June 2012

Karla Karla Conservation Park (Devils Marbles) is a perfect place to stop and overnight along the Stuart Highway, 400km from Alice Springs, so we camped there for one night. It features amazing colossal red boulders of granite, some balanced precariously upon each other and some split open like glass marbles. The reflection of the sunset and sunrise light make the boulders appear even more stunning.

The local Warumungu people believe from their dreamtime stories that the Rainbow Serpent laid its eggs here and it turned into stone. This is a sacred meeting place for four different Aboriginal language groups, who come here to perform ceremonies.

Sunrise at Devils Marbles

Sunset at Devils Marbles

Devils Marbles campsite

Devils Marbles

Push!!!

Devils Marbles split

We headed further south after Mataranka and stopped at the Larrimah Inn (only for a look, not a drink), the first of a series of quirky pubs and inns on this part of the Stuart Highway. The Larrimah Inn is famous for being the highest pub in the Northern Territory, a mere 181.04 meters above sea level. Is that measured on top of the pub's roof? It also has a large Pink Panther and a huge replica of a stubbie (small beer bottle), as well as a microlight in front of the pub. The inn served as an officers mess during WWII.

The next pub is the famous Daly Waters Historic Pub where we stayed overnight in the caravan park, which was packed to capacity and beyond. The current corrugated iron pub dates from 1934 and began as a service to Qantas customers on the nearby runway and terminal which was the first international airport in Australia and a refuel stop to Singapore. There has been a Daly Waters Pub on site since 1893, which offered a watering hole to drovers on the track. The inside of the pub is very interesting with lots of paraphernalia hanging from the ceiling and pasted to the walls, including shirts, caps, banknotes, ID cards, licence plates, sandals and underwear!! We enjoyed a delightful evening in the pub, eating Beef & Barra BBQ and listening to the live entertainment led by singer/poet/comedian Chilli with Reflections of an Aussie Spirit. I checked the elevation in Daly Waters and it is confirmed to be 212 meters OSL, so it is unclear how Larrimah could claim status as the highest pub in NT. Maybe they mean its the highest in Larrimah....

The next day we headed further south and stayed for one night at Banka Banka but first stopped at Renner Springs for pies. Renner Springs also has a characterful roadside pub crammed with memorabilia. After Banka Banka we headed for Devil's Marbles (see seperate blog). After Devils Marbles we stopped at Barrow Creek Roadhouse to look at their 1929 pub plastered with banknotes and had pies there as well. We briefly stopped at Wycliff which has a UFO pub, being the top UFO spotting place in Australia and also at Ti Tree which host the Ti Tree Roadhouse and Pub which boast being the most central pub in Australia and that is for real.

Our last stop was at Aileron which hosts the Glen Maggie Bar, but the main attraction here is a 17 meter iron sculpture of Ammatjere Man an Aboriginal local rainmaker Charlie Quartpot, towering over Aileron.

Our favourite pub? Daly Water Historic Pub by far!! We crossed the Tropic of Capricorn, having travelled 1,900 km from the top of the Northern Territory, leaving the warm tropics for a couple of weeks to explore Alice Springs and the Red Center.

The Stuart highway is 2,834 km long and stretches over the continent from Darwin, Northern Territory to Port Augusta, South Australia. The highway is named after John McDouall Stuart who was the first European that crossed Australia from south to north, but only on the 6th attempt. The highway approximates the route Stuart followed in 1862. There is a memorial of Stuart next to the Stuart highway at a point which is almost at the geographical centre of Australia.

Larrimah Pub

The only shop in Daly Waters shop

Daly Waters Historic Pub

Daly Waters Pub licence plates

Daly Waters Pub

Chilli at Daly Waters

Renner Springs Pub

Barrow Creek Pub

Wycliff

Ti Tree Roadhouse

Aileron statue

Stuart Memorial

Tropic of Capricorn

After Katherine we visited Elsey National park a few kilometers east of Mataranka and stayed in the caravan park at Mataranka Homestead which is also the home of many orphan wallabies which have been hand raised at the homestead, many of them with joeys. The movie "We of the Never Never" was filmed here and the replica of the original homestead is still part of the attractions here.

The main attraction is the amazing Rainbow Springs and the popular Thermal Pool. Rainbow Spring's crystal clear water rises from 100 meters underground at 300 litres per second at a temperature of 34 degrees Celsius, the temperature of the rock at that depth, which is then contained in a pool in a palm tree forest. Like at Douglas Hot Springs, a nice place to relax and sooth the sore back and legs from all the hiking in Kakadu, however, compared to Douglas the water temperature significantly cooler and the setup much more commercialised, so Douglas Hot Springs remains our favourite hot spring so far.

In the morning we were woken by tens of thousands of Little Red Flying Foxes (although they are not that little, about the size of eagles) flying over the campsite to rest in the palm trees for the day after their night out feeding.

Elsey was certainly not our favourite national park but it was worth the visit and we enjoyed the Skippys. Skippy was a popular Australian TV series in the 1960s, telling the story of a boy with his intelligent pet kangaroo. It became very popular in Australia and many other countries but in Sweden it was banned, where psychologists feared the show would mislead children into believing animals could do things they actually could not.

Thermal Pool

Rainbow Springs

Skippy

Skippy and her joey

Skippy having a nap in the sun

Curious Skippy

On the way from Katherine to Mataranka we stopped at the Cutta Cutta Caves National Park for a visit to the limestone caves.

In Cutta Cutta cave you venture along the caverns 15 meters under the surface for a few hundred meters. The major part of the cave system is inaccessible and goes for 700 meters until it enters the water table. The cave is only accessible during the dry season as it gets completely flooded every wet season.

Cutta Cutta is a Jawoyn name meaning many stars; it was taboo for Aborigines to enter the cave, which they believed was where the stars were kept during the day. The stars are the reflection of crystals in the stalactites when you shine a light on it.

Cutta Cutta cave mid section

Cutta Cutta Caves end section

Leaf-like stalactites in Cutta Cutta cave

Kakadu National Park contains the highest concentration of Aboriginal rock art in Australia and the galleries at Ubirr, Nourlangie and Nanguluwur are spectacular and interesting. The fact that some of these paintings are as old as 20,000 years, but still part of a living culture, makes it even more interesting to view.

At Ubirr we saw many examples of the more recent x-ray style paintings, about 2,000 years old, showing the internal organs and bone structures of creatures like Barramundi fish and Long-neck turtles. There is also an excellently preserved example of the Mabuyu hunting figure which is estimated around 2,000 years old. According to local lore, Mabuyu was a fisherman. One day, he caught a lot of fish, but some other Aborigines cut his line and stole the fish from Mabuyu. Mabuyu found out who the thieves were and went to their cave. He rolled a rock in front of the opening, trapping them in the cave. The men who stole the fish and their wives died because they could not escape from the cave. This story is used in Aboriginal lore to demonstrate morality and the consequences of stealing. There was also an interesting, more recent painting of a man with a gun, documenting the contact with westerners.

At Nourlangie the rock art galleries are very impressive with different styles of paintings and amazing stories. The story of Namarrgon, the Lightening Man. Violent electrical storms occur on the Arnhem plateau and according to Aboriginal Dreamtime explanation of this work, Namarrgon and his family came from the sea and traveled Australia for many years. He uses the stone axes that are mounted on his head, elbows and knees to split the dark clouds and strike the ground, creating lightning and thunder. In addition to his axes, he also has a band wrapped around his body. This band belongs to thunder and works side by side with the axes to shake the earth and the heaven. Barrinj is Namarrgon’s wife and she is the mother of all grasshoppers.

There is also an excellent painting of Nabulwinjbulwinj, a dangerous spirit that eats females after striking them dead with a yam, a type of vegetable….weird!

The story of Namanjolg is a story of incest. It is said that Namanjolg and his sister had sex and later eloped. Ashamed of what they did, Namanjolg's sister told their family. Upon hearing of their sin, Namanjolg's family sought him out to punish him. When they found him, he was on top of what is now known as Feather Rock, dancing around a fire. A member of his family then pushed him into the fire. Namanjolg, covered in ash, dove into a nearby billabong and became a crocodile. Namanjolg's sister took a feather from his headdress and placed it at the site to remind others of the Aboriginal laws regarding incest which she had broken with her brother. Namanjolg's sister later becomes the Rainbow Serpent, Ngalyod, the subject of many Aboriginal stories from the Dreaming lore.

Also at Nourlangie, are paintings of kangaroos who are not present in Kakadu for thousands of years (only Wallabies and Wallaroos), dated at least 20,000 years old.

At Nanguluwur there is an interesting painting of a tall ship, evidence of the interaction with early settlers. The amazing part is that the site is 200km from the sea and shows the importance of these paintings to convey messages. There are also interesting hand paintings and x-ray style paintings as well as paintings of Namarnde, powerful ancestors that created the earth, live in caves and eat human flesh. Also at Nanguluwur is a painting of Algaigho, the Fire Woman, who planted the yellow banksias in the woodlands and used their smouldering flowers to carry fire.

These rock paintings are world heritage jewels and should be preserved for generations to come.

Rock art at Ubirr

X-ray fish

X-ray paintings at Ubirr

Man with a gun

Long-neck turtle

Mabuyu hunting figure

Barramundi x-ray style painting at Ubirr

Namarrgon (right), his wife Barrinj (left bottom) and Namanjolg (top)

Nabulwinjbulwinj the dangerous spirit that eats females

Nourlangie Rock Art

Tall ship painting next to a Barramundi x-ray painting at Nanguluwur

Namarnde

X-ray style paintings

Algaihgo, the Fire Woman, in the center of the painting

Hand paintings at Nanguluwur

World Heritage listed Kakadu National Park, covering almost 20,000 square kilometers, is a place of contrasting landscapes. Rugged cliffs of the Arnhem Land escarpment hide deep sandstone gorges and pockets of monsoon rainforests with vast low-lying wetlands and deep billabongs invested with saltwater crocodiles. Waterfalls cascade into crystal clear plunge pools fringed with paperbarks and pandanus.

A number of Aboriginal clans reside in Kakadu National Park and the exquisite rock art galleries at Ubirr and Nourlangie Rock are witness to the long history of the Aboriginal people occupying this land (see the next blog about Kakadu rock art)

We stayed in Merl campsite, close to the East Alligator River crossing, for one night before our trip to Garig Gunak Barlu National Park and visited the Ubirr rock art galleries close by. After our trip to Garik Gunak Barlu, we returned to Kakadu and camped at Muriella campground in the center and also at Kambolgie campground in the south.

Kakadu is spectacular but the fact that it is World Heritage listed and easily accessible with most of the roads sealed, makes it very crowded and commercialized. Huge tour busses transports masses of tourists to places like Nourlangie. There are, however, some more inaccessible places like Jim Jim Falls and Gunlom Falls that require a 4WD to get to it, although we saw the odd (stupid) tourist attempting to drive these heavily corrugated roads with saloon cars.

Twin Falls was still closed with the rangers attempting to remove a 2,5 meter crocodile from the plunge pool, but Jim Jim Falls, Gunlom Falls and Motorcar Falls were all open and we enjoyed them all. The two kilometer return hike to get to Jim Jim Falls was challenging over rocks and huge boulders but we made it worse by taking a wrong turn which turned into a very steep climb to the top of the escarpment before we realized we were on the wrong track. To get to the top of Gunlom Falls was easier than the Jim jim Falls hike and the 8km return hike to Motorcar Falls was pleasant and although the falls were just a trickle, the turquoise plunge pool was spectacular and refreshing. We met a Swedish family there and an Australian that lived in Olshammar close to Askersund for 5 years, so we renamed it Volvo Falls. It is nice to enjoy the refreshing pools in the middle of the winter and I am glad that our friends are also enjoying good weather during their mid-summer celebrations.

We are in Katherine at the moment to get recharged and restocked before we head south to the Red Center and Lake Eyre. The reason why we are heading south with nice days but freezing mornings is that we want to travel through the Red Centre and the deserts (Simpson, Tirari and Sturt Stony Desert) in the winter.

More photos in the gallery

Views of Kakadu National Park

Views of Jim Jim Falls downstream

Jim Jim Falls

Jim Jim Falls plunge pool

Jim Jim Billabong

Muirella campsite

Ducks at Yellow Waters

Yellow Waters wetlands

Yellow Waters splendour

Gunlom Falls plunge pool

Gunlom Falls and plunge pool from the top

Gunlom Falls

Pools on the top of Gunlom Falls

Top of Gunlom Falls

Swim at the top of Gunlom Falls

Motorcar Falls (2)

Motorcar Falls

At the very top of the Northern Territory, in Aboriginal Arnhem Land, the Garik Gunak Barlu National Park is remote and rugged, fringed with magnificent white sandy beaches and turquoise waters. The park covers the whole of the Cobourg Peninsula, an area of 2,200 square kilometers with only 20-30 residents, most of them Aboriginal. It took us 5 hours to travel the 270km 4WD track from Kakadu National Park to the Black Point ranger station and we had to time the river crossing at the East-Alligator River as it is heavily influenced by the tides. The road was heavily corrugated in places which slowed us down and rattled our teeth but overall the drive was a stunning journey through wetlands, a lot of creek crossings, monsoon forests and savannah woodland.

On the way we visited the Injalak art center at Oenpelli, an Aboriginal settlement in Arnhem Land and for this we had to buy a separate permit. It was interesting to see the indigenous artists at work and listening to their dreamtime stories. We bought a nice canvas painting of a barramundi and long-neck turtle.

At Garik (local language) Gunak (land) Barlu (sea) we found a very nice, isolated campsite that was spacious and shady. At first we were concerned that the proximity of a number of swamps and billabongs will make outdoor living at night impossible but we were surprised to find very few mosquitoes, just nocturnal animals wandering through the bushes at night. One night we had a good sight of a few bandicoot, a small almost rat-like marsupial. During the day the birdlife is varied and we saw many Sulphur Crested Cockatoos, Red Winged Black Cockatoos, Sea Eagles, Oyster Catchers and many other species.

The coastal drive in Garik Gunak Barlu is beautiful, with isolated sandy beaches, red rocks and mangrove estuaries. The sea is rich in marine life but unfortunately the presence of Saltwater Crocodiles makes swimming dangerous and I had to choose spots with clear water to take a quick dip. I tried to do some fishing off the rocks but was unsuccessful, but I caught a mud crab in a hole on the rocks and released after taking a photograph of it. The wetlands drive was closed but I tried it up to the point where the billabong flooded the road. The billabong is beautiful with clear water and lots of birdlife.

We teamed up with a nice Australian couple, Mick and Chrisie from Melbourne, to do a half-day boat tour to the ruins of the Victoria Settlement and to try to do some fishing and mud crabbing. It was a lovely day out and we enjoyed the open water and fishing very much with Lorraine catching the biggest Golden Snapper, Mick caught a nice big Queen Fish and I caught a tasty Coral Trout and also a big Golden Snapper. We all caught many other fish but most were released and the tour operators kept some for themselves. The mud crabbing was less successful with only a small crab speared.

The ruins of the Victoria Settlement are a poignant reminder of the hardship of the British colonialists in the 19th century. With the fear of Dutch and French expansion in the southern East Indies, the British decided to establish a settlement along Australia’s far northern coastline. After failures of two other settlements, the Victoria Settlement was established in 1838 and developed into a considerable village with a church, hospital, cottages built in Cornish style and military buildings. However, long periods of isolation, many deaths due to malaria, scurvy and dysentery, as well as devastating cyclones caused the abandonment of the settlement 11 years later in 1849.

Smith Point at the top of the peninsula, with a beacon built by the settlers from the Victoria Settlement in 1845, is a nice spot to view the magnificent sunsets over the Timor Sea and we also enjoyed a nice sunset and sundowners with Mick and Chrissie before they departed.

The week in Garig Gunak Barlu was magnificent and very relaxing, certainly worthwhile travelling all the way to such a remote national park. We are now back in Kakadu National Park and although it is stunning the crowds and busy campsites are making us long to go back to Garig Gunak Barlu.

Here are some of the photos but many more are in the gallery.

Arnhem Land

Artist at Oenpelli

Art centre at Oenpelli

Campsite at Garig Gunak Barlu

Blowhole

Coastal Drive

Saltwater Crocodile

Oyster Catchers

Billabong

Kangaroos or Walleroos

Smith Point

Sundowners at Smith Point

Fishing at Garig Gunak Barlu

Golden Snapper

Coral trout

Mud Crab

Married Quarters at Victoria Settlement

It felt strange driving into a city for the first time in almost three months and immediately the traffic lights annoyed me and we were tempted to turn around and go back to the bush. But we had to do some civilized things in Darwin and decided to stay the full long weekend to explore Darwin and to catch up on e-mails, studies and prepare for the next remote bush trip. We stayed in Hidden Valley but it was not hidden from the noise of the highways and international airport closeby.

Darwin is a nice city, at least in winter that is. This time of year it is still around 30 degrees and sunny almost all of the time. It is therefore a magnet for the Grey Nomads from the east coast and south, escaping the relatively cold winter down there and the caravan parks are therefore packed; another reason to get out of here as soon as possible. Darwin also has an interesting history with the bombing by the Japanese in February 1942, the only invasion of Australia by a foreign country. We visited the WWII Oil Tunnels which were used to store oil during the second world war and there were some interesting old photos displayed inside the tunnels. East Point was also a nice tranquil place to visit with nice views of Fannie Bay and Darwin.

Our first priority in Darwin was to get a permit to enter Arnham Land (isolated Aboriginal land in north-eastern part of the Nothern Territory) and travel to the remote Garig Gunak Barlu National Park in the Cobourg Peninsula which is the most northern part of the Nothern Territory, about 570km north-east of Darwin. As this will be the most remote place we will visit, we had to ensure that all our equipment is working, that we have enough fuel and provisions for a week as there are no shops, fuel or repair stations up there. After some research and driving around we finally got the entry and camping permit and will be heading to Garig Gunak Barlu tomorrow to stay there for a week.

Parliament House in Darwin

Government House in Darwin

The Bombing of Darwin

Views of Darwin through the mangroves at East Point

East Point, Darwin

We could not access Litchfield National Park from the south as the 4WD access road was closed, so we had to drive east around the park to enter it from the Batchelor entrance, about a 100km detour. Litchfield features numerous stunning waterfalls and Florence Falls was our first stop. We chose to take the Quantum into the 4WD campsite at Florence Falls although it was marked as no entry for caravans. We arrived early and found only one campsite suitable for the Quantum and it was on a slight incline, but we managed to reasonably level it. The 15 minute walk to Florence Falls takes you past the Florence Creek and I had a quick dip while Lorraine kept watch for crocodiles.

We also visited the magnetic termite mounds that are aligned north-south to maximise their exposure to the sun.......clever little creatures!

The next day we left the Quantum at the campsite and drove the 10km 4WD track to The Lost City to admire the weird, weathered sandstone rock formations that are reminiscent of ancient ruins of a city, including a statue of a man. We then moved to Tjaynera Falls but first made a quick stop at Tolmer Falls which is only visible from a lookout point. The 11km 4WD track to Tjaynera Falls was also not for caravans but we managed to get there without problems and the campsite was more spacious and level and we stayed for two nights. The Tjaynera Falls is 1,7km from the campsite and the walking track is very pleasant, winding through palm and cycad forests and past tranquil creeks. The falls has a big pool which is great for swimming, albeit a littel chilly.

On the way to Darwin we also visited Wangi Falls, which is the main centre in Litchfield National Park. We will spend this weekend in Darwin, which is a long weekend in the Northern Territory.

Litchfield National Park termite mounds

Magnetic Termites

Florence Falls Campsite

Florence Falls

Lost City

Lost City in Litchfield NP

Lost City

Lost City statue

Tjaynera Falls

Tranquil creek in Litchfield National Park

Cycads

Wangi Falls

After Nitmiluk NP we decided to take a detour and visit the Douglas and Daly rivers and our first stop was at the Douglas Hot Spring Park where we camped for one night. The hot springs flows from a fault in the earth’s crust into the Douglas River and makes it an excellent bathing spot. The water is 50 degrees Centigrade in places and full of minerals. Very good for a bad back and shoulders. The campsite was next to the river and the cockotoos entertained us.

We drove down to Daly River in my pursuit to catch a big Barramundi but it turned out to be a wild goose chase as the river was so eroded that access from the river shore was not possible. Most of the people there had boats and we only camped one night and continued on to Litchfield National Park.

Road Train on the Stuart Highway

Hot Springs relaxing

Douglas Hot Springs

Katherine Gorge in Nitmiluk National Park is a beautiful, deep 12km long gorge (actually a series of 13 gorges) carved through ancient sandstone by the Katherine River. Lush rainforests inhabit giant cracks in the gorge walls which are 70m high in places. The river is inhabited by freshwater crocodiles but it is not impossible for a salty to reach the gorge. The park is owned by the Jawoyn people and the facilities are run by the NT government and very well maintained. We first camped for two nights in the national park caravan park at Katherine Gorge and for once it was quite pleasant and not too crowded with lots of wallabies arounfd the campsite. The first day we went on a pleasant breakfast boat cruise at dawn through the spectacular first two gorges, changing boats at the natural barrier between the two gorges. The second day we did a 3 hour hike to two lookout points with breathtaking views of the gorge and river.

The second part of the visit was camping two nights at Edith Falls, 60 km north of Katherine Gorge. Both the lower and upper falls have pleasant pools to swim in and the hike to the upper pools ahve nice access to lookouts over the falls.

Katherine Gorge

Second Gorge Nitmiluk

Katherine Gorge 2nd gorge

Curious Skippy at KAtherine Gorge campsite

Edith Lower Falls

Edith Middle Falls

Edith Upper Falls

Edith Falls campsite

Edith River