DAY 39 FROM SOUTH TO NORTH - TOP END (NORTHERN TERRITORY) TRIP

2 June 2010


DARWIN – CORROBORREE BILLABONG, BERRY SPRINGS

In the morning we headed for Corroborree Park Tavern as we were booked on a one hour cruise of the wetlands at Corroborree Billabong. A mini bus picked up passengers from the tavern to take them along the dirt road to the billabong.

The billabong was beautiful. Lots of lillies, birds and several crocodiles.

One crocodile did something very weird. The tour guide said he had never seen a croc do this. As it was swimming it suddenly sort of dived in the water and all we could see was this hump.

It then straightened out and swam for a bit

and then did his contortion act again. It was certainly weird.

There was a bird nesting on the edge of the billabong and had a floating nest – apparently it was only about 5 days until the chicks would hatch.

A crocodile was resting on the land as birds milled all aound it.

A family of ducks, most had been kidnapped apparently by the parent ducks were marching in a line from one spot to another.

Apparently this area that looked like it would be land had about half a metre of water under the plants. The plants were actually floating.

The sights along the way were just beautiful. The pictures tell their own story.

After the cruise we stopped to have a look at Humpty Doo, Barra Shack and Didjeridoo Hut. All were very disappointing. My hubby was determined to take me to Berry Springs and as we didn’t have unlimited kilometres we decided to spend the afternoon there rather than go out for the day another time. On the way we went past a burn off. They had the sign that there was smoke haze ahead. It was not smoke haze – it was very thick smoke and we couldn’t see the front of the car let alone anything ahead. It was very scarey. Hubby slowed down and said he was worried that someone would go into the back of us. Not too far on we hit another thick smoke patch for a longer period and then a third that was the worst of the lot. It was dangerous and we were not comfortable driving through it. In addition with windows closed we were smelling and breathing in smoke.

Berry Springs was just glorious.

One could truly spend the day here. The springs were just delightful and the water temperature was just right.

The two rock pools were nice as well. What a beautiful swimming hole so close to Darwin.

On our way back at Noonamah we were pulled up as there was a bad accident ahead. After a while they let us through. The accident had happened on the road going south where the burn off was taking place. In some places the flames were quite close to the road. It was an eight car pile up involving 17 people. Having experienced going through that so called haze earlier today we were not surprised to see the accident. Luckily there were no fatalities.

DAY 38 FROM SOUTH TO NORTH - TOP END (NORTHERN TERRITORY) TRIP

1 June 2010

DARWIN - LITCHFIELD

It is the first day of winter and believe it or not this morning the air felt fresh. Humidity was gone. Actually with all that was happening yesterday we didn’t notice the weather but the humidity was gone already yesterday. It looks like the dry season has come.

Today I felt more in shock about yesterday’s events than yesterday. I just have to accept that I am here not down south and there is nothing I can do to help either family or in relation to the break in.

So in the little Toyota Yaris that we hired we headed for Litchfield National Park. There is a catch with hiring cars here. You cannot get one with unlimited kilometers and you cannot go on dirt roads even if you hire a 4WD. So you are very limited in where you can go. It is also very different travelling along the savanah woodlands in a little car as opposed to our high Oka. In the Oka I feel I can absorb what I am seeing, take in the variation in the environment as we travel through it. Sitting low I felt like everything was flitting past.  I couldn’t see into the environment – I was just catching an edge of it.

After seeing photos of Litchfield I was expecting it to be lush tropical looking along the way and not savanah country. Whilst the vegetation did change somewhat along the road, except at the waterholes, it was mainly savanah woodlands.

The cathedral termite mounds were huge – 5-6 metres tall.  Hubby thinks I am obsessed with these termite mounds.

The magnetic termite mounds were generally a greyer colour and not so tall but just as captivating.

The highlight was seeing Wangi Falls.  They were just so spectacular and the water was coming down with great force.

We walked to the treetop lookout through tall tropical vegetation.

A pity you couldn’t go for a swim in the pool in front of the falls.

Buley Rockhole was so inviting for a swim. We had a look at it on the way up to Wangi and then stopped to sit in the water here on the way back.

All the falls are so different. The walk up to Tolmer Falls was interesting.

The view over the trees into the distant flat lowlands was in contrast with Litchfield surrounds.

I was sorry we could not get to the Lost City as it was a dirt track to get there and our rental could not go along it. I am curious what sort of rocks they would be as on the walk to Tolmer Falls, not that far from the Lost City there were some very interesting pinkish rocks.

Florence Falls was different again. Not as spectacular as Wangi but a nice, restful place.

At Batchelor I had the chance to visit the butterfly farm.

Turtles sunbaked

as butterflies flitted around. It was just so serene and beautiful.

On the way back we could see burn offs starting. As soon as the wet is over they burn off before the dry season gets fully underway.

DAY 37 FROM SOUTH TO NORTH - TOP END (NORTHERN TERRITORY) TRIP

31 May 2010


DARWIN

If things were not already bad the day kept bringing sad news or bad news as it progressed.
- a friend had died last night,
- there are delays in getting the gear box,
- someone backed into us whilst we were parked,
- our house in Canberra was broken into,
- within 24 hours both 2 year old grandsons in hospital – one in Canberra one in Comma, one bit through his lip whilst the other burnt himself with deep tissue damage to his arm.
You wouldn’t believe it if anyone told you that all this could happen to someone in one day.

In the morning I checked our emails and found out that a member of my friendship group had passed away on Sunday. Before I left Canberra I knew she was ill but it still came as a jolt. The passing of a life always has a sobering affect on one especially as they were still in the prime of their life.    Prue will be missed greatly by many especially her family. My thoughts go out to her husband and daughters.

In the morning we went out to Palmerston to lodge our application for permits to Cobourg Peninsula. After returning to the car we were checking out where we were heading next. As our car can only travel up to 40 km per hour we try to keep off the busy roads at peak times and try to find alternate routes at other times. As we sat in the car we felt an almighty big jolt. Something had hit it. I jumped out and there was a car driving away from us. A passerby indicated that the car had hit our car. So I flagged it down. She tried to tell me that she had not hit us. Her brand new peugot had a mighty dent in the top of her boot.  The passerby gave us her name as a witness and strongly recommended we go to to the police station at the end of the car park and notify them of the accident which we did.   Our Oka does not even have a scratch. So we were very lucky.

We decided to hire a car for three days so we could get out more and see some of the places. So we caught a bus into town and had a good look around before going to pick the car up when I get a call from our housesitter. Our house had been burgled – every thing had been turned upside down in the bedrooms. What do we do – we are here – the house is a mess and who can work out what has been taken. What a shock! I rang the insurance company organised for notification of what was stolen to be lodged when we came back.

I then rang our son to see if he could go over and see what could be done. He tells me that last night they had taken their 2 year old son to hospital as he had fallen and cut right through his lip. It should be stitched but they couldn’t do it as the local anaesthetic wouldn’t take. So they had to take him back again today.  Because of where he cut the lip they have to try and get both sides of the lip to align themselves or he could look disfigured in the future as he grows and his face changes.

Then a little later in the evening my daughter rings to tell me that her 2 year old son has just burnt hmself and has been taken to the hospital and has 3rd degree burns on his arm.

It was not our day today.

DAYS 34-36 FROM SOUTH TO NORTH - TOP END (NORTHERN TERRITORY) TRIP

28-30 May 2010

DARWIN

We’ve accepted the inevitable and have settled down to enjoy our stay and make the best of the situation. I just wish the weather was different. I don’t mind the temperature being in the 30s – lovely. It is the humidity that is unbearable. It must be in the high 90s. Our clothes are constantly drenched with sweat and clinging to our skin.

We’ve relaxed at the caravan park. Doing the washing is quite a feat here. You need to cue to get a washing machine and then there is the challenge of drying your clothes. There is no breeze and there is so much moisture in the air that nothing dries. As the day progresses the humidity increases and then there is a down pour. So you need to get the washing off the line before the rain hits. Well I got the washing off the line one day in time before the rain and hung some in the car and draped the rest over chairs and table in our eating/relaxation tent. We left the caravan park to go on a tour and when we came back everything in the tent was dripping wet. So we had to get the water out and try to dry it again.

I am told there are cane toads around but I have not seen them. But these quite little ones hang around each night.

We went on an interesting tour - The Spectacular Jumping Crocodile cruise. We were picked up from the caravan park and were driven in a mini bus out to Adelaide River. On the way the bus broke down so they organised a taxi mini bus to take us the rest of the way. Due to the delays we had a very short time at the Window on the Wetlands Visitor Centre. It did give us a good overview of the the wetlands.

Then we went onto the cruise on the Adelaide River. We had seen salt water crocodiles on the Lower Ord River. There they had been basically sitting on the bank of the river. Here though they were everywhere in the water.

You think that there is nothing in the water and then a croc appears swimming towards the boat.

Close up some had very distinct individual features. Some were throught to be about 100 years old.

One had lost part of it jaw and you could see its front teeth – very menacing look.

And did they jump!

This one jumped way above the open window that I was at.

I would not feel safe in a tinnie in these waters.

As we cruised on the river birds soared above.

Cruising along this beautiful river who would think that such dangerous creatures to man are in abundance swimming around here.

Another day we spent just catching up on chores, going to Bunnings to get a sheet of sunshade to be used as a large mat outside and a replacement fly screen for one of the windows. You use the shade cloth doubled over and all the muck falls between the openings and you have a lovely comfortable surface to walk on under the annex.

Sunday saw us going to the beautiful St Mary’s Star of the Sea Cathedral. It was nice and cool inside with lovely stained glass windows.

We dropped in on the information centre to get information on public bus services. The service again was appalling as we waited for 85 minutes to be served. They only had two people on. Being a weekend and tourist season this was appalling. Many people gave up waiting and just left. The only compensation is that Darwin is so lovely. There is lots of public art works throughout the city.

The walkway from the Waterfront towards the city is interesting.

Along the way there was the ruin of the Town Hall. Whilst it survived the bombing of Darwin, Cyclone Tracey wiped it out.

We went to Survivors Lookout.

The Watefront from here I think is imposing rather than impressive . To the left in front of the Convention Centre above is the wave pool. You look down on the waterfront and can then make your way down by lift.

We visited the World War 2 Oil Storage Tunnels nearby.  There was interesting story boards along the length of one tunnel.

We drove to Stokes Hill Wharf to join every other tourist it seems to feast on local barramundi and chips on. The setting was lovely and relaxing and the barra was delicious. The servings were huge.

After lunch we drove along the shoreline at low tide

on our way to East Point. Here we stopped to have a lok at the Military Museum. It is a very interesting museum covering the bombing of Darwin during World War 2.

I found that I knew so little before coming here about the events that unfolded up here in the north. There were 243 people killed and over 400 wounded during the bombing of this city. A long string of buoys was laid across the harbour to protect it from submarines.

We read stories of survival. In one case a pilot got back on ‚a wing and a prayer‘. He only had one wing left when he landed. Interesting artifacts from the period were on display. This mobile workshop captured by imagination.

In the evening we met up with the new owners of Oka 397 Phil and Lee. They very genereously invited us to spend the evening with them and even picked us up from our campsite. We had a most fabulous time, a delicious meal and I believe new friendsips have been forged.