Broome to Ningaloo

As promised last blog post I am writing this from the shores adjacent to the crystal clear waters of Ningaloo Reef, where we have finally slowed down to a more relaxed tourist pace.  There really isn’t very much along the 635 km from Broome to Port Headland, so after leaving Broome, we sampled the delights of the North Western Highway, stopping off for a night a the southern end of 80 mile beach.  We veered into Port Headland for some cheap fuel and to check out the enormous iron ore boats in the port – I port that I helped to build I might add … well in a very tangential way, by reviewing some of the approvals documentation BHP.  Unless you earn a squillion dollars working for a mining giant or are locked up as an asylum seeker, there isn’t much to keep you in Port Headland, so we motored south-west into Millstream Chichester National Park.

This park is less well known than its nearby cousin Karajini, but we really enjoyed our 2-night stay.  The park is well within the tropical arid zone, and so we were treated to some spectacular Spinifex dominated scenery.  We did a couple of walks, saw some good birds and camped by the Fortescue River.  DEC has recently been upgrading the park and as part of the interpretation, they have developed MCNP FM – a radio station that broadcasts information about the park – we tuned in and it was really quite interesting and well done.  From MCNP we trucked south for another 600+ km and finally hit Exmouth, the gateway to Ningaloo Reef.

We had one night in Exmouth to get organised before heading into Cape Range National Park.  I had been to this one for “work” early in 2010, and was really excited.  Basically, we spent three days snorkelling off the beach, chasing birds and chilling out in some cooler weather (finally).  The snorkelling really was great – and just so easy to flop in off the beach.  We had a bit of a science geek moment when we both saw the species that we did our honours projects on – Black-footed Rock Wallabies for Luke and Stylophora pistillata (a coral) for me.  Cape Range NP is adjacent to the northern part of Ningaloo, and since we wanted to experience as much as possible, we took the scenic 4WD track 150 km south to Coral Bay at the southern end of the reef.

Coral Bay is just a sleepy little beachside tourist town with two caravan parks and not much else.  We booked on a diving and snorkelling with manta rays tour and had an amazing day.  The first dive site was ok and we saw a handful of potato cod and a group of three large lion fish hanging around in a cave.  We had a humpback whale and her calf swimming around at the site, and Luke got a very fleeting glance of something very large and white while we were under the water!  Once back on the surface, we got a really great look at the whales who were cruising along very close.  We then went off in search of manta rays.  We found a couple that we managed to follow for a while and one was doing summersaults whilst feeding.  The others were cruising lazily, but were too fast for us mere humans on snorkel and they got away after a few minutes.  The second dive was at a great site with really high coral cover and diversity.  It was also the location of a reef shark cleaning station and at one point I counted seven of them.  We also saw dolphins, turtles, lots of fish and seabirds. 

Now we are both pooped and are off for dinner at the local seafood restaurant and then I’m sure it’ll be an early night.  Heading south from here to Shark Bay, so next blog will be from there with more tales of maritime adventures.

Click here for photos

Darwin to Broome

We’ve had a whirlwind two-week trek from Darwin across the Kimberly to Broome.  Heading out from Darwin we spent two days exploring the wonderful swimming holes throughout Litchfield National Park.  While we really enjoyed the swimming, especially given the ever-increasing temperatures, we couldn’t bring ourselves to agree with those that think Litchfield is better than Kakadu.  We then headed south to Pine Creek, a funny little ex-goldmining town, hunting Hooded Parrots (with success).  This is also where we saw our first really storm of the wet season – it really chucked it down for a couple of hours in the evening.  Luckily Troopy’s canvass is holding up well. It was then down to Katherine to restock and have one last dip in the springs before swinging west.  On the way to the WA border we stopped off for a night each in Gregory and Keep River National Parks, which both have amazing sandstone escarpments.  We would have loved to spend longer, but when it is still 32oC at 9 pm, you know that it is time to seek cooler climes!

Our crossing into WA marked entry into the final mainland state/territory of our trip and Luke’s visit to all eight (I still have Tassie to go).  We headed up to Wyndham searching for Gouldian Finches, but didn’t see any.  From there it was a long day in the car down to Purnululu National Park, home to the world heritage listed Bungle Bungle Range.  What an amazing landscape – hundred meter high red and black stripped domes – my attempt at a description wouldn’t do the site any justice but our photos should just about give you the idea.  We then trucked on – our strategy was to drive for 300-400 km per day at about 80-90 km/hour to maximise our time in the air-conditioned comfort of the Troops (thank goodness we got that fixed before leaving Sydney!!).  On the way to Broome we stopped off at Windjana Gorge, Tunnel Creek (natural air-conditioning in a cave where we spent 4 hours reading our books on the picnic blanket) and Derby.  In Derby we ran into a group of the oh-so-controversial asylum seekers, being held in Curtain Detention Centre.  We didn’t really chat to them due to the language barrier, but had an interesting discussion with one of their escorts about the pros and cons of the governments various migration policy (his main take on the issues was bring on the boats, because it meant more very well paid work for him!!).

We’ve spent the last 5-days in Broome and have really enjoyed it.  Firstly, it really cools down here overnight, which is just lovely.  We mooched around town for a few days and enjoyed being at the beach, having coffee and going out for dinner.  We also watched the ill-fated rugby world cup semi-final in a bar that was full of kiwis, so had to cheer for the Aussies very quietly!  We have spent the last two days out at Broome Bird Observatory mixing it up with the 20,000+ migratory shorebirds that have arrived recently from Siberia.  We’ve done some great twitching and have actually managed to id some waders, thanks to the lone of a spotting scope from the observatory.  Tomorrow we are doing some mist netting with the guys that run the place and will have a final twitch at the golf course and sewerage ponds in town before hitting the road south.  We’re planning to travel the ~1400 km south to Exmouth over the next few days, so next blog will be from the crystal clear waters of Ningaloo Reef.

Oh, nearly forgot the Big Croc in Wyndham (check the big things page).  Other photos are on flikr.

Click here for photos

Kakadu and Nitlimuk National Parks

After our relatively fast paced trek from the east coast to central Australia, we have slowed right down to enjoy the national parks of The Top End.  Our first stop was Nitlimuk NP just outside of Katherine.  The most famous and accessible part of the park is Katherine Gorge, where we stayed for three days.  Luckily the only accommodation option at the gorge is the caravan park with a “resort-style pool”.  Normally, we would avoid such places, but given the temperatures were reaching a very hot and sticky 38-39oC, we were very pleased that we didn’t have any other options.  Despite the heat we managed to explore Katherine Gorge, both on foot and in a canoe, doing early morning bush walks on two days and then canoeing up the first three gorges (there are 13).  Our last night at the gorge was somewhat traumatic, as a group of about 200 Victorian school kids descended on the caravan park.  Troopy was quite concerned for her safety, since their tents looked suspiciously like Darleks (from Dr Who), and I had to fight my way through mascara, lip stick, hair driers and hair straightening tongs to get to a sink in the ladies.  We were pleased to move on to the lovely swimming spot at Edith Falls, which is in the northern section of Nitlimuk NP.  The scenery in both the gorge and at Edith Falls was quite spectacular – see photos on flikr. 

Next stop was the world famous Kakadu NP, where we spent five days.  We could have easily stayed longer, except that the heat was really becoming oppressive and we felt that we needed to retreat to Darwin and some air conditioning.  Each part of Kakadu was different and amazing, so I’ve detailed each spot below.  Overall, we really enjoyed Kakadu and both felt a deep appreciation and awe for the amazing natural wonders and the ongoing connection between the country and its traditional owners.

Gumlom – our first stop in Kakadu was at the base of a large waterfall with a clear plunge pool at the bottom.  We spent the first afternoon frolicking in the swimming hole and chatting to German tourists who were traumatised after the 37 km stretch of (not too bad) dirt road into the campground (while we were suitably sympathetic to their faces, we rolled our eyes behind their backs and decided the autobahns were making the Germans very soft).  First thing the next morning, we trekked up the side of the waterfall to check out the amazing view of southern Kakadu from the top. 

Yellow Water – the cruise on the wetland here had been recommended to us by several sources, and so we decided to take up the bargain offer of doing two cruises for only $20 extra.  We did both a sunset and sunrise cruise and were rewarded with amazing views out over the wetland, great birding and some up-close croc sightings.  We also went to the Aboriginal Cultural Centre, which was simply excellent – really interesting stories and very well done interpretation.

Jim Jim Falls – Troopy was excited about some 4WD action again as we travelled down to Jim Jim Falls.  The road wasn’t actually too bad, and we decided that Luke’s old Subaru would have made it apart from one muddy spot (where Troopy nearly got stuck on the way out!!).  The falls themselves and surrounding gorge were spectacular, with a clear green plunge pool at the base of 150 m high surrounding cliffs.  The walk in was a bit of a challenge, with 500 m of scrambling over large rocks and boulders in the ~40oC heat.

Nourlangie Region – we made the mistake of having a lazy start this morning and didn’t make it to Anbangbang wetland until around 11 am.  We decided to do the 2.5 km loop walk despite the heat – big mistake!  We (more me than Luke, but I’m telling the story) got very hot and bothered and cranky.  We did see some good birds and a croc being stared down by a group of ducks.  Later in the afternoon we checked out some of the Aboriginal rock art in the region and listened to talks by one of the rangers.  It was really great to be able to see the art and to hear the associated Dreaming stories – one about Lightning Man who continues to keep an eye out from the Arnhem Land escarpment and another about forbidden love.

Ubirr – we had some more croc action at Cahill’s Crossing, which is a crossing into Arnhem Land over the East Alligator River.  This section of the river is tidal and we watched the river level at the crossing rise around 30 cm in about 45 mins and a cop car nearly get swept away trying to cross at a river height of ~0.6 m.  The crocs (some quite large) gather on the incoming tide and swim around with their mouths open with the hope of catching a barra or mullet.  The most we saw them catch were sticks, but they were menacing nevertheless.  Ubirr is just up the road from Cahill’s Crossing and is a renowned rock art site.  We had a great experience there – appreciating the art, spotting some rock wallabies, seeing a thunderstorm threaten to start the wet and hiking up to a high point and having an amazing 360 degree view over the East Alligator River floodplain and Arnhem Land escarpment (see Luke’s panorama shot on flikr).  The following morning we did two bushwalks through the stone country and monsoon forest.

We are now in Darwin, where we have treated ourselves to a hotel room for four days.  The air conditioning has been a blessing!!  We are off again tomorrow heading south to Litchfield NP and then slowly west towards WA.  Photos of the above adventures are on flikr and the one below is of the painting that we splurged on – My Country by Janet Long, one of her Water Dreaming series.

Click here for photos on flikr

Into the Never Never

We have now entered our entered the sixth state/territory of our journey and are just a couple of hundred kms off the 20,000 km mark (we are deliberately not looking at the total fuel cost to get this far).  Things started to get hot almost as soon as we crossed the NT border and we haven’t had a day less than 35oC since leaving Qld!  But before I get ahead of myself, I must write something about Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill) National Park, which is currently taking out the top spot on our favourite places list. 

The park is on the Qld-NT border, about 150 km south of the Gulf.  It is described as an oasis in the surrounding Gulf country desert, and while I am usually very sceptical about such self-aggrandising claims, I really do have to agree in this instance.  The 500 km drive from Karumba to Lawn Hill travels through some very flat, very dry, very grazed and very monotonous country.  Then, all of a sudden, a large gorge appears.  Once inside the gorge the country is greener and cooler with a river running in between 30+ meter high sandstone cliffs.  We camped right next to the river at the national park campsite.  We managed to overlap by one night with our fellow 30-something nomading friends and had a great time comparing travels tales and blowing our beer rations!  We then did every bushwalk on offer, canoed up the gorge (and made friends with a freshwater croc “Fred the Freshie”) and swam and inner tubed down the river.  We also added some great new birds to the list, including the Arafura Fantail and the Purple-crowned Fairy Wren.  It truly was a delightful few days.

After leaving our oasis, we had one more night in Qld.  Troopy decided to voice her objection about leaving Qld by cracking her engine pipe (exhaust) about 150 km shy of the border.  A quick trip to the mechanic in Doomagee reassured us that we would be ok to keep going to a larger place for repairs but we might soon need ear plugs!!  With that in mind, we pushed on along the dirt for the 450 km across the Territory border into Borroloola.  By this stage, Troopy was sounding like the most fully sick, hotted up boy racer car you could ever possibly wish for.  Borroloola wasn’t really somewhere we wanted to get stuck waiting for parts and so we roared (literally) on towards Katherine – 600 km away.  Along the way we had a few great stops at a Lost City (amazing weathered sandstone formations) and the springs near Mataranka.  One spot called Bitter Springs was particularly fun.  There was a swimming trail about 200 m long where we jumped in with mask and snorkel and floated down to the exit point.  The water bubbles up through underground limestone caverns and so is crystal clear and around 30oC.  Needless to say, we spent a lot of time floating around there.  We also had a quick stop at the Mataranka Homestead and spent a couple of hours whiling away the heat of the day watching “We of the Never Never” – the movie based on the Jeanie Gunn novel about life up here in the 1900s.  Ordinary movie, interesting story – we are going to try and find the book.

Now we are in Katherine and Troopy has a flash new engine pipe.  Tomorrow we head off (in stealth mode, we are now so quiet) to Katherine Gorge, where we are planning more bushwalking and canoeing.  Photos of the adventures described above are on flikr.  The photo below is of Luke acting like a Qld local – oh how the mighty can fall!!

Click here for Lawn Hill to Katherine photos

Go west!

The Atherton Tablelands were a cool and lush retreat from the dust and heat of Cape York and so we spent a couple of days relaxing there.  We did some of the many highlights including seeing the Curtain Fig and swimming at Lake Eacham.  We had some great free camp spots and at one we were under the daily flight path of thousands of Magpie Geese and Whistling Ducks, which was quite a spectacle. 

                       

From Atherton we embarked on The Savannah Way – the road which extends for about 3700 km from Cairns to Broome.  First stop was Undara Volcanic Park.  We took the poor peoples’ option and did some bush walks to see the lava tubes from the top rather than going inside (which is apparently quite cool, so we’ve put that on the list for future trips when we are more financially viable).  After that it’s the long push across Queensland to Lawn Hill National Park, which is pretty much on the Qld-NT border. 

Along the way we passed through Normanton, which is home to Krys the Savnnah Croc.  Krys is a replica of the largest recorded, 8.4 m long croc that was shot (by a Polish woman) in the 1970s and I can fit comfortably in its mouth (see photos)!!  Normanton is also the home to another Big Barra, so compare Daintree Village vs Normanton’s Barras on the big things page.  We’re currently having a 2-day pit stop in Kurumba on the Gulf of Carpentaria.  The sunsets here are amazing (we reckon they rival Santorini), and so tonight we are off on an afternoon bird watching, sunset appreciating and prawn eating cruise (the Gulf is the heart of the Qld prawn industry and so the sunset cruise comes with the usual wine and cheese but also prawns – yum!).

Click here for photos

Cape York - the way down

The way down from the tip of Cape York was adventure filled!  We decided to travelled fairly quickly back down to civilisation, so that we can push west before the wet season.  That plan was going well on the first day and we made it from the top down to the beautiful waterfalls and creeks around the northern bypass road.  We spent the afternoon splashing around in the water and being entertained by people who got bogged taking the tricky route across the creek we were camped by. 

The next day we were feeling quite intrepid and decided to do half of the southern section of the OTL, before hitting the bypass road.  This was going really well and both Troopy and Luke were performing well in 4WD.  We decided to pop our heads into Gunshot Creek, an infamously steep creek crossing on the southern OTL that hard core 4WD’ers attempt and sensible people drive around.  We were feeling quite brave and decided that it really wasn’t that hard core at all and we would just do it rather than going back and around.  Big mistake!!  Troopy got herself stuck on the way up the far side of the creek and no matter how much we manoeuvred, she just refused to drive up the hill.  So out came the winch.  The winch performed admirably and dragged Troopy up the hill without any dramas.  Phew!  We then packed up the recovery gear and went to get on our merry way … but, we’d turned the car off, forgetting that the winch is powered by the car battery, and now had no juice to start the car again.  Stuck again!!  So we waited, and waited, and 2½ hours later some people appeared on the other side of the creek.  Luckily they were also intrepid (and had a lighter weight car than Troopy) and were willing to cross the creek to give us a jumpstart (using both their car and second battery).  So what was meant to be a half hour diversion ended up taking over 4 hours – so much for a hasty trip south!  The silver lining of the story is that as Luke and the rescue blokes were jumpstarting Troopy, I was chatting to the woman about our respective adventures.  She mentioned that Moreton Telegraph Station had some semi-resident Palm Cockatoos and immediately my ears pricked up, since Luke still hadn’t seen his favourite bird.  Luckily, Moreton was only about an hour and a half from Gunshot Creek and so at 5:30 pm we pulled in.  Finally, after two weeks on the Cape, Luke (and I) saw a Palm Cockatoo – what an impressive bird.  We decided that it was fate that got Troopy stuck (not us) and went to bed happy after an eventful day.

The rest of the trip back to civilisation was uneventful, except for getting a big chip in the windscreen.  We arrived on the Atherton Tablelands happy and a bit weary after our Cape York adventures. 

A few photos of the trip down the Cape are on flikr, including Troopy’s adventures at Gunshot Creek.  Click here for photos

Cape York - the way up

We made it to the top of Australia!  The trip from Cairns to the Tip has taken two weeks and we’ve had lots of fun adventures along the way.  I have been keeping a few notes along the way to make sure that I didn’t forget our adventures.  And so I am going to be lazy and just type up my daily recollections.  I should note that this blog is doubling as a travel diary for us, as well as interesting (I hope) reading and photo viewing for everyone else.

19^th Aug: Left Cairns today, after a false start – we left the dive booties on the washing line at the caravan park and so had to double back.  Luckily we were only 30 km out of town.  Our destination was Daintree Village with a quick stopover to hunt for Cassowaries at Mossman Gorge (no luck – only saw some droppings).  Troopy got two more big things today – the (very) big Marlin in Cairns and the (not quite so) big Barramundi in Daintree.  Check the big things page for photos.

20^th Aug: Spent the day in the Daintree rainforest, doing a few short’ish walks between Daintree Village and Cape Tribulation.  There were heaps of other tourists around – about 50-50 split between German backpackers at the northern limit of their rental campervan range and Aussies in very dirty cars returning from the Cape.  Troopy is looking forward to resembling the latter soon.

21^st Aug: The Cape adventure began for real today.  Left the bitumen and travelled the Bloomfield Track from Cape Trip to Cooktown.  No worries for Troopy, but there were some very steep parts where low range was required to control her momentum down the hills.  Saw our first crocs in the Boomfield River (from a safe distance).  We also stopped for lunch and a beer (Luke’s first XXXX) at the iconic Lion’s Den.  We’re not quite sure what all the fuss is about.  Just a nice’ish outdoor pub.

22^nd Aug: Spent last night in Cooktown at a caravan park whose caretaker told me that I only believed in climate change because I am of “that generation” (not sure which one he was referring to) and had been brainwashed.  He also thought that the World Bank could confiscate our World Heritage Sites if we defaulted on our foreign debts, so it was an interesting conversation to say the least.  Cooktown was disappointing, as it resembled a bit of a ghost town.  Clearly the extension of the bitumen to the town hasn’t resulted in the tourist boom they were hoping for.  Great coffee at the botanic gardens, though.  Arrived in Lakefield National Park at a lovely camping spot at 12 Mile Crossing – check the photos, but I’m not sure they do the site justice.

23^rd Aug: Relaxing day at camp.  Did some good bird watching.  A dead fish washed up in the river within view of the camp and a family of Whistling Kites and another of Sea Eagles have been devouring it all day.

24^th Aug: Moved on to northern Lakefield NP.  Drove through the Nifold Plain, which is a treeless, grassy plain dotted with large termite mounds.  Amazing landscape.

25^th Aug: Left Lakefield NP and drove to Coen, our first “real” town of the Cape.  I can sum it up with the following observations – people are few and petrol is getting expensive.  Camped at a lovely spot in the dry riverbed just out of town.

26^th Aug: Moved on to our next national park – Mungan Kandju.  This one is a bit more off the beaten track, with a long’ish drive in to the first campsite.  We camped at Pandanus Lagoon, a wetland with lots of birds (and mozzies).

27^th Aug: Very hot, humid and mozzie filled day.  A little bit over the Cape today, but thank goodness for the solar shower.  So far we have gotten the following radio channels: Radio PNG, Radio NZ and less frequently, Radio National (???).

28^th Aug: Our spirits have been restored today with a stop at Archer River Roadhouse.  We have just chilled out in their grassy camping area after much needed showers and two loads of washing.  Had a small world moment when our neighbours turned out to be a family, whose Dad Luke worked with years ago at SA DEH – made plans to drop in when we’re in SA.  Troopy also make friends with a cow (see photos).

29^th Aug: Headed into Iron Range NP today.  This is a really interesting part of Oz, since it’s actually more like PNG than anywhere in Australia.  Iron Range is home to a whole stack of species that occur only there and in PNG, including Luke’s and my old favourite from PNG days, the Eclectus Parrot.  We camped at Chilli Beach and both the climate (hot, humid and threatening to rain) and the sounds and smells reminded us both of the PNG islands.  We witnessed an amazing spectacle this evening.  Just on dusk, flocks of starlings started flying in to a very small island just 100 m off the beach.  They just kept on coming and joining the ever growing flock, which swept and soared about the island, just like a strangely coordinated dance.  We estimated there were over 10,000 birds when the flock was at its biggest.  Luke tried for some photos, which give the idea, but again, don’t do the spectacle justice.

30^th Aug: Did a small day trip in Iron Range NP and went into the rainforest to go birding.  Our efforts were rewarded with some excellent birds including the Trumpet Manucode, Magnificent Riflebird (female), Frill-necked Monarch and our old friend the Eclectus Parrot.  All up we added 15 new species to our total bird list.  Luke is still looking for the Palm Cockatoo, though.  I should note that Chilli Beach itself was a bit gross – it smelt pretty sickly from rotting seaweed swept in off the nearby reefs and there was lots of rubbish washed up (I suspect washed in from the big floating plastic mass that circles the Pacific Ocean – check out the photos, which provide good incentive for all of us to think carefully about what we buy and how we dispose of it.  Ok, I’ll get off my high horse now J).

31^st Aug: A long day in the car today to cover some miles to get us closer to the Tip.  Left Iron Range NP and made it as far as Bramwell Junction.  This is where travellers make the choice between the hard core 4WD Old Telegraph Line or the Bypass Roads, which are less hard core, but very corrugated.  We hedged our bets and headed up the OTL to check out the first creek crossing.  We decided that it was a bit much for us and were worried that Troopy’s bull bar would bottom out on the very steep drop i.e. we chickened out.  Spent the night at the creek and will head to the Tip on the Bypass Roads tomorrow.

1^st Sept:  We reached the Top today, which coincidentally marks the anniversary of 5 months on the road.  We ended up doing a little bit of the northern section of the OTL to access Fruit Bat Falls, where we had a really, really nice swim.  To get back to the Bypass Rd we carried on along the OTL, doing 3 creek crossings that submerged Troopy up to the bull bar (which the height of my backside, for those that don’t know Troopy).  After this we headed straight for the top.  Troopy got us within 500 m and we then trudged up the spine of the very northern end of the Great Diving Range and took the obligatory photos at the Tip (see below).  Nice view over the Torres Strait from the top and we also spotted a couple of turtles in the channel.

2^nd Sept: Up until today, we have been totally without incident on our around Oz adventures.  But that all changed today when, within 10 minutes, Troopy got hit by a car and then totally bogged in sand!  We were travelling along a very soft sandy track and pulled over to let another car by.  They were gunning it through the sand, obviously trying not to get stuck, and unfortunately (for them) misjudged how fat their car was and clipped Troopy’s back bumper bar.  Luckily (for us) there was no damage to Troopy, but they got a ding in their front fender.  We carried on along the track, but had lost our momentum in pulling over and got totally stuck in the sand.  After letting the tyres down, digging the wheels out and pushing Troopy (both of us had a go, with Luke being more successful) we managed to free ourselves and escaped!  Interestingly, we were on the way to see the grave of Frank Jardine who was known by the locals as “debil, debil Jardine” because of his terrible treatment of the local Aborigines and Islanders.  Debil debil is said to haunt the area, so after the bingle and bogging we didn’t want to take any more risks and were hastily out of there without any more discussion about what a bastard Jardine sounded like!!

Tomorrow we are starting the return journey south, retracing some steps and also taking some new tracks.  We’re expecting to be in the Atherton Tablelands in about a week, so I’ll try for another update then.  In the meantime, some photos are on flikr.

Click here for photos