Darwin to Broome
We left Darwin, sadly on Monday 4th, this was a place that we truly loved, and the locals were so friendly and helpful.
So off down the Stuart Highway, and a left hand turn onto the Arnhem Highway, enroute to Jabiru in Kakadu National Park. I swear every time we went over a bridge or a causeway, Loz would see Crocodiles, heaps of them, I never saw a one. We did notice that there was a lot of swamp land around, and that the highway was built up.
We arrived in Jabiru, and booked into the Orara Caravan Park, very big very clean, very nice. It had a huge pool with the bar in the same area, so whilst Loz swam, I stood guard for the croc’s.
The best way to see Kakadu, is to fly, so fly we did, 6 of us in a plane, over Twin Falls, Jim Jim, Ranger Uranium Mine and also skirted Arnhem Land. Its funny, but I think I felt safer in the helicopter, we kept hitting speed humps in the plane, and they were huge. Anyway, what we saw was beautiful, alright, the dry season was on us, and there wasn’t much water around, but the country was beautiful, really spectactular was Arnhem Land, and the story that was explained to us, how the indeginious folk had this land, and what they were doing with it. Ranger Mine was huge, a big hole in the middle of the plains, not too much fuss and bother, seem very neat and tidy. After our flight, we Nourlangie Rock, this had particular significance with or indigenious folk, and tha artwork on the rocks explained it all. From Nourlangie we then did a walk over the Ubir Rock, unfortunately our camera had run out of puff and space, but we soldiered on, and climbed to the top of this particular mountain, and again huge swamp land.
Wednesday saw us leave the park, and call into Cooinda, this is a cultrural center, and also the boarding point for a boat tour of the Yellow River complex. Yellow river billabong is appended to the South Alligator River, here you see crocodiles, big ones and small ones, lotsa birds, again big ones and small ones, wide horses, feral pigs, the lot. Our guide, I’m afraid was rather parrot fashion, very bird orientated, and when posed a question, had a bit of trouble answering same, not to worry. On the way downthe Alliagtor River, we saw “Wartus," now “Wartus”was about 4 metres long, a girth of probably a metre and a half around, and has the brain the size of a 50cent piece. Anyway Wartus was sunning himself on the bank, and wasn’t really worried about us, we was worried about him, we motored past and viewed some more widelife and then turned around and proceed back up stream. There was Wartus, on the other side of the river, gorging himself on a catfish, tossing it up and down, and beating it to death, then swallowing it whole. Now this catfish was at least 2 metres long, alright half a metre, and wartus made mince fish of that thing in no time. Someone explained to us, that Crocs are a reactionary thing, this would probably explain their brain size, truly a remarkable sight.
From Cooinda we then drove to Katherine for a 2 night stay. Here we organized a trip up Katherine Gorge, the three ponds, our guide was excellent, and explained that there was in fact 13 ponds, but as we were now in the dry season, it wasn’t possible to do them all. At the 3rd pond we stopped and went ashore to a smaller pond with a waterfall. The brave duly dived in and swam to the falls, Lozza and I sat back and watched. On our return to the boat we were all advised that there was in fact a small fresh water croc seen in this pond, we felt safe!!. I felt that I could quite happily camp a few nights just wandering this beautiful gorge.
We left Katherine 6th May for Kununurra, we had crossed into Western Australia, passed through a border quarantine check point, unfortunately we had a half eaten sandwich, one tomato and some honey, we had to relinquish all. I was interested in the Ord River scheme, and from what I have managed to glean, it would seem that the farmers are still trying to determine the best crops for that particular area, we did notice large tracts of land, planted with Sandlewood!!!.
Thursday saw out at Lake Argyle, a huge expanse of water, the out flow of which is regulated for the irrigation scheme.
Eds note; I’m writing this some 14 days after the events, got a bit tired writing and hung up my computer for a while, I promise to not do it again, its toooo hard recollecting
Friday, and we are off to Fitzroy Crossing, via Halls Creek for fuel, I was tempted to take the Gibb River Road, but had been advised that it was dirt all the way, and the van could possibly suffer. We pulled into Fitzroy Lodge Caravan Park, huge, immense, great layout and catered for all types. Fitzroy Crossing is a ‘dry town’, no heavy beers sold to the public, even at the bar of the park, we had to wait until 5 P.M. for a heavy beer, and then it required an arm and a leg for a stubby, I passed. We only stayed here one night, a rather long drive from Kununurra. Just recently on the news, we have heard that Halls Creek is now a dry town!!!!
From Fitzroy Crossing to Derby, 250 kl’s so a pretty easy drive, except that just before the turn off to Derby, we had to pass through a huge burn off, smoke for about 10kl’s, a bit hairy, but we followed a couple of other cars through, made it easier
Once we arrived in Derby, the navigator pointed me in the direction of the Kimberly Entrance caravan park, not full and very clean. This park is on the edge of the flood plains, the tides in derby are in the vicinity of 8 metres, pretty huge.
I have come to the conclusion, that the reason for these higher than normal tides, is that, as Derby, Darwin are closer to the equator, and therefore closer to the moon, and that the circumference of the earth at the equator is greater, and also, that above Darwin, there is a heap of islands, and land masses, the flow of water is restricted by these lands masses, and also the attraction of the moon on this water volume is greater, does that make sense?????
Derby is interesting, the Boab Tree is prominent, and in fact has been transplanted into the township as its major tree, looks great. There is one tree, called the prison tree, where in fact indigenous aboriginals were actually locked up inside these trees whilst being moved around the state, poor souls.
We went for a drive along the Gibb River Road, to Tunnel Creek, This is a cave that goes through the mountains a 750-metre cave system carved through the Napier Range, in which we discover stalactites, secret caves and a large variety of wildlife. It is here we also learn the legend of Jandamarra, an Aboriginal freedom fighter who used the tunnel as a hide-out in the late 1800's, Lorraine wasn’t to keen to venture in too far, Cocodiles??????
Its all dirt road to here, about 200kl’s, four wheel drifts aplenty, it was at his point in time, my 4wd transmission didn’t work, can’t explain it but wouldn’t engage, a bit scary, anyway, once back in Derby, I rang my faithful Zupps of Southport in Qld, who gave me some insight as to how it all works, I duly checked all vacuum hose, and now my 4wd transmission works, love it!!!!
And onto Broome, Lorraine’s favourite spot.We arrived here on 13th May and are due to depart 25th May. What haven’t we done, we have fished, we have had camel rides, we have watched a live cattle ship come into port, we have played golf, ( she beat me on one hole) we visited Willy Creek Pearl farm, no I didn’t buy any pearls, wasn’t allowed!!, we shopped we drove, we ate out heaps of times, we have sat on a beach and had tea at sunset and watched the camels sailing across the sands!! we have met up with Rae and Neville, relo’s of Lorraine, have been into every shop in China Town, and we have heard a bird that sounds like a kitten crying, good resources say it is a Cat Bird, and we have seen quarter acre blocks, without a view for $500,000, rents of houses up to and more of $600 per week.
We leave here tomorrow, knowing that we will be back, a truly lovely place for Australian winter!!!
