Windows on the Wetlands



 

28/5/2013 - Wangi Falls Camping Ground

 

Heading towards Darwin, we detoured into Litchfield National Park.  First stop was the magnetic termite mounds.  The termites make them to minimise the sun exposure - they are also pretty tall



 

 

We went to the camping area at Wangi Falls, and got the last camp site.  Set up the van, then went to the water fall and plunge pool for a swim, only to find it closed decause there was a croc spotted in there.  So, we had to jump in the car and went to the Cascades instead.  They were not that good, but there was a nice swimming hole, with a curtain waterfall to cool us off.  We did a bit of walking, and stream hoppingm plus a bit of relaxing

29/5/13 - Wangi Falls Camping Ground

Still in Litchfield, we wanted to go see Tjaynera falls but the 4WD road was closed due to flooding.  We went instead to see the "Lost City", which are rock pillars and structures that remain after the rest of the rocks have been eroded over time.

 

We went to see some other lookouts, and even "Tabletop Swamp", but as you may have guessed, are not that great.  What was great, was Buley Rockhole - These pools were clear and so deep.  Lidia was very happy with her natural infinity pool.

and a bit further down, a spa pool with masaging jets.  We spent the rest of the morning just trying all of the pools and waterfalls to find the best one.  We couldnt believe how deep some of these holes were.








Lidia Florence falls

Now, here is the funny bit.  This photo shows Lidia swimming in the pool below Florence falls.  The black fish like things around her, are freshwater black bream (called sooty grunters).  They really like to eat bread, so Lidia thought she would feed them. Teasing them a bit to make them jump out of the water to take the bread.  Some of these fish would be 30-40cm in length and there were loads of them.  Notice Lidia's blurey hand? and, the head of a larger fish still out of the water? Well, these fish have sharp teeth, and this one jumped out of the water and bit her finger.  Ha ha teaser. (I have other photos if anyone wants to see)









This place was nice to swim, and stay cool so we had lunch and spent a couple of hours just tooling around.  We then went back to campand Wangi Falls, and the pool was open again.  We went for a walk around the pool, and a refreshing swim. Lidia found a private heated spa pool, under the small waterfall and a couple of meters up the rock face.  It was too deep to touch, and only room for 2.

 

 

30/5/2013 - Boomerang Caravan Park in Darwin

 

 Packed up camp, and headed for Darwin. We stopped off at Berry Springs, which was horrible, as you can see from the photo:

Actually, it was beautiful, but what made it one of the worst places we had been, is that the pools were closed for swimming...

We kept driving, and stopped at a caravan park 20mins drive outside of Darwin. We went into Darwin City for a look and walked around a bit, to plan what we wanted to do.  We bought a replacement camera for our water damaged one, but this time it is water proof.  Can't wait to try it out

So stinking hot, but because we had a powered site this time, we slept with the AC on all night.  It just gets so cold we need blankets


31/5/2013 -Windows on the Wetlands

Went back into Darwin, and visited the wave pool.  This is a swimming pool, where they control the waves. They say there are 20 wave types, and they run 20 mins of waves with 10 mins of still pool.  Its good, but the waves are not like real ones,   These photos were taken with the new camera..  works pretty well in and out of water. Lidias sunglasses work underwater too

Next stop



















Next stop was Crocodylus Park.  Educational park where you can learn all about crocodiles.  They were feeding them by putting chunks of meat on a hanger then making the crocs jump out of the water to get it..  Pretty cool












You can poke them with a stick, and tease them with chunks of steak. Lidia really loves to tease animals (not). It's how you feed them.

Then they let you hold a baby salty.









They farm the salt water corcodiles here for leather and meat. The little croc Lidia is holding is on his way to become a handbag when he gets a bit bigger. The pens are jam packed full of crocs, all fighting for their space and position.  We noticed that the bigger ones were missing toes/fingers/feet etc, and the guy said, it is very rare for a corcodile to have all its digits and arms/legs because of all the fighting




They also have a mini zoo, with outher animals.

This photo just makes us laugh

 

and a HI-5'ing wallaby



Edith Falls

20/05/2013 - Spring Creek Rest Area

We were able to leave our caravan at the front of the caravan park and went for a drive around Halls Creek. The lady in the information centre told us to go and see the China Wall, Caroline Pool, Palm Springs and Sawpie Gorge. When you read the description of those places in the information book you are expecting something special for eg: “Palm Spring – 45km out of town is the spectacular Palm Springs. It is an oasis, complete with palm trees, a fresh water spring and an abundance of wildlife.” Imagine our surprise when we saw this - Lidia on the walking track at Palm Springs

 

 

We stopped at the free Spring Creek Rest Area. The place was surrounded by friendly bulls. The place was quite nice and in the shad, but it was still hot. We sat outside until it was nearly dark, and after then we decided to start up the generator and the air conditioner, and locked ourselves inside the caravan... it was much better

21/05/13 - Bungle Bungle Camping Ground

We left our free camping spot and drove for like 10min to the one of the most expensive places so far. And wasn’t even that nice. But because we didn’t sleep that well the night before we were happy to pay the $45.00 and run the air condition for the whole night  (and we did – it was so hot outside for the whole night, and we had to sleep with out doonas on inside cause the air cond was cranked)

The drive to the National Park was a 53km of 4WD. There were some rivers crossing with water in it and even mud roads. Nothing that stopped the Pathfinder.

Graham was winging (edit.  No he wasnt.  Graham doesnt winge, he simply informs)  that the road is not that rough enough until he noticed that we were missing the front number plates. Screws were still there and some small pieces of metal still attached to them. We were worried how we are going to get NSW plates in WA but luckily we found it on the way back. It must have been all of the corrugates that snapped the number plate off.

 

The Bungle Bungle Range is quite beautiful and worth all the driving. It is renowned for its striking sandstone domes, striped with orange and grey bands. There are couple of different gorges to visit. Our favourite was the Echidna Chasm. But the Mini Palm walk was the most challenging with large fallen rocks almost blocking the path.

Lidia Siting

Lidia Walking

 

 

 

 

22/05/13 - Lake Argyle Village
 

We left Purnululu National Park and headed toward Kununurra. First stop: Zebra Rock Gallery. Thought to be unique to a small area near Kununurra, this type sedimentary stone has unusual contrasting striped and spotted patterns, hence its name. At the gallery they shape and polish the stone into items ranging from jewellery to wine racks. 

We got some gifts, fed catfish and Lidia even found some dogs to play with. It was hot and humid again so we went to the shop and bought 12v fans for the caravan. There are a little bit noisy but at least we can sleep during the night. 

Graham tried some barramundi fishing at the Ivanhoe Crossing but without any luck.






Kununurra has not too much to offer so we decided to stay at the Lake Argyle Village. Just 45min drive from Kununurra. It was a smart decision. It wasn’t cheep but worth it. Lake Argyle is one of Western Australia’s most spectacular attractions and the largest freshwater resevoir in Australia, and the said that the run offthrough the dam would fill Sydney harbour in 5 hours.



Happy Lidia

We’ve been told to take a cruise to have a good, up close look at the lake. After checking some prices around, we booked the morning cruise from the resort. After than Graham went fishing below the dam and Lidia went for a swim in the infinity pool.

 

23/05/13 - Zebra Rock Mine Gallery &Campground

The morning cruise departure was at 8:45am but we had to pack up our caravan before than to move from the camping area.  Plus it was the first place after Coral Bay without the water restrictions so Graham was really keen on washing the car and the caravan. The good thing was they have a lot of place to park the caravan and it was a safe place too.

 The cruise on Lake Argyle was quite enjoyable and the tour guide was friendly but we were glad we did the short version. After a while it’s all the same. For sure it is a BIG lake. We did spot a lot of fresh water crocodiles and were quite surprise that those once were much bigger that the one we saw in the Windjana George. 



Happy Graham

After the cruise we went for a little drive around the Lake Argyle Village and Graham went to fish from the Ord river boat ramp.  We had a picnic at the park nearby and keep driving towards the border.









Crossing the border from WA to NT was easy. We didn’t even have to eat all our veggies and fruits supplies this time. We got the border picture and manage even get the WA as well.

After you cross the border you change time zone, loosing 1.5 hours. It felt like we almost lost the whole day.  We are finding the NT seems to be the most reasonable state so far.  National parts are free to enter, and minor prices for camping with excellent facilities. Their road signs are sensible,  and give a short description of the upcoming attraction, typically with 500m so you can make up your mind to stop or not. And the best part, 130km/h speed limits (not that it helps us with the caravan.

We decided to go camp at the Zebra Rock Mine Gallery and Campground just because they offer the most reasonable prices for fishing trips.  Graham called couple of places and they wanted a small fortune for a half day trips without even guaranties that you catch barramundi.

This place offers as well wetland and birdwatching safaris and is just $10.00 per person for unpowered sites, with toilets and showers, and even deliver firewood for a camp fire. The whole place is great.  The owners are so nice, flexible and relax it makes all those “caravanning” people more friendly. You can get fresh scones every day for “donation” and free tea and coffee. Their famous fish and chips are just delicious. And you don’t have to leave by 10.00am but whenever you feel like.

We tried some fosicking in the dry creek and after a 1 beer (half an hour) of looking we went to the gallery and bought some zebra rocks – it was easier.  They gave demonstrations on how to prepare and polish the rocks, so Graham is going to make his own stuff from the rock at home.

24/05/13 - Big Horse Creek Campground

We were a little bit afraid that Graham is going to overslept and miss the fishing trip - with the time change and all - so we set the alarm for 7.30m NT time. Can’t say that we woke up refresh (for us it was a 6.00am) but Graham went on the fishing trip and came back by lunch time with 6 silver cobblers behind his belt. He was hoping to catch more but the day was quite windy, and the lake was really quite rough. After lunch (fresh made scones with cream and jam) we packed up and headed toward Katherine. No photos sorry, to busy having fun

As it was late we didn’t make too far. The campground was at the Judbarra/Gregory National Park and next to Victoria River. And just $3.30 per person per night! We went to check the river to see if Graham can fish some more. There were some people fishing already but without any luck. Couple of them told us that the day before a crocodile - on the opposite bank of the river- caught a wallaby for dinner. We stayed for a while by the river but nothing exciting happened - even when the guys launched their boat.

25/05/13 - King River West Rest Area (not to far from Katherine)

After leaving Big Horse Creek Campground we went to Timber Creek to talk to buy the park pass as we did in WA just to find out that National Parks in NT are for FREE!!!! You just have to pay for the camping and it’s usually only $3.30 per person! That’s a big difference. Most parks in WA are $11.00 to enter and camping goes from $7.00 to $11.00 per person. If somebody can explain us why is that, it’d be great. Plus all rest areas do have toilets in NT and even clean onceJ

As we are still adjusting to time different we got tired after driving for almost 230kms. Plus Graham noticed that one of the tyres in the caravan is wearing much faster than the other so we stopped at the free rest area just 33km before Katherine to do some checks.  The brakes were dragging a bit, but worse on the good side, and a bearing inspection showed that a bit of water had got in. Everything else looked good, so he repacked the bearing, adjusted the brakes and swapped over the tyres. Only thing we can think of is the heavy cross wind we had from the same direction all the way up the west coast caused the tyre wear?

 

26/5/13 - Edith Falls

We headed into Katherin and finally had phone service. Yay. We went for a look at Katherin Gorge and walked to the lookouts. Nice but nothing to write home about.





 

 

Next, dropped off to Wollies and stocked up on vegies and stuff.  The quality of the fresh fruit and vegies was amazing for us, and the price was better than we get at home.  Cant understand how and why.  We also had run out of beer 2 days ago (the fishing trips use a lot of beer), and noticed that all of the bottle shops were closed. We found out that they are all open after 2pm, and then, its only 1 bottle, or 1 case per person. Apparently, its the law here.

To kill some time, we went to the hot springs.  This was amazing.  Beutiful man-made rock pools, separated by narrow passages.  Water is from a natural spring , crystal clear and  32degC. Was very easy to pass some time here.

 

Back to the bottle-o, 1 case of beer, half in the fridge (bok-choy got kicked out to make space) half in the cupboard.  Then headed north to the Edith Falls. When we arrived, there were no envelopes to put the camp fees in, so we take that to mean free camping.  Set up the van and hit the croc infested swimming hole for a refreshing swim.  Its interesting to read their crocodile management plan. Basically, they do a visual check to confirm there are none in the water, and have traps set upstream and downstream.  The sign also says it you see a croc in the water  you have to call the ranger using the emergency call device. The problem is that the water is not that clear, and you cant see the bottom.  They also close the water hole from 7am to 7pm, because this is the crocodile feeding time.

 27/5/13 - Edith Falls

Decided to stay another day so we could do some walking trails and swim in the upper pools.  The water falls were nice, refreshing, and really just relaxing.

Graham put on the swimming goggles and found the pool was massively deep. Dont know how deep, but couldn’t get to or see the bottom, to just went straight down..

 

Halls Creek

16/5/2013

Grahams Birthday. Dropped of the caravan in a park just outside of Broome, and headed into town for the day. Did a touch of shopping then headed to Matso brewery for lunch.  Their famous beer was the mango beer, but they also had some chilly and smoky beers. We took the tasting pallet, and most were nice but not carton worthy.

 

We then went to Cable Beach for a swim, water temp was a nice warm 26degC so was pretty easy to jump in.

 

 

 

We went to see some fossilised dinosaur footprints, but, it has to be low tide, and a low-low tide to see them.  Neither of these things were happening when we were there, so we had to look at the cement casts of the footprints, which were not that exciting.

 

 

17/5/2012

Left Broome and headed for Derby, where they are the home of the Boab tree.  These trees are pretty awesome, don't know why they just are, and to see them growing on the side of the road is pretty amazing.  There are stacks of them too.

 

 

We tried to get info on the road conditions through the Kimberley, but people kept telling us not to take a caravan in. We decided we would take it as far as we felt comfortable, and eventually made it to where we wanted to go - Windjana national park.  The road was not too bad, and we made it easily, although another few screws were on the caravan floor when we arrived.  I guess they were spares?

We went for a walk in the Gorge, where there are plenty of freshwater crocodiles.  Swimming is not recommended.

 

These Gorges were different from the Karajini Gorges because these have a reef of rocks they speared up above ground forming the gorges, where the Karigini ones were below ground, and formed by the opening/splitting of the ground.

 

This night was hot.  We decided that we would use the generator to run our air conditioner, at least until 8pm which was the generator turn off time.  It was long enough to have a civilised dinner and get the van chilled for the night.

 

 

18/5/2013

So packed up, and after seeking advise from people who had travelled the road we wanted to go, we decided to could make it through, so we pressed on. The red dirt gets pretty sticky and boggy when wet and there were a couple of creek crossings, and because of the recent rain, there was water over the road in a few places.  We used 4WD to get through these bits, although probably didn't need to.

 

We got to the Tunnel Creek gorge.  This was pretty amazing, because the river had actually carved out tunnels through the rocks, making an underground creek.  We needed torches and had to wade through the various sections.  Awesome.

On our way back, some people said they saw crocodiles in the water we had just waded through.  A bit scary because it was pitch black it it wasn't for the torches, and we were nearly waste deep.

 

 

We continues on the dirt road and after another 100kms we hit the bitchemen again.  We had suffered some damage on the dirt - some rocks had smashed the drain valve on the water tank, and our 80L of water all leaked out.  Also, the caravan electric brake wires had snapped off and got lost somewhere.

 

We drove into Fitzrow Crossing, and because it was Saturday, only the servos there were open.  We topped up the fuel and bought some connectors to repair the brake lines, and kept rolling to Margret River camping area (free camp).  This camp was probably the nicest free camp we have had so far, set right on the river, with plenty of trees around for shade.

 

  

 

19/5/2013

Another day, 30degC at 9am..  Just love winter in the Kimberleys

 

We drove to Halls Creek and found a caravan park there.  We then backtracked a bit and headed to the meteor crater at Wolfe Creek.  To get there was 130kms each way on dirt roads that were mostly good, but varied to some sections that were pretty hard going.  This place is crap, at least that's what the tourist information should say.  Its just a bit crater, with nothing else to do.  We were expecting some walking tracks to the centre - nope.

Lidia liked the cows along the way