Author: Cruisers

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Adelaide River and Nhulunbuy

Our Arnhem Land travels continue having left the Cobourg Peninsula and now heading to East Arnhem Land.

Saturday 10th August, 2019

Another very full day today as we leave the caravan park just outside Kakadu and head a little further north along the Arnhem Highway to Adelaide River. The peaceful, picturesque Adelaide River’s claim to fame these days is the concentration of saltwater crocodiles (salties) that call it home. No trip to northern Australia would be considered complete if you didn’t see a saltwater croc, and this trip was not going to fall short on that score. Crocodiles were at risk of extinction before a hunting ban in the 1970’s saved them. It’s estimated there are around 150,000 salties and 100,000 ‘freshies’ (fresh water crocs) in northern Australia today – that means there’s nearly as many crocs as people – a sobering thought. Their habitat, ie fresh or salt water, has nothing to do with their name and they coexist happily in either. Salties can grow up to 10 metres in length and are aggressive in hunting their prey, of which humans are merely tasty morsels.

Idyllic day. Inviting river … but not for swimming! Adelaide River

A tourism venture called “Original Jumping Crocodile Cruises” is our destination where we’re on the first cruise of the day. Well, it was pretty spectacular. We were in an open sided boat, told to keep all hands, cameras, etc inside the boat and headed out looking for crocs. The river itself is quite spectacular and just the cruise along the river was enjoyable, however it wasn’t long before we came across crocs lazing on the river banks keeping a watchful eye.

Cruising alongside the boat. Adelaide River

The tour guide was excellent – informative and fun. He’ll hold out a pole with a piece of meat tied onto a line and a croc will quietly slip into the water and sidle over, without so much as a ripple in the water. When the croc is alongside the boat, it’s teased a little with the meat. They’re expected to do 3 jumps before, on the third, they receive the meat. Just one piece per croc. We must have watched perhaps 10 big crocs jumping well out of the water to get the meat. The tour guides have named all the crocs and know their personalities well.

And up he goes. Note the meat on the line which you’ll see just at the top of the background tree line. Adelaide River

Moving on from here a nearby lagoon fulfilled our ration of birdlife for the day.

Coming in to land, ignored by the spoonbills.

From here we backtracked south a little way along the Arnhem Highway before turning right onto a 4-wheel drive road that was a shortcut across to the Stuart Highway. The road, while unsealed, was in good order, apparently infrequently used and a very pleasant drive.

Next stop was the magnificent Leliyn (Edith Falls) which is on the edge of Nitmuluk NP (Katherine Gorge) and was the finishing point for my Jatbula walk of only 2 weeks ago. The Edith River cascades into this very beautiful, large freshwater pool that has been de-crocced (is that a word?) and therefore safe for swimming. We enjoyed a lovely swim and relaxed here for a couple of hours before wandering on, in our own time, to the Shady Lane caravan park in Katherine where we’ll spend the night.

The pool at Leliyn. That’s me with the grey hair, enyoying my swim with others in our group. In the distance you can just see where the Edith River cascades down into the pool.

Washing, shopping and refuelling in preparation for the next leg of our journey was a priority this afternoon. Once more we filled the jerry cans we carry on the roof racks (with diesel), just to be sure. Rather than cook we bought pizzas and shared them with Pat and Dick.

Sunday 11th August

Heading south as we left Katherine it was only about 50km before the turnoff for the Central Arnhem Road that joins Nhulunbuy to the Stuart Highway. A few years ago 4WD Magazine ranked the Central Arnhem Road in its top 5 “must drive” four wheel drive tracks. We agree! This is another road that requires a permit from the Northern Lands Council as we travel predominantly through Aboriginal lands (as did all the West Arnhem Land roads). It’s unsuitable to tow vans and permits won’t be granted to do so, apparently

Beginning the Central Arnhem Highway. Mainoru Store is our destination today.

Once we hit the dirt the tyre pressures were once more reduced and our convoy spread out over many kilometres as we hung back from each others dust. We passed through a few small aboriginal communities on the way. A constant lookout had to be kept for feral animals straying onto the road –  cattle, donkeys and buffalo.

Feral buffalo are prolific in Arnhem Land. Hunting safaris are common and there’s also a meat trade in buffalo.

Lunch today was at a lookout over what is colloquially known as Jurassic Park. The area looks like its a sunken valley with cliff edges all around and a flat base. Quite unexpected out here where everything is so flat.

A break for lunch overlooking “Jurassic Park”.

The road condition has been quite good. Some sections corrugated and dusty, but mostly reasonably smooth, fast, hard dirt. When oncoming vehicles approach we’d reduce speed to a crawl, and when the road trains approached, and we saw a few, we’d pull right off the road and stop. After they’d passed visibility would be close to zero for several minutes until their dust settled.

Central Arnhem Highway. A few corrugations here.

Late afternoon we arrived at Mainoru Store. This is a store that sells everything, food, clothing, shoes, etc. Camping tonight is on a beautifully grassed area beside a natural spring. The store owners have big sprinklers on the lawns 24/7 and that spring never falters. After setting up we went for a walk along it. It’s a beautiful lilly-covered oasis surrounded by glorious gum trees So unexpected out in this harsh environment.

The fresh water spring that never runs dry beside the camping ground at Mainoru.

All feeling weary after a long, dusty drive today Neill organised for the store to cook us a meal – chicken and salad. Very average. Then to cap it off Steve and I had set our tent up close to the toilets. Everytime the door opened, which was frequently, it closed with a loud bang, and the whole area was illuminated with what I swear was a search light on a motion sensor. Not the most restful of sleeps.

Monday 12th August

We left early today to cover the 470 remaining kilometers to Nhulunbuy. Much of it was corrugated, though some stretches not too bad.

Driving the Central Arnhem Rd north of Mainoru Store. Note the tape on the windscreen – placed over a crack that occured on the way up to Darwin. Also note distance from vehicle we’re following, avoiding the dust.

The Central Arnhem Rd crosses several small creeks. It also crosses the Goyder River and its flood plain, a challenge for road users in wet weather prior to 2014 when the government built a very large, all-weather bridge to bypass this difficult crossing. The old crossing is our destination for morning tea today. It does appear that the road authorities don’t want you to go there as the exit off the main road is well hidden. With some prior knowledge though we were all soon travelling on a lovely single-lane road to a delightful, shallow, broad crystal-clear brook, babbling over a stoney base which was the Goyder River on this day. The entrance and exit could be steep and I can imagine the trouble the road trains had trying to cross this river before the bridge was constructed, particularly after a good wet season.

Will we or won’t we? Goyder River

A discussion of whether we should cross or return the way we’d come in was had, with all voting to cross (not sure that Neill, the guide, had a say in that decision). What’s a 4-wheel drive trip without a decent water crossing or two? (Grin)

Apparently the biggest termite mound in Arnhem Land.

Further on we stopped by the largest termite mound in Arnhem Land.

Arriving tired at Nhulunbuy on the coast, we set up camp behind the Walkabout Lodge on lovely green grass, with modern, clean toilets and showers … and washing machines! After attending to the necessary I cooked a stir-fry and we went to bed to sleep well, listening to the surf in the background.

Tuesday 13th August

We did a full day trip down to Cape Arnhem today. Abel Tasman, a Dutch explorer, named Cape Arnhem in 1644 after the Dutch ship Arnhem which explored these waters in 1623 – the captain of this ship and some of his crew were killed here by the indigenous inhabitants – I wonder what they did to upset them! Terre d Arnhem appeared on early Dutch maps but wasn’t ‘official’ until the Aboriginal Reserve was named Arnhem Land in 1936.

A narrow, winding track around trees, washouts, holes, rocks, etc, took us from the Central Arnhem Road to the coast, then a steep descent down the dune escarpment led to sea level and onto a beautiful little beach for a BBQ lunch provided by GDT. Tyre pressures were down to 16PSI by this time as we were driving on very soft sand.

Up and over the sanddunes on our drive around Cape Arnhem and its beaches. (That’s the back of a vehicle with a built-on tent in front of us, not a house!)

 

A view of our ‘lunch time’ beach from the top of the dune.

After lunch Neill took us along tracks on the escarpment or down on the beach exploring towards the Cape.

Oysters, oysters, big fat juicy oysters! Yes I did sample some of these, with one eye looking out for a croc. Cape Arnhem.

Neill gave us the good guff on sand driving, and we had plenty of opportunity to practice our skills.

Off to explore another beach of soft, white sand. Cape Arnhem

We stopped at one beach where we all did a ‘beach cleanup’ gathering 9 big bags of rubbish to take to the dump at Nhulunbuy. This beach looked stunning by the time we’d finished our clean up. Not all beaches gather rubbish – depends on  aspect and where the currents run.

This is the beach where our group did a clean-up We ‘over-filled’ 9 of those bags with rubbish that has drifted ashore here. Cape Arnhem

 

Awww. Look what I found on the beach clean-up. This little fellow was heading the wrong direction. I put her at the water’s edge and told her I’d be back in 20 years when she’s next back here laying her own eggs.

Back to camp after 104km of good fun. Dinner at Walkabout Lodge – expensive and OK. 

Wednesday 14th August

Restful morning.

After lunch we went for a drive to Banambarrnga (Rainbow Cliffs). The exposed cliffs produce a striking effect from the weathering of the beautiful whites, yellows and red ochres. The top of the cliffs is a sacred site. We spent an enjoyable time exploring this beach, the little tidal creek which exits here and viewing the cliffs.

Rainbow Cliffs – beautifully shaded ochres.

Back at Nhulunbuy, John, a long-time resident, the owner of Walkabout Lodge and a ‘mover and shaker’ in the town, took us for a drive around town, telling us about its development and the challenges it is currently facing. We started at the Lookout where we had wonderful views out over the town.

Nhulunbuy from the Lookout.

Nhulunbuy (also sometimes referred to as Gove) is a Yolgnu word meaning ‘honey man’ and is a very remote town by any standards, (over 700km by 4×4 vehicle, a tiny airport or an occasional boat being the only access). It came into being in 1963 when the Federal government approved a bauxite mine and a town was formed to house the workers. The Yolgnu people strongly opposed the mine and presented a bark petition to the Federal Government, obviously unsuccessfully. This petition is on display in Canberra (not sure how I feel about that – a continuing slap in the face to the indigenous people I think).

This is the Yirrkala Bark Petition which is on display in Parliament House in Canberra. The bark petitions asserted that the Yolngu people owned the land and protested the Commonwealth’s granting of mining rights of land excised from the Arnhem Aboriginal Land reserve. They asked that no arrangements be entered into with any company which will destroy the livelihood and independence of the Yirrkala people. And so this became the first formal claim for native title. It failed. In 1971 it was taken to the Supreme Court where the judge used the notion of terra nullius to justify this ruling. Photo Wikicommons

We drove through town, which has restaurants, schools, a hospital (that our business cooperated with when we ran the GOLD conferences back in our history) and a good shopping precinct – oh and a bakery! We headed north out of town to the port where the refinery is. The bauxite refinery closed in 2014 with a loss of over 1000 jobs – a huge loss to the town. Bauxite is still mined here and transported via ships for overseas processing. A new refinery had been built at great expense, however before it processed any bauxite it was closed. It’s still here, in pristine condition.

Bauxite stockpile awaiting shipment for processing overseas.

Just this year an area outside Nhulunbuy has been chosen as a rocket launch site by NASA. Being this close to the equator apparently the earth spins a bit faster, so you get an extra boost to your rocket, using less fuel. Who knew? Locals don’t feel it will add too many jobs for the locals though – time will tell.

Thursday 15th August

Today was a fabulous day starting in Yirrkala, the small indigenous community just south of Nhulunbuy. The amazing Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre is located here. It started in the 1960s by an artist who exhibited his own art from a shelter on the beach, and from this it has grown to what it is today consisting of two divisions; the Buku Art Centre which represents Yolŋu artists exhibiting and selling contemporary art and The Mulka Project which acts as a digital production studio and archiving centre incorporating the museum.

Nyapanyapa Yunupiŋu, quite a famous artist, at work on her latest creation. Look closely at the fine lines that form the picture. Buku Art Centre, Yirrakala.

We couldn’t get over the amazing art – so talented and so intricate. There were many, many pieces of art we’d have loved to have bought. Most impressive in my mind were the many ḻarrakitj. Ḻarrakitj are memorial poles. In time past they held the bones of the dead and formed an important part of funeral rites. Today Yolŋu continue their cultural tradition painting hollow stringybark branches and selling their art (minus the human remains!), reviving and disseminating the beliefs of their ancestors. On one of our drives we saw a roadside memorial with a ḻarrakitj marking the place of a fatal road accident, much as our culture marks such roadside tragedies with a cross.

Some of the larrikitj, with others in the background in the Buku Art Centre, Yirrakala.

Every now and then while driving we’d come across a stringybark tree where a couple of metres of bark had been removed. Neill joked these were dingo trees (ie no bark – ha, ha, ha!) The bark that was removed is cured by fire, weighted and left to dry. Using locally sourced ochres traditional designs are painted onto the bark; each unique, very fine, cross-hatched pattern reflecting knowledge belonging to a particular estate, clan, state of water, moiety and place.

Highlighted in the middle of this photograph is one of the bark paintings (ie artwork done on a piece of bark). Exquisite! Buku Art Centre, Yirrakala

Yiḏaki is the correct term for what we call a didgeridoo. Prior to European colonisation yiḏaki were only found in northern Australia, in particular Arnhem Land. Today this term is only permitted to be used when the instuments have been made and decorated solely by Yolŋu people. Finding a naturally occuring termite-hollowed stringybark tree is the first step in making this unique wind instrument. According to sources at Yirrkala all other similar instruments should be called didgeridoos, unless they are made by an Aboriginal person and called by their local Aboriginal name for the instrument. And yes, there were many beautifully made and decorated yiḏaki on display.

In the museum Andrew, one of the curators, took us to see beautiful old pieces of art and photographs made by the anthopologist Donald Thompson in the 1920s – all fascinating and his descriptions wonderful.

A Donald Thompson photograph taken in 1936. These tall, strong, healthy men are preparing a ḻarrakitj for the remaining bones of a clan member who had been interred (either in a shallow grave, or a burial platform) some time ago. The ḻarrakitj is painted with sacred designs of the deceased’s lineage.

But the most striking artwork in the museum are the two Church Panels. Each Church Panel is on masonite sheeting twelve feet tall and four feet wide. Yolŋu society is divided into two moieties—Dhuwa and Yirritja—and so too are the Church Panels. These panels, created by the elders of these moieties in 1962/63 were for display on either side of the alter in the new Methodist Church. There were two core reasons for their creation – firstly to introduce Yolŋu religious iconography into a Christian context to demonstrate that Yolŋu had their own sacred heritage; and a political assertion of Yolŋu sovereignty in the Yirrkala area to emphasise Yolŋu connection to land and land ownership. It was because the Federal Government annexed their land for the bauxite mine and after seeing these panels that Beazley Snr (a Federal political minister) suggested the Bark Petition – as such these Church Panels were the precursor to the first land rights claims in Australia.

Despite their intricacy, beauty, importance and sentiment, a Methodist minister had them removed from the church in 1974 (they didn’t tell the ‘right’ creation story!) and stored them, unprotected, under the eaves of the church. Four years later they were rescued by Buku-Larrŋgay Arts, but it wouldn’t be for another 10 years until the museum was built that they were once more on public display.

No trip to Arnhem Land could be considered complete without viewing the Church Panels. Their artistic beauty is notable, their message is important, but the spiritual feeling that envelops you as you sit quietly viewing these panels is extraordinary.

Reluctantly leaving, we could have spent many more hours here, we drove on to Daliwoi Bay. This camping area has a boat ramp and is at the mouth of an inlet. Great for fishing, so I’m told, but only from a boat as the crocs like this spot.
We drove on to Macassan Beach, a very pretty little tropical beach with a camping area. Here we found the story of the Macassan relationship with the Yolgnu told in stone arrangements. These were created in the 1800’s by Yolgnu to aid their oral tradition of passing on the stories of their people. A walk of a couple of hundred metres takes you past 6 stone installations each representing a facet of their history.

The information board describing the stone installation that represents the dugout canoes. Macassan Beach

After a pleasant time spent looking at this installation and wandering the beach we headed back to the main road, then down a side road to Goanna Lagoon. What a top spot this was! There was a school group of a dozen or so young boys with their teachers who were camping here for a couple of nights. The boys were having a wonderful time, a few of them spear fishing for cherubin (yabbies). A narrow steep-sided creek has carved its way down to supply the lagoon with fresh, crystal-clear water. A delight to go for a dip on this warm afternoon.

A group of school boys having fun at Goanna Lagoon. Note the boy spear-fishing.

Back to camp in Nhulunbuy we spruced ourselves up ready for dinner at the Yacht Club to celebrate our last evening here.

A beautiful sunset taken from the Yacht Club – bauxite processing and shipping structures in the background.

For more photos from this time spent in Arnhem Land CLICK HERE.

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West Arnhem Land (Cobourg Peninsula)

The following posts are the report of our tour from Darwin to Arnhem Land and home again in August 2019. Due to the remoteness of Arnhem Land and the potential difficulty getting permits we’ve joined a tag-along tour run by Great Divide Tours. While Priscilla (our Trakka Sprinter 4WD) would have made the trip very comfortable for us, we were rightly concerned that due to her length and height she wouldn’t have managed the smaller side tours we did. We’re in the Pajero with a free-standing, small tent.

Note the National Park and Smith’s Point shown at the northern part of the map and follow the Central Arnhem Highway to Nhulunbuy in the east, both areas we visited.

Arnhem Land is in the north east of the Northern Territory, with its northernmost point only marginally more south than Cape York, Australian mainland’s most northern point. With an area of 100,000 sq km it’s larger than Hungary, Portugal or Austria. However total population for this very remote area is only around 16,000 people, 12,000 of whom are the traditional land owners, the Yolngu people. Arnhem Land was named after the Dutch ship Arnhem which navigated across this coastline in 1623. We know we are privileged to be able to access this very remote area of the World, the indigenous communities and people who live here.

Did you know Arnhem Land is the home of Australia’s most famous instrument, the didgeridoo?

Gratuitous photo of a didgeridoo. Image from wikicommons

Sunday 28th, Monday 29th July 2019

Darwin

Yesterday I finished walking the 65km Jatbula Trail in Nitmuluk NP with some friends, and am now in Darwin. Meanwhile Steve and his mate Nigel left home a week ago to drive to Darwin from Brisbane via Birdsville.

I farewelled my walking buddies as they headed to the airport and I walked over to the Ramada Zen Hotel (ONLY 2.5km, easy!) to await Steve and Nigel. By all reports they had a brilliant trip. Relaxing, catching up on our experiences, drinks and dinner at the Penthouse (barramundi) before an early night finished that day. 

Monday we drove out to the War Museum at East Point. It is very well curated and had lots and lots to see both inside the museum and outside in the grounds, including the big 9 inch guns and lots of personal stories from civilians and military personnel in Darwin 1942. An excellent documentary style film portrayed the events of February 19 1942, the day war came to Australian shores with the bombing of Darwin by the Japanese.  I was here particularly looking for a photograph of my mother who was an army nurse during WWII and stationed in Darwin. I think I’ve found the one I’d been told about. 

Maybe mum is the one third from the right in the middle row. Though she was a registered nurse so I’d expect her to be wearing a veil. Perhaps she’s the nurse sitting in the front row, second from the right.

From there we headed into Darwin and wandered the streets and malls finally settling for lunch on the lawn overlooking the ocean at the Speakers Corner cafe in Government House. Wonderful location! 

We’re sitting under those umbrellas enjoying the view of the ocean, which is over the shoulder of the photographer. A lovely building, designed beautifully for the climate.

Later in the afternoon we went to the joint RFDS / War Memorial building on Stokes Wharf. Here there was a virtual reality portrayal at the time of the bombing and also a good hologram depiction of the actions of a US naval captain whose ship was in harbour at the time of the bombing. 

We finished the day at Crustaceans restaurant on the wharf where we all relished the joy given by a whole chili crab each. Fantastic! 

Kakadu

Tuesday 30th – Friday 2nd August

This morning Nigel flew back to Brisbane, and Steve and I provisioned the car before heading to Kakadu NP via the Kakadu Highway. We’re camped in the tent at Gunlom for two nights. I tried to talk Steve into going tent-free (as I had been during our Jatbula walk) but haven’t achieved it yet.

Our campsite at Gunlom. The infinity pool is at the top of the hill in the background. A lovely clear, sandy pool is at the base, off to the left of our campsite.

Gunlom brings back very happy memories from the last time we were here with Ric and Gill. However this time the road in, supposedly a 2WD road, is very badly corrugated and due to a poor “wet” this year the creek feeding the infinity pool  is low, hence not a great flow through the pool nor over the escarpment. And the upper ¾ of the steep path to the infinity pool is a temporary one scrambling over rocks, hanging onto saplings, and even steeper than the original which is being replaced with steps.

The track up to Gunlom infinity pool – challenging!

The pool itself and view are as spectacular as ever, however the pool is green and the many submerged rocks very slippery. Not the picture postcard perfect experience the tourist is led to expect. Mind you over the two days we’ve been here we haven’t seen any tourist busses pull in. The plunge pool at the bottom of the falls, however, is as spectacular as ever, crystal clear and chilly and an enjoyable swim. 

Gunlom infinity pool, still a magnificent pool despite the dry weather. You can see the small waterfall that leaves this pool at the far end.

After a dip in the plunge pool on Thursday morning we moved closer to Jabiru, which is where we will join our Arnhem Land tour. On the way we stopped to look at the Warradjan Aboriginal Cultural Centre. This well curated very interesting centre is well worth a visit. Cooinda, our camp for the night, is a very large, very busy, privately owned caravan park that I wouldn’t recommend. Friday we moved on to the township of Jabiru. This little town used to be the centre for the Ranger Uranium Mine until it closed down several years ago. There are many closed shops and it’s beginning to look neglected, except for the tourists that keep it going. As it is on Aboriginal Land the mine was granted a limited time lease for the town. That has been extended once for another 5 or 6 years, and there is a feeling it may not be extended when it comes up again – time will tell. 

We restocked our food at the local supermarket, which was pretty good, considering. We booked into the cabins in the caravan park (not salubrious), did some washing and rested in the air conditioning – not that it’s hot, unless you’re in direct sun with no breeze. 

This evening we met the group we’ll be travelling with for the next three weeks then we all went over for a meal at the bistro – lovely tender pork for me, steak for Steve. Tomorrow our trip begins. 

Garig Gunak Barlu NP (Cobourg Peninsula)

Saturday 3rd – Tuesday 6th

8 4WD of all different types lined up this morning, with Neill Bell from Great Divide Tours, our tour leader, in the front. About 40km out of Jabiru we all “aired down” to 28 and crossed Cahill’s Crossing which had about half a meter of water flowing over; and we saw our first crocodile. 

Cahill’s Crossing. The crocodiles are further upstream. Apparently as the high tide flows out the crocs sit at the edge of the crossing and pick off the fish as they are swept over the causeway.

That ended the black top. Our road varied over the next 250-odd kilometres between smooth and badly corrugated dirt or sand with washouts and bulldust holes.

The whole Cobourg Peninsula comprises the Garig Gunak Barlu NP. This extensive park includes the surrounding waters of the Arafura Sea and Van Diemen Gulf, and some of the neighbouring islands.

Another water crossing on the way. (Paul and Julie’s car)

We stopped to view points of interest, have a coffee break, collect wood for a fire and “Sturt” stops (think of the pretty red flower that grows in the desert).  

Lots of birds at these wetlands. Garig Gunak Barlu NP

Our campsite (cold showers, long-drop toilets) is right at the beach at Smith’s Point at the head of Port Essington and is exclusive to our group. Our site looks directly onto the Arafura Sea. After watching a spectacular sun set into the ocean, meals were cooked on the big gas BBQ that Neill fires up each night, then we all settled down around the fire for a yarn. A good first day.

Sunday Steve and I and 4 others (Mark, Katie, Steve and Jo) went down to the jetty to join our fishing trip. Wow! That was exciting! Travis, the skipper, flicked a line out at the end of the jetty and straight away pulled in a decent sized trevally which was our bait. First spot we stopped the lines weren’t in the water for more than 3 minutes before Steve got a BIG strike. It took him about 10 minutes to bring it in as it pulled him all around the boat – a very good sized Jew fish.

Steve’s ‘catch of the day’ – a jew fish

It wasn’t long before Mark also caught one, maybe even bigger. Then it was my turn with a “queenie” that gave me a workout and measured about 1.5 metres long. We moved to a few different spots and mostly caught and released what we caught after that, except for a beautiful big coral trout. It was rough on the water with 30 knot winds gusting stronger, but the excitement of the trip over-rode the rocking and rolling. 

Travis, our very competent fishing teacher, filleting one of the many fish we caught.

Everyone had BBQ’d fish for dinner tonight. 

Enjoying the fruits of Denise’s labour – Queenie on the barby.

In the afternoon we did a scenic drive, in convoy, around the Peninsula along narrow, two-tyre-track tracks that hugged the magnificent coastline for awhile before we went inland to see the wetlands. These wetlands received Ramsar accreditation in 1992, designating it as a “Wetland of International Importance” because of its diversity of coastal and inland wetland types, support for populations of threatened species including a number of endangered turtles, maintenance of regional biodiversity, support for life-cycle functions such as turtle and waterbird breeding and refugia values, and for providing important fish nursery and spawning habitats. There are now some 65 Australian wetlands recognised under this convention, however this was Australia’s first.

The previous wet season up here is one of the worst (ie poor rainfall) in recorded history and though the wetlands are significantly reduced the bird life was still prolific. I’d have loved to be here at dawn or dusk to see the birds. We drove back around the coastline then across the Peninsula and back to camp. A good drive and great to see more of Cobourg Peninsula. 

Lots of birds at these wetlands. Garig Gunak Barlu NP

Monday was a quiet morning at camp before once more we joined Travis on the boat this time to go to Victoria Settlement, an army garrison set up in 1838 to warn and protect the new colony of potential threats from the French and the Dutch and to encourage Asian trade. It was a very comprehensive settlement with beautifully built stone officer’s quarters, a kiln, hospital, quartermaster’s stores and munitions store. National Parks has created a 4 km walk around the site. Some of the buildings were so well constructed that much of them remains in very good order.

The chimney stacks and fireplaces for cooking are all that remain of the Officers’ homes. Victoria Settlement

It was an ill-fated settlement with many deaths and was finally abandoned after only 11 years. However in its day it was very busy with Macassans coming down from Sulawesi as they had done from as early as the mid-1700’s to trade with the many aboriginals who lived around there. In exchange for fishing rights, turtle shell and pearls the Macassans traded cloth, tobacco, metal axes and knives, rice and gin. They predominantly harvested and dried the trepangs (sea cucumbers) for culinary and medicinal use. A lasting legacy is the number of tamarind trees planted by the Macassins that remain today. Travis told us that there was a lot of mixing of the cultures and that aboriginals had already been travelling to Sulawesi, Asia and even Holland as the Dutch traded here too. Intercultural marriages occured both here and in the destinations to which they travelled. We’re learning a lot of Australian history that is not widely known. Another excellent excursion, made all the better for the incredible knowledge Travis shared with us. 

More BBQd fish and another big fire tonight. 

Tuesday was a restful morning for us while one group went fishing in the morning and another in the afternoon – yep, heaps more fish, Jew fish and coral trout. A trip to the Aboriginal Cultural Centre gave us more perspective with displays describing the life and a little history of the indigenous people, the Macassans and the Victoria Settlement. Caiman Creek, some 20 km down the corrugations was good for fishing for some, while we enjoyed a walk to the mouth of the creek to view the cliffs.

During our travels we occasionally spotted the elusive Banteng, a feral cattle native to Asia, that was released when Victoria Settlement was closed in 1848. These cattle are endangered in Asia with few numbers and no longer any pure bred, while these in Arnhem Land are very pure and thriving. It’s become an issue for the conservationists trying to protect the National Park and those conservationists trying to protect an endangered species. 

Alan, has been the Ranger here for 34 years – there’s not much he doesn’t know about the area. He chatted with us around the campfire tonight sharing a wealth of information. One of the many advantages of doing this trip with a company that has a long and well-respected association with the area. 

Wiligi Outstation

Wednesday 7th – Thursday 8th

Leaving the Peninsula and National Park we travelled 140 km to our destination for the next two nights, Wiligi Outstation, a small tourism venture with camping and a few cabins, owned by one of the Traditional Owners. This is another spectacular campsite with our tent barely 20 metres from the high tide line.

Our campsite from the boat. Our tent is on the far left, between the two pandanus palms.

We had a boat hired for the day for fishing or going out to explore Copeland Island. Steve chose to stay in camp reading, listening to music (and the gentle lapping waves); I took the opportunity to go to explore the island with Pat and Dick (Neill took us over in the boat), climbing to its peak to get 360° views. Beautiful. 

Taken from the highest point on Copeland Is, with Dick to the left of the photo.

Sunset alongside our campsite at Wiligi Outstation.

Pandanus Spiralis or ‘screw pine’ at Wiligi. The Indigenous Australians use the strappy leaves for weaving and the fruit (the big orange fruit you can see) has a tasty nut, though it’s hard to access. The base of each leaf is white and apparently tastes a bit like cabbage. The dead trunk can be made into a didgeridoo and as it burns slowly the Indigenous people would use it to carry fire from one place to another. A useful plant.

Friday 9th

Leaving Arnhem Land for the time being we return to civilisation today. We retraced our outward journey, via another wetland before stopping in at Gunbalanya (Oenpelli) where, unfortunately, the Art Centre was closed. The major Art Awards are on in Darwin and many of the artists and their works are currently there. However there were a few artists sitting around painting or weaving outside the centre so we wandered around observing them. 

Weaving a dilly bag from pandanus leaves.

Back over Cahills Crossing and into Jabiru where we had lunch by the lake, a minor restock and refuelled. 

We followed the blacktop through Kakadu NP on the Arnhem Hwy. Outside the NP and at a very inconspicuous spot on the highway at Mt Bundy is the turnoff to an amazing granite sculpure ‘park’ celebrating the importance of wild rice as a staple food for indigenous peoples for centuries as well as its importance as a sustainable food crop for the future. The wild rice of northern Australia is genetically pure. The sculptures were created by an elderly Japanese artist, Mitsuaki Tanabe and are epic in their proportions, the longest being a wild rice sheaf 82 metres long carved in the granite ridge.

Viewing the extent of the granite carving of a wild rice sheaf. Mt Bundy

Tonight we’re camped at the privately owned Corroboree caravan park for the night. It was very full and very noisy! Ahh, but the joy of freshly laundered clothes can’t be underestimated. Dinner tonight was at their restaurant with the group – salt and pepper calamari for me. 

We’re all looking forward to the next part of our adventure in a couple days when East Arnhem Land will be the highlight.

To see more photos from this part of our trip CLICK HERE.

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Jatbula Trail

21st – 28th July, 2019

Situated amongst the stunning ancient landscape of Nitmiluk National Park, the 62 km Jatbula Trail follows the route travelled by generations of Jawoyn people, from Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) to Leliyn (Edith Falls) – a traditional song line. The local indigenous people, the Jawoyn, named the area of the gorge Nitmiluk (pronounced Nit-mi-look) meaning ‘place of cicadas’.
The trail was named after Jawoyn Traditional Owner Peter Jatbula who was instrumental in securing land rights for his people and who walked the route of the trail with his family.

The Jatbula is walked as a one-way trail with walkers limited to no more than 15 leaving per day, the trail to be completed over 5 or 6 days. Walkers must be fully self-sufficient as there is no access to the trail other than at the beginning and the end. It’s booked out almost as soon as the places are released online, hence Trish has organised our little group of 4 to be doing it through a trekking company, Gecko Trekking and Canoeing.

Jatbula Trailhead


21st July

Yesterday Steve and Nigel left on their epic drive to Darwin via Birdsville. I’ll see them in Darwin on the 28th. Today I flew to a very warm Darwin and met up with my walking buddies, Trish, Sarah and Wendy. We’re staying at the Hotel On Mitchell – self-contained apartments – well located and appointed. 

After packing and repacking our backpacks and discussing at length what we should leave behind, ie rain jacket, rain cover for backpack, puff jacket – “it will not rain” the tour company lady assured us – we went down to Cullen Beach to watch the sunset and partake of a seafood smorgasbord. 

Sunset at Cullen Beach in Darwin. Wendy, me, Sarah and Trish
Mmmmm seafood smorgasbord – heaven!

22nd July

Bob the driver for Gecko Trekking and Canoeing company picked us up at 7am and we joined David, Belinda and Emma who’ll be sharing our exciting adventure for the next 6 days. (ie 7 walkers plus our guide, Travis).

Firstly though a drive from Darwin to Katherine, stopping at Adelaide River for a coffee and to view Jock the Croc, a 5 metre stuffed crocodile, and the buffalo from the Crocodile Dundee movie. 

The buffalo from the Crocodile Dundee movie.

A cultural experience awaited us a local Jawoyn man played the didgeridoo for us …

then guided us on spear throwing using a woomera, lighting a fire using two sticks and traditional painting using a reed. It was a lot of fun, but I wasn’t a success at any of them.

Displaying my skills at spear throwing using a woomera. Lookout anyone within a 10 metre radius!
Trying to light a fire using two sticks. Needless to say after we’d all had a go at it, our guide had the fire going in no time at all.
My attempt to copy a piece of artwork using a traditional reed stick.

In Katherine a relaxing 2-hour cruise between the majestic towering cliffs and crystal clear waters of Katherine Gorge gave us a taste of the adventure to come. 

Trish and I standing, Wendy and Sarah sitting, on the cruise down Nitmiluk Gorge

Back to Mick’s property (owner of Gecko) to set up our first camp. Hmm took a bit to remember how to blow up the mattress, etc, but I got there. I’d mentioned I was eating predominantly Paleo and they’d bought in a whole box of Paleo dehydrated food for me. Wow! That was pretty decent of them. However dinner tonight was the tenderest steaks and salad. Delicious. 

The temperature dropped rapidly as the sun set and we turned in early to get warm. Several of us, including me, decided to sleep without a tent or insect screen. Lying in bed watching the stars is amazing. Earlier Travis, our tour guide, pointed out the Dark Emu, some constellations and planets and set up a telescope for us. As for being warm though – not so much. I put on my thermals and was still cold. A very restless night ensued. 

23rd – 27th July 

Map of the Jatbula Trail. Note it is walked from Nitmiluk Centre to Leliyn.

Walk Day 1: Nitmiluk to Biddlecombe Cascades – 10km

An early start and a lesson on how to pack my backpack quickly and efficiently from Mick himself was useful. All the food and cooking equipment for the 5 days was divvied up between us. My backpack weighed in at about 14kg, including 3 litres of water. I was very pleased with the fit of my new backpack, tolerating the weight well, and continued to for the duration of the walk.
Excitedly we began the trail with a boat ride over the Katherine River before we began walking in earnest.

The pathway we’ll be following, off into those hills. Adventure awaits.
A break here at Northern Rockhole for morning tea.
Biddlecombe Cascades.
We finished the first day walking the way we did at every campsite – with a wonderful swim in crystal clear fresh water. This is at Biddlecombe Cascades campsite.
Travis, our guide and chef for our trek.

Walk Day 2: Biddlecombe Cascades to Crystal Falls 12km

A tricky early morning departure from our campsite at Biddlecombe.
View from the hilltop.

While the trail is not noted for its hilliness nevertheless there are still some reasonable hills to climb. Here we got a good view of the surrounding countryside. Not many trees in this section.

Rock art.
Wendy and Trish examining the beautiful rock art.

Today we see the first of the rock art along this trail. These art works are protected under an overhanging rock.

The trail between Biddlecombe and Crystal Falls.

Another view of the trail and countryside we walked through. The disparity in walking speed was beginning to become a problem to me as I was frequently dropped and walked alone. Being at the back of the group I was concerned I’d be injured or bitten by a snake and no one would notice until it was too late. (Note that I was more than 10 years older than the next oldest on this walk!)

My air mattress, blow-up pillow, sleeping bag, etc all set up ready for a peaceful night at Crystal Falls campsite.
The lagoon at Crystal Falls. This view is just a few paces away from the bottom end of my air mattress!
Lots of spots here for a soak in a spa pool. Crystal Falls

Our drinking water (we began every day with 3 litres each) was sourced from the creeks and pools where we camped. We didn’t treat it and no one had tummy troubles from it. And it did taste really good!

The falls at Crystal Falls, beside which we’re camped for tonight.

Walk Day 3: Crystal Falls to 17 Mile Falls – 10km

Setting out from Crystal Falls. Note the blue triangle to indicate the trail. Most of the time the pathway was easy to see as it is here, but in some areas the triangles were useful.
Another photograph of the starkly beautiful country through which we’re walking. (after climbing another hill)

We leave our packs behind on the path and scramble down into the Amphitheatre where the flora becomes more tropical and lush and there’s a long wall of indigenous rock art.

Rock art
Rock art
An explanation.
Maybe this is the fellow the woman in the previous art was trying to attract!
Our campsites were all in very picturesque places, always beside a fresh water stream or pool. The sandy surface was comfy under the air mattress. It didn’t rain and insects weren’t a nuisance while we slept. I had no issues sleeping in the open with no tent cover.

Walk Day 4: 17 Mile Rocks to Sandy Billabong 16km

A longer walk today so we set off early with view to arriving at the campsite before the temperatures get too hot this afternoon. I don’t know what the temperature was, but I’d guess it was never less than 30°C once the sun got up. Evenings were cool to chilly.

Leaving 17 Mile Falls before dawn.
17 Mile Falls. We camped at the top of these falls last night.

My issues with being dropped by the others continued. However the group seemed to stop every 20 mins or so for a rest and a drink, which is when I’d catch them. Not needing to stop to rest so often I continued walking expecting to be passed, but they never did – too much stopping for me! This did mean that I walked the majority of the last 3 days on my own, which was disappointing as I’d wanted to share the walk with my friends, but it was safer for me than being behind on my own.
The upside was that the trail felt a lot more spiritual now with just the sounds of the birds and the wind in the trees as I walked. Beautiful!

The savanna country was now behind us. i found this countryside to be ‘intimidating’.

As I was walking alone by now interestingly I found this section of the walk a little creepy – like I was being watched. I’m sure a Jawoyn elder would tell me that I was, by one of their spirits.

There were many flowering grevillea to brighten the walk.
A very pretty place amongst the fallen acacia flowers to sit on the log waiting for the others to catch up.
Edith Creek crossing. Not much water here at the moment, so easy to cross.
Sandy Billabong – our last campsite on this walk – well, maybe on a nice sandy patch, not right here.

Walk Day 5: Sandy Billabong to Leliyn (Edith Falls) 15 km

Our last walking day took us through long grass, a few creeks including Edith River South and a swamp to negotiate before stopping at Sweetwater Pool for a break.

The trail condition changed throughout – mostly very good, as it is here.
This part of the trail is through long grass in a bog. Thank goodness for the boardwalk.

Sweetwater provides another campsite, but campers not doing the full walk can also access it from the Leliyn. Hence there were day trippers here and a few people camped.

Sweetwater. A delightful pool where we had a swim before moving on to Leliyn.

It’s only 4.5 km to Leliyn which, after a lovely cooling swim here, we walked on to – finishing the trail. Funnily enough, while most tourists consider Leliyn to be a fabulous pool, we walkers had experienced so much better that we didn’t even bother having a swim here.

We arrived at Leliyn (Edith Falls) around 1 pm completing our wonderful walk.
A celebratory lunch of fresh food and orange juice was the ideal way to finish a fabulous walk.

The 3-hr drive back to Darwin in the minibus seemed to take forever for our exhausted little troupe. We spent tonight at the same motel before Wendy, Sarah and Trish flew home and I continued my travels to Arnhem Land with Steve.

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Corner Country

This is a report of our August 2018 19-day trip to the three Queensland State corners. This 5,000km trip in the Pajero with the roof top tent will take us through outback Queensland, across the Simpson Desert (Munga Thirri) and Sturts Stony Desert into remote areas of the Northern Territory (briefly), South Australia and New South Wales. We’re travelling with our buddies Doug and Leura.

The route taken for this trip.


 

Our trip logo – designed by Steve.

5th – 23rd August 2018

Sunday 5th:

Departed home at about 1130am after last minute packing, watering all the plants and making sure the chickens have plenty of feed and water. Rob and Anne and Ric and Gill will keep an eye on them and collect the eggs while we’re away.

First, and hopefully last calamity of the trip occurred at our very first stop! I couldn’t open one of the drawers in the back of the Pajero – the food drawer! It appears that something has slipped down below the locking mechanism preventing it from opening. After half an hour of trying to prise it open, tilting the car sideways and nose-down on the steeply sloping road to try to move the blockage we gave up, just a bit stressed by now (understatement!!). When two crazy people doing weird things with their car aren’t there Rogers Park in the State Forest outside Yarraman becomes a lovely quiet, well-treed, day-use only park with picnic tables, covered tables, BYO wood BBQs and loos. 

Yay. We’re off on our adventure. Morning tea break at Rogers Park. Looking happy here, but not for long once we discovered we couldn’t open the food drawer.

On the way we passed farms with ‘I support New Acland Mine’ posters and others extolling the virtues of farms and environment. Significant expansion of the New Acland mine is proposed, but was rejected last year by the Lands Council due to concerns about the ground water. However an appeal to the Supreme Court in May this year overturned their ruling. The battle is not yet over… watch this space.

Bowenville Reserve, our campsite for the night, is a huge area a couple of kilometres outside Bowenville and bounded by a loop of Oakey Creek. It’s a free camp with picnic tables and a clean flushing toilet. A lovely spot, except for the occasional smell from the cattle feed lot up the road. Doug and Leura had already arrived and set up their tent.

Campsite at Bowenville Reserve. Doug and Leura with their tent, us with our rooftop tent.

With solving the drawer issue still an imperative Steve finally drilled a hole beneath the lock and dislodged the salt shaker that caused the problem – phew, it wasn’t looking good for a while there.

A walk along Oakey Creek late afternoon was just the relaxation we needed. It has plenty of water in it, despite the whole area being very dry.

Reflections in Oakey Creek at Bowenville.

A very pleasant evening was spent chatting and laughing before an early night. Feels funny to be back in the rooftop tent – it’s been a while.

A French champagne ‘toast’ to our first night.

Monday 6th

Not a lot to report on today. We stopped briefly at the Chinchilla Saddlery for Leura to catch up with her cousin who owns it. It’s one of those amazing stores packed to the brim with clothes, boots and all manner of horsey stuff, including saddles – fun to explore. Chinchilla looks like an interesting town, noting among its accomplishments the first place to release the Cactoblastis moth which proved to be very successful in bringing the invasion of the prickly pear under control. They also celebrate the melon festival here in summer.

At Miles we stopped for brunch. Lots of roadworks happening in Miles and for quite a distance along the Warrego Highway. The landscape is generally flat and brown – grasses burnt by recent frosts or fields of stubble after harvest. This is a large grain-growing region.

We’d planned to stay at Wallumbilla, however after a short drive around town and not being impressed with the showgrounds camping area and amenities we moved on to camp at the Clay Target Gun Club in Roma. Here they’ve very kindly situated us on a grassy patch protected from the strong winds that are blowing and away from the packed out caravan area. A drink, or two, at the clubhouse in the afternoon went down well before dinner back at the tents. It’s forecast to get down to zero degrees tonight. The hot water bottles have been filled and we’ll soon be under a few layers of doonas and blankets.

It’s a bit cold here. Brrrrr. Roma Gun Club campsite

Tuesday, Wednesday 7th & 8th

While it’s very chilly overnight and in the mornings, as soon as the sun gets up it starts warming up to the low 20s with cloudless blue skies. So a slow start to the day ensures we don’t feel too much of the chill.

First stop today was Mitchell where I’d promised everyone that the Artesian Spa cafe sold the best Eggs Benedict ever, according to my secret source (WikiCamps). Not so I’m afraid – well not on a Tuesday anyway! After that big disappointment, that I was reminded of for the rest of the trip, we spent an hour or so partaking of the beautifully warm Artesian Spa waters, maybe not quite the 38C they said it was, but definitely well in the 30s. It was hard to get out, particularly as there was a sneaky, chilly breeze blowing. 

Outside of the artesian spa pool at Mitchell. Sorry, didn’t take the camera in with me.

The countryside west of Roma is a bit more interesting – more trees, lusher grasses. The amount of road kill was extraordinary – an emu, a pig, a steer and dozens upon dozens of kangaroos. The road trains travel all night and don’t pause for anything.

A cuppa stop at Morven then on to Charleville where we’re booked into cabins for two nights at Bailey Bar caravan park … happily as the overnight temperatures are set to drop even lower. Tonight the van park owners are putting on a spit-roasted pork to be served around the campfire. We’re there! – not bad.

Charleville promotes itself as a centre for observation of the stars, and conservation of the bilby. Wednesday morning Steve and I went to the Cosmos Centre. The very engaging main display is a mock-up of a Space Shuttle. The information and displays are excellent.

The space shuttle mock-up. All the screens were interactive and very informative.

During an interesting talk given by one of the astronomers we got to hold an actual meteorite that was found a couple of hundred kilometers from Charleville. It was so hard that even diamond drills couldn’t cut it and because it’s so dense it felt really heavy. Fascinating. There was also some ‘space junk’ on display which was found just west of Charleville – a 20kg ball of black carbon fibre which had been either a hydrogen or a nitrogen fuel cell. It would have entered earth’s atmosphere looking like a shooting star.

There’s about 5000 tonnes of space junk orbiting the earth at any one time and this is a bit that came back.

Lunch was had in the park surrounded by geese, two roosters and a bantam hen .. yeah, a bit weird. Weirder still though was the Steiger Vortex guns in the park. These cone-shaped barrels were first used in Europe to fire a gas into clouds causing rain instead of the expected hail, which would destroy crops. A meteorologist named Wragge thought they could be used to produce rain to end the drought in Australia. They were trialled in Charleville in September 1902, the six guns were set up in two rows, spaced over a kilometre apart and fired at two minute intervals. Unfortunately the experiment met with no success, with no sign of the desperately needed rain.

The Steiger Vortex Gun in the park at Charleville. An idea to end the drought – pity it didn’t work.

From here we headed off to the Bilby Experience. It’s great to see the conservation work being done but there’s a long way to go – feral cats and foxes have nearly wiped out this lovable little animal along with lots of other little marsupials and reptiles.

Outside the Bilby Centre.

Dinner tonight was at the On the Rocks restaurant – fantastic meals. Then, once very warmly clad,  back to the Cosmos Centre where we gathered to view the night sky under the instruction of an astronomer. Four very powerful telescopes were set up to cater for the 30 or so keen tourists, including us, to view selected stars and planets. Excellent experience – a must do.

Thursday 9th

A fairly long drive today (for us), 315km, to Eromanga, stopping only twice for a cuppa and later at Quilpie for lunch. Quilpie’s rest stop had tables, but no shade; whereas at the turnoff to Eromanga not too much further on, was a very good picnic area with shaded tables and toilets – mentioned this as a reminder for when I pass this way again. Of note on today’s drive were the many emus grazing, and consequently the roadkill tended to be far more emus than roos. Driving these roads we are super-vigilant looking for wildlife that could run in front of us at any moment. While the bull bar is good protection, we didn’t want to kill anything and if it hits at just the wrong angle it could cause a lot of damage to the vehicle.

Wide roads, broad shoulders, low-growing vegetation, flat plains. On the road to Eromanga.

Eromanga’s claim to fame as you drive in is a big sign proclaiming it to be the furtherest town from the sea. It has a population of just 45 residents and has a pastoral and opal mining history. However we’re here to see the dinosaurs. Only about 14 years ago significant paleontological discoveries of Australia’s largest dinosaurs were made on a cattle property near Eromanga. Several dinosaurs have been unearthed and the area is being heralded by scientists as the most prolific dinosaur site in Australia. 

Eromanga Natural History Museum

The Eromanga Natural History Museum is home to Australia’s largest dinosaur, a 95-98 million year old titanosaur called ‘Cooper’. Not only does the museum have dinosaurs but some of the world’s largest mega fauna and a variety of micro fauna which were discovered nearby in Eulo and are thought to be 50,000 to 100,000 years old.

A dinosaur bone. Note the plaster of paris and alfoil packages on the table.

We visited the Museum just in time for their 3pm tour. It was great – good descriptions of the dinosaur era and the megafauna era and how they’re finding, retrieving, preserving and displaying the bones they’re finding. I learnt a lot and enjoyed the presentation. And  I got to hold a genuine dinosaur bone!

The bone is returned to its cast during the prep phase for protection. Eromanga Natural History Museum.

Doug and Leura booked into the new motel rooms at the dinosaur centre, but we’re pretty comfy in our rooftop tent, so we’re back at the caravan park. They’re going to open a new caravan park at the centre in the future … badly needed as the one in town is, needy!

Friday 10th

Today we’re only going as far as Cooper Creek, about 3 hours up the road. Cooper Creek, the Diamantina and the Georgina Rivers and their many, many ephemeral tributaries make up the Channel Country of south west Queensland. This is a rich grazing area, but not suitable for cropping due to unpredictable rainfall. The Cooper begins in northern Queensland as the Barcoo and Thompson Rivers, inland of about Townsville. Most of the water from the Cooper either evaporates or stays in permanent waterholes and lakes. Only when there is significant flooding in its upper reaches does the water fill the Cooper’s numerous channels creating huge flood plains and bringing the arid country to life, before emptying into the usually dry salt lake, Lake Eyre.

After crossing dry creek bed after dry creek bed it was amazing to come across the wide waters of Cooper Creek. There’s free camping on both sides of the road and both sides of the creek so heaps of camping sites available. There’s one clean, flushing toilet. We were all surprised at how few campers there were here tonight – only another two vans where we were and they were a long way from us.

Sitting by the banks of Cooper Creek near Windorah. Our campsite in the background.

Our campsite was right at the edge of a short, steep riverbank lined with glorious old River Red Gums. What a treat to be here, in such an idyllic setting, more or less by ourselves.

How’s this for a restaurant with ambience? Dinner on the banks of Cooper Creek, Windorah.

The weather remains beautiful – chilly nights (around 5C) awakening to cloudless blue skies and daytime temperatures in the low 20s.

A perfect night. Cooper Creek

Saturday 11th

Off to Birdsville today, but first we drove through the nearby town of Windorah. Another small town, we were quite taken with their solar farm! The plant uses five concentrated solar dishes each containing 112 x 1 metre-square mirrors. The five solar dishes sit on 13 m masts and can rotate 360°. They provide all of Windorah’s daytime electricity needs for 10-months of the year, diesel generators providing the rest.

The mirrored solar panels that meet a significant amount of Windorah’s power needs.

The countryside continues to be flat, with only a few weathered hills interrupting the horizon. We travelled through either bare clay pans, or spinifex covered red dirt, or the red gibber rocks of Sturts Stony Desert, with low mulga trees along the dry river beds. We saw no wildlife other than birds and only a few cattle. Soon after turning on to the Eyre Developmental Road the bitumen ceased and the road condition deteriorated in places; very dusty, rocky and corrugated. Not pleasant driving! Closer to Birdsville the road became sandy and we started seeing our first sand dunes.

The road to Birdsville. This section looks pretty good, but some sections were very rough.

However, there were a few interesting things to see along the way. First stop after Cooper Creek was at JC Hotel Ruins. It’s hard to imagine there was once a thriving establishment here, with nothing remaining but mounds of clay, broken bottles and rusting iron. Apparently the cattle baron who owned the nearby property got weary of having to pull his drunken jackaroos out of the the pub, so he bought it and closed it down.
We also pulled over to see the ‘Hole through the Hill’ on Mt Henderson. Yep, that was worth a stop and a laugh.

Yeah, OK, it’s true – there is a hole in the hill. The smaller flat-topped hill has a hole on the right hand side near the top. If you expand this photo you may see it.

Not much further on was Deons Lookout where we drove up a hill for views out over the countryside. It would have been lovely to have had lunch here, if it weren’t blowing a gale.

The next stop near Betoota was pretty stunning – the Dreamtime Serpent carved into a hillside. It’s quite a showstopper. The Diamantina Shire Council has coordinated the ‘Sand, Dust and Gibbers’ project, funding sculptures designed and built in Bedourie, Betoota and Birdsville to help tell the indigenous Women’s Dreamtime stories. This is the Betoota installation.

The Rainbow Serpent art project. The Rainbow Serpent is a creation story told by indigenous Australians right across the country.

We stopped for lunch at Cuppa Creek, another dry creek bed but shaded and somewhat protected from the wind by the mulga trees.

Arriving at last in Birdsville we booked into our ensuite cabins (small, but clean and modern) and went straight to the very iconic Birdsville Pub for a beer.

Inside the Birdsville Hotel, enjoying a drink at the bar. The akubras on the ceiling are from locals – well worn and well loved. All photos taken inside the pub require a donation to the Royal Flying Doctor, one I was happy to make, hoping we’d never need their services.

The helpful lady at the Information Centre told us the Simpson Desert track to Poeppels Corner is pretty cut up and it will take us about 8 hours to cover the 175km. Oh dear. We’re well prepared tonight, fuelled up, brandishing our high-vis flags and everything inside the cars tied down. An early start tomorrow!

Sunday 12th

We got away before 8am driving the 30 or so kilometres over a rough, corrugated, rocky road, to the beginning of the QAA Line and the dunes of Munga-Thirri National Park (Simpson Desert). Here we stopped to reduce our tyre pressures to 20psi. We crossed the dunes in Low Range Automatic. 

On top of our first sand dune. Many more to come.
Note the high-vis flags attached to the bull bar that is a requirement when travelling out here.

The initial apprehension we had soon gave way to quiet confidence as we crossed dune after dune, even though attention to the road can’t waver for even a few seconds. Some dunes were straightforward with reasonably firm sand, but the majority were challenging with lots of moguls full of soft sand which couldn’t be hit too hard, but still needing the power on to get up and over the dune. Many had turns in them halfway up, or turned suddenly at the crest, or had very soft sand at the crest. The tracks often split too as previous drivers had decided to make a different route up.

Now which is the easy path and which one the soft one? Only one way to find out…

In the later section of the track the descents were also quite difficult with deep, soft sand. One dune when I was driving got the better of me. I got ¾ up before the car dug into one of those moguls full of soft sand. I rolled the car back down to the bottom of the dune and hit it again with more power and we bounced and flew up and over. We named that dune ‘Denise’s Doosey’.

Between the dunes there’d be 50m to 500m of flat track crossing clay pans, or dry lake beds or flood plains. Many times this track was corrugated.

The flat area between sand dunes. This section is a clay pan which was cut up a bit from last time it rained.

We stopped several times for a cuppa and for lunch and to check the vehicles – all good. All day we only saw about half a dozen vehicles heading eastward and half a dozen guys on motorbikes heading our direction. That was surprising – we all thought it would be lot busier this time of year.

At about 2.30pm we crossed the border into the Northern Territory, though you’d never know it, there were no signs, before crossing a large dry salt lake and turning south along the lake, paralleling the K1 Line for about 20 km, which took us into South Australia and to our destination: Poeppel’s Corner, where Queensland, South Australia and the Northern Territory meet.

After a looong tough drive we were all pretty happy to be here at Poeppel Corner. Note the dry salt lake in the background.

In 1879 Augustus Poeppel surveyed this point and Haddon’s Corner which we’ll visit next. Unfortunately when he returned to Adelaide it was discovered his chain, which he used for measurement, was 1 inch too long and he had to return in 1884 to do it all again. My admiration goes out to him … he would have traversed vast stony, waterless plains, salt lakes and large sandhills.  

A pole with a plaque marks the corner point of the three States. We opened a bottle of champagne and toasted dear old Augustus and our day’s achievement. Funnily, after having seen so few people all day, 9 guys who’d left Dalhousie Springs on the French Line arrived within a few minutes of us, followed by 10 or so on motorbikes heading to the French Line.

Celebratory drinks at Poeppel Corner.

We started heading back to Birdsville putting an hour’s driving in before finding a spot just off the road suitable to camp the night.

Altogether a good day!

Sun downers after a long day. Magic night in the Simpson Desert. I love the afternoon light on the red desert soils.

Monday 13th

Loved the evening last night – no one for miles around, no lights at all, no noise and stars from horizon to horizon. (Just an aside: I told my 3 yo granddaughter the stars touched the ground and she wanted to know if I’d picked them up.) In the morning we saw quite a few animal footprints around which we thought could be feral cats. None of us heard anything, however another couple we met further along the track, who’d left their rubbish and a few other things out overnight, said they saw a huge cat dragging their rubbish bag around. Feral cats are a major problem out here and are endangering many of our indigenous small animals.

The return trip was good fun – not that the trip out wasn’t, but now we knew what to expect and were much more confident, and the western side of the dunes wasn’t nearly as steep as the eastern side. We took time to enjoy the scenery, noting the vegetation and geological features indicated on the map. We passed through areas of hop bushes, salt bush, gidgee (mallee) and the acacias which are just beginning to flower.

Acacia covered in flowers.

The final challenge was Nappanerica, or Big Red, which is the tallest dune in the Simpson Desert and a very popular spot to ‘try out’ your 4 wheel drive. Arriving late in the afternoon makes it a bit tougher as the sand is dry and the track chopped up. We took 2 attempts, learning from our experience each time, before successfully scaling it. Good fun!  

Big Red successfully conquered.

Returning to the Birdsville Cabins, we enjoyed hot showers and yummy steaks cooked on the BBQ in the excellent camp kitchen. We slept well.

Wildflowers in Munga Thirri (Simpson Desert NP)

 

Celebrations all around for a great trip across the Simpson Desert (and Big Red) to Poeppels and back. (another donation to the Royal Flying Doctor!)

Tuesday 14th

A day of rest and exploration in Birdsville. Birdsville was proclaimed a township in the early 1880s and is situated between the eastern edge of the Simpson Desert, the vast gibber plains of Sturt’s Stony Desert to the south and the rich Channel Country to the north – as we know, having driven through all of that. It was established close to the Queensland and South Australian border in order to collect tolls from the droves of cattle being moved interstate. After Federation and the abolition of tolls the town began to decline until now it has a population of only 115 or so. Tourism has joined cattle as the major industry in the region, with the annual Big Red Bash (a music festival) and the Birdsville Races (horse racing) each attracting around 9,000 visitors.

The origin of the name Birdsville is disputed, however one popular theory relates to the numbers of birds around the lagoon on the edge of town.

Corella’s in the trees at the Birdsville Lagoon. I wonder if it was these birds that gave Birdsville its name.

 A wander through the cemetery gave us pause for thought, noting the young age that so many died in the late 1800s and early 1900s. We loved the rustic charm of some of the graves – no big posh mausoleums here.

Very simple graves out here. Note the engraving in the rock as the headstone.

We had lunch of curried camel pie at the bakery (meh), and spent some time in the Information Centre looking at their displays and information.

Eating camel pie at the Birdsville Bakery. It was … OK-ish.

Birdsville has Australia’s only geothermal power plant which provided 20% of the town’s elecricity needs from the very hot water from the Great Artesian Basin. However, just two months ago the decision was made to close it down, replacing it with solar and battery storage which is expected to provide about 80% of their needs.
We also got the washing done – woo hoo clean clothes! In the car park we happened upon a Qld Health woman who told us the “My Health Record” explanation was happening in the community centre this evening, so Leura and I decided to go. We had a hoot – I even got offered a job.

Dinner at the Birdsville Pub was very good before retiring to our cabins for the evening.

Wednesday 15th

Not too far to go today, so a relaxed start. We retrace our steps from Birdsville to the Innamincka turnoff, stopping just outside Birdsville to view the Burke and Wills tree – their last camp before Cooper Creek where they were hoping to meet the rest of their party. Back at Cuppa Creek we stopped for a cuppa, then on to the now very pleasant Deons Lookout for lunch.

Burke and Wills tree at Birdsville

A 7km detour off the main road took us to the ghost town of Betoota, it’s last resident, the publican, moving out in 1997 at the age of 82. The Betoota Races are run here every year in August. The only building that remains is the sandstone pub, which had been in ruins, but is now being renovated, though still very rustic. There were quite a few 1978 and ‘79 red wines in their cool room, though they looked a little the worse for wear.

Some of the old wines leftover from prior to closure of the Betoota Hotel.

The bulldozers had graded more of the road leaving only about 50 or 60 km that was really rough, the rest being a quite good gravel road. Even the first 10km of the road to Haddon Corner was good, just a bit at the end became a track before we crossed a couple of sand dunes to get to Haddon Corner. Augustus Poeppel also surveyed this point as he marked the western boundary of South Australia. He met up with the Queensland surveyor Alexander Salmond and together the surveyors took star observations for latitude to fix the position for what is now known as Haddon Corner, named after the nearby pastoral lease. More champagne to celebrate our second Corner.

Another celebration, at Haddon Corner.

A large flat area surrounds the Corner post and this is our campsite for the night. Flys! Flys are the predominant feature and fly nets made their appearance for the first time this trip. On the upside, we’re the only ones here. Under the roof of the covered picnic table the finches have built quite complex mud nests. They’re very cute.

These beautiful little finches have created amazing mud nests under the roof covering the picnic table. Haddon Corner.

We collected some dead mallee wood on the way in and had the best fire – it’s so hard and dry it burnt slowly with very little smoke.

Lovely colours of sunset at Haddon Corner.

Thursday 16th

Today we’re off to Innamincka via the unsealed Station roads. We had our morning cuppa under some trees beside a dry creek bed at the junction of the Barcoo and Bulloo Shires. The countryside has been largely treeless, some clay pans and lots of gibber plains.

Good to see some hills in the background, but not much else to commend the view.

However in some areas there’s a good covering of grasses and the cattle looked in good condition. The roads on the Qld side of the border were very good compared to the SA side where we did battle with the very corrugated and rocky surface.

The Dig Tree on the banks of Cooper Creek near Innamincka is significant in Australia’s pioneering history. What a tragic story that is! Burke and Wills and quite a retinue of other men, camels, wagons, etc set off in 1861 from Melbourne to explore to the Gulf of Carpentaria, ie south coast to north coast. Burke was an unlikely leader of the expedition having virtually no skills in bushcraft and limited leadership experience. He set up a base camp on the banks of Cooper Creek, taking only 3 men with him after instructing the team remaining to wait 3 months for their return before leaving. Very unwisely Burke left here in December to cross the Strezelecki and Sturt Stony Deserts where termperatures can reach up to 50C (122F) in the shade, not that there is much shade! Anyway, they made it to the Gulf, no mean feat, but it would be a total of 4 months before the 3 remaining men of the party got back to Cooper Creek (one man had died of dysentery). By this time they were close to starvation. Tragically only hours before their arrival the waiting party had left, leaving a carving on a tree indicating the location of some buried provisions  – now known as the Dig Tree. Burke and Wills both perished here, King survived with the help of the local aboriginal people and later returned to Melbourne.

At the Dig Tree, not far from Innamincka.

We lunched here then continued on to Innamincka where we had a beer at the pub, refuelled the vehicles and enjoyed a great hot shower before setting up camp beside Cooper Creek. Innamincka has a population of 12 – nope not a lot here, though the man at the General Store was very knowledgeable about the road conditions and advised us on a better route to our next Corner.

Innamincka Hotel.

Dinner at the pub tonight.

Friday 17th

Beautiful reflections of the River Red Gums in Cooper Creek welcomed us when we awoke this morning. Lots of corellas, galahs, and a pelican fishing too.

We left Innamincka via the Strzelecki Track which had been recently graded and was a pleasure to drive on. This is still sand dune country, though not soft, loose sand as it was it the Simpson Desert. The dunes track north-south, making it easy for the Strzelecki Track to head south between two dunes. Our route though needed to take us eastward into Queensland and that road was more challenging with corrugations, lots of sand and heaps of up and over crests of dunes. It was a lovely drive though with yellow flowers contrasting against the dark red sands of the dunes, a few acacias flowering, salt bush and spinifex and a pretty amazing looking clay pan. Lots and lots of gas wells in this area.

A good road – some corrugations, but nothing to complain about. The Strezlecki Track

The Epsilon Omicron Road took us back southward again. Epsilon and Omicron are two cattle properties. The cattle we saw as we drove looked to be in good condition – perhaps the drought that’s affecting farmers further south isn’t as bad up here. We saw a few kangaroos and a couple of beautiful dingoes.

A very healthy looking young dingo.

Cameron Corner, the last of our three corners, was today’s goal and we got there in time for lunch. There’s a pub and a “Corner Store” here, and of course the pole that marks the corner of South Australia, Queensland and New South Wales. Champagne time again!

Cameron Corner

The camping area was shade-less and uninviting so we continued on to Tibooburra via the Tooney Gate road. We were warned that the first section of it was rough and they weren’t wrong! Corrugations, pot holes and clouds of dust from oncoming vehicles was very wearying. Anyway that didn’t last forever and we did get some good, firm road too. This part of the drive was very stark with bare flat red sand plains or gibber plains with no vegetation.

The gibber plains

As areas with salt bush began to appear we started to see sheep properties.  It was a relief to finally drive into Tibooburra and check into the caravan park. Tibooburra is a tiny town with a population of only 134. Gold is why it was established and it still attracts fossickers. The few locals and the passing tourist trade supports not one, but two pubs and a Roadhouse that sells fuel, groceries, is the post office and takes bookings for the caravan park! A fossilised tree trunk dating back to the Cretaceous period is displayed in a glass case alongside the road in town.

The entrance to Tibooburra is pretty impressive.

We cooked our own meals but then went to the pub for their Happy Hour. What a great atmosphere! The place was full of locals and travellers and the pub supplied ‘bar snacks’ – chicken wings, meatballs, sweet potato chips, dim sims … pretty good! We bought tickets in a raffle to raise money for an intensive care bed for the medical clinic (their only bed) and won a cooked chook! Altogether a fun night.

A replica of Sturts boat at Tibooburra. In August 1844 explorer Charles Sturt set out from Adelaide on an epic journey to find an inland sea. He also wanted to prove that a great river or mountain range divided the continent. He took with him a party of 15 men, 200 sheep, 11 horses, 32 bullocks and seven carts. Indeed, so confident was he of finding this sea he took a 22-foot sailing boat and two sailors to crew it.

Saturday 18th

Another big driving day. The road to Wanaaring was OK for the most part, though a large section had lots of washouts and pot holes full of bull dust. It was a very windy day and the sand was being blown up a lot. Wanaaring is a small town where we really only stopped in the shade of the playground to eat our lunch – last night’s winnings, the cold chicken!

Passing through Station properties on our way.

The road to Bourke was atrocious! Kilometres and kilometres of corrugations, pot holes, soft sandy patches and bull dust. If that wasn’t enough to keep the driver focussed kangaroos and emus appeared frequently alongside the road, ready to dart in front of you without a moment’s notice. We were told the bulldozers are unable to grade the road during this drought because there’s no water, and that the road is only open to high clearance 4-wheel drive vehicles with extreme caution. We were definitely very cautious. As we came closer to Bourke the vegetation became thicker, greener and taller. By the time we arrived we were passing trees!

Exhausted by the time we arrived at 4.30pm, we elected to stay in a motel. Dinner this evening at a local restaurant (average), then back to the rooms for an early night.

Sunday 19th

Situated on the Darling River with a population of more than 1,800, Bourke is the administrative centre for the Shire. In 1835 Sir Thomas Mitchell established Bourke as the first and only stockade in Australia for protection from the aborigines. Percy Hobson, the first indigenous athlete to win a Gold Medal at the Commonwealth Games came from Bourke, and the famous eye surgeon Fred Hollows was buried here in 1993.
Before leaving Bourke Steve and I visited the Back o’Bourke Centre. This Centre is quite extensive with 4 large buildings, including the Information Centre. Information, photographs and stories about Bourke’s beginnings and history abound. Maybe we just weren’t in the right mood, but neither of us enjoyed it. Steve was disappointed at the lack of information on the local flora, fauna and geography while indigenous life before white settlement was ignored. I found there was just too much writing to read. If I read it all I’d still be there.

Back O’Bourke Centre

We did a bit of shopping at the IGA, then met up with Doug and Leura again at a cafe before heading east through Brewarrina and Walgett where we stopped for lunch at the park.

Heading north we arrived in Lightning Ridge where we’re booked in to cabins in the caravan park for two nights – fortunately as there’s a cold wind blowing quite strongly and the morning temps will be around the zero mark.
Wow! ALL of today’s drive was on bitumen. What a treat.

Monday 20th

We played Tourist today. Lightning Ridge’s indigenous people were displaced in the early 1800s by pastoral leases. When the rare and very valuable black opal was discovered in early 1900 it led to an influx of miners and the establishment of the town. Today the population is about 2,200 though, like most mining towns, it is transient. With mid summer temperatures averaging 35 – 36C with an annual rainfall of only 475mm that’s not surprising.

The John Murray Art Gallery was fabulous.  This city-born artist came out here about 25 years ago and fell in love with Australia’s arid landscapes. He describes his painting style as ‘whimsical photo realism’. However it’s described, his landscapes have a clarity and colour that is beautiful, while his caricatures of birds and other creatures are definitely a flight of whimsy.

John Murray art. Displayed on walls outside his gallery.

Stanley the Emu, on the outskirts of Lightning Ridge is one such whimsy. Stanley is an 18m tall emu designed by John Murray and made from scrap metal including a VW Beetle chassis, hoods and doors, satellite dishes for his ears, recycled metal from the old Dubbo Police Station & steel girders for his feet & neck.. The emu is named after a former Lightning Ridge policeman, Commander Stan Single, who was instrumental in ‘supply’ of much of the materials that the emu is made from. Stanley was officially unveiled in May 2013 and contains a time capsule due to be opened in 2063.

Stanley, the 18 metre tall emu made from scrap metal – including a VW beetle chassis.

There are four ‘car door tours’. A map to these self-guided driving tours is obtained from the Information Centre. Not quite sure how they were initiated, but we did notice that old car doors not only mark a ‘place of interest’ on the tour, but are also used to identify private residences. 

Recycling old car doors. “My house is at the white daisy on the brown background,”

The opal mine we visited, the Chambers of the Black Hand, was a relatively unproductive opal mine for many years before the owner began mucking around carving into the sandstone layer above the silica layer in which the opal is formed. Turns out he is a pretty reasonable sculptor. Now viewing these underground sculptures and a tour of the opal bearing layer led by an opal miner who shares his experiences (sometimes a little too graphically) are what draws the tourists. An underground opal shop also shows off exquisite local opals and the jeweller’s skills.

Entering the Chambers of the Black Hand mine.

Late afternoon we went to the Artesian Bore pool. Wow! That’s the hottest spa I’ve ever been in. The pool is filled directly from a bore into the Artesian Basin. The water termperature is around 40C. Sitting half submerged and varying the bits in the water made it tolerable. It was a very refreshing experience though – once out.

Lightning Ridge, like other small towns we’ve visited with privately owned mines, is defined by numerous mullock heaps, unguarded mine shafts and old rusting machinery. They also seem to be set in the driest, dustiest places. Credit where credit is due though, the town streets are most well cared for.

So many mining towns look like this.

Tuesday 21st

Leaving Lightning Ridge and its dust behind us our road (still sealed – bliss!) took us through prime grain-growing countryside. A stopover for a walk around and a cuppa at Dirranbandi led us to some interesting sculptures in the park. Dirranbandi was the embarkation point for many men and their horses who joined the Light Horse Brigade for World War 1. A memorial recognising their contribution is displayed. Continuing with the horse theme there’s also a very good sculpture made entirely out of horse shoes.

Memorial to the men who fought on horseback in World War I. Many of them and their horses left from Dirranbandi.

Onward to Thallon where we stopped to admire the painted silos. Painting silos has become a ‘thing’ in recent years, and I must say these examples of public art have been excellent. The Thallon silos showcase a stunning sunset scene over the Moonie River acknowledging the first owners by depicting a scarred tree.

Silo art at Thallon.

A free camp here between the silos and the river looks pleasant enough, however we have a lunch date in Nindigully. Nindigully Pub is Queensland’s oldest pub still in its original condition and location, and has been continuously licensed since 1864. There’s a lot of history in this pub. We lunched in the beer garden, Doug and Leura enjoying the pub’s famous hamburgers while Steve had a ‘Deathwish’ – an enourmous sausage with loads of chips. (To be honest our meals weren’t that great!) There are only 2 houses and the pub at Nindigully, with a population of 6 – but it’s a must-visit destination.

At the iconic Nindigully Pub

We drove on through sheep and cotton-growing country to St George. A wander around the town found us admiring the many beautiful, old buildings before arriving at the Unique Egg. These exquisitely carved emu eggs are displayed beautifully with lighting and mirrors. A very talented craftsman.

Another ‘cabin night’ at the caravan park – nice, new clean cabins tonight.

Wednesday 22nd

Our first stop today is Surat. This lovely little town situated on the Balonne River (yep, one of the rivers that will become Cooper Creek) has the best Information Centre ever. A full size replica of a 14-seater Cobb and Co Coach and a scale model of the 7-horse team that would draw it makes me feel guilty for complaining about the rough ride over unsealed roads in my well-sprung, air conditioned speedy car.

A Cobb and Co stagecoach at Surat.

The history display is very well curated, but of even more interest is the aquarium. This 25,000 litre fresh water aquarium has native fish species such as the Murray River Cod.

Now THIS is an aquarium – at Surat.

Here we farewelled our wonderful travelling companions Doug and Leura as they headed home and we continued on to Crows Nest to stay the night with our friends Randall and Catherine.

Thursday 23rd

Home today. Keeping the adventure alive we drove via backroads we’d not travelled before and reminisced on a fabulous trip – many great places we really enjoyed and will maybe visit again. Altogether an excellent trip with unique experiences, enjoyed with good company.

So much Australia, so little time.

To see all our photos from this trip CLICK HERE.

 

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Clare Valley to the Victorian Border

9 – 11 December 2017 

The next 6 days (until we reach Balnarring) are what Steve refers to as ‘transfers’. That is, we’re not being travellers taking our time to see and enjoy where we are, we are just driving – big difference.

However we’ve still chosen a scenic route which I’m sure we’ll enjoy.

Saturday morning as we headed south the wheat stubble and brown fields gave way to grape vines as we entered the Clare valley. We stopped for an enjoyable afternoon tea with Bob and Cathy’s daughter Hannah, Raine and baby Dean. Then through the Barossa to stop the night at the tiny town of Palmer, where we camped beside the cricket oval. We even got to enjoy the last session with prime seats! Palmer won. The oval is virtually in the middle of a well-established olive grove – interesting!

We dined at the pub where the meals have been highly recommended, both ordering the pork belly and not being disappointed.

Sunday 10th.

The publican last night recommended a scenic drive that would eventually get us back onto our track. It took us along an unsealed road through grazing land along a valley and through a gap in the granite hills. Unsurprisingly it was called Gap Road. We came out near Mannum where our publican had recommended we see the waterfall.

The Gap on Gap Rd outside Palmer. Pretty drive.

From here we followed the highway to Murray Bridge and crossed the Murray on the first bridge ever built across this mighty river. It was good to be back to the Murray again after following it closer to its source for a few weeks back in March this year. Even more exciting was driving along the shore of Lake Alexandrina and Lake Albert which is where the Murray finally reached the sea.

Tonight we’re camped at Kingston SE in the RV park right on the shore ($10) – brilliant location, if maybe a little windy.

Not a bad “Big Lobster”. Kingston SE

Monday morning we went for a walk along the river to the mouth and back through a park where the locals have put in some sundials of different types – doesn’t sound great, but it was very good. Then to the cafe where we had coffee, bought lots of gifts for Christmas and downloaded some podcasts using their wifi. Excellent cafe. Good experience at Kingston SE – well done!

Onwards to Robe for brunch, parked overlooking a small marina, before moving on to the Lighthouse Lookout. Perfect day weather-wise and magnificent views of the shore, coastline and ocean.

Rugged coastline, but look at all those blues. Robe, SA

At Mt Gambier we had another break. The Information Centre has a museum which is excellent – note to self- allow at least an hour, or more, to view this next time. We emptied our water tanks of the last of the metallic-tasting Norseman water and refilled with the amazing water from the Blue Lake which provides Mt Gambier with its water supply.  This 72m deep lake is the crater of a volcano, the very clear water in it filtering through limestone rock to fill it. There is a sudden change in water colour from grey through winter to vivid blue, the change occurring over a few days at the end of November. This dramatic colour change occurs as the sun is higher in the sky, the pure waters refracting more blue in the colour spectrum and the cleansing of the water as tiny calcite crystals reacting to the warmer water fall to the bottom, taking organic material with them.

The Blue Lake at Mt Gambier

From here we drove around to the Umpherston Sinkhole which has been made into a cool, relaxing garden. Thousands of years ago the underlying limestone cave collapsed creating this deep, steep-sided sinkhole. James Umpherston owned the grazing property which contained it. In 1884 he decided to make it into a garden for the locals to enjoy.

Umpherston Sinkhole. An incredible sight.

It’s had a mixed history since then but today a ramp and stairs take you down into the sinkhole where the grassed, terraced base is planted with hydrangeas and tree ferns, the steep sides dripping with ivy. Under a cliff overhang are picnic tables and a BBQ.

From one side of the sinkhole to the other. Its diameter is not huge. Umpherston Sinkhole

This evening’s destination is free camp at Dry Creek which is on the Glenelg River, on the SA/Vic border. This unlikely camping spot is really just a parking area for fishers launching their boats at the boat ramp here. A tree-lined dirt road in off the main road ends in a turning circle and camping is wherever you can find a level enough spot. Built out off the shore and over the water are half a dozen shacks.  It’s a lovely spot and we sat on the jetty enjoying our sundowners and chatting to the fishers launching their boats. A quiet night.

Not quite in Victoria yet.

 

For more photos from this trip CLICK HERE

 

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Eyre H’way and Nullarbor Plain

1st – 8th December, 2017

The Nullarbor (Latin meaning no trees) Plain is a flat, almost treeless plain of limestone bedrock that stretches 1100km from west of Balladonia WA to Ceduna SA between the coast of the Great Australian Bight to the south and the Great Victoria Desert to the north. This limestone platform is the largest in the world, and the reason that trees don’t get much of a go here.
Edward John Eyre in 1841 was the first European to cross this arid country describing it thus, “a hideous anomaly, a blot on the face of Nature, the sort of place one gets into in bad dreams”. I guess he didn’t like it. It took him and his aboriginal guide, Wylie, 4 months to cross. We’ll cross it in one week on the Eyre Highway, which is going very, very slowly by today’s standards.
The 1660km Eyre Highway starts at Norseman in Western Australia and ends in Port Augusta in South Australia. From its construction in the 1870s it was just a hazardous trail until, with the threat of war in the Pacific, the government finally put some money into an east-west crossing and it became trafficable by 1942 though still little more than a dirt track. By the late 1960s the WA side was sealed and finally in 1976 the last SA section was sealed. It is described today as one of the World’s great road journeys.

The Eyre Highway, in red, stretches 1660km from Norseman to Port Augusta. It crosses the Nullarbor Plain from Balladonia (just east of Norseman where the road dips south) to Ceduna.

The road is in very good condition, two lanes with wide flat shoulders which were appreciated as the many road trains overtook us. Traffic was light, rarely seeing more than half a dozen vehicles an hour on the WA side, though it did pick up between Eucla and Ceduna.
There are literally dozens and dozens of free camping spots along the road. With the landscape being so flat, and vegetation sparse every rest area has tracks leading away from the road for free camping anywhere. The frequent rest areas variously have bins, picnic tables, some with toilets, a few have a dump point, but none have water! The roadhouses all have paid camping areas with power.

1st Dec (Happy birthday Olivia)
Our plan is to drive the Nullarbor slowly, enjoying the sights and experiences as we go. While the weather is pleasant here, Sth Aus and Victoria are being deluged so no great incentive to move quickly. And – big point- driving east in the mornings can be unpleasant with the sun directly through the windscreen.
With all this in mind we spent a few extra hours in Norseman. Driving up to Beacon Hill Lookout we passed several gold mines, none of which look to be operational, padlocks on the gates being a dead giveaway. There’s the most enormous quartzite tailings dump on the way up. I couldn’t find out much about the current mining operations, but it appears it closed in 2014, but is for sale and there’s hope it’ll reopen as an open cut mine (it’s currently an underground mine).

Norseman in the middle of the photo, the mine to the left and the huge quartzite tailings to the right, with the salt lakes fading into the horizon. Taken from the Beacon Lookout.

At Beacon Hill Lookout there’s quite good information boards describing the history of the area and a 1km walk around the hill to take in views over the town, the mine and the surrounding flat plains where you can see 50km to the horizon.
We filled our water tanks at the Information centre (for an obligatory ‘donation’), bought an extra 15L of drinking water from the IGA (no water available on Nullarbor), had a BBQ brunch in Norseman’s pleasant, grassy park and headed off on the Eyre Highway.
We passed the entrances to a few mines but other than that no agriculture, grazing or industry was seen. As we approached the large granite hills of Fraser Range we turned off to have a quick look at this historic working sheep station set amidst the world’s largest eucalyptus forest. Old vehicles, vintage farm equipment and a beautiful stone shearer’s shed looked interesting, but no sheep to be seen – they’re in some far distant paddock I guess.
We settled for the night at the free campsite at Newman Rocks. It’s well off the road, flat and enough trees to offer shade but not enough to worry about falling branches. Just us, no other campers tonight.

Our very peaceful campsite at Newman Rocks.

Saturday 2nd
We hung out at Newman Rocks for a while this morning, waiting for the sun to move a bit more to the west before we started our easterly drive. A walk around revealed an area of about 10 acres available to the camper. A large granite surface sloped gently downwards at the back of the campsite. In our elevated position you could see for miles over the flat saltbush-covered plain with a few salt lakes in the distance.

The rock at Newman Rocks, back behind our campsite. It’s rained recently so a few puddles around – note the salt lake in the distance.

Our first stop was the Balladonia Roadhouse, though not to buy fuel at $1.83/L. There’s a pretty good museum here with posters describing the human and natural history of the area, reports of some of the early journeys along this challenging road, for example the December 1926 Harley Davidson Motorcycle club trip and its 1980 re-enactment on vintage motorcycles, and the Redex Reliability Trials of the 1950s which was an around-Australia Rally testing the ability of various car makes. The Eyre Highway back in those days was extremely challenging.
But the highlight was Skylab! Skylab was the USA’s first and only space station which orbited earth for 6 years before it came crashing down in 1979, pieces landing near Balladonia.

In the museum at Balladonia. Newspaper articles about Skylab, some wreckage and a replica of a piece of Skylab and that landed not far from here.

We were living in Perth at the time and there was a lot of melodrama as the scientists tried to predict where it would crash – South Africa being their final prediction before it crashed here. I recall some budding entrepreneurs selling helmets! Jimmy Carter, the then President of the USA, phoned the Balladonia Roadhouse and apologised for the mess the space wreckage made.
Not far from Balladonia is the beginning of the 90 mile Straight, the longest straight stretch of road in Australia and amongst he longest in the World. Yeah it did get a bit achy in the shoulders, not moving your arms for so long.

We begin the 90-Mile Straight.

We’re on the Nullarbor Plain proper now – it’s flat and while there are some trees they’re not very big. The vegetation is mostly saltbush and bluebush.

Beware of wide loads too!

Tonight we’re camped at Baxter Rest Stop, a large, flat area off the road where the council has provided bins, toilets (smelly) and a dump point. There’re another 4 campers here with us.

Sunday 3rd
This morning we went for a walk around the campsite – tracks lead off in every direction over this flat countryside making it a huge camping area.
We continued our journey along the 90 Mile Straight stopping to see the blowhole at Caiguna. Thousands of blowholes and their associated shallow cave systems dot the limestone plain in this area in a 35km band about 75km inland. Blowholes are a result of weathering of the ground surface through to a cavity. The cave beneath the Caiguna Blowhole is between 0.5m – 1.5m (1.6 feet – 5 feet) though it probably connects to an extensive cave system of many small passages.

That’s it, down there! The Caiguna Blowhole.

Caves breathe out when the air pressure falls, and breathe in when the air pressure rises. The speed of air flow is dependent on the size of the cave entrance and the volume of air contained in the cave. This blowhole has had a measured wind speed of 72kph. It was breathing out when we were there, the cool air rushing out of it was certainly surprising.
Some of the caves beneath the Nullarbor have been mapped for several kilometres, and many of them contain large reservoirs of water that collectively form the artesian aquifer. This aquifer supplies the region’s bores and wells with fairly fresh water.
Further on we stopped at the Cocklebiddy Roadhouse and checked out the Eagles Nest 9th hole of the Nullarbor Links golf course. This 18-hole par 72 golf course spans 1,365 kilometres with one hole in each participating town or roadhouse along the Eyre Highway, from Kalgoorlie in Western Australia to Ceduna in South Australia.

The tee at the Eagles Nest hole.

Each hole includes a green and tee and somewhat rugged outback-style natural terrain fairway. To play the full course would be a unique experience – better still if I could play golf!
Moving on we’re now camped at Madura Pass Lookout, a free campsite similar to the others – large area with tracks meandering around small trees and campsites wherever you want. The Madura Pass however is quite a surprise in that we’re actually elevated on an escarpment – we haven’t experienced anything elevated for days. We’re overlooking the Roe Plain, a very flat, treeless, saltbush-covered plain that stretches to the ocean, way out on the horizon.

Sunset over Roe Plain from our campsite on the escarpment at Madura pass.

As the sun set through the trees the full moon rose over the plain – spectacular.
Anticipating a quiet night – we’re the only ones here.

Monday 4th
This morning we drove down the escarpment to follow the road along the plain, with the escarpment cliffs to our left all the way. It’s not hard to imagine this as the seabed and the escarpment as the foreshore cliffs. We stopped briefly at Madura Roadhouse – fuel is still $1.82+/L and we’re still not buying it.
Madura Homestead has a very unusual history. Originally it was settled  in 1876 as a pastoral homestead. However the owner, an ex-Army Officer, decided to breed quality polo and cavalry horses for the British Imperial Indian Army. At the time these fine stock horses were employed in various British campaigns on India’s rebellious Northwest Frontier. The horses were overlanded to Eucla for shipment to foreign ports.
Mundrabilla Roadhouse has fuel for $1.64 which is where we filled up, though still had a fair range left in the tank. Long-range fuel tanks are useful when it comes to being able to wait for less expensive fuel.

In several places along the Eyre Highway, as in other remote areas we’ve seen, the Royal Flying Doctor Service can use a section of the road as an emergency airstrip.

It wasn’t long before we climbed up the escarpment once more at Eucla Pass and drove on into Eucla. Eucla is famous for its telegraph Station. It was opened in 1877 and was the link between Western Australia and the rest of Australia. There was quite a large team of male telegraphists with a team from SA and another from WA who would pass messages across the table to each other to be sent on to the other State, all in Morse code. The building is now in ruins, covered in graffiti with sand dunes rapidly encroaching.

The ruins of the Eucla Telegraph Station. Note how the sand dune is encroaching on it – the doors are a bit low now to walk through.

Up at the Roadhouse is a small museum with some of the equipment they used, some tales of daily life and old photographs. It badly needs curating as it’s all fading, some of the stories already illegible.

It was a fine looking building back in its heyday.

Further on we crossed the WA/SA border. Wow, after 6 months and one week we’ve left WA. We sure have had a really good look around and caught up with so many friends – and we’ve only done half the state! Another big trip will be coming in from the north to experience the Kimberley’s and all the north has to offer.

Wow! We’re about to leave Western Australia. Hello South Australia.

We camped for the night at Lookout Number 4 – another flat, free area off the road, with views to the ocean. It’s a real treat to see the ocean again.

This is the beginning, or end, of the Bunda Cliffs. Taken from our Campsite.

Tuesday 5th
With pleasantly cool weather still we decided we’d leave earlier today as there are quite a few Lookouts to pop in to. They were all fantastic though Lookout Number 1 had to be the pick of them showcasing the magnificent Bunda Cliffs that plunge 90 metres straight down into the Southern Ocean. The seas are calm today, the ocean looking innocuous, however the undercutting of the cliffs and the many signs imploring us to keep away from the unstable cliff edges tells a different story. The Bunda Cliffs, stretching for 200 unbroken kilometres, would be a desperate seafarer’s worst nightmare.

Looking toward the east, the Bunda Cliffs – they go a long way!

The treeless plain really kicked in around here. Prior to this there were scattered small trees/large shrubs, but now there’s only half-meter high saltbush and bluebush as far as the eye can see.

Is that a tree I spy on the Treeless Plain? Poor thing – it’s trying.

Head of Bight is a tourist attraction situated at the most northerly point of the Great Australian Bight, where the white sand dunes and beaches meet the beginning of the Bunda Cliffs. Boardwalks lead the visitor to perfect viewing spots for the vista, and, in season, a whale watching vantage point. Apparently! We wouldn’t know because it closes at 4pm, despite the fact that the sun was still very high in the sky. Daylight Saving strikes again. Annoyed!
We’re starting to see occasional signs of human habitation, agriculture as in post-harvest wheat, and sheep grazing.
Tonight we’re camped at yet another large, flat open area amongst the mulga scrub at Rushys Balcony, an unofficial campsite.
Dont get the wrong idea about all the Roadhouses I’ve mentioned  so far. There is no surrounding town or even tiny settlement – just the roadhouse and the few people who staff it.

Wednesday 6th

Not far down the road we came to the first settlement since Norseman: the little farming town of Penong – that’s ‘little town’ not ‘little farms’. Penong provides a hub for the local pastoralists and wheat farmers, who generally have huge properties. Water out here on the edge of the Nullarbor Plain is always a problem but they are luckily above the artesian basin, consequently the farmers sank bores and attached windmills to pump the water up. Penong became unofficially known as the ‘windmill town’.

Priscilla with the windmills.

As solar-powered pumps began replacing the windmills the locals decided they liked their title and so began a ‘windmill museum’. A great coup for them was finding and restoring the largest windmill in Australia which has a span of 35 feet.

The Comet windmill is functional. It’s attached to a bore and pumps water into the tank.

Next stop was a rest area to cook up all the vegetables I’ve got still – we’ll soon be crossing the quarantine border between WA and SA. A delicious butter chicken for us tonight, with more veggies than chicken!

At Ceduna the first stop was the Foodland supermarket to stock up on fruit and vegetables, amongst other things. The supermarket is very well stocked as you’d expect being either the last or first sizeable town at the edge of the Nullarbor. We also ‘happened upon’ the Oyster Shed where I just had to support the local industry. Yum! At the Information Centre we picked up a few brochures, then drove out to Pinky Point which is where the port is situated. Gypsum, salt, mineral sands and wheat are exported from this deep-sea port. A 4.3 metre mosaic-covered lighthouse here at the Point commemorates the lives of those lost at sea.

The beautiful mosaic lighthouse at Pinky Point near the port at Ceduna.

Ceduna is a corruption of the aboriginal word Chedoona, meaning place to sit down and rest, and it was now time for us to do just that, so we headed to Shelly Beach Caravan Park. Not that we rested for long – there’s a dune walk that led us along the dunes, onto the beach (which was covered in shells!) and back to the caravan park. Excellent CP by the way – great facilities and friendly staff. ($23.40/n unpowered)

Low tide at sunset on Shelley Beach, Ceduna

Thursday 7th

Today we cross the Eyre Peninsula, again, completing the loop of SA, NT and WA we began earlier this year. There’s not a lot to see between Ceduna and our free camp for tonight, back at the Kimba Lions Park. The wheat has been harvested leaving short, brown stubble through which we drove for several hours.

Very impressed with the silo art at Kimba. Just to give you perspective – on the left is a semi-trailer being filled with grain from the long pipes you see coming out of the silo.

At Kimba the big change since we were here last is the silo art – fantastic!

Friday 8th December

Kimba is a lovely friendly town. We had a coffee at Eileen’s Cafe and chatted for ages with a retired wheat farmer who has lived here for 80 years. Even he says the town is a good supportive town. Anyway we moved on, the wheat and grazing land giving way to many kilometres of saltbush before we completed the Eyre Highway at Port Augusta where we brunched at a grassy park beside the tip of Spencer Gulf. Traveling the Eyre Highway and crossing the Nullarbor Plain was a fascinating and varied adventure which we both enjoyed.

Tonight we’ve moved on to the tiny of town of Nelshaby where we’re camped in the free camp at Lawries Oval – a level, semi-grassed open area with views in one direction to the ranges and the opposite direction to Spencer Gulf.

Christmas decorations in the bush – well, maybe in the wheat fields.

Christmas tree in a country town – Kimba.

For more photos from our travels across the Eyre Highway and Nullarbor CLICK HERE.

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The Southern Coast

27th – 30th November, 2017

Monday 27th (Happy birthday John)
We’re heading for the coast now to see a bit more of WAs famed southern coastline. We were camped amidst wheat farms last night at Louis Lookout and today’s drive was through wheat and sheep country all looking very brown, either just harvested stubble or awaiting harvesting. Many laden trucks passed us headed for storage bins – big open-air ones, the wheat covered with tarps as each section is filled.

The grain on the conveyor belt is pouring in from a trucks that have just delivered it. Note the huge tarps covering the grain.

We stopped at Ravensthorpe for a look-around then headed to Hopetoun. Along the road there’s a couple of ‘Art in the Paddock’ sculptures, which are very good, but they probably need a few more to make it a ‘trail’.

This tea setting is wonderful – made from junk – corrugated iron for the teapot.

What a gem of a place Hopetoun is! It’s a tiny town, but has a couple of well-tended parks, one with very good children’s activities, another with BBQ, tables, etc beside the beach, a couple of cafes, a pub and a good walking path along the foredunes. The beach looks lovely, but too cold (still!) for a swim. For the RV traveller there’s the free campsite where we are next to the beach (no facilities), free hot showers in town, a designated ‘potable water’ spot to fill tanks, dump point and a car wash big enough to do motorhomes. There’s no industry here and it’s not on the way to anywhere, so just a holiday destination.

Tuesday 28th
Leaving Hopetoun we went back to Ravensthorpe then turned east, travelling predominantly through wheat and grazing country – all brown.
Tonight’s camp is at Quagi Beach, 10km along a reasonable dirt road off the highway. This council-run camp ($15/n) has about 17 campsites separated from each other by thick scrub, which is predominantly flowering banksias – beautiful!

Flowers around the campsites at Quagi Beach. The yellow one is known locally as the Christmas bush. But also note all the banksias flowering.

We’ve arranged to meet Ally and Rob here, fellow Jabiru owners who we first met by chance on the road at Exmouth many months ago as they headed north and we headed south. They’ve circumnavigated Australia since then! An enjoyable afternoon was spent chatting about places we’ve been to and checking out each other’s vehicles.

With Rob and Ally (and Charlotte) and their Trakka Jabiru at Quagi Beach.

Wednesday 29th

The four of us went for a walk along Quagi Beach this morning before heading our separate ways – Ally and Rob towards Perth, us to Esperance.

Quagi Beach.

There’s a Scenic Ocean Drive just before Esperance which took us off the highway, around the Pink Lake (which isn’t pink anymore) and alongside the ocean and into Esperance. There are dozens of really pretty beaches along this coastline – mostly small ones, some very well-protected, some with picnic facilities. They’d be heaven on a hot summer day.

You going for a swim Steve? Nope – too cold! At one of Esperance’s beaches.

Esperance was named  in 1792 by French explorers after one of the two French ships that sheltered from a storm behind the island in the photo above . Grazing was the industry that was initially established some 60 years later,  but the town really came alive when gold was discovered nearby in 1893. The town’s fortunes fluctuated until around 1960 when it became a major agricultural region – wheat, barley and canola being the main crops. It also seems to do pretty well out of tourism.

We walked from the Port, where a ship was being loaded with grain, to the old jetty, recently badly damaged in a storm. The foreshore is beautiful – well-tended gardens of native shrubs, cycling and walking paths, heaps of picnic areas all the way along and the walk culminating at a coffee van that sells really good coffee.

The beautiful foreshore of Esperance. An art installation paying tribute to the Southern Right Whales that pass by every winter.

Leaving the ocean, all too prematurely, there being some great National parks down here we haven’t had the time to explore, we headed half an hour north to Gibson Soak – a free camp at a pub. Quite a large camping area had maybe 10 other campers and most seemed to head to the pub for a drink and meal – as we did.

Thursday 30th

An uneventful drive north finds us this evening at Norseman. This is the last major town in WA before crossing the Nullarbor, and tending travellers of the Nullarbor helps sustain this old gold mining town. Gold was first discovered here in 1892, reputably by a prospector’s horse named Norseman who kicked a large nugget. A statue to Norseman is in the town centre. It does look like a struggling town these days though.

A statue of the horse after which Norseman was named – hoof raised indicating gold just there!

We did our shopping here, ready for our crossing of the Nullarbor, then settled in to the free camp they’ve provided. Only two other campers here though – very quiet.

For more photos from these last few days CLICK HERE.

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Porongurups and Stirling Ranges

23rd – 26th November, 2017

Thursday 23rd

Repacking and restocking Priscilla yesterday afternoon, while a big job, was a great pleasure – it meant our next adventure would begin soon.

We left Bob and Cathy’s this morning having spent a relaxing couple of days with them and headed south to Dardanup to have lunch with and farewell Fran and Ric. Leaving Fran and Ric’s our route took us via Gnomesville.

Must be an important parade about to start – the gnomes of Gnomesville near Dardanup.

From the gnomes we headed to our overnight stop at Mt Barker via Boyup Brook and Frankland River. The wildflowers seem to be inexhaustible with banksias, Geraldton wax and a shrub that’s covered in dark yellow flowers lining the roads we travelled.
From Dardanup we drove through vineyards and dairy country, then into sheep and wheat country before vineyards and olive orchards took over again at Frankland River.
Tonight we’re in the free RV campsite provided by Mt Barker – nice central spot, right beside the rail line!

Friday 24th
Only one train last night about 10pm – can’t complain.
After refuelling and dropping into the Information Centre for some brochures on Porongurup Ranges we headed off.
The range’s distinctive granite domes are the remains of the ancient Porongurup pluton, a massive bubble of molten rock that rose from deep in the Earth’s core and pushed upwards into the overlying base rock of the continent.
Over millions of years the softer rock lying above the pluton weathered away to expose the giant granite mass. Changes in temperature and in the weight of the overlying rock caused the granite to fracture. Interesting, hey! I’ve never seen a granite bubble before.
We headed first to Castle Rock and the Granite Skywalk, though just before it is Balancing Rock. I’ll leave what it looks like to your imagination (and maybe a photo).

Balancing Rock. Porongurups

It’s a 5km return walk, which doesn’t sound far, but from the moment you leave the car park you’re climbing, getting steeper the closer you get to the destination. At Castle Rock there’s a short walk out to the lower lookout, but the upper lookout and Granite Skywalk is pretty impressive.

Amazing views from the Granite Skywalk.

It starts with steel handholds in the rock up which you have to climb, then a steel ladder up to the top where a walkway goes around the rock, suspended off the side of it. The views were incredible and the rock climb well worth the big effort and slight fear it induced. The return walk down the track was tough on the knees.

The people below are first climbing through the crevice using steel handholds, then it’s up the ladder to reach the Granite Skywalk. Castle Rock, Porongurups.

From there we drove to the other end of Porongurup NP to Tree-in-the-Rock picnic area where there are more walks. First we had brunch then set out on the Devils Slide walk to Mt Marmabup – another 5km return walk, with yet another very, very steep climb at the end to the summit, Mt Marmabup being the highest point of the Range. The trail started with a gentle incline covered in beautiful jarrah and karri trees, before the final steep, rocky climb up a gully. Surprisingly it was well vegetated and still has lots of wildflowers. The summit is a large expanse of bare sloping granite.

A strange rock lizard on Mt Marmabup.

From the top we could see hundreds of dead trees towering above the canopy, destroyed in a severe bushfire in 2007.

Good views from Mt Marmabup

Leaving the Park via a scenic drive we enjoyed more views of these unusual domes of granite before heading north to the Stirling Ranges where we entered it via the 42km scenic drive which wound its way past the spectacular mountains. We finished the drive, and our day, at Moingup Springs camping area, a National Park’s campsite.

Enjoying our Scenic Drive through the Stirling Ranges NP

Saturday 25th
Today’s challenge is Bluff Knoll. At 1095 metres this is the highest peak in the southern half of WA and the only place in WA that occasionally sees snow.

Keep walking Denise – you’re nowhere near the top yet! Note the flora.

It’s very steep and consists of hundreds of irregularly spaced ‘stairs’. An exhausting climb!

Oh those steps!!! This flight was at least reasonably evenly spaced.

Bluff Knoll, known to the traditional Aboriginal people of this area as Bular Mial has great spiritual significance being the home of a powerful ancestral being that moves in the mists and clouds that sometimes cover the summit. Climbers are warned not to wander from the path and to turn back if clouds begin to come in!

Rewarding views and we’re not even half way up the Bluff Knoll track yet!

The views all the way up were spectacular, not only in the distance but also the many different wildflowers that lined the track. At the summit the reward is 360 degree views – and a well-earned sense of accomplishment.

Having a break on the summit of Bluff Knoll

It’s a busy walk, but the majority of walkers are young, 20 – 30 somethings .. very few grey nomads like us.

Slowly does it – one careful step after another. On the Bluff Knoll track.

Sunday 26th

We leave the Stirling Ranges today, but not before doing another climb – Mt Trio. I chose this one as it looked the easiest, only 3.5km return and, after a steep section to begin, the plateau joining the three peaks is easy. Hmmm not so! The track is in very poor condition. Quite a few of the steps are either missing or just about fallen over and the surface is loose shale. It was quite dangerous walking, particularly coming down.

That horrible, horrible path up Mt Trio

Lovely views from the top once again. And the wildflowers – just so many and so beautiful.

From the summit of Mt Trio.

Once safely (miraculously!) back down we headed out of the park to stay in a free camp called Louis Lookout, which has views of the ranges in the distance. A band of rain moved through overnight, giving us some nice rain and quite a lightning show – in the distance, thankfully.

The gum nuts are so pretty. Mt Trio

For more photos from our few days at the Porongurups and Stirling Ranges CLICK HERE.

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Perth for repairs

6th – 22nd November, 2017

Monday 6th
Well the weather has suddenly changed from winter chill, winds and rain to summer heat. At last!
We farewelled Trish and Bryan this morning at the Emu Park Caravan Park at Albany, not for long though as we’ll be seeing them in Perth in a couple of days. After we’d packed up we went to the cafe for a celebratory breakfast (the celebrations could last a while!) before heading towards Perth where Priscilla is booked in on Wednesday for 2 to 3 weeks (!!) to do the repairs following the accident.
We’re following the highway straight up from Albany to Perth but have detoured slightly to camp tonight beside Lake Queerearrup, a little north-east of Kojonup. This is a beautiful lake, quite large, slightly salty with excellent facilities – a boat ramp, loos, several picnic tables, a large shelter shed with gas BBQ and more tables, and free camping. And we’re the only ones here – quite a change from the last two weeks in caravan parks.

Tuesday 7th – Wednesday 22nd

With two to three weeks to fill in while the vehicle is at City Truck Repairs and insurance covering our accommodation and a hire car, we booked back into the Scarborough Beach AirBnB we’d stayed in in July. We unpacked all our goodies into the apartment and took Priscilla in to the repairers on Wednesday morning before picking up our hire car.

Our favourite cafe at Scarborough. By the time we left they knew our usual coffee orders without asking.

For the next two weeks we relaxed at the beach, went for swims, went to the coffee shop, went for walks, went to the shopping centre, visited friends, read books and generally relaxed. Bryan and Trish spent a few days with us and we visited Fremantle, caught up with Steve’s sister Maree and had a drink or three at Little Creatures brewery.

Our last sundowners at our Scarborough Beach unit.

We can pick Priscilla up on Wednesday 22nd (only two weeks – good surprise), so we checked out of our apartment and spent the last two days with Bob and Cathy in Mt Pleasant – and very pleasant it was.

While we’ve been in Western Australia these last few months as well as the great camping we’ve experienced, we’ve  had a wonderful time catching up with friends. First there was Laura and Ric and Gill, from Queensland, then (in no particular order) Don and Jan from Burnie, Dave and Louise, Terry and Christine, Fran and Ric, Anne and Greg, Bob and Cathy, Geoff and Karin and girls, Maree, Doug and Leura from Qld, John and Nina, Annie and Mark, Ally and Rob. Being ‘on the road’ certainly isn’t lonely.

We’re now looking forward to our journey homewards, which will start tomorrow but could take a few more months yet.

 

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Bibbulmun Track: Denmark to Albany

31st October – 5th November 2017

Tuesday 31st (Day 8) Wilson Inlet to South Tennessee Rd (Lowland Beach)
We’ve been psyching ourselves up for today’s long walk, but fortunately mostly flat, according to the Trail profile. While the Denmark trailhead is just beside our caravan park, the start of the walk is directly across Wilson Inlet, the large protected bay on which Denmark is situated. There are various ways to get across there – boat charter, walk to the mouth and cross over the shallow sandbar (no sandbar at the moment), walk a long way around it to begin about 8 km short of the proper starting point, or be driven around by your support team. No prizes for guessing our option.

At the starting point for the leg from Denmark to Albany. Wilson Inlet with Denmark on the far side.

Because of the long drive (40mins) to our starting point we got away from camp at 7.15am. The first 4 kilometres of the walk was alongside Wilson Inlet. The fluffy white clouds reflecting in the glassy still water, with pelicans and black swans nearly making ripples as they glided past us. There are several classy looking homes here with lawns down to the foreshore, with private jetty and boat launching ramp.

Wilson Inlet, alongside our walk.

It was along here that we saw the first of the 4 snakes we’d see today. The trail then turned seaward for us to cross Nullaki Peninsula. A brunch stop at Nullaki camping shelter was a nice reward after 8 kilometres of walking. We’d been walking at a cracking pace too knowing it was going to be a long day and not wanting to finish too late.

Brunch at Nullaki camping shelter, and a quick check of the map.

The path starts climbing now just as the wildflowers became more prolific. It was a long slow climb over about 6km. A mother kangaroo with joey in pouch jumped ahead of us along our path for a little way. The less commonly seen red-tailed black cockatoos were happily feeding in a flowering tree while large flocks of the white-tailed black cockatoos raucously flew around before disappearing over the hill. There were lots of smaller birds too, but I’ve no idea what they were.

Many beautiful banksias.

The banksias are flowering now – one gully was just full of banksias as far as you could see – so beautiful.
As we got higher we saw the ocean several times. It’s a very different Southern Ocean to the one we’ve been used to, with only light winds and no rain the ocean, while not a millpond, at least didn’t have any white-caps.

A very different Southern Ocean now – gone are the white caps and frenzied crashing of waves we’ve seen over the last week. Looks nearly good enough to go sailing.

The last section of the walk took us downwards again, still amongst the flowering bushes, banksias and wildflowers towards South Tennessee Road (Lowlands Beach) where we’d organised to meet the boys.

Wildflowers alongside the path kept us oohing and ahhhing at the beauty of the trail.

However we’d been making such good time that we were there about half an hour before they arrived. So, in true Bibbulmun-walker spirit we walked along the road to meet them. A 24km day today.
We shared the roast Steve cooked in the DreamPot and followed it up with dairy-free mango mousse – delicious. Big brownie points to Steve.

Wednesday 1st November 
REST DAY! Yippee! And what a lovely day it was too. A nice sleep-in, followed by a delicious lunch at Lakeside Winery and Restaurant, then an 80-minute massage. The Support Team excelled themselves! Could life get better than this!

Thursday 2nd (Day 9)
After such a wonderful day yesterday it was hard to get back into it today, but we did! Today’s walk took us steadily upwards from the double bay of Lowlands Beach into West Cape Howe National Park where we walked along the ridge just inland from the ocean admiring the rugged sea cliffs. A pause at West Cape Howe camping shelter was appreciated.

A picnic table at West Cape Howe camping shelter – what a wonderful place to watch the sunset. A bit too early for us though and no plans to be out at sunset.

Once more the views lovely, the wildflowers colourful and abundant and the track very good – no muddy patches, no confusing signage.

Our path over this rocky hill gives views to ocean and West Cape Howe NP.

Wildlife wasn’t so prolific today with only a couple of black cockatoos, a couple of hawks and a few smaller birds to keep us company. It was a one-snake day – Trish stood on it! Luckily for her it was only tiny and keener to get away from her then to seek retaliation. We did see a very large snake skin though – would be happy not to see it’s previous owner.

Walking down those awkward steps – but very pretty.

We covered 17.5km over about 5 hours, plus an hour or so for breaks.

Friday 3rd (Day 10)
There was plenty of variety in today’s walk. Headland tracks with wonderful ocean views, melaleuca trees in low-lying swampy areas with yet another muddy flooded path to be negotiated, heathlands to about 2 metres high covered in wildflowers, steps, lots of steps leading down to the beach to finish with our favourite (not!) about 6km of beach walking.

The walk goes through a tunnel – kind of.

 

Oh dear – back to muddy paths!

Just before the hut about 5km into the walk, we were overtaken by other Bibbulmun walkers – two 20-something lads carrying the most enormous backpacks. At the hut we chatted with them for a little while before a man in his 60s walked in, an ‘end-to-ender’. It was pretty exciting to meet so many other Bibbulmun walkers considering the scarcity of them to this point.

And so begins another beach walk. Heading towards the Torbay Inlet.

Our main concern was crossing the Torbay Inlet, which is periodically closed due to the volume and rate of flow of water out of the inlet, necessitating a 19km detour!!! Enquiries indicated it was open, maybe shin-deep, but watch the tide. As it turns out we’d be there spot on high tide. High tides also make beach walking difficult, walking high on the beach through soft sand. The winds have dropped to about 20-30km an hour, however they’re right on the nose now. With all this in front of us we intrepidly pushed forward, negotiating a rocky outcrop midway along the beach where the tide was too high for us to walk around it.

A rocky headland on the beach had to be negotiated.

With stress mounting we arrived at Torbay Inlet to find a sandbar, high and dry, right across the mouth. An anticlimax in the end. We left the beach a couple of kilometres after this, climbing up the cliff face to Muttonbird Lookout to be met by our wonderful, worried support team, concerned we’d been swept away at the inlet.
12.5km today, but note that half of that was on soft sand!

Yep, that’s the beach we’ve just walked along. Pleased it’s now behind us.

Saturday 4th (Day 11)
Starting where we left off yesterday at Muttonbird Lookout our walk took us predominantly along the coastal headland high above the now tamed Southern Ocean. The wind has dropped and the dark foreboding clouds have disappeared leaving us with blue skies and fluffy white clouds. A unique experience for us!

Muttonbird Island. Just loved all the different shades of blue.

There were several places where we were provided with seats to sit awhile to admire the view. At one such spot the blues of the ocean changed from pale yellowish-blue covering shallow water to go deeper and deeper blue until it was almost indigo on the horizon.

Approaching the windmills. Today’s walk will end after we’ve passed them all.

The last several kilometres of today’s walk was alongside the Albany Wind Farm. The closer you get to wind turbines the more elegant they appear – the ultimate in streamlined design. The soft whoosh, whoosh from each as we walked by pleasant on the ear. The eighteen 65-metre towers here are positioned along the coastal cliff some 80 metres above the ocean each with three 35-metre blades. Apparently their positioning is perfect along this perpetually windy coastline, providing 80% of Albany’s electricity needs.

Looking back on the windmills and coastline.

This completed our walk for the day at Sandpatch – 14 km.
On the way back to camp we passed Australia’s first (and supposedly best) whiskey distillery which we couldn’t, of course, just drive by. A wee dram eased a few aching muscles.

Sunday 5th (Day 12)
Our last day – only 15.75 km to complete the 205 km walk into Albany. We started on the headland; once more we got spectacular views of the coast and ocean, as well as wildflowers in the heathlands.

Another delightfully positioned spot to rest. It may not look comfortable, but it is better than the ground, and by not having a back on it you don’t have to take your backpack off.

The banksias here are a little different to the ones further up the coast, but equally as beautiful. Flowering peppermint trees have lined our walk for the last several days. These trees are covered in little white flowers and having narrow drooping leaves which, with a little imagination, smell like peppermint when crushed.

Still seeing wildflowers we’d not seen before.

The path took us across a peninsula from the Southern Ocean through Torndirrup National Park to Princess Royal Harbour; Albany being positioned between this harbour and King George Sound.

We’ve left the ocean behind and now heading through Torndirrup National Park.

As we got closer to Albany we started to meet day walkers. The path took us past some lovely homes overlooking Princess Royal Harbour along the shores of which we walked. This is a well protected and very large natural harbour that is relatively shallow – about 2 metres deep. On this very windy day the windsurfers were fairly flying along.

Walking along the track towards Albany, which you can see across Princess Royal Harbour.

In the early 1900s it was dredged and huge jetties built to accommodate big ships. Of note in 1914 the ships carrying the Aussies who were to become the ANZACs left from here. Today the departing ships carry woodchips, silica sand and grain.
The walk through the outer suburbs and up and over a rocky hillock lost its enjoyment as all I could envisage was finally arriving at the Information Centre, the end of the trail.

We made it!!! 205km later we’re at the Albany Trailhead. What a wonderful feeling!

At last the end was in sight and our wonderful support crew had set up a finishing line with tape for us to run through. It was a great feeling. I signed off in the Log Book in the Info Centre then we all sat in the Rose Garden outside and drank champagne.

That’s us, signed off in the last logbook!

 

Oooo that feels good! And not a single blister between us!!

 

We really enjoyed that champers in the rose garden.

For more photos from this section of our walk CLICK HERE.

Some reflections of the walk….

For me it was quite an achievement, the longest distance I’d ever walked day after day.
The variety of the walking is what made it so enjoyable – inland, coastal, beach, headlands, alongside rivers, forests and the wildflowers … they were most certainly a highlight.
Other than where the path was flooded, it was nearly always a good surface to walk on … oh yes, exclude the soft sand beach walking from that description too!
Walking with Trish was enjoyable. We both had strengths and weaknesses and complemented each other well.
Being picked up every afternoon to have a meal cooked and a comfortable bed was a treat. Occasionally I’d read in the logs how much other walkers enjoyed watching the sun set (or rise!) over the camping shelter and I thought how nice it would be .. but not as nice as my proper meal and bed.
On our travels through WA we’ve walked on several short sections of the Bibbulmun, but I think we did choose the most beautiful sections to walk.
Would I come back to do more sections … hmm, not on my radar at this time. Maybe I’ll change my mind later.

Well earned, and well loved t-shirts.