2WD drive around oz

We only had two weeks in The Northern Territory as we had spent time here previously, and done a lot of the off road highlights, so this time I was keen to visit every hot spring we could.

From The Burke and Wills Roadhouse, we travelled south to Cloncurry, through the wonderful headstone size anthill country, then west through Mt Isa (which we had explored fairly thoroughly on our trip last year) to The Three Ways intersection, then north to Darwin.  The Daly Waters Pub was one stop on the way, which is certainly worth a visit for an evening’s diversion. It’s “ockersville in the outback.” But the Sheila’s behind the bar are all Colleens. I’m sure Ireland must be empty of young women. They are all working in the outback pubs and roadhouses. The rafters of the pub are bedecked with bras and knickers and all things crass are the order of the day. But the Barra and Beef barbeque was fantastic. Sat next to Margaret F, mother of one of Philip’s old school friends.

Some of the fabulous hot springs we soaked in, were Mataranka, Katherine and Berry Springs.

The Springs at Mataranka are in the area of the Elsey homestead of We of the ‘Never Never’ fame. There is an historic cemetery here too, where many of the characters from the book are buried. Somehow, I couldn’t bring myself to visit it. Bett- Bett, Goggle-Eye and the others are still alive in my childhood memory, and just as fiction characters never die and I didn’t want to see the graves of these real people.

Ran into Gail R from JR and her husband at the springs and again at Mindil Sunset Markets in Darwin. They have taken long service leave to do a spin around Australia.

The Berry Springs are probably the most beautiful but I would be happy to live in Katherine and visit their oasis every day. There is enough current through there to enable you to swim against it for as long as you like and just stay in the same spot. Good gentle exercise.

Darwin was hot, hot, hot, in fact their hottest July days and nights on record; not a breath of air all night. I kept getting up and running water over myself in the shower (hot water from the cold tank) and going back to bed, wet, just to get a bit cooler.

We had a very enjoyable afternoon at the new Darwin Lagoon, next to the Wave Pool complex… the best place to cool off, and we couldn’t resist an evening at The Deckchair Cinema. This is one of our favourite Darwin ‘to do’ things. A movie on a balmy night, while ‘lazing’ back in a comfortable chair, with a bowl of Asian food and a glass of wine under a star-filled sky.

We had a very pleasant evening catching up with Mark L, and then we saw him again a few days later on Bathurst Island where he was coincidently working when we visited.

Bathurst Island was certainly a highlight for me. I had been interested in Tiwi culture since my anthropology studies, and it was a rare opportunity to be able to visit. I contacted Joy N who has lived on the island for 20 years, and although I had not seen her since we were children, she and her husband were most hospitable. They fitted us into their busy day and showed us around Nguiu. Their art centre is a hive of activity, with people painting away in the main building and a number of men carving souvenirs, mainly birds from iron wood, for the tourist market, in a shed at the back.

The museum on the island has a wonderful collection of Tiwi artefacts and a very thorough record of life on the island since the arrival of missionaries, albeit from a European perspective.

Joy showed us some stands of iron wood trees and also the new entrance to the cemetery.

The radio shack pictured, with the propeller of a Japanese Zero in front of it, is preserved as the place from which the radio message was sent to Darwin warning of the Japanese air attack. The first capture of a Japanese prisoner of war on Australian soil also occurred here, when a downed airman was captured by a Tiwi man.

On our trip south from Darwin we stopped again at the Katherine Springs and then on to Timber Creek. Here we took a sunset cruise on the Victoria River. This isolated region is rich with wildlife and apart from flocks of little  corellas, we saw whistling kites and sea eagles… George and Mildred to be precise, flew down to collect the offerings of our guide who has been feeding them in the same spot for many years. The whistling kites and a crow, although all natural enemies fed together without worrying each other, although the kites did keep under the tails of the sea eagles, well away from the sharp end. There were plenty of salties along the banks and lots of agile wallabies.

The western bank on this 40km stretch of river is cattle country and the bank all the way is eroded and bare of greenery. Conversely, the opposite bank, which is army base and has no cattle, is lush with river reeds and grasses. It is blatant evidence of the damage cattle do to the environment.

We are now in The Kimberley, my favourite place in the whole world. It’s the land of the wonderful boabs, the huge budda-like anthills and spectacular scenery. Photos simply cannot do justice the colours and vastness of the landscape, but here are a couple of boabs and one of the cathedral type anthills of the Darwin region.

We had two days in Kununurra and enjoyed the walks in Mirima National Park close to town. The rock formations here are similar to the Bungle Bungles, but on a miniature scale of course. Rolf ran into an old friend Ollie from work. He and his wife and three children have taken a year off to travel around Australia. The children are doing Distance Ed on the way.

They have had a few hair-raising experiences including overturning their car and caravan on The Nullarbor when they were overtaken by a road train, and their 4 year old falling into the ocean from the huge Derby Jetty, as well as a, too close, encounter with a saltie. Anyway they are alive to tell the tales and will no doubt have many more stories before they get home.

Apart from the thousands of grey nomads out here, there are also many young families travelling and home schooling their children on the way. The general complaint seems to be that it is difficult to discipline time each day for schoolwork when there are so many far more exciting things to do. Ollie says when they get home they will be getting rid of the televisions because they have simply found they don’t need them. The children are learning far better ways to spend their time.

We are on our way to Broome, through Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing, then we will turn South down the coast of Western Australia on a route that is completely new to us.

More marvellous days ahead.