kathndes: July 2012

INTO THE TERRITORY

After leaving Kununurra and crossing into the Northern Territory, once again, we pushed on to the tiny town of Timber Creek. The majestic Victoria River (the largest in the NT and 1klm wide in places) runs through here and we did the afternoon sunset cruise. Saw our first salt water croc (a mere 5mtrs long) here, and several others quite a lot smaller. The big ones are so scary looking - just the sheer size of them is so intimidating. We had a overnight roadside stop after the cruise and pushed on next morning. There is only one stop between Timber Creek and Katherine and this is The Victoria Roadhouse. Once again on the banks of the Victoria River. The ranges and escarpments around the roadhouse were very spectacular. Reminded me of the Pilbara. The numbers of caravans, motor homes and camper trailers we are seeing now is astounding. They come toward us in convoys. Sometimes we travel for kilometres and the only vehicles we see are travellers. I would not like to be in WA northern end right now. Accommodation must be an enormous problem as the van parks were starting to fill when we were there weeks ago. Apart from the numbers we see travelling west, there’s huge numbers travel north from Perth for the winter. Arrived in Katherine and set up in one of the van parks as we decided to stay a week. One day we took a trip 45km north to see the Edith Falls. It was a beautiful spot, and we could have camped there for a couple of days if we had known how nice it was. We did the mandatory bush walk to see the falls, well worth the effort too. At the campground part of the river downstream of the falls forms a massive swimming hole. It was too cold for us to get into, but what a relief the place must be for the hot months. We also took ourselves to have a soak in the hot springs closer to town. It was really wonderful, just soaking up the warmth of the crystal clear water. BUT THEN you had to get out. With the cold southerly winds blowing it was a race to get yourself into a sunny patch. Like most people who visit Katherine, we did the cruise of Katherine Gorge. It’s amazing how each gorge has it’s own beauty, but after having seen soooooooooo many, you start to lose appreciation for the wonder of nature that you’re looking at. We were lucky enough while in Katherine to see the Ghan stop at the railway station. We couldn’t get over the length of this train. WAY bigger than any going up the coast of Qld. It had come from Darwin and stops 4hours in Katherine while passengers do various tours around the town. Left Katherine and travelled to Mataranka where there’s another set of hot springs. Once again we indulged ourselves. The natural settings for these is lovely. Went through the tiny town of Larrimah and couldn’t resist photographing the Pink Panther outside the local pub. Quite a laugh. But by far the best couple of days we spent were at Daly Waters. Consisting of about 5 houses, a store, garage and the pub, this tiny town puts on the greatest entertainment we had experienced for ages. Every night the pub cooks barra and steak for about 100 or so people who camp in the van park next door. And the local bloke with guitar, comes on and does the entertaining. It was an absolute hoot. We were lucky enough also to have a female sax player who entertained the crowd from 4.30pm for 2 hours. She was really good. So if you’re ever heading this way, Stop at the Daly Waters pub van park. You will not regret it. There’s not a lot between Daly Waters and the turn-off to Qld (Barkly Highway at the Three Ways). We had time up our sleeve so we decided to go on to Tennant Creek. Stayed a couple of nights and did the tour of the simulated training mine. There’s a lot of gold in the ore at Tennant Creek but it’s very difficult and expensive to extract. Tennant Creek is set in beautiful surrounds. The ranges around the town are really lovely. Not the flat barren plains we had been through hours previously. Left Tennant Creek and headed back north to the Threeways roadhouse where the highway from Queensland meets the Stuart Hwy. Our overnight was a roadside stop called Avon Downs. It is about 50km from the Queensland border and the only thing there is a Police station. The cop there has a reputation for doing the breath testing on the highway. It’s a real laugh when you consider where the place is. YEAH!!!! We crossed the Qld. Border. Camooweal is just 13km inside Qld and we decided to stay bush camping along the Georgina River bank about 2km out of town. (Lots of fossils on the ground here). The river has a couple of large waterholes stretching about 4km along the riverbank and we could have a camp fire at night. It’s a beautiful spot and we estimated about 50 campsites (vans, motor homes, camper trailers and anything else) the second day we were there. As we had plenty of time to reach Townsville (we are committed to a wedding there on 27^th July), we decided to stay a week. A few visits to the local PO/store/coffee shop were necessary. We also did a tour of the “Drover’s Camp”. The lady taking this tour is President of the Drover’s Assn. and she brought the place to life. Her knowledge of the droving history and affection for the drovers still living was really wonderful. We learnt so much about the “early days” of this country and how the old cattle drovers lived whilst taking cattle right through the top end. After a great stay at Camooweal we headed for Mt. Isa. Once again we faced the headwinds and because the country was open, flat grassy plains, there was nothing to slow the wind. Had an off road 40km west of Mt Isa with about 15 other travellers and reached Mt Isa last Friday. We have done the above ground tour of the mine here and it was fabulous. We have spent some time with relations here also and has been lovely. Our plan is to leave here on Saturday and travel to Kynuna where we want to take a photo of our van (which for those not in the know is called a “Blue Heeler”) outside the Blue Heeler Pub. Because of the rain in these areas we have learnt that some roads are closed (mostly dirt ones) so we have decided to go to Winton and then back up to Hughenden then on to Townsville. Hope you enjoy this blog.

Large salt water croc about 5m long on the bank of the Victoria River.

Sunset of Victoria R. cruise

Brass statue, a tribute to stockman, in the grounds of the Katherine Visitors Centre

Very large swimming hole near the campground at Edith Falls 40k nth of Katherine

Edith Falls from lookout

Hot springs at Katherine

The Ghan arriving at Katherine

Katherine Gorge

Pink Panther Pub at Larrimah south of Katherine

Daly Waters Pub established in 1930.

The "local" shop and servo at Daly Waters.

Part of the junk on display in the beer garden at the Daly Waters pub. The amount of "stuff" on the walls in the pub is remarkable. So entertaining to read and look at.