedicated women’s museum to collect, preserve, research, commemorate and display material relating to pioneering Australian women. This is any women who was a first in their chosen field, from early settlers in Australia, first women doctors, lawyers, aviators, sportswomen, etc.  No surprises that Sam was most interested in the sportswomen such as Cathy Freeman, Dawn Fraser, Yvonne Goolagong and Betty Cuthbert. There was also a tribute to the pioneer women and a display of their traditional laundering, cooking, cleaning and craft equipment. (“mum, how does that old typewriter get the letters on the paper?”).

As part of the complex we also toured the Old Alice Springs Gaol, in operation from 1938 to 1996. The kids were not impressed with the tiny, basic cells for men and woman, and were interested to hear about the prisoner’s daily routine, and read the individual stories of some of the inmates. Sam was astonished to read about how some of the aboriginal women in particular deliberately picked fights, or got in to trouble on purpose, so they could be put in prison, perhaps escape from family violence and have a decent bed, clothes and food for a month or so. Volunteers came into the prison to teach them craft, cooking, sewing and laundry duties.

We then wandered down to Todd Mall to stroll in the sun, and check out the souvenir shops and have an all important ice-cream. There are some beautiful birds in the area, these two parrots were finding some tidbits in the mall.

 

Our last stop of the day was at the Olive Pink Botanical Gardens. We were probably here at the wrong time, so not a lot was in flower, but it was interesting to read about the medicinal uses of plants, and see the bush tucker plantings.

Back at the van park tonight we caught up with Brendan’s Melbourne cousin – Amanda Harris. It was great to see her again, as we haven’t seen her for quite a while. She moved up to Alice a few years ago, and is a social worker working in a Woman’s refuge at present. She had some really interesting stories to tell us about her work life (amazing!) and her life in the Alice. She is about to head up to the Kimberley for a month’s leave. It was great to catch up with her again.

Day 9 – Alice Springs and West Macdonnell Ranges

This morning as we drove out of Alice Springs to the Western Macdonnell Ranges, we couldn’t help noticing the amazing circular effect of mountains all around the city. They provide a picturesque backdrop to the town lighting up each sunrise and sunset with a display of fiery reds, sunburnt orange and deep purples.

Our first stop was Standley Chasm, located 50kms from Alice via sealed road. This the only place we visited today that required an entry fee ($25 per family) to walk the 20mins to the deep red cleft crowded on either side by craggy slopes that rise 80m off the sandy floor. The chasm is best viewed an hour each side of noon, in the sunshine, when the sheer quartzite walls glow from reflected sunlight to create a breathtaking display of stark form and rich color. The famous Aboriginal artist Albert Namatjira spent many hours here captivated by the changing light and color of the surrounds. There is a small kiosk here, but as with most of these little places, very overpriced.

 

The next stop, was aptly named Ellery Creek Bighole, a large waterhole, surrounded by towering cliffs, and stark white gum trees. It was obviously a popular swimming hole with the locals.

 

After that it was on to Serpentine Gorge, after a brain jolting 5km drive down a very rough, stony road.

 

Then it was on to our favourite place of the day – Ormiston Gorge. Located 135km west of Alice, the gorge has a permanent water hole ideal for swimming or picnicking. The color of the rocks had us spellbound. It felt like we were clambering over pink, quartz veined marble, dotted with other colors, and shiny, silver colored rocks that sparkled in the sun on our way further up the gorge. The sheer, red, towering cliffs surrounded us, and we were awestruck by the beauty of the place. This was also a busy, local swimming hole, and despite the cooler weather (20 deg), there were plenty of people in swimming today.

 

Our furtherest stop out today was Glen Helen Resort, which we discovered was more rundown homestead, than resort. It did however provide a place for an icecream, and toilet stop, before we walked down to the gorge itself among the sandy river bed and tall green reeds. It has its own rough camping area, but was quite windy unlike the other places we have visited today.

On our way back into Alice we stopped at Simpsons Gap (the closest to Alice), renowned for its colony of black rock wallabies that hide amongst the huge rocky slopes. Unfortunately we didn’t see any today, but we did appreciate the beauty of the rocky cliffs and pretty waterhole.

 

Back into Alice again, and time to cook up dinner in the van.  Bacon, eggs, onions, and fried bread, with mashed potato, carrots and broccoli for tea tonight. We so appreciate having a gas stove, microwave and thermomix in the van to whip up our dinnertime creations.