Kununurra and Wyndham

After a week in the Discovery Caravan Park in Kununurra waiting for some repairs to the truck, we have it back and will be on the road again tomorrow morning, Sunday 29 July (Happy Birthday, Susan for today the 28th). We expect to be in Broome in about 3 days.

Even though we have been "grounded", it has been a pleasant park to spend the week. We have had a site with a concrete pad so put the full annexe up, and I have finished another painting of Carnarvon Gorge (Qld) and blocked in another paint sketch of a view across the lake here.

To give the truck a run today without the van, we went across to Wyndham and visited that old port town, on the Cambridge Gulf, went up to the famous Five Rivers Lookout and out to Parrys Lagoons (Marlgu Lagoon) - a very pleasant day. Here are some more photos:

Mountains behind the Lake in Kunurra, morning light - this plus info from some other images is the subject for another painting

Parrys Lagoon near Wyndham - such a beautiful place and alive with birds

A couple of Brolgas - note the round nut or bulb one has in its beak. They were eating a few of these

Massed Water Lillies

Looking at the photo tonight,we wondered if the stirred up mud indicated a croc. We didn't notice it at the time but when I visited this place 17 years ago I actually saw a very big crocodile here.

The Kakadu Experience

We debated about going into Kakadu - negative stories abound. It was very hot and we intended to camp in one of the National Park campsites, without power, at a central point and travel around to some selected sites over a couple of days. M did some homework on the brochures and we decided to avoid the expensive boat tours and instead follow some of the Ranger's talks and presentations. That proved to be a good decision.

We visited Nourlangie Rock, walking and climbing and listening to the Ranger, and she was very good, then attended an evening outdoor talk and slideshow right next to us where we were camped. The initial presentation, before dark, was by a female aboriginal Ranger, helped by her two kids, about bush tucker and healing plants and other cultural practices - very well done and interesting. Darkness came in quickly and the talk and slideshow about crocodiles and buffalo shooters was presented by a Ranger named Andy - a rough diamond but great to listen to. We were camped about 100 metres from the East Alligator River, by the way, and one of the stories was about a croc that travelled through the camp one night on its way to the river from a dried up waterhole up behind. A visiting American saw it and asked this same Ranger was that normal.

The second day we had an early start to go right up to Ubirr, next to the border of Arnhem Land, for more climbing and a series of talks, similar to Nourlangie, about the rock art. We found these very interesting. The end of day 2 was taken up by a walk out along the boardwalk at Yellow Water Lagoon, led by a Ranger guide, the same girl from Nourlangie.

In the end, we really enjoyed the visit to Kakadu. We moved on from there back to Katherine for a night in a van park to recharge the electrics and stock up with food and water, then across through Victoria River and into Western Australia, where we are now, at Kununurra.

Here are some more pictures:

Nourlangie Rock, framed by a bloodwood

One of the dreamtime stories

Namarrgon the Lightning Man is the figure depicted on the top right, with the stones on his elbows and kneecaps, to make the thunder

The big overhanging rock above the gallery at Ubirr - very imposing

A depiction of a thylacene in this gallery at Ubirr, dated very old and indicative that these roamed this area a long time ago

A rock wallaby just near the gallery

The last bit of the climb to the lookout at Ubirr

The view from the lookout, looking North across the floodplains with the Arnhem Land escarpment in the background

This relates to the painting below

A lesson in good behaviour!

Some information at the Yellow Water Lagoon, for the kids

Barra Fishing in the Top End

What a great day - our last day in Darwin! We got a few barramundi, and I know our skill is legendary, but it was so easy ... had to throw the lures well and retrieve with great cunning, then fight them to the bank, with great leaps out of the water (the fish) and then hold them just right for the photo .. the only thing a bit different from what I expected was the long rectangular shapes of the billabongs ....

Here are a couple of photos for evidence-

74 cm - nearly 5kgs

Looks bigger, but that comes from long arms!

Top marks for a great day to our hosts Adam, Sarah and Jarod at their "FlickingFresh Barra" enterprise at Berry Springs. Have a look at their website www.reelbrainfood.com  -and the smoked barra fillets that we took back to the van were something else!

P.S. and no crocodiles anywhere to be seen

PPS. Mango smoothies at an adjacent farm to die for not to mention a swim in Berry Springs - not too hot and not too cold and not too many people either .. M.

Katherine and Darwin NT

We moved on from Elsey National Park (the sprinklers and the wild donkeys, plus a couple of swims in the hot springs), to Katherine. We had 3 nights in Shady Lane Caravan Park and the 3 gorges boat trip on Katherine Gorge. We had the truck windscreen replaced in Katherine - it had a stone chip in it before we left and I thought about replacing it, but pleased I didn't because the one I got in Queensland was bigger and started to crack in Katherine. Anyway, the new one is sure better to look through!

After Katherine we went on to the Howard Springs Caravan Park in Darwin. It has been great here, but so hot! We went to Mindil Markets on Thursday evening and a dinner cruise on Darwin Harbour last night (Friday}. We are going down to Berry Springs tomorrow for a night and for M to catch a barramundi (at a fish farm!) on Monday, and then to Kakadu for a day or two, before back to Katherine and west to Western Australia. We want to be in Broome by the end of July.

Here are some photos-

On the cruise boat in Katherine Gorge - M one row back. Note the aboriginal tour guide driving the boat in the back. He was really great!

Colours on the gorge wall. The floods in the wet can be really high here.

Poppie looking very dapper (at least I thought so!)

Reflections in the gorge.

From the cruise boat "Cape Adieu" in Darwin Harbour, afternoon light.

Sunset over the Arafura Sea.

Elsey National Park NT

This is a little 10" x 12" sketch painting of the billabong on the Georgina River at Camooweal where we camped for a few days before crossing into the Northern Territory. I have some fabulous photos as well to do a big painting when we get home, especially of those horses that came down to drink and feed on the water lillies each day. That's a coolibah in the right foreground. There are also 2 brolgas on the island.

After coming into the Northern Territory and camping at a bore on the Barkley Tableland, we stayed overnight at the 3 Ways Roadhouse (on Wednesday 4 July to watch the State of Origin) then on the next night to the campground behind the Daly Waters Pub for the 'beef and barra' dinner and the live entertaintment afterwards (and it certainly was 'live' .. a laugh a minute and some good singing and bush poetry). We shared a table here with Klaus and Gisela - originally German for sure but a long time living in the hinterland behind the Sunshine Coast in Qld. We ran into Klaus and Gisela, travelling in a motorhome, twice more over ensuing days, once at "Fran's Devonshire Teas" at Larrimah and again at the hot springs at Mataranka. We also met a couple from North Haven at the Daly Waters pub who promised to say hello to my sisters at Laurieton!

After all this high living we retreated to a peaceful campsite at Elsey National Park for 3 days, and we have since moved on to Katherine, here for a few days then on to Darwin.

Here are a couple of photos from the Elsey camp-

Our campsite in the Elsey - there were a series of grassed areas and you could choose a bay around them, a really good arrangement to let you get the right aspect for the sun. The only problem to deal with was the big sprinklers that came on from1.30 to  3.00pm daily (you found this out later,usually), hence the little blue tarp!

This is the view from behind the tarp!

Into the Northern Territory

We left Camooweal Billabong on Tuesday 3 July and crossed into the Northern Territory via the Barkley Highway. The wind was blowing hard, fortunately mostly behind us. We drove 213 km, not a lot for the day but reached our intended campsite at Wonorah Bore by 3.30pm and quit. The spot (pictured above) was very pretty and we had the sunny west side sheltered from the wind. By sundown there were at least a dozen other rigs camped around us.

A couple of photos for John and Jill - This is the spot where we camped a few years ago and enjoyed watching the zebra finches come in for a drink at the bore at sundown. Sadly, no windmill, no bore, no water now.

 

 

We moved on early next morning and stopped at Three Ways Roadhouse (to watch the Origin - bad luck about that 1 point loss for NSW!). From there we have come to the  Daly Waters Pub for the "show" and tomorrow on to the next destination. More in the next post, probably Saturday.

Camooweal Billabong

A quiet day at the billabong camp - R painting while M is writing a poem, watching the activities and talking with camping neighbours. We are moving on tomorrow, crossing into the NT.
Here are a couple of photos:

So many birds -these are corellas

A mob of horses came down to drink  (and eat some of the water lillies). There were cattle came in too,but these were on our side. We kept clear of those!

It was nice in the sun, but very windy (hence the makeshift shelter)

To the Camooweal Billabong

A couple for the grandkids who are Thomas enthusiasts - we were caught at a train crossing at Winton waiting for a cattle train - waiting a long time!

It continues..

Another photo from Winton - M is the swaggie

 The landscape over these last few travelling days has ranged from treeless plains with straw coloured grasses waving in the wind to hilly red crags of mesas with sparse scrubby vegetation.  We've passed very healthy looking paddocks to dry rocky ground.  Today the roadside vegetation was so beautiful with the silvery wavy spinifex with its cushiony base creeping out towards the road mingled with russet brown and pinky coloured grasses with  yellow pea bushes and wattle in the next level back.  Silvery grey trees became predominant and it was lovely to see the leaves waving in the breeze against the red rocks around. Could go on....M.

It's Sunday 1 July 2012 and we have moved on to the Camooweal Billabong, a free camp on the bank of the Georgina River. Camooweal now advertises itself as an "RV Friendly Town", encouraging the multitudes of self-contained vans and motorhomes to stop in or near their town. It is a whole new attitude that we are seeing a lot of.

The camp spot here is really beautiful. A few kilometres down a dirt road just over the bridge out of town, and then pick your spot along the high banks amongst dozens of other rigs, nicely spaced out,overlooking billabongs on the river full of bird life.

Here are a couple of photos. We will spend a couple of days here.

Camped by the billabong, not quite under but near the coolabah tree!

The billabong, complete with brolgas, ducks, herons etc etc., and a small mob of horses that came down for a drink on the opposite side on sundown