All day in Kakadu again: Cooinda, Yellow Water Billabong cruise, hiking and swimming at Maguk, then to the Lazy Lizard Caravan Park at Pine Creek for a pub dinner and beer.
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| A Jacana (aka lotus bird, lily trotter or Jesus bird) has evolved to have these long toes so it can walk on lily pads, seemingly walking on water |
Rock art, lookouts and billabongs. Unfortunately, the road to Jim Jim Falls was still closed.
A full day group tour to Arnhem Land was worthwhile. We were going to try it ourselves, but we would have had no idea where to go. Arnhem land contains the area of the longest continuous human settement in Australia, dating over 60,000 years ago. Interestingly, though, Makassan traders (from Sulawesi) have been coming here since about 300-400 years ago to gather sea cucumbers and trade, and many of the things we saw had Makassan origins, like the lilies you see in the croc photo below and the local language - the word for white person (balanda) is the same as the Makassan word, which was their word for the Dutch.
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| One of the oldest ones, from maybe 8-10,000 years ago |
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| This one's just a harmless "freshie" |
Stayed in a service apartment, restocked, got a new windscreen and planned out the rest of the trip.
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| Fireworks over the harbour for Kindness Day, at the end of Pride Week, in Darwin |
Time for a guest blogger ...
So, because we've been doing little in Darwin other than walking around in shorts, drinking cold beer and eating ice cream, I get to have a special blog. I've called it "things that fly", but, essentially, it's my bird shots with a few extras thrown in.
Staying in Litchfield, this time just hanging around Wangi Falls, one of the major attractions, and using us the last of the food (and the LPG which just ran out) before heading to Darwin tomorrow, for 5 days.
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| A very large termite mound |
Today we took on the less famous sights in Litchfield, then when it got too hot, we just sat on a rock in the pool under Florence Falls for an hour or two.
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| The Lost City |
An easy drive gave us time to have a cooked breakfast and to see some of the swimming holes (Buley Rockhole and Florence Falls) and falls at Litchfield with time left over to relax around the campsite in the afternoon and start a nice fire for dinner.
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| Florence Falls, near our campsite in Litchfield NP |
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| Nitmiluk Gorge |
Still part of Nitmiluk National Park, Edith Falls has a set of waterfalls and swimming pools and a nearby camping ground. And did we mention the bats at Nitmiluk Gorge?
Mainly a re-stocking and catch-up day (food, water, fuel, beer, post office, haircut, batteries, SD card for camera, shower!) but stopped at Molly Springs on the way.
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| View while driving the Great Northern Highway |
Up early to walk the South end of the Ranges, before the heat and crowds. Then decided not to bother with the North end (too hot and too far on bad roads) but drove out for sunset and night sky pics over the ranges.
Bungle Bungle Ranges
Early departure to nearby Emma Gorge for a walk into another gorge and swimming hole, then off to the Bungle Bungles (Pernululu) to set up camp and catch the sunset on the mountains.
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| The Milky Way through trees, from our campsite |
Exploring the gorges, swimming holes, tracks and views at El Questro
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| Chamberlain Gorge resident |
We come to the end of the Gibb River Road, staying at the biggest station-resort in the Kimberley: El Questro.
The road to El Questro at the end of the Gibb River Road. Yes, bitumen!
A BIG adventure day: big drive up a bad road (and back), 9km bush walk, river crossings, getting lost, seeing the falls and falling over.
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| Mitchell Falls |
Another day, another gorge but this one required a river crossing (where you had to swim across and push your belongings in floating bin) and then a 5km return Grade 4 walk.
On the path to the gorge
Traveling further up the Gibb River Road, stopping at gorges and having the most beautiful swims: great scenery and clear cool water on a hot day.
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| Panorama of Bell Gorge |
No driving today, just a helicopter ride, a hike to a swimming hole and a sunset walk.
Another big day: gorges, rock ranges, swimming holes, bad fuel and lots of driving, with only one number plate but we finally go tot the Gibb River Road in the Kimberley.
Sunrise at the crater, with flocks of birds flying in and out of the lake in the middle, then a drive to Mimbi Caves a tour of the caves and camping (with showers!) and dinner with a view of the full moon rising.
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| Panorama of sunrise over Wolfe Creek crater |
A day of near misses. Left at 6:30AM to find the sign at the start of the Tanami Track saying the last leg into WA was closed. We checked online and it said 4WD only, with care, so we hit it. 12 hours later we arrived at the closed 24 hour petrol station near the end of the track with NOTHING left in the tank (lucky we had the jerry cans). We then headed for the meteorite crater campground and made it just in time for sunset and the rise of the full moon over the crater.
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| Heading out on Tanami Road, leaving Alice and we just missed the rain |
The Larapinta trial covers over 230 km through the West McDonnell Ranges just out of Alice Springs. We did about 80km over 6 days, just seeing the highlights and staying in temporary campsites.
