Darwin to Batchelor (Litchfield National Park)

A very short drive today to Batchelor, near the entrance to Litchfield National Park. We saw some farming on the way down, mainly mangos, even some baled hay. After setting up we drove into the park, and along the sealed road to the other end. We then worked backwards, visiting first the abandoned Bamboo Creek Tin Mine, then Walker Creek, which promised a very pleasant walk along the creek that we didn't have the time to do. The creeks here are spring fed and run all year, unlike Kakadu where many dry up during the dry season. The vegetation around the creeks also has a continuous supply of water and is monsoon forest. Our next stop was Wangi Falls, a very popular spot with a pool at the bottom of the falls. Tragically, a US marine drowned in the pool yesterday. We did the circular walk up the escarpment, across the creek at the top, and down again. Finally, we walked to Tjaetaba Falls from Green Ant Creek picnic area. As Barrie said as we overlooked Tjaetaba Falls 'Once again it's just us and nature'. The only place where we saw a full car park and a crowd of people was at Wangi Falls, and the crowds were not doing the walk. One of the problems with walks that involve walking to the top of falls is that there is a lot of steep climbing involved.

Everywhere that we drove today we could see smoke. Driving into the park it was apparent that there was a fire not too far from the road. Beyond the park boundary to the west it seemed that the entire region was burning. As we drove back we saw that the fire within the park had burned through to the road. All of these fires are lit to burn off the undergrowth to encourage fresh growth, and to prevent serious fires when the vegetation dries completely. Unlike Victorian bush fires, these fires burn when there is little wind, and clear the undergrowth leaving the tree tops.

Litchfield National Park

We drove back into the park today. Joy wanted to take the 4WD track down to the 'Lost City' a sandstone formation resembling the ruins of an old city. However, after establishing that one of the reasons for 4WD was height clearance, and given that our Musso is still to have its suspension raised, Barrie vetoed that  trip. We stopped at Tabletop Swamp, not much to see other than the height that the water gets to in the wet, but quite a pretty photo. We then drove to Tolmer Falls and did the fairly short and easy walk. This has sandstone formations similar to the 'Lost City'. There's not a lot of water falling at the moment, but it falls an impressive distance. On then to Buley Rockholes where we walked through to Florence Falls and back to the rock holes where we had a swim to cool off, very refreshing after the hot walk to the Falls. Prior to exiting the park we stopped at the magnetic ant hills, but decided that we didn't need to look at more ant hills and continued on again. We have upgraded our estimate of the number of ant hills in Australia from millions to billions.

At Tolmer Falls we saw some plants that had been damaged by fire. These were the same plants that we have seen sprouting growth in burnt areas. The sign said that they were cycads, very old and primitive plants, and that after they are burnt they don't die but put out new fronds. They are very pretty, particularly when they are the only green in a burnt area, but although they look feathery they are course and prickly.

After changing out of our swimwear at the caravan we drove down to Adelaide River for a late 'barra and chips' lunch at the 'historic' pub, a 'must do' in this area we are told. We have on several occasions crossed what we assume is the new Alice Springs to Darwin railway line. It seems that there's still some work to be done on this.

Batchelor to Katherine

We've been over most of this road before, and it hasn't changed. As we passed through Adelaide River about 9 am it seemed that the entire town was at the new rail crossing. There was a train there with flat trays behind it, and another goods train pulling open 'trucks' slowly back down the line towards Alice Springs. We assume that the Alice Springs to Darwin railroad is now open as far Adelaide River.

It seems that the army is expecting an invasion up this way. We passed at least fifty army vehicles heading north, all laden with more vehicles, including a prime mover.

We are back in the Low Level Caravan Park in Katherine. The photos are of the Katherine River at the single lane Low Level bridge near the caravan park and a favourite place for the locals to go swimming.

Katherine to Timber Creek

We thought as we started off today that we would be seeing more of the similar but ever changing gum trees and dried grass. Initially that was the case. There was one short section where the only trees were blue gums. At one point a wedge tailed eagle was feeding on the road, unperturbed by us passing in the other lane. However, we have found that they will not remain if the car stops. We were fascinated by the 'zebra road'. Then we entered the Gregory National Park. Here there are flat topped, rocky hills with steep escarpments jutting out of the landscape. The road wends between these hills — there is no possibility of going over them. The red, towering escarpments that lined the road at some points are quite remarkable, and today's drive was very different to anything we have seen before. Also different was the brisk breeze, fortunately from the side and behind us rather than head on. This is the first day since leaving home that we have had a noticeable wind when driving/

Once in Timber Creek we asked about the historic walk. However, after obtaining a map, it appeared that the walk would take us about 2 1/2 hours under a hot sun, and most of the history was long past, with nothing remaining to show where it had been. We did go to look at the old police station, now a museum but open only in the mornings. We then drove out to see the Gregory Tree, a boab situated on the banks of the Victoria River on which the explorer Gregory had carved his arrival and departure dates. The site had been his base camp for some nine months. From this point Gregory returned to Brisbane by land, leaving some of his party to return in the boat. Boabs are native to north western Australia, this area being the eastern extremity of their habitat. We saw a number of boabs around Timber Creek.

Returning from the Gregory Tree we drove up to several lookouts with views over the valley, and one over the town. Finally we drove down to look over the wide and fast flowing Victoria River at a point where it changes direction. Back at the caravan, Joy squeezed lemons (brought from home) to freeze the juice and cooked most of the remaining vegetables. We had been warned that we couldn't take fruit into WA, but not that we couldn't take vegetables (or honey).

Timber Creek to Kununurra

Apparently everyone in the caravan park was driving on to Kununurra today. We were be no means the first to leave, but still arrived in Kununurra at 9:45. Perhaps the tail wind, our second day of wind, helped. Maybe the 1 1/2 hour time differential helped also. At the border we gave up half an avocado and a small cucumber, the only fresh produce we still carried. The Kununurra caravan park is very busy, and expensive. They were only taking people with bookings when we arrived. Being top of the list, we got the only en suite site available today, at a cost of $34 a night (less Big4 discount). Coin in the slot internet access is available at reception, at $2 for 10 minutes.

We took 75 photos today. We cannot adequately describe what we have seen, and it is impossible to capture the grandeur and spectacle of the Kimberley hills, or the colours, bluish red in the distance. Some of the close up photos of the rock faces are representative, but this area has to be seen in person.

Once settled in and with a load of washing on the line we drove out to the Ord River irrigation farms. On the flat plains north of Kununurra, ringed by those impressive hills, are thousands of hectares of irrigated farmland growing sugar, corn, vegetables, melons and more. Irrigation channels run through it all. We stopped at a roadside shop and tasted the best corn we have ever had, also melons and star fruit. We bought (no tastings) a bunch of boab roots. These look a bit like a bunch of carrots, with green leaves and long bulbs. The leaves (quite tasty) can be used in salads and the roots we were told are similar to water chestnuts and can be used in stir fries.

From the irrigation area we drove southeast to the dam that makes it possible. Once again the road travelled between spectacular escarpments. The dam itself covers more than 1000 square kilometres and is classed as an inland sea. On the way back from the dam we stopped to take a photo and saw a pair of brolgas nearby. We visited the Durack ('Kings in Grass Castles') homestead, taken apart stone by stone before the dam flooded it, and rebuilt nearby.

Our final visit for today was to Kelly's Knob, a lookout above Kununurra. This looks out over the town and the irrigated land to the northwest, and apparently provides spectacular sunset views.

Kununurra

We started the morning walking into the small Mirima National Park on the edge of Kununurra. The walk is through a canyon, with towering sandstone cliffs on either side. We reached the inner car park just as one of the rangers was commencing a guided walk on boab trees. We joined the group and spent the next hour learning about the boabs. Once completed, we took each of the short walks within the park, including climbing to another lookout behind the one we were at yesterday. Once again, the scenery was spectacular. As we left Mirima we saw a 'family' of boabs, as described by the ranger. The parent drops pods which grow into new trees around it.

After our 2 1/2 hours walking around Mirima we thought we needed a change, and visited the Hoochery, a rum distillery not far from Kununurra. We tasted two rums and a rum liqueur, but decided that rum is not really our drink, and their prices make it a bit expensive to put in the Christmas cake.

We then headed south to the Zebra Rock Gallery. Zebra Rock is a striped rock that is found nowhere else in the world. The sandstone is in white and dark red layers, the iron oxide that colours the stone red is leached out of some layers. The Gallery is situated on the banks of Lake Kununurra, with gardens running down to the lake. It is surrounded by irrigated agricultural land. Providing a backdrop to both the lake and the surrounding farmland are the incredible rock formations of the Kimberley. The largest one in this area has been named Elephant Rock.

Kununurra to Halls Creek

Dinner last night was beef and boab stir fry. The boab was delicious. We ate all of the plant, the leaves and the root. The roots are similar to water chestnuts in texture and have a slight flavour of radish, slightly sweet and without the 'bite'.

Once again, the scenery along the road was spectacular. Leaving the caravan park we saw a family of boabs close by, a large parent tree and a complete circle of younger trees. Driving south west the stark red faces of the cliffs were softened. Today we saw more gentle slopes with vegetation on the sides, although the stark red cliffs reappeared from time to time. From time to time we would see a boab tree, then usually more. They were particularly apparent alongside creeks, with the path of the creek being evidenced by the trail of boabs leading off into the bush.

We stopped at Turkey Creek. We had been told that the best way to see the Bungle Bungle Range was by helicopter, and we had booked a flight. We had been warned that we would need a jacket, and we certainly did. There were four of us on the flight. Barrie sat in the front, enclosed front and side by the cockpit. Joy sat behind Barrie, beside the door opening and with only a sash belt to hold her in place. The helicopter travelled at a height 2500 feet and 175 kph in the 15 minute ride to the range. That creates a lot of wind! It undoes buttons, removes hair bands and ripples the skin. Helicopter is certainly a great way to see the Bungle Bungle. On the flight we took a total of 85 photos. Barrie remarked on the fact that for almost all of the flight all we could see in every direction was hills.

First we were shown the red rock gorges, then the piccaninnies then the area that is most often shown in photos. There is only one entrance by car, and two parking areas. Hikers can then walk through the gorges.

We didn't take any more photos on the road to Halls Creek. This was not because there was nothing worth photographing, but rather that we have so many photos of spectacular scenery by now and we were still awed by the Bungle Bungle Range.

Halls Creek

'Why two nights in Halls Creek?' asked Joy. 'What is there to do there?' Well, there's the China Wall, a 'wall' of quartz that runs for miles. As we saw later, there are similar sections of quartz spread across the countryside. Then there's the Caroline Pool, not much water in it at the moment but the stains on the rocks indicate that it gets very deep at times. Just beyond that are the ruins of the old Halls Creek township. The post office was built of mud brick, and has been covered and caged in to keep it from deteriorating further. There are markers showing the locations of other buildings. Further out is the 'oasis in the desert', Palm Spring. It's a lovely spot, but maybe not worth driving 45 km on a corrugated dirt road. Finally, 150 km south of Halls Creek along the Tanami Road is the Wolfe Creek meteorite crater, the second largest such crater in the world and almost a kilometre across. And all it takes to get to see the crater is 2 hours on a very dusty, corrugated road — and 2 hours back again, driving into the sunset and with cattle occasionally wandering across the road. However, we thought it was worth the drive. Our poor Musso however is covered in red dust, both outside and inside, and scratches along the passenger side where we drove on the very edge of the road trying to avoid some of the corrugations.

Halls Creek to Fitzroy Crossing

It gets light very early on the eastern side of WA, and the light is very light, brilliant sunshine at 5:30 am. Barrie had a couple of jobs to do before we left. The exhaust pipe had come loose on the drive to Wolfe Creek. We had tied it up driving back with pieces torn from an old towel, and replaced regularly as the jolting tore the towel. We looked for wire in the well stocked caravan park store, to no avail, and bought instead a dog lead. The exhaust is now held in place very securely with two loops of chain. The extension to the passenger side mirror was torn off and had to be put back again.

Today's drive was very flat, and much of it through flat, dry plains. Towards the end Musso let us know that we were climbing slightly even though we didn't notice the change in gradient — the speed drops a little and the temperature rises. Some of the red Kimberley stone appeared in places, mostly broken down to huge boulders. After the busy few days we have had, and anticipated busy days ahead, we decided to rest and 'catch up' in Fitzroy Crossing. Musso has been cleaned outside and inside, and our hair is clean again.

Fitzroy Crossing

We drove to Geike Gorge and took a short walk through the limestone rocks and a longer walk along the western face of the gorge to the point where the Fitzroy River meets the west side, then back along the edge of the river. The cliff walls are all limestone. The upper sections are covered in lichens, colouring them black. The river bed is very wide between the gorge walls, and the river must look very impressive in the wet. The walks were easy, although trudging through sand uses muscles that we haven't felt for a while. Joy's new walking stick is useless for this type of walk. Walking back we saw several tourist boats on the river and the car park was full. However, as Barrie remarked again, it was just us and nature for most of our walk.

Driving back to the town we detoured to look at the original Fitzroy Crossing. The old post office and police station are still standing. There is an avenue of boab trees. Clearly the crossing was used only in the dry season — the bridge is not much above the current water level, with a steep drive down and up on the other side. It's a single lane bridge, as, it appears, are all of the bridges out here. The climbs down and up make it a little more interesting to cross than most of the single lane bridges, as it's more difficult to see oncoming traffic. We drove past the oldest pub in the Kimberley but decided it was a little early in the day for a drink.

Fitzroy Crossing to Derby

Today is a milestone. From Derby it is shorter (by a few kilometres) to get home via our proposed route than to go back through Katherine and Alice Springs.

The road today was very flat, and the surrounding countryside also was flat. Our favourite trees, the boabs, were sprinkled along the road, and very prominent as most of the vegetation was low and the large and leafless boabs stand out against the horizon. Judging from their shapes, the termite mounds up this way house dysfunctional communities.

After depositing the caravan we did some sightseeing. Derby has the highest tides in Australia. Near the coast are dry mudflats, merging to a mirage in the distance. These are covered with water during the king tides of March and April. The wharf was very high out of the water when we visited. Close by is the Centenary Pavilion, with a floor mosaic. The work of designing and laying the mosaic apparently was shared by most of the population of the area. We drove 5 km back down the road to view the long water trough, fed from a bore, and the old boab which had been used to hold aboriginal prisoners on the way to prison in Derby, and, earlier, aboriginal men 'conscripted' to work on the pearling boats. They were captured, chained together, and brought to Derby. 'Blackbirding' was the term used at the time. It sounds better than 'slavery', doesn't it? We tried to visit the Botanic Gardens. Unfortunately, the entry is through the library, which was closed today. There are some lovely old trees in the adjacent park.

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