Jabiru 28-08-11

Dean and Karen, Wanda and Greg leave Coburg camp site at 8 am as Greg has fridge battery problems and are also low on fuel.

Lanlan and John, Jill and Norbert, Mike and Dot Sue and Peter D leave at 9am. Tony and Jen, Craig, Peter C and Jill P are staying on or more fishing and will join us at Cooinda.

All is going well on the heavily corrugated dirt road until we are 60klm from Jabiru when Mike hits a deep rut and all the lights on the dash come on and the car dies and rolls to a stop. Refuses to start again. The others stop to help. We are most fortunate to have such wonderful people with us. Peter D and Norbert work on trying to fix the car and diagnose fuel  starvation. John and Lanlan drive 5klm  into the Aboriginal settlement of Openellie and manage to get 20 ltrs of diesel from two men who pump the fuel from a 200 ltr drum. The fuel is added to the tank but still makes no difference. It is unbelievably hot in the sun, about 42C. Peter D and Norbert work for two hours trying to prime the diesel pump to no avail. The local Police happen to come along and suggest we might be able to park the car in their compound but no guarantee it wont get broken into or stripped and also tell us there is no mechanic in town.!!

We are getting late into the afternoon with no phone service and a decision is made to tow the car to Jabiru. This is undesirable for an automatic transmission but we have no choice.. we cannot stay by the side of the road.. and the manual says the car can be towed at slow speed so Peter D connects up the tow line and we head off  with no air conditioner and unable to have the windows open due to dust.. very unpleasant and very hot. We have a motto… we leave no one behind!!!..

We travel very slowly or 30 klms and Susan notices we have phone service. Peter D phones a friend for some car advice and advises against towing and Peter D is really worried… he kicks over three termite mounds in frustration. Mike and Dot decide to wear the consequences . Mike rings the RACV and is told that the Jabiru service depot closed last week but they could send a recovery vehicle from Alice Springs if we wear the charges despite having top cover. We decide to continue towing onto Jabiru as it is getting dark soon.The tide at Cahills Crossing was out and we made a safe crossing with a few photos being taken of us getting towed across. Finally we arrive at the camp ground about 6pm where the others were waiting and concerned for us.

The camp is a resort with a pool and restaurant so dinner is in order sitting around the pool. Peter D suddenly becomes ill and blacks out. Wanda and Greg lower him to the ground and begin cooling him with water and check for pulse. One of the other guests fetches the manager and insists an ambulance be called. The manager said it will be quicker if his wife drives him to the clinic. Peter is beginning to come round and is quite lucid as Mike, Greg and John carry him to the car.

Peter D comments now..

I remember feeling feint at the table, seeing spots, then the next thing seeing feet as I was laying in the recovery position on the ground being cooled but very confused. Then I hear voices and I am picked up and carried towards the car. I am able to get my feet to the ground but say my pants are falling down so John assists with a big wedgie.. thanks John. I get to the clinic and am met by the nurse, Martine. She gets the wheel chair but it has no feet support so I am sat in the chair and dragged backwards with heels skidding across the floor. Martine checks me over and sets up a drip. I begin to feel better and Susan is brought to the clinic by Norbert…thanks mate.  I am concerned about the meal I ordered so Norbert calls Jill and 20 minutes later i hear Greg call out .. Meals on wheels as he enters the room with our meals. After a good check over I am released with a diagnoses of dehydration, still feeling queezy but glad to able to leave. Norbert calls the others and keeps them up to date .. thanks Norbert.  John and Greg negotiate a cabin for Susan and I whilst the others sweltered in their tents. Next morning John and Greg arrive with a bun and two coffees… such wonderful support from everyone. Everyone now makes sure we all drink much more water.

Cobourg 27-08-11

 

Another day dawns hot!  Go for a walk along the beach and find a spider shell, had been wanting to find one since I first saw one that Tony found and gave to Karen.  Jill M has found a superb specimen, jealousy!

Tony finally catches a fish – a decent sized yellow tailed tuna, of course he is over the moon about it. 

One of the rangers tells us that as soon as the tourists leave, they are going to shoot all the banteng (and wild pigs).  There is a fence already built and all vermin within its boundary is to be shot.  The banteng are lovely animals (so I’m told – I still haven’t seen one).

Some problems are developing in our fridges, the cars have to be run to charge the second battery on which they run and since most of us are low on fuel this is not possible.  Greg’s fridge is having a battery issue, Michael notices that our fridge is now measuring 16 degrees.  Oh boy!  We are in trouble, go for a little run and hope when the fantastic Peter D turns up with a solar panel!!  Who would have thought it?  John (who has been kindly driving us around) now has a blinking light on his fridge indicating that it is not getting enough power.  The runs we have been making haven’t been sufficient to charge the battery.

Karen and Jill M are being bitten to death by the midges we have at night and have very itchy and swollen bites on their legs.  (the rest of us are being bitten, but are not having the reaction that they are).

There is not a lot for some of the women to do here.  We have a meeting with Tony and 6 cars will move on tomorrow instead of Tuesday.  Peter C Craig and Jill will stay with Tony and Jen.

Peter C takes Jill, Norbert, Susan, Peter D, Jill P, Michael and me on a walk to some swampland where there is a lagoon worth seeing.

Tony spies a croc sunning itself on the beach and we all rush down to see, unfortunately it caught a whiff of Peter C and Tony on the beach and glides into the sea.  I guess it is reassuring that it ran away from them.

Today tony wants to make bread in the fire and I agree to do it later in the afternoon when it is a little cooler.  Peter C agrees to light the fire for some nice hot coals (I thought that it might be a plan to lower the metal plates over the fireplace, build the fire under them, then put some coals on top rather than the traditional method).  Bread goes well, rises as it should, gets knocked back, rises again, fire has heaps of coals, put bread in the ‘oven’ and within minutes it is browning!  S….!  Grab the bread out of the oven and move it to and edge, starts smoking from the bottom, move it again, top is going very brown (this is a 1kg loaf and should take about 45 mins!  I look, it is already cinder on the bottom.  Norbert rotates it in the pan.  Have to take it off it!  May not be cooked in the middle, it really hasn’t had long enough.  Sigh.  Susan and Lanlan have volunteered to be kneaders if I should attempt it again.

It is now time to go to the monument rock for sunset, leaving the bread to cool.  It is lovely, the beach is covered in shells, the guys who went earlier (except poor Craig) have caught fish, the sunset is lovely, the temp is cooler, very pleasant indeed.  And…..the bread was edible.  Hooray!

Cobourg 26-08-11

 

Most of us get up early (6:30 ish) and go for walks along the beach.  We are all doing our own thing at this time of day.  The beach is fantastic at this time of day, not too hot.  By the time you get back (hour walk), the heat is already beating down.  It is very, very hot here.

There is now evidence of a croc in the swamp beside the camp site (right behind Wanda and Greg’s camp).  There is a large set of croc tracks going from the swamp to the sea.  It is brand new, happened overnight.

Jill M, Norbert and I have diarrhoea today.  Thank god for Imodium.  Michael, John, Lanlan, Dean, Karen, Peter and Greg go fishing about 3ish, we sickies don’t go, I still haven’t caught a fish so am disappointed.  Michael catches 2 nice bream, Peter D caught a cod, John caught a puffer fish and a bream,  Greg added to the tally with some fish caught on his handline.  Lanlan had John’s bream for lunch and pronounced it better than flathead.

In the evening Jill M made camp history, she is the first female camper to kill a cane toad --- by standing on it when she went to the rubbish bin in the dark.  She wasn’t too impressed.

The lost lures count is now up to 28.  Hehe these fish are expensive.

Banteng were sighted by the fisher people on their way home.

I have forgotten to mention the bushfires that are everywhere.  From the moment we began up the Tanami track to here, the bush has been burnt.  They just set the fires and leave them to burn.  Can you imagine this happening in Victoria?  The bush is different here, the fires burn low and slowly.

Cobourg Peninsula 25-08-11

 

Today started off with most of us sitting around wondering what to do today, fuel is a bit of an issue, we cannot buy any here and had no idea that we would have to drive so much to get anywhere.   We must, of course, have enough left to get back to Jabiru, about 300 kms.  We pool cars with those who have very large fuel tanks, Wanda, Greg, Peter D, Susan, Peter C, Jill P and Craig went on the Coast drive, a round trip of about 40 kms.  John offered to take Michael and me to the estuary to fish.  We left at 11 ish.

It was so pretty, the tide was going out so the fishing did not promise to be wonderful but the scenery more than made up for it.  Michael catches a fish within 10 mins.  We are all hopeful, the tide was not out far enough  to collect the hermit crabs so we relied on the oysters and cockles we had gathered yesterday. 

Sigh, no real luck, we can see the jolly things jumping out in the water, but they are not jumping onto our lines. Then John hooks one, quite a nice size, but it swam under a log and he lost it.  Oh dear.

John doesn’t have much luck today, got a massive strike on the line, nearly pulls his rod and chair into the water.  He grabs the rod and tries to let out the line, no good, the monster takes everything at very high speed.  He had no chance to land it.  We didn’t even get a sighting of it.

Peter D Susan, Greg, Wanda, Dean, Karen, Jill P, Peter C, Craig, Jill M and Norbert arrive,  Jill M, Susan and Wanda walk around on the beach and…….spot a crocodile ( 2 metres long ) just around the corner, he is lazily making his way in our direction, everyone is wary and keeping an eye on the water.  He makes his way around until he is about 6 metres from the shore and he stays there.  He submerges and resurfaces in the same place.  We are all very wary, the women urging the men to stay back from the shore.

Most of us leave 3 ish. Dean, Karen, Wanda and Greg stay.  I was sitting here typing when Dean drives in to our camp (unusual event), he is very excited.   He has caught a SHARK!!!  There is a tale to tell as well, as he reeled the shark in the croc chased it!  It was very close to the shore when he finally landed the shark.  It looks like we will all have shark for tea.  Our guess is that it is a gummy shark.

Dean generously cut it up and all those who wanted a piece got one.  We all went back to our camps to cook it.  Hmm it was incredibly tough!!!  I have never had tough fish before.  Poor Dean was embarrassed that he had given it to us, but who was to know and it was very generous of him to share.

Cobourg Peninsula 24-08-11

 

Went to the Ranger’s office for a walk and talk with a national park guide on the aboriginal foods in a km walk.  The guide was an aboriginal lass from this area called Cynthia (one of the traditional owners).  To our surprise (and hers) we had a group of about 25, this is the largest group she has ever had.  We did not know that there was anyone else here besides us, but they were in camp no.2 (We are in camp 1).

The talk was quite good, but she was shy and really didn’t know much beyond what she had planned to tell us.  She did say that she was still learning.  Her grandmother has been a source of a lot of her information.

Paul, she told us about a few bush medicines, do you know if any research is being done on these?  Maybe a possible project who knows.

Went out to Kuipers Point in the afternoon looking for cockles to use for fishing tomorrow, we found quite a few and some enormous oysters (seems a shame to use them as bait, but no one wants to eat them.. 

John, Lanlan, Greg, Wanda, Dean and Karen went to the estuary and were quite successful, John caught 2, Greg caught 2, Karen caught 5; all on hermit crabs that Lanlan and Karen caught.  

Tony came back with an alarming tale about a croc.  He was  fishing off some rocks when he suddenly felt scared.  He backed off and moved down the rocks, still feeling scared, he looked around and saw – a large salty just up the beach eyeing him off.  He had no  success with the fishing though.  He did however see quite a few banteng cattle, they only appear after sunset.  Most of have yet to see them. 

John and Lanlan saw a wild pig, there is an eradication program on to cull the pigs.  You can go on a hunt with a professional hunter to kill a banteng (only $10000 for a head).  Apparently these banteng are valuable since they are purebred, having been isolated from all other beasts.

Jill P has been bird watching an dis quite pleased with the ones she has spotted.  Michael, Tony, Jen and I saw 3 brolgas and 2 Jabirus on the way back from our bait gathering.

Cobourg Peninsula 23-08-11

 

Tony, Jennifer, Michael and I leave camp early to go down and hang around the river crossing to watch the world go by.  Tony tells us to cross over if we think it’s safe (usually he goes first to test the waters so to speak).  Well what a surprise, the water level has fallen dramatically, still deep on the upside of the river, but on the downside (there is a concrete causeway) the rocks are exposed and the river seems to consist of rock pools.  I wonder where those crocs went? 

There is a man fishing but otherwise all is quiet, no sign of crocs.  The rest of our party all cross over and we are now in Arnhem Land..  255 kms of corrugations, sand and dust.  The road is in quite good nick apart from this.  We nearly came off the road as we came around a sharp turn, slid in the sand and the car yawed all over the road., fortunately Michael was able to gain control and we were a bit more circumspect after that.  It was a long drive, people were tired and we were glad to reach our destination.

Peter C lost his CB radio aerial, it bounced off and hit the windscreen on its rubber tip, they stopped to look, but of course it could have been anywhere.  Looks like he will have to rig a ‘coat hanger one’.

Cobourg Peninsula is not as I imagined, I expected tropical vegetation, but it is lowish scrub of some kind.  We are not at all far from the beach (just over the road), it looks wonderful but……we can’t swim.  Salt water crocodiles. 

There is quite a strong wind blowing all the time.  The camp has 2 showers; one hot (solar) and one cold.

We have found a place to fish and drive down there late afternoon.  All of us have been asking ‘experts’ for info on the best bait, lures, etc  We now have as many different stories as there were ‘experts’.

Tony catches a fish – Craig tells him it is too small so it goes back into the sea.  No one else has any luck and we lose 12 lures between us on the rocks!!!  Craig breaks his rod - the top breaks off!

Nice night around the campfire and off to bed, the wind picks up during the night and is quite strong.  Everything is fine, everyone has secured their tents well.

These are the croc warning signs, this one was from kakadu

22- 08-11 Cahill's Crossing

 

Left at our usual time and had a smooth run on bitumen to Jabiru.  This is a small town with – would you believe it?  A bakery.  Those of us who wanted to purchased licences to go into Injlalake art gallery on the way back from Cobourg Peninsula.  These were $13.60 per person to travel the 8 km  to get to it.  This must be the highest road toll in the world.  We then had to travel back to Bawlai to get permits to travel into/through  Kakadu another $25 per person.  We have to  carry these permits at all times we are in Kakadu (they last 14 days).

Greg, Wanda, Michael and I had been dawdling along and were the last to leave.  We turn right on the highway and come to….the Ranger MIne.  There is nowhere else to go so  we drive into the mine.  No one stops us and the only restrictions we can see is that we have to stay on the bitumen.  We decide that thisa can’t be right and call Greg on the CB – he is coming our way!  We are bewildered, there is a small dirt track and we turn down it, fortunately we meet a workers vehicle who points us back in the right direction.  We should have turned LEFT.  Hehe.

We backtrack and finally arrive at the camp, it’s only 2ish so still plenty of day left.  Good camp, quite busy. It has toilets and solar hot water showers.

We head off down to check out Cahill’s Crossing, this is the East Alligator River where we will cross into Arnhem land tomorrow.  Wanda, Greg, Michael and I go to the boat ramp a little further up from the crossing.  Hmmm – huge salty (salt water crocodile) swims lazily by.  A very big beastie.  Take photos but they don’t really show it.  Our eyes are amazing aren’t they?  We walk to the crossing and there are people fishing on it, the water is probably only 30 cms deep.  There are 2 large salties in this section, one sunning itself, the other gliding silently down the river, on the other side of the crossing (where we have just come from)  we now see 2.  4 Crocs in the space of about 50 metres.

The rangers come around to collect the money and after only a few minutes, they have identified Tony as ‘the cheeky one’  LOL (laugh out loud)

The crossing will be really easy tomorrow, apparently it is a neep tide.  It will be more dangerous on our way back and we will have to wait until the tide recedes.

 

There is a croc in the picture on the right but very hard to see

DARWIN 17/08/11 – 21/08/11

A casual start this morning with most moving off at their leisure, with our target being Darwin.  Tony as usual was out of the blocks at 8.00am.  We stopped in to see more termite mounds – the cathedral type and the magnetic type.  We stopped at the Bachelor General Store [apart from Caravan Parks the only store in town] for morning coffee only to meet up with Peter C and Jill P ahead of us, and then Peter & Susan D, John & Lanlan, Norbert & Jill M who were behind us.  Peter C was anxious to get to Darwin, as Maire {sounds like Moira} was joining him for our stay in Darwin.

Dot & Michael arrived in Darwin after Midday and had to kill some time to check in at 2.00pm as advised by the park.  Upon arrival we found that a number of the party had not bothered with the 2.00pm check-in and had been admitted upon their arrival well before 2.00pm.

The Free Spirit Caravan park is very large and well established with mature palms throughout the complex. Cabins were comfortable with air conditioning, however the beds were on casters and when sat upon tended to move around the room.  The facilities includes three swimming pools, with the main one being adjacent to the meals & bar area.  We used the latter areas on a regular evening basis with meal specials and drinks being very reasonable. Wine glasses were overflowing when provided.

The first priority with most was to tend to either professional or DIY servicing/repairs & cleaning of motor vehicles.  The only vehicles not to receive a wash was Norbert & Jill M. and Peter & Susan D…they regard the red dust as a badge of honour.

During our stay, most tended to do their own thing during the day.  Thursday Dot & Michael went into the city for a look around and check up on location of Toyota for service booked for Friday morning.  Dot was enthralled by the Paspaly Pearl shop, but taken back by the Crocodile products shop – $70.00 for a lipstick holder, $700.00 for a wallet, $2700.00 for handbags  and so on.

A number of our party went to Mindil Beach market on the Thursday evening, whilst Tony P & Jenny, John & Lanlan, Dean, Dot & Michael were taken to Tim’s Restaurant by Brett & Phong Prowse [son & daughter-in-law].  We had a great evening with a French waiter entertaining & intriguing us with magic tricks.

Friday breakfast in the City for Dot & Michael after dropping dented Prado for service.  Bumped into a number of our party wandering around the city and had ice coffee for morning tea.   Very pleasant sitting in the mall under cover watching the world go by at a warm 32 degrees……though the locals regard this as cold.  Hat hunting was an objective a some of the ladies, to ensure they had good cover for the days ahead up north. Got the good “oil” on fishing gear and had the line on our reels upgrade to braided 30lb line and 40lb leader.

Friday evening, most of us went to the Palmerston Asian market for tea – range of vendor’s providing an array of fruit & vegetables, cooked Vietnamese, Indian, Chinese & Thai meals.   The Fruit smoothies vendors were very popular  - the mango smoothie was great. Those that went to Mindil Beach market last night, commented that many of the vendors  were the same.  We ate on the lawn with entertainment in front of us.  Michael took advantage of the massage vendors and had a Thai massage for his neck/shoulder.  Upon dusk the trees surrounding lawn area were invaded by screeching lorikeets.

Saturday, Dot & Michael into the city again and to another suburban market… this time saw wallets & purses made from barramundi skin –  very strong &  durable.   Drove around the coast area and came across junior cricket in full swing.  According to local paper, their second last round is underway this weekend.  Visited the Stokes wharf area – site of initial bombing raids in World War 11, passed underground storage tunnels for oil used during WW11.   Plaques follow the footpath, acknowledging the participants in Darwin during WW11. Many other WW11 history and museums were visited by our party members.

Sunday was supplies shopping day along with repacking/refuelling the cars…everyone seems to have more than when they started 3 weeks ago.  Tony P & Jenny, Dean, Dot and Michael went to Brett & Phong’s home for a Vietnamese style lunch….very nice.

Dean has been very busy steam cleaning the vehicle and vanilla essencing his fridge and contents in readiness for picking in Karen, who arrives at 6.00pm this evening.  Tony advises that he has had a number of dry runs to the airport to get the timing right for Karen’s arrival.

LINK TO STATISTICS:      A link within the blog is available to provide you with an overview of mechanical and other matters encountered by our party.

NOTE:  With our relocation to the Cobourg Peninsular, we are likely to be out of range of Telecom to enable update of the Blog, so please bear with us.

Day 16 16-08-11 Lichfield Park Precinct

 

Have a nice lazy start to the day when John comes over and gee’s us up to start our day, he wants to be on the way by 9:00.  Hmmm we are running a little behind time.  It’s a good idea though, the days are very hot and walking in the early morning or late afternoon, with a swim in the middle is a great idea. 

The owner of the park is doing the rounds and wants to know ‘what is wrong’ with the park, I say “the generator”.  Now I have to tell you that the knowledge that the noise I heard at night was the park generator was a great disappointment to me.  I had been lying in bed thinking that I was being lulled to sleep by some waterfall!

I ask him about ‘bush typhus’ which is apparently here in Lichfield park.  He tells us that it is a mite, dropped from a native rodent, it burrows into the skin and the skin around the area reddens, the mite then causes blood poisoning which resembles the flu, if not treated it can be fatal, but he knows of only one fatality in the 17 years that he has been here and the victim was stupid.  So my dears, if we come down with flu and have red spots you know what we might have.  The treatment is for that of blood poisoning.  Don’t worry, it is rarely caught.

We get a hurry on and head off to Wangi Falls.

Sigh, beautiful, beautiful, we go for the loop walk, I think about 1.6 km up and over the falls, although not yet 10:00 it is already hot.

We visit Tolmer Falls, Florence Falls and Buley waterholes where we swim.  There is a sign at the entrance to the Buley Falls “If the car park is full Buley Falls is crowded”.  The car park is not very large but we are lucky and find a nice little waterhole all to ourselves.

Back to  camp to rest in the heat of the day, such a hard life.

In the morning when we spoke to the owner of the camp, he told us of a ‘shortcut’ to  Crystal Cascades, not a long walk, through the park, over the highway and there it is!  The plan is to walk there late in the afternoon for a swim.  Hmmm.  Through the park OK, over the highway, OK.  Hello! bitumen road to walk down, oh well, in for a penny in for a pound as they say.  Not too far down the road, all is good.  What!  Crystal cascades is another 1.6 km!  Off we go, easy at first then very difficult, we have to cross a rocky stream and walk up rocks in a river.  Young people we meet who  are on their way back tell us it is a very difficult walk.  (we are not so young).  We finally get to the lower cascades for our swim.   We are not going any further.  The intrepid Peter C however always wants to know what is over the next hill so he goes to look.  Gone for a while, comes back and tells us much nicer pool further up.  Tough – we are not moving.

Lovely swim then back to  camp for “happy hour’

Tony, Jen and Dean have arrived at camp and tell us about the beauty of Surprise falls, they enjoyed their stay there very much.  Dean has been offered 2 jobs!!!!  One by a lady on a homestead they visited, as a tour guide, the other by our camp owner to maintain the roads.  Well I never!  They have also visited the lost city which is an interesting set of rock formations.

We hit the road tomorrow for Darwin.

Day 15 15-08-11 Surprise Falls. Uh Oh Lichfield!

 

This was not a great day for Michael.  It started off very well.  Got an early start and headed to  Pine Creek for breakfast.  Pine Creek township consists of a BP Station, small hotel, basketball court, toilet block and….Mayse’s.  Mayse’s is a cafe, seems that everyone stops there.  We had really nice breakfast, most of the guys favouring, bacon, egg, chees and BBQ sauce toasted sandwich, excellent smoothies – mango!

Off to Surprise Falls, 4WD track only. 

Surprise Falls camping ground is a disaster, all burnt off and wire fencing sealing off all of the camping ground areas – well not quite, Tony and Jen manage to get the only real camp site (how does he do it?), the rest of us drive around.  It soon becomes obvious that the only place to camp in on the gravel road, which someone has done.  Michael, drives around a supposed loop only to find their camp stuff all over the road, backs up and……..backs into a tree – considerable damage and a very devastated Michael.

No one can find suitable place, it is awful!  Michael is very unhappy due to car – we have discussion and 12 of us decide to move on to Lichfield.  Tony, Jen and Dean stay at surprise falls.  Tony is happy with our decision.

Greg and Wanda are to  be our leaders being very experienced 4WD’ers.

Have an interesting trip, couple of tricky river crossings, sand track and amazing anthills.  There are acres and acres of them, they look like either tombstones or ancient ruins in the middle of a sort of jungle (this depends on the type of termite that has built them).

 

Arrive Lichfield Park Precinct late afternoon and set up camp.  Tony, Jennifer and  Dean will join us here tomorrow.  We are all happy with this park, has a cafe next door and they have HAPPY HOUR (or dinner).  We will spend 2 nights here now. 

We feel a bit sad about leaving the others but we really had very little choice.

John comes back from after dinner drinks full of ideas for our itinerary tomorrow.  Lovely to have such organised people.

The people on this trip  are all really wonderful

14th Day 14-08-11 Edith Falls

 

We get a later start today, do some shopping in Katherine for the next few days, leave Katherine at 10 AM. We only have to travel about 50 kms today. 

Arrive at Edith falls and throw the ranger into a tizz when he assigns M and me a spot that has someone in it – all other assignments are now thrown into disarray since we move into the next vacant spot which has already been assigned to  2 people and so on.  Apparently the people in our spot should have left.  Any way it was all sorted in the end.

It’s very hot so we laze about for a bit  then check out the falls – beautiful ( I wish I had more adjectives).  Back to camp for lunch, more lazing about (I believe a photo is coming of me dozing in my chair (thanks John).

We go swimming  Ughhh  cold!  until you can submerge yourself then quite pleasant

Tony, Jennifer, Peter D Susan, John, Lanlan Norbert, Wanda, Michael and I decide to  walk to the top pool, 2.6 kms – 2 hours (round trip) says the board.  Hmm does this small distance taking so long tell you something?  Uphill, very rocky in places and hot, in other words quite difficult – especially for very unfit me.

However, well worth it - a beautiful place.  We continued the trek back, hehe this way is much easier, looks like we chose to come up the most difficult path.

I can hear blood curdling shrieking as I type this.  I have been told that it is a curlew.

The evening is very mild we are all sitting around in T shirts under a full moon.  Magic!

13th Day 13-08-11 Katherine Gorge

 

Jennifer,Greg, Wanda, Susan, Peter Michael and I (Dot) went on an  8 AM cruise down the Gorge (apparently There are 13 gorges.  Our tour took us down 2, we had to  walk  between gorges to pick up another boat for the second one.  It was gorgeous.  You could really see how old this land is in the rocks.

The crocs are laying their eggs now and we could see their tracks up the small beaches that occasionally appear along the gorge.  Kayakers are not permitted to land on these beaches.   Tony and Dean went kayaking – did an amazing job, they were not far behind our boat.  We did 2 gorges, they did 3 (4 hours)

Dean and Peter went for a walk through the butterfly gorge Greg, Wanda and Norbert go Kayaking.  Jill gets the last seat on the 3 PM cruise and…….the wonderful Peter D reattaches our winch control box with the assistance of Michael.  Tony repairs John’s lights.

A very cheeky littler agile wallaby helps herself to our bread – eats a hole in the plastic I take it away from her, give her half a slice (we are not supposed to feed them).  I put the bread on a chair – she finds it, I put the bread on the chair and fold the chair up – She reaches in grabs the bag with her mouth and pulls it out, runs off with it.  I chase and catch her (give her another slice for her efforts.  Shhh don’t tell – it was 12 grain bread).

Swimming in the fabulous pool, then dinner around the pool in the evening (all of us).  Tonight we had  a local guitarist playing the wonderful music of the Shadows, Apaches, Ventures and Duane Eddy.  SIGH!  Absolute BLISS!

Ps am I showing my age?

Day 12-08-11 Katherine Gorge

 

The women had to drive for 45 km on the dirt road this morning.  Tony felt that we needed a bit of experience in case something happened to our men.  We had several small water crossings, dips and rough road.

It was a valuable experience but I didn’t really enjoy it.  I’d much rather be a passenger.

Norbert and Jill get a puncture – on the bitumen!  The tyres have been cut about on the rough roads.

Stopped at the Victoria road house for fuel and a break.  They are doing helicopter rides!  $95 for 12 mins and $155 for 20 mins.  Tony and Greg do a deal with the pilot and we can have 20 mins for $130.

Tony, Greg and Dean take the first flight up (3 at a time), Jennifer, Michael and I go next followed by Jill, Norbert and Peter C.  Fantastic country, there are photos but they don’t do it justice. Unfortunately there are feral animals in this park – they killed 34000 donkeys last year.

As we approached Katherine Peter D and Susan  came across an elderly couple in a caravan that had broken down.  Of course they stopped, the woman was in a very stressed state. They had blown a tyre and had peculiar nuts on the wheels, no one had a tool to help and apparently the tool box had been ripped off it’s moorings when the tyre blew.  Peter walked quite a way back down the road with the guy in an attempt  find it   Peter D has been a marvel on this trip, helped with every flat tyre and all electrical problems.  So great to have such wonderful people.

Onto Katherine where we suddenly had phone reception – calls from Rhoda and our son (husband) to 3 or 4 people asking us to tell Tony to ring her.  Oh dear!  Not too bad after all, a possum has got into their house and created havoc, curtains down, carpets messed on, soot and cinders everywhere. a Rhoda is handling it with great efficiency.

Michael and I get a kit to repair our tent pole and get no help from the ARB guy with,our winch controller (gives us a couple of washers.  Ha!  Can’t remember if I said that it was hanging by it’s cables.

Arrive at Katherine Gorge Camping ground. This is an upmarket camping ground.  SHOWERS!  Swimming pool (really nice – small waterfall, rocks, plants lovely).  We can have a bistro style dinner & wine/beer around the pool between 6.00  8.00pm – so of course we all did.  I think that most of us had Barramundi

Day 11 11-08-11 Bullita Homestead

 

It’s going to be hot again today.  Dean, Greg, Wanda, Peter D and Susan went off to walk up the Fig tree Plateau.  Dean, Greg and Wanda bush bashed up to the very top of the plateau, reported that they had a 360 degree view of the country.

Tony, Jennifer, Michael and me walked back to  the homestead to read more of the information posters.

During the afternoon we took our chairs down to the river and sat under threes in the shade.  Much too hot to do anything else.

Peter D and Greg had another cane toad hunt in the evening – a total of 51 (76 total).  Peter D who is a Queenslander says that he has never seen so many in such a small area (60 metres). He says that they are all mature adult breeding stock.  Oh Dear!  When one of the toads was wacked a little native frog jumped out of its mouth and jumped off!

John and Lanlan have gone to Katherine for tyres.

The Kapok trees are in flower, this is a sign that the crocodiles are carrying eggs, when the seeds form, the eggs are laid and when the kapok appears the little crocs are hatching.

Off to Katherine tomorrow

Day 10 10-8-11 Bullita Homestead

Had a good trip to  Bullita Homestead – this is the place we had hoped to get to yesterday.  a couple of tricky river crossings, not deep, but rocky bottoms and exits off at strange angles.  On one we had to drive along a rock shelf on the edge of the river to reach the exit.
Bullita station is now a National Park display area – the buildings are all galvanised iron – so primitive, it must have been so hot in summer.  The homestead was occupied until 1977 when there was a huge flood.  The woman who lived ther then was on her own and survived by wedging herself into a tree.  They must have had such hard lives out here.
Weather is getting hotter, the car says 41, but the display at Bullita has a temp range that says the hottest is 38, no matter it is HOT.  We arrived at middayish.
On the way, Michael saw what he thought was a cane toad on the road.  It WAS one of our party ran it over.
Peter D and Greg went on a cane toad hunt in the evening and clobbered 25.  The ranger is pleased. 
Bullita camp is on the East Baines River (runs into the Victoria River (well back so no crocs for those friends and relatives who may be concerned).  Once you could swim here, but due to the high rainfall rivers have converged and they believe that the salties have travelled into it, they are currently changing all the signs inviting you to swim to croc warnings and no swimming.
However, there are some great rock pools that we can sit in.
Bird life is plentiful, something really screeches at night, possibly the sea eagle chicks, it is interesting when one is lying awake.
We have seen: corellas, lesser egret, jabiru, yellow finches, a sea eagle with a couple of young, blue winged kookaburras, grey crowned babblers and rainbow bee eaters.

Day 9 9-8-11 Top Humbert Yard

Heard a couple of very large splashes last night Crocs?  Got up a little earlier to go back down the the gorge to see if we could spot crocs.  Yep! saw three, one quite large for a ‘salty’ (5 feet – sorry for the imperial).
Had a hood drive to Karadingi (Wave Hill) where most of us had showers ($5 each).  Absolute bliss.  We had lunch there and hung a round a bit which had it’s consequences later.
Drove down the Highway a bit and then got onto the Wickham track up the Mt Stanfield, then onto the Humbert track.  We were then really into 4 wheel driving country, up until then I think any vehicle could travel the roads we went on.
Driving was now very slow and we had quite way to go.  The scenery was great, as Tony says ‘magic’.  Were saw red tailed black cockatoos – very exciting, and a dingo stood right in the middle of he road daring us to challenge it.  I was able to open the door and take photograph quite easily, then it reluctantly moved off, making a ‘rumbly sort of noise’.  It later walked beside Jill and Norbert's vehicle.
It was now getting late and we were worried about making a campsite before dark (not the one we planned for) John started to make up some time, when – he gets a flat tyre.  Tony told Michael and me to  take the lead.  Stress!  We had no idea where we were to go.  Came to  river, crossed one section only to find another piece of river with no obvious exit, turned right drove up the river, WRONG WAY, had to do a U turn in the river on some rocks and try the other way, found it!  Getting darker, we find a flat area in an old stock holding pen and believe this to be the cam site, we stop, others arrive and Peter C guides the rest in.  Darker!  Not a very pleasant camp site;  barbed wire, burnt stubble, staying since it’s now too dark to move on.
Wake up, Peter C now has a flat tyre (slow leak).  The company now has had 4 flat tyres, the roads are really giving them a pounding.
Jill P takes a walk and…..discovers correct campsite 100 metres further on.  SIGH.  No one is cross with us since conditions were difficult.

Day 8 8-8-11 Marella Gorge

  

Left early today and headed up to Halls Creek.  Saw Wedge tailed eagles on the roadside, lots of lovely flowers, ant hills [8’ – 10’ high], and piles of talcum dust.  The road is really in good shape for a track, we had to slow our pace down due to the dust.

Halls Creek is quite a nice little town,we did a little bit of food

shopping and actually found a bakery with quite good coffee.  Poor Peter (the guy with the shredded tyre yesterday), pulled up to get petrol only to find that he had a flat tyre absolutely wrecked.  We had to find somewhere to buy 2 new tyres.   The wonderful Tony stayed with him and they were then 2 hours behind us.  They made up time and arrived only about 20 mins after us.

This road (Duncan Highway – dirt road) went through some wonderful country.  This road was far more interesting than the Tanami which was so flat.  We have hills, termite mounds, small water crossings, brahma cattle, (so pretty), wedge tailed eagles and…..a couple of hitch hikers in the middle of nowhere.  They were hopeful weren’t they?  They looked tired and hot, but of course we are laden to the hilt and have no room.

Our fuse is now fixed thanks to the wonderful Peter, so we can recharge our phones and other stuff.

Our party is split tonight, Some in a paddock, Tony, Jenny, Dean, Michael and me are by a river (this spot was discovered by Dean) – with freshwater crocodiles.  The men went swimming and pronounced the water wonderful.

Greg saw about 30 crocodiles (fresh water – we believe they are not so very dangerous) on the other side and downriver a little.  Made no difference to our intrepid males.  We saw about 4 coming in our direction, but they only came so far – not really near us.

Karen, Dean was perfectly safe (Jen says so)……..you should have seen him climb up the tree on the riverbank.

Day 7 7-8-11 Wolfe Creek Crater

Jill P is well this morning
Michael and I had a slow start today.  Yesterday we let some air out of our tyres to make going over the corrugations ‘softer’.  Tony thought that we shouldn’t have let them down so we went to pump them back up with our new compressor.  The back tyre went up OK then blew the fuse in the ‘cigarette lighter’, so poor Tony had to get his compressor out and finish the job for us. Everyone went on ahead of us.  We did catch up about morning tea time.
But….we now can’t charge our phones or use the GPS.  Sigh..
We had  quite a good run, the Tanami Track is in quite good condition, although the dust was pretty bad, we had to  travel quite far apart so that we could see.  We drove on the right hand side of the road quite a bit.
Passed a guy on a pushbike – way out here!  Poor man was covered by our dust.
Again some really great flowers along the road.  
The Wolfe Creek Crater is very impressive we walked to the top of it.  It is 20 metres deep but they believe that when it was made by  the meteorite it was 120 metres deep.  The meteorite was as heavy as a battleship and 850 metres across.
This campsite is very crowded, there is only a small camping area.
We start at 8:00 again tomorrow.
Thanks for the chocolate and chips Tara – greatly appreciated

Day 6 6-8-11 Up the Tanami

 

Today we started our trip up the Tanami Track.  We had bitumen for about 100 km, then corrugated gravel and sand.  We kicked up lots of dust and had to maintain a reasonable distance from each other.

We have been told that this section of the road is good and that the WA side is much worse.

It’s quite a learning curve for us, we discovered that there is a ‘sweet spot’, a speed fast enough so that we drove over the corrugations instead of up and down.  The sweet spot was 90 km/hr.

Tony and John were held up this morning with a fault in something that was installed (loss of power steering oil) in John’s car only 2 days ago, they had to wait until 9:00 to get any attention.  The rest of us started out.  We were getting fuel in Yendamu when they caught up with us.  Yendamu is an aboriginal settlement, travellers are only permitted to enter for fuel and supplies.  It was pretty awful, rubbish everywhere and so run down.  The diesel pump failed to work and we were a little worried, but the guy at the pumps took us to another place, I think the pumps were old, we worried about the state of the fuel but it seems OK.

Peter from Qld blew a tyre today, it was absolutely and symmetrically shredded.

Jill has been sick (vomiting), but is recovering, Peter thinks a combination of dehydration, heat and rough road.  It has been really hot, most of us sat in the shade and watched Tony and Michael rush about.

There were alcohol and pornography warnings on the road, no open bottles of alcohol and no pornography allowed, there was a bin placed under the sign to put it in.  Peter C stopped to look in the bin – it was empty.  He was disappointed Hehe.

Dean is sitting next to me Karen, he sends his love

 

The handwritten sign says – place porn here.

Day 5 5-8-11

Spent the day in Alice Springs today, we all went our separate ways to do whatever we chose.

Most of the morning was spent shopping for our supplies.  It will be 10 days until we get to the next reliable shopping centre.  I may not have Internet access either.  I will attempt to write daily and upload when I can.

Rhoda your dad is sorry that he missed his timespot for his phone call to you. Alice Springs is an interesting town, but the plight of the aborigines is heartbreaking, no one seems to know what to do for them.

Michael, me, Dean, Wanda and Greg went to the Desert Park to learn about the different aspects of the desert and to see desert creatures and wildflowers.  They have a bird flight show much like Healesville Sanctuary, and although interesting was not as good as the one Healesville has.

I think we all went to the information centre to check on the road conditions on the Tanami apparently OK NT  side and as rough as guts on the WA side.  It appears that the road into Wolfe Creek Crater is bad too.

Tony, a marvel of all trades has had to repair/adjust the following so far (and we haven’t even got onto rough roads yet):

His own CB radio aerial (something needed welding)

Our fridge slide which would not lock back

Something in Peter’s engine when a red light came on on his dashboard

Loose connection on Deans battery

What would we do without him?

Day four 4-8-11

 

Up at 5:20 SA time this morning , getting so efficient now that we went for  a 1/2 hour walk before leaving at 8:00.  The sun came up while we were walking, huge and blood red – quite awe inspiring, I have never seen the sun look so huge, unfortunately did not have my camera with me. Camped rough again (ie no  facilities) but the camp site was great although very stony.  Still quite close to the railway track. The company is great – good company around the campfires at night.

Michael and I were the lead vehicle all day today.  Belle, I was the leader for one hour while I drove Pa’s car.

Wild flowers are everywhere, heaps of cassia, wattles and other things I can’t as yet identify.  We have seen bearded dragons (at least I think they were) on the road, emus and brumbies, corellas, parrots and a wedge tailed eagle. The road is excellent but has very long straight sections, making it easy for a driver to doze off. Maximum speed limit in the NT is 130k. The country however is so huge, flat and very empty, lots of salt scrub and spinifex until we reached the NT when the country changes dramatically.  The sky was very hazy, apparently it is smoke from fires lit by campers in the Todd river.

We are staying in luxury tonight – a motel with shower, bed, toilet.  Never thought I would appreciate a shower so much after 4 days without.  Thank god for baby wipes!

The other 2 couples joined us in Alice Springs so our company is now complete.

We have a full day in Alice tomorrow

Day three 3-8-11

 

Had another good day.  Up at 6:00 Vic time (tony has yet to change over to SA time)  to leave at 8:00 AM.  We camped at what looked like an ideal spot – Hehe – right near a railway line.  The trains went by all night and judging by what we saw in daylight, had 80 plus trucks on them, I counted one at 88 not to mention the many road trains that went by.  Huge noise.  We called in at Woomera for coffee and fuel and were lucky enough to find an airforce guy at the weapons display area, the men were really pleased, he was a mine of information and comes up once a year to check on things.  He was supposed to have come yesterday, so how lucky can one get?

Today we saw quite a few emus and some flowering Sturts desert pea – fabulous, Tony even allowed us to stop, look and photograph.  We stopped at a very pleasant rest area and again the wildflowers were great.

Went into Coober Pedy for coffee, sigh didn’t get time to look at opals – maybe next time.

We are now camped about 100ks the other side of Coober Pedy, very stony, but off the road.

Today, the leaders alternated, Greg, Norbert, then Michael and me.

It’s winter and it’s 31 degrees we are all complaining about how hot it is.  Rhoda, Michael and I are not holding your dad up – travel at the correct speed, ready to leave on time etc, I don’t think he will be disappointed in us.

We travelled 610 kms today – Tony tells us that tomorrow is a bigger day. 

Day Two 2-8-11

It was a lovely night last night, fantastic sunset, a little cold, but I think everyone was warm enough although the night was very cold. The stars were amazing.  Up early today, had the tent shaken at 5:59.  We were on the road just after 8:00.  Had a little slower trip than Tony would have liked, lots of small towns and roadworks.  We passed lots of lovely citrus groves and acres of vinyards.

Greg was our leader today, one of the experienced people does this (of course).  Tony took up the rear and 'geed' us all along.
Had to go through the fruit fly inspection as we entered South Australia and they went through our cars, they take almost all the vegetables now too.  It appears that pretty much only lettuce, carrots and cabbages can pass.
Jill P ran into her sister (Berry and Geoff on their way home from Darwin) in middle of nowhere (Peterborough to Port Augusta road)
We are camped 50 ks outside Port Augusta tonight.  Really nice acres of room.

Day One 1-8-11

We have arrived at the Murray Sunset National Park about 100 kms outside Mildura.  This Park is scrub and saltbush, no probs with trees falling on us.  The trip up was smooth, no dramas. The weather is pleasant but we expect it to get very cold this evening.  I hear people complaining about being HOT!!!!
The 2 Toyotas outperformed the Nissan Patrols as far as deisel consumption was concerned.  Hehe.
Jill P is making a comeback with her foot and her camping skills.
Only 6 cars started out together this morning, we are to meet John and Lanlan and Sue and Peter (from queensland) in Alice Springs