Chapter 11 - Northern Territory

Day 80 – Friday 9 August – Northern Territory                  Previous Chapter

We departed Kununurra round 8:20 am. As we crossed the WA border into NT and were 4500 km from home, it was weird to think that we were now on the way home.

A young couple at the border gave us two bottles of honey as they were unable to take it in to WA. We also moved our watches forward 90 minutes.

The views were similar to the Kimberley, and just as impressive.

 

 

We stopped to take some photos of a flock of black cockatoos. Magnificent creatures!

 

 

We soon stopped for the night near the wide Victoria River, beneath some Boab trees. I collected some boab nuts.

Our Camp Site

Victoria River

Around 3pm we lit the campfire and an hour later the 2 kg roast pork was placed in a camp oven. Around 70 minute later the vegies were placed in another camp oven. Carrots and broccoli were added later.

After some prompting I pealed two apples and added them to a third camp oven - for apple sauce. Kay managed the gravy, as the sun was setting through smoke clouds (from a controlled burn-off).

Smoke Hazed Sunset

Around 6:30 we sat down to a feast, washed down by a fine bottle of 2015 Rockbare Shiraz.  It was still about 32 degrees.   Dinner was superb.

Three camp ovens. Vegies, Pork, Apples.

Our neighbours who had two children (7 and 4) had became a handful while their Dad was fishing. I moved in and helped entertain the kids with a couple of torches - while Mum worked on dinner, and warned of "drop bears". It cost me my Boab nuts, and that was OK. They were good kids.

Another couple used our campfire for potatoes and had a 13 year-old son who took over from me and entertained the two younger kids by BBQing marshmallows and playing games.

It was a good night. It was also the hottest night of our trip to date.

Day 81 – Saturday 10 August – Katherine, NT

We just endured the hottest night of the trip, with a minimum temperature around 24 degrees. With no power we had no air-con and no fans. Hence sleep was also lacking.

However, it was a new experience to have a sleep in and get a sunrise photo.

Our First NT Sunrise

With the time change yesterday we left late - at 8:30 am. However, before we left a Kite posed for me in a Boab tree above the caravan.

Kite in Boab tree & Boab nut

The drive was picture postcard stuff. Just magnificent.



We stopped and took a photo of the poor conditions that many cattle seem to be enduring, to the detriment of their heath.

Many Head of Cattle, Water OK, Food looks very poor

A prime example of an animal needing quality food

The 300 km to Katherine took us through Timber Creek and along the majestic Victoria River. The majesty of the terrain was of high quality. The majesty of the food supply and river waters was sadly lacking.

We also took a photo of the native Kapok plant - something that you may have slept on many years ago.  Ants seem to love this plant.

Kapok Flower and Nut. Note the ants.

Lunch was a sandwich of left-over roast pork from last night at a road-side park. We checked in to the Katherine Tourist Park about 1pm.

After some rest Shirley and I went for a drive around Katherine, then had a swim, then happy hour, then BBQ dinner. It was 27 degrees at 8 pm.

Day 82 – Sunday 11 August – Katherine, NT

It was a slow and relaxing start to the day. Around mid morning we did some shopping, filled up on diesel and visited the Katherine museum. It was very good and provided an extraordinary amount of local history.

The museum included the Gypsy Moth, owned and flown Dr Clyde Fenton OBE, who seemed to be a local character, larrikin and great supporter of NT people - both as a GP and as a pioneer. He had no qualms about flying his plane in contravention of air-regulations if it meant saving a life, or achieving a positive outcome.

Clyde Fenton Gypsy Moth

The relaxing phase continued throughout the afternoon. That ended when Darryl and I agreed that pizza would be a good idea for dinner. However we were interrupted by a small flock of red tailed black cockatoos. 

Red tailed black cockatoos

Yeast, flour, sugar, salt and olive oil came out of the cupboard to make the pizza base. Other condiments like salami, ham, mushroom, capsicum, onion, herbs cheese and olives were added to complete the recipe.  The two pizzas were pretty good.

Red wine was involved. 

Pizza - Before & After

Day 83 – Monday 12 August – Mataranka & Daly Waters

We left Katherine at 8:30 am and were soon at Hot Springs near Mataranka. We donned bathers and spent an hour in the lovely clear and warm waters. The flow of the water was strong enough to carry you maybe 200 metres down stream, where you had to swim back or get out and walk.

 



We had coffee and motored south. The road was mainly flat and straight with plenty of trees and undergrowth.

We stopped for lunch near the "Pink Panther" Larrimah Hotel - not a very inviting establishment.

It was around 2pm when we pulled in to the famous Daly Waters Pub for both bed and breakfast.

Daly Waters Pub

I was amused by a couple of signs.

We rested for a couple of hours then moved over to the pub for happy hour and to reserve a table. Dinner was served at 6:30 and the barra and beef was superb.

A Reduced Kelly Gang

The music was from Tom Maxwell and he did a great job. At 9 pm Tom packed it in - and so did we.

Day 84 – Tuesday 13 August – Cape Crawford

We departed Daly Waters around 30 minutes after Kay & Darryl, about 8:30. They chose the tried & trusted route by going south then east to Barkly Homestead. We chose the unknown (to us) route east then south, via Cape Crawford. Our route was 35 km longer (i.e. 640 km) and included mostly single-track bitumen road – a lot of it undulating (to be kind).

We were happy with our decision. The countryside was constantly changing and mostly great to observe. The road was interesting – too say the least.



Above & Below: Road from Daly Waters to Cape Crawford 

The huge numbers of wedge tailed eagles made our day. We probably saw more today than we have in total for the previous 11 weeks. They were in groups of 3, 4 and more. They were huge. They were magnificent.

Above & Below: Wedge Tailed Eagle Feasting on Road Kill 

We arrived at Cape Crawford in time for lunch. The Heartbreak Hotel was there, but pretty unimpressive, as was the diesel price at $1.99 per litre. The ice-cream was good. The toilets a novelty. I took a photo of a Blue Faced Honeyeater.

Toilets at the Heartbreak Hotel

Blue Faced Honeyeater

The caravan park looked OK but we decided to move on. The Cape Crawford region has some things that will probably lure us back. We turned south on to the Tablelands Highway. The road was the same, but the change of scenery was more dramatic. Mini forests of white-barked trees kept appearing.

 

The eagles were common while the road kills provided food, but the open plains slowed down wild life, road kills and birds.

I took a photo of a willy-willy.

Willy Willy

 

Open Plains

We  stopped for coffee and decided it was too early to camp for the night. Not really wise as we then had to drive another 120 km. Our rest stop for the night was fine.  Eventually there were 5 vans there for the night. We chatted to one couple from central Victoria who had a Dingo as a pet, albeit very overweight.

The views at sunset to both the east and west were impressive.

The Eastern Sky & Moon at Sunset

Sunset - Looking West

Shirley cooked chicken stir-fry & rice for dinner.
 
Today we drove 500 km and did not see a town. Cape Crawford is classed as a town but it consisted of the disappointing Heartbreak Hotel, which also provided fuel and a caravan park. Not even a house. There were no public toilets in that 500 km.

Day 85 – Wednesday 14 August – More NT

What a difference a day can make. Yesterday it was all scenic and interesting and full of wedge-tailed eagles. Today it was a terrible road, a strong headwind and depressing scenery.

The day started at 6:30 with a sunrise photo. It had been a cool and quiet night – great for sleeping.

We hit the road about 8:30 and started the day 145 km from Barkly Homestead. The first 100 km was the worst long stretch of sealed road that I have ever travelled on, and the headwind was strong enough to keep me in third gear. However, the really sad bit was the state of the farming land. Devoid of trees, grass and water, the only scenery consisted of numerous dead cattle – some who apparently died while in a seated position. It was a sad reminder of what our Aussie people on the land have to cope with.

Above & Below: Nothing. No grass, trees, water, life.

Having said all that, we are glad that we followed this route – and we will come back again.

The last 40 km in to Barkly Homestead was much better and the trees protected us from most of the wind. We stopped at Barkly Homestead to buy diesel ($2.06 per litre), coffee and a muffin.

Soon we headed east again. The pasture land improved and so did the cattle. At least they were alive. However, water seemed scarce.

We stopped for lunch and spotted a small flock of Zebra Finch. However they alluded the camera man.

Our planned stop for the night seemed too busy and too near a main road, so we moved on to a free river-side camp just before Camooweal. The bird life was fantastic. My photos can tell the story.

Eastern Great Egret

Straw Necked Ibis

We camped under a tree with a nest guarded by a Black Kite. The kite did a lot of acrobatics for us. Some are on camera.

 

 

Picking up some (unseen by us) morsel of food about 5 metres from us

One Kite eventually sat near the nest. After more delay a second Kite appeared.
The first Kite then started to do some house tidying. Refer following photo, with the Kite having a stick in its beak.

Kite Moving Stick in Nest

We had BBQ burgers with the lot for dinner.

We are now in Queensland so another chapter will start tomorrow. It is now 900 km since we left Daly Waters and Camooweal is the first town that we have encountered.

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This post is complete.
This post was last updated around 8 pm on Wednesday 14th August 2019