Kids Travel

Devils Marbles (Karlu Karlu)

Posted on August 21, 2015 by John Sear

It is a long drive from Mataranka to Alice Springs, with not much in between, and the major town, Tennant Creek, by all accounts is not worth staying in. We chose to ease ourselves into the cooler climate gently with two stops before Alice Springs. The first day we made a stop in Daly Waters to see the Stuart’s Tree, basically a tree stump with a large “S” engraved in the trunk (clearly visible if you squint both eyes and turn your neck at 45 degrees), supposedly engraved by John McDouall Stuart’s party on his third attempt to reach Darwin from the south in 1861/2. Then we had a quick look at the Daly Waters pub. Every inch of the walls and ceiling is adorned with caps, police badges, bras, foreign currency notes, rugby shorts, and much more. A cold beer would have been welcome but we still had more driving to do.

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Very close to the town of Elliot, we stopped for the night at a magnificent birding spot known as Longreach billabong. This long waterhole allowed waterfront camping and as we sat there stately jabiru storks, spoonbills, and brolgas strutted along the water’s edge. Meanwhile, darters sunned themselves with wings outspread, and rainbow bee-eaters scanned the sky for their next meal while sitting on dead branches.

The sunset was one of the best we have seen on the trip and our fellow travellers from home, Joel and Abelia “Our Roaming Home” finally caught up with us to exchange stories around a campfire. A great finish to the day.

Up early the next day, after a chilly night, we set off for Kunjarra (The Pebbles) a sacred women’s site just north of Tennant Creek. The site itself offered little more than a chance to stretch our legs and stroll along a short path through a hillside of small rocks, so we didn’t stop long.

Devils Marbles
Devils Marbles
Devils Marbles
Fifty Toes visiting
Amanda trying to adjust one

Just beyond Tennant Creek is another hillside covered in rocks, but Karlu Karlu, or the Devils Marbles are more impressive and worthy of a stopover. The campsite was very popular (full) but we squeezed in a spot and set off to explore before the sun went down. We all had a lot of fun exploring the rocks, climbing all over them, and Xavier read us the Dreaming stories of the Devil Man, Arrange who spat on the ground, where it turned into the granite boulders that now litter the surrounding landscape. Plenty of photo opportunities kept me busy, even early the next morning before we left.

Categories: Adventure, Animal Action, australia, Australian Outback, Big Lap, Camper Trailer, Discover Australia, Explore Australia, Journey Narrative, Kids Travel, Natural World, Photography, Photos, Road trip, Travel, Travel Adventure, Wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Bitter Springs(Mataranka)

Posted on August 20, 2015 by John Sear

It was nice to get back on the bitumen road again. The prospect of soaking in crystal clear hot springs after 700km of dirt road from Arnhemland was the major appeal drawing us to the tiny village of Mataranka. There is an odd hobby of the locals to dress termite mounds with T-shirts, rugby shorts, dresses, in fact quite a lot of different costumes. We saw a great selection from Santas to wedding dresses as we drove along but none of it was actually more visually appealing than the sight of the original unadorned version.

Mataranka was where the film “We of the Never Never” was filmed, a story about a Melbourne born upper class woman adjusting to life in the outback, set in 1902. Arriving in the village many half size characters, presumably from the movie, are scattered on the communal area opposite the shops and roadhouses. Half way down the main road a giant termite mound is signposted, though difficult to miss as it sits almost on the roadside.

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We settled into a pleasant campsite nearby in Elsey National Park, next to the Roper River, famous (apparently) for Barramundi, though we caught nothing once more. On the 8km walk to nearby Mataranka Falls we noticed a crocodile trap, and then saw one just below the falls, so despite the clear waters once again it was a no swimming zone. Apparently there are normally swimming pontoons in the river but their absence was replaced with crocodile traps. The falls themselves were a little disappointing being a metre drop over a rock platform, but the walk along the pandanus-lined river bank was pleasant enough. The National Park appears to have large pests infesting the forest and I wasn’t expected to be kept up each night by wildly braying donkeys. Quite amusing in the location and far more preferable than having caravans on your doorstep as was the case in the parks near Bitter Springs. There was also evidence of feral pigs along the river.

Bitter Springs is a constant 30-32 degrees of sulphurous, gin clear water, that seeps from a deep aquifer and slowly meanders through a forest. People arrive in droves to sit on floating “noodles” and drift slowly down. Once or twice is probably enough but the kids insisted we revisited three days on the trot and spent quite a few hours there exploring every nook and cranny up and down stream. We found turtles and fish, and dived under the logs until all toes and digits went totally wrinkled in the warm water.

After some peace and tranquillity for three days with minimal driving it was time to start thinking about heading south into cooler climes, to collect school work from Alice Springs.

Categories: Adventure, australia, Australian Outback, Big Lap, Camper Trailer, Discover Australia, Explore Australia, Journey Narrative, Kids Travel, National Park, Natural World, Northern Territory, Photography, Photos, Road trip, Travel, Travel Adventure | Tags: , , , | 3 Comments

East Arnhemland (Part 4 – Cape Arnhem)

Posted on August 19, 2015 by John Sear

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A special permit is required to enter Cape Arnhem, over and above the transit permit required to travel there. Only 10 vehicles are permitted at a time with no trailers, width, height and weight restrictions also exist due to some of the tracks passing through low hanging bush, between trees or over soft sand. This meant having to abandon our beloved home, the Camprite trailer, and pull the emergency tents from the roof pod. We even bought an esky for the trip to keep our food cold.

The trailer was parked at Chris and Emi’s house in Nhulunbuy and Amanda was excited at their kind offer to do a clothes wash for us while away.

Entrance to the Cape was via a rugged dirt road along an escarpment with glimpses through the forest of beach and mangroves below. A lookout several kilometres in is where the fun starts. Having taken in the views up and down the coastline the road drops steeply down the escarpment into the forest below, weaves through narrow gaps between tall trees before becoming sandy. Taking no chances I dropped tyre pressures below the recommended 20 PSI and pressed on. Without a map there were a surprising number of trails leading off, though most of them return to meet, and without too much difficulty we headed in the right direction. There are over 50 sacred sites on the Cape, the main one known as Twin Eagles, where visitors may drive by but not stop to picnic, camp or fish. The drive north up the Cape involves beach and dune work, sometimes particularly soft and there was plenty of evidence of “boggings” along the way.

Hammock time
Christmas Tree worms on the coral reef
The Penthouse
Fun in the sand

The sandy beaches looked attractive on approach but our hearts sank somewhat at the volume of sea-borne debris and detritus that littered most of them. Then sadness turned to dismay when we spotted a bottlenose dolphin washed up on the beach. We pulled over and dashed to see if we could save it but it looked like it had only recently died. Not knowing what had killed it (no obvious visible cause) we paused and walked down the beach collecting thongs (flip flops for those reading in the UK) that covered the sand. Over one hundred were recovered and placed on the car roof. Most of the debris has been brought from Asia by prevailing winds and ocean currents, or dumped from ships passing.

Lighters
Thong clean-up
Ghost nets on the coral
Lighter clean-up
Debris tree
Ghost nets on the beach

We found a campsite known as the Penthouse, at the furthest point north that visitors are allowed, set up camp and then found a dead turtle on the beach below. Some rangers had obviously stayed prior and had enjoyed a feast of mud mussels and turtle eggs, judging by the discarded remnants on the edge of the camp.

A small crocodile swam in to shelter behind the reef as the rough ocean was still being stirred up by strong easterly winds.

The hammock was brought out and we switched into relaxed desert island chilling mode. The kids explored, we fished (Oscar was happy to catch a queenfish) and Amanda sat in the hammock reading.

The next day we wanted to make a further impact and we chose the same beaches, this time targeting cigarette lighters. Over 300 were retrieved and disposed of. The children were somewhat distracted by their search for Chambered Nautilus shells that they had started to find but all helped fill the bucket. We noticed the difference but we couldn’t collect all the ghost nets, toothbrushes, light bulbs, and a plethora of miscellaneous glass and plastic bottles, jars and other items. And all the time the winds were bringing in new items. We found two more dead turtles too on the beaches. Others had obviously tried before us and had left the debris in a tree. We chose to dispose of it.

On returning to camp Xavier found a fossilised chambered nautilus in rocks nearby making us all ponder how long these animals have been around, long before humans polluted these beaches.

The sandy tracks allow a couple of days exploring. To the south there is another camp near caves beach and whilst folk do swim the crocodiles are there as we saw so extreme precaution is recommended if entering the water.

Despite the rubbish on the beaches this is a great place to escape and experience the beauty of Arnhemland.

Categories: 4WD, Adventure, australia, Australian Outback, Beach, Big Lap, Camper Trailer, Car, Discover Australia, Explore Australia, Fishing, Journey Narrative, Kids Travel, Mitsubishi, Natural World, Northern Territory, Offroad, Photography, Photos, Road trip, Travel, Travel Adventure, Wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

East Arnhemland (Part 3 – Maccassan Beach)

Posted on August 17, 2015 by John Sear
Unknown tracks
Swimming at Goanna Lagoon
Crocodile tracks
Sacred site at Maccassan beach
Rainbow Cliff
Camp at Maccassan Beach
Turtle tracks
The road to Goanna Lagoon
Woody Beach
Sacred site at Maccassan beach
Island at Woody Beach
Goanna Lagoon

From Giddy River we relocated to Maccassan Beach as a base to explore the surrounding area. One of our permits gave us access to the Dhimurru recreational areas to camp and this area includes a number of sites along the coast. Some 15km off the main, but unsealed road into Nhulunbuy, a signposted track leads you to a beach called Little Bondi. The track to the beach was tight and scratchy increasingly enclosed by bush on all sides as you approach, then soft white sand. I stopped short so we could check out the camp spot but despite the tranquil location it wasn’t deemed good enough for Fifty Toes Walkabout! Somewhat surprised by the decision we moved to turn around, but we had other beaches to check first. The only way out was to drive further onto the sand and we got bogged. With tyre pressures reduced even further and the recovery tracks in place we freed and after a nervous drive down the beach executed a hairy turn the soft sand, then back down to the hard stuff. Next stop Turtle Beach. This was a tiny beach with a couple of sheltered campsites. It looked great but no sun for our solar panels. The final spot was Maccassan beach, perfect for us with plenty of space, a few trees offering plenty of shade and plenty of open space and a bigger beach. The bauxite rock platform even promised fishing opportunities, but the onshore wind had built up and didn’t look like abating soon.

Nearby there was an interesting sacred site, unlike any other we had encountered to date. A fleet of up to 60 Maccassan trading boats from Sulawesi used to travel to this area on prevailing trade winds in December each year, for centuries up to 1907, to trade knives, tools and food for Trepang, or sea slugs. Each boat would carry up to 40 men and the 1,600km journey would take two weeks. The return leg would take place when the trade winds turned in April, often engaging local Yolngu people in the process.

The site consists of bauxite rock placements representing details of the trading interaction. Sections of the trading boats, called Praus line the ground in detail, others show the style of fireplaces required to boil the trepang, and fish traps.

Regulations imposed by a wary government in 1907 required these boats to register for tax in Darwin first, and trade winds couldn’t get them there so the trade ceased. The site consists of bauxite rock placements representing details of the trade. The rock placements are the only remnant of that ancient trade.

Bauxite is everywhere and for this reason Rio Tinto Alcan have a mine here. As a by-product of the mine’s presence in the Gove Peninsula Nhulunbuy is the sixth largest town in NT with a booming population of just under 4,000. Infrastructure is quite advanced for such a remote area and the hospital looked large for the town size.

The beach proved interesting, each day new tracks revealed nocturnal visits by crocodiles, turtles, and a few unknown creatures. Xavier and I walked to Turtle Beach past a billabong that was teeming with juvenile cane toads. You couldn’t help but tread on them with each step but too many to be able to do anything about them.

We took a drive to Rainbow Cliffs, then onto Goanna Lagoon. The road was comical because the original road runs direct into the bush but is crossed by tree trunk after trunk, brought down in recent cyclones, making the direct route impassable. Instead you have to zig zag your way constantly crossing the road at right angles to avoid the trees. Perseverance with the drive is rewarded with an opportunity to jump into crystal clear cooling waters (once you’ve checked for crocodiles of course) and the kids made the most of it.

We visited the exclusive art centre at Yirrkala where local artist’s work is showcased in an immaculate gallery. Whilst beyond our budget some of the artwork here was of particularly high quality, and the church panels in the museum gallery were a labour of love that took months to complete, depicting many of the cultural traditions. The Yolngu culture here is very strong and the people look so much more relaxed and comfortable, possibly because they have ownership of their own land and appear to be more in control of their destiny than in other areas we have seen. That said there are still many issues surrounding family, alcohol and drug abuse that one is constantly reminded of by posters around town, at the festival, and in local papers.

Then we explored the empty town beaches, starting at the refinery jetty where we watched dolphins and fished unsuccessfully again. Woodys beach was a hit, offering another safe swimming option in an enclosed but shallow area. A sandbar offered a walk to an island but with an incoming tide and a deep 4m wide channel to complete the crossing, we stopped. The next few beaches were deserted too and equally nice but we had a booking i.e. another permit to visit Cape Arnhem

Categories: 4WD, Adventure, australia, Australian Outback, Beach, Big Lap, Camper Trailer, Discover Australia, Explore Australia, Journey Narrative, Kids Travel, Natural World, Northern Territory, Offroad, Photos, Road trip, Travel, Travel Adventure | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

East Arnhemland (Part 1 – The road to Nhulunbuy)

Posted on August 16, 2015 by John Sear

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To travel into most of Arnhemland you need a travel permit, then to stay there you need another permit. Depending upon where you plan to visit you need other permits so a little preparation is required to enter this area. Permits are obtainable through the Northern Land Council and we got the most helpful lady you could wish for in the Katherine office. The first bombshell she dropped was “Are you going for the Garma festival?”. We pleaded ignorance and was informed it was the biggest indigenous event of the year, four days of celebrations, all sounding very exciting and just what we were after, however whe told us it had been sold out for months. The second bombshell was it was a public holiday in NT and she enquired whether we had accommodation booked. Errrr no, was our sheepish response. We had only booked accommodation twice in 8 months on the road, preferring to leave it to fate wherever we went. I vaguely mentioned a few of the places we hoped to visit and we were given a phone number to call in Nhulunbuy to arrange camping permits. A short telephone conversation with an equally helpful lady in the Nhulunbuy office of, and we had another two permits arranged and we were ready to go. Then we had a chance meeting with a very special man called Jimmy Wavehill.

Jimmy Wavehill is the last surviving founder of the Aboriginal land rights movement, who walked off NTs Wave Hill station in the first protest of a campaign that began in 1966. We had seen him walk into the NLC office in Katherine and as he exited we engaged in a conversation. Sporting a grand cowboy hat, this sprightly 80 year old still had a boyish twinkle in his eye that made me smile. He gave us a short version of the story and invited us to the 50th anniversary next year, at Wave Hill. He left the boys with a message to pursue their dreams and work hard, then strode outside to his Landcruiser, where we grabbed a quick photo opportunity with him. An inspiring character, full of energy, and one of the few remaining widely respected elders.

We met up with the girls for lunch in the park and the remains of our hot chicken was used to produce our very own birdshow with approximately 40 black and whistling kites swooping within metres of us to catch bones thrown in the air by the kids. The video footage is awesome! We were ready to go.

Katherine to Nhulunbuy is some 720km, predominantly unsealed road and though not mentioned on the travel permit, a roadside stop is permitted. We chose to do it in a single day, starting from the beginning of the Central Arnhem Road where it meets the Stuart Highway. Despite an early start we didn’t reach our campsite at Guwatjurumurru (Giddy River) until late. The sun was going down fast and we had to squeeze into a spot next to a couple with two kids. Chris and Emi were very accommodating and kindly offered to house our trailer for 3 days while we visited Cape Arnhem. The kids explored around the edge of the pools and river, then went to bed. When the campfire overlooking the river died down, and the full moon had risen, I got out a spotlight and spotted two crocodiles. Only small ones, possibly even freshwater crocs, but we weren’t going to swim here despite some inviting shallow pools.

Categories: 4WD, Adventure, australia, Australian Outback, Big Lap, Camper Trailer, Discover Australia, Explore Australia, Journey Narrative, Kids Travel, Natural World, Northern Territory, Offroad, Photos, Road trip, Travel, Travel Adventure | Tags: , , , , , , | 3 Comments

East Arnhemland (Part 2 – Garma 2015)

Posted on August 16, 2015 by John Sear
Clan ceremony
Ceremonial dance
Red flags arrive
Clan ceremony begins
Learning young
Clan ceremonies begin
Teaching the youngsters
Colourful dancers

We had only found out about the Garma festival the previous day and managed to get entry to witness the biggest annual indigenous festival in the region, and in fact Australia. For four days the grounds are host to weaving demonstrations, jewellery and spear making demonstrations, arts and craft, many bands, ranging from local to well-known ones and much more. The main arena hosts demonstrations of local cultural song and dance from many different clans. Little shelters around the main arena provided focal points to observe the crafts. There was a didgeridoo store selling “raw” ones, and an expert was giving students tuition on how to make them.

Spear-making demonstration
Woven pendant
Didgeridoos for sale

Local Yirralka rangers demonstrated how to make spears, from the initial wood-straightening over a fire to the binding with wire of the metal tips. Hannah, Oscar and I watched a weaving demonstration, then proceeded to create our own pieces (pendant in my case because it was small).

The clan ceremonies performing next to the main stage were the most interesting. Each clan would take turns to showcase their dances, songs, and music, encouraging audience participation as the day progressed. Some dances were very similar across clans and it was great seeing the youngsters jump up and join in when they recognised a dance. We were invited to share a mat with some lovely ladies from one clan and one of their young girls coaxed Hannah up to join in the Emu dance, and Hannah happily joined the group trying to learn new dances. Taken under the wing of an older girl Hannah thoroughly enjoyed immersing herself and was oblivious to the huge crowd watching. It wasn’t long before many more followed her and even Amanda had a go.

Amanda has a dance!
Hannah is beckoned to dance
Hannah gets into the Emu dance
Emu dance at Garma

An art gallery was secreted amongst the trees to one side, offering a temporary diversion. The kids were too nervous to enter the youth area unaccompanied though, which was a shame as it offered a wealth of activities from basic table tennis through to circus trick training and fun science activities brought from Questicon in Canberra.

The kids discovered a mine truck simulator provided and run by Rio Tinto, and after patiently waiting they each got to try driving around the virtual pit mine in a 20+ tonne mine truck.

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Evening entertainment was provided by famous names such as Neil Murray and Emma Donovan and the Putbacks.

The indigenous culture is very strong in Arnhemland and it was great to see it thriving. Garma opened a window for the kids to see a very different way of life that exists in their own country and hopefully they will remember what they have seen, possible even return in the future to get a better understanding.

Categories: 4WD, Adventure, australia, Australian Outback, Big Lap, Discover Australia, Explore Australia, Journey Narrative, Kids Travel, Northern Territory, Offroad, Photography, Road trip, Travel, Travel Adventure | Tags: , , | 2 Comments

Garig Gunak Barlu National Park (Cobourg Peninsula)

Posted on August 15, 2015 by John Sear
Exploring the Cobourg coastline
Water buffalo
Cobourg coastal drive
Dead crocodile on the beach
Road hazards
Arnhemland creek crossing
Arnhemland wetlands outside Kakadu
The sign after the event!
Bushfire
Cobourg wetlands drive
Road hazards
Red tailed black cockatoos
Road block
Camp road sign!
Smith Point

Clutching our recently acquired permits to visit the Garig Gunak Barlu National Park, we couldn’t wait to cross the famous Cahill (Alligator River) crossing and enter Arnhemland. The crocodiles were off duty so no need to loiter there (they perform best at high tide catching mullet when the river and fish breach the road causeway) and we pressed on. From exiting Kakadu the campground at Garig Gunak Barlu is approximately 320km and there are no fuel stops or shops. All Jerry cans had been pre-filled and all was set for a fun trip. The corrugation torture began early and a strange rattling outside caused us to stop by some wetlands that surpassed anything we saw in Kakadu for birdlife. Magpie geese were everywhere. A few loose screws were tightened on the newly fixed awning fitting and we were off again.

Rock art could be seen clearly under many ledges as we passed through the Arnhemland escarpment, though none is available for public access.

There were numerous bushfires along the edge of the road as we progressed. Once the Woollybutt tree flowers it’s the season to burn, and burn they do very well up here. Even the black and whistling kites, that predate on animals, flushed out of these burning areas, have developed an interesting behaviour that we witnessed. They swoop into the burning flames with long pieces of dry grass in their beaks, set it alight then drop it in an unburnt area to start a new fire. We have seen hundreds of birds circling, swooping and diving around the fringes of bushfires. The intensity of the fires is less than those experienced in the south and eastern states due to lower amounts of fuel.

A side effect of the fires though is that some trees become unstable and collapse across the roads. We weaved our way through a maze of trunks and branches strewn across the road until we met a large tree straddling the road completely. Once side of the road was in flames, the other was strewn with trunks presumably from previous fires. With no axe, or chainsaw using the winch or towing was an option but the trunk was wedged the wrong side of two trees either side of the road. The prospect of turning around was not attractive so after a quick inspection of the smouldering fire we decided it could be negotiated and the Pajero was briefly turned into bulldozer mode and vehicle and trailer deftly steered through (literally) the bush, Amanda trying hard not to melt her new thongs.

From there on all we had to avoid were the abundant hazards, indicated by strategically placed red triangles, giving no indication of what the upcoming hazard was, and often placed in the middle of the road.

Only 20 vehicles are allowed into the national park at any time, and the campsites are huge and private. The park is populated with water buffalo, many saltwater crocodiles (no swimming allowed here), wild pigs and banteng. The latter were introduced from Indonesia where they are now endangered, but have proliferated in the park, where they are tolerated because of their status in Indonesia. They look like stocky cattle but have a characteristic white rump. The ranger shared the bird list with us and it didn’t take long to spot a few new species for the list.

The campsite sits amongst a number of billabongs hidden behind thick bush and pig and banteng tracks disappeared through the middle of them. Xavier and I followed some and stumbled upon what we reckoned were a couple of large crocodile nests, conical sand mounds, several metres high in the middle of swampy ground that would be water in the wet season.

We had enough fuel to explore the wetlands track that traces around the edge of the largest billabong, the coastal track, where Xavier found a dead crocodile on the beach, Smiths Point and Caiman creek for a spot of fishing. Funny how the incorrectly named Alligator rivers and Caiman Creek names have stuck – yes we only have crocodiles here!

Cobourg is also a breeding ground for 6 of the 7 species of marine turtles. Amanda was excited about seeing them laying but only one was spotted in the water all week. No-one caught a glimpse of a dugong here either, another animal that is abundant here and eaten by the locals.

With a boat there are further options to explore up here and judging by the fish being caught it wouldn’t take long to fill your freezer.

Once Hannah had fulfilled her fishing challenge (catching a fish in every state) Oscar and I decided to get serious and went looking for bigger fish. We almost landed a large shark, that shook the hook only a metre from the shore but when the crocs came in to the beach at dusk (to sleep) it got interesting. Sitting well up the beach we watched a croc zigzag ever closer, then just as it reached the shore it appeared to cross my fishing line. Not wanting to entangle a croc I quickly retrieved the line but as it splashed past the croc exploded into action lunging and grabbing the float. “Time to go” was all I could muster as I grabbed everything and followed Oscar, with the croc still chasing the float, dragging along the beach behind me as I ran. A good croc safety lesson for Oscar, as the kids don’t seem to heed our warning them not to go too close to the water. Fascinating to watch just how quick they can be.

A week passed quickly with fishing and shell collecting on the beaches but Cobourg hasto be up on the favourites list and a place that needs to be revisited in the future. On the return trip my recently fixed awning broke due to metal fatigue induced by corrugations, so I’ll be back to Bunnings when we pass through Katherine next.

Our final stop in Arnhemland was the Injalak Art centre, where there was an excellent collection of paper and bark painting and weavings, well worth the short diversion before crossing the river again. Ironically, we finally bumped into another family with kids at our school. They live around the corner at home, were doing a similar trip to ours and we bumped into “Our Roaming Home” finally at Injalak.

 

Categories: 4WD, Adventure, australia, Australian Outback, Big Lap, Camper Trailer, Discover Australia, Explore Australia, Journey Narrative, Kids Travel, Mitsubishi, National Park, Natural World, Northern Territory, NT, Offroad, Photography, Photos, Travel, Travel Adventure, Wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Kakadu National Park

Posted on August 13, 2015 by John Sear

 

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Kakadu is another Northern Territory icon that we had all been looking forward to seeing but having recently heard several accounts of people saying how disappointing it was, without much water and that the big name falls were dry, we were a little apprehensive. Undeterred we chose to base ourselves near the Ubirr rock art site and close to the town of Jabiru. In addition this was close to the famous Cahill River crossing that we would be using to get through Arnhemland to get to the Cobourg peninsula. We dragged ourselves out of Noonamah (Where the hell is Noonamah, being its catchcry) and following a cruisy day looking for crocodiles at any opportunity, drawing blanks each time, we arrived mid-afternoon. A quick dinner and with the sun still in the sky I rushed to see the sunset from the lookout. Despite missing the sunset, a fabulous orange glow set a perfect backdrop for the green tranquil wetlands that stretched before us and as far as the eye could see. Hundreds of visitors, like religious disciples, had paid their homage to the sun god and now made an orderly exit from the park, before they got locked in.

The rock art at Ubirr is breathtaking, and a totally different style to that found in the Kimberley or even the Jawoyn art from nearby Katherine. Often referred to as X-Ray art, their depictions of water creatures include their bones and internal organs, often to depict the choicest part of the barramundi or pig-nosed turtle. Amongst the numerous galleries that the public can access are murals depicting stories that have lessons about behaviour, older ones depict images of extinct animals such as the thylacine, and some are just chest-beating efforts of artists showing that they can paint the largest fish, or can paint it the highest up the wall. Another depicts the Rainbow Serpent common throughout aboriginal heritage as the creator. One particularly interesting piece shows a woman with swollen arms and legs, a reference to radioactive sites that made people sick when visited. The controversial uranium mine, Jabiluka is approx. 45km away. A two hour Park Ranger tour by Glen was fascinating as he imparted his extensive knowledge of the subject.

A few hours were spent at Cahill Crossing fishing, unsuccessfully, but mainly watching the crocodiles who, at high tide, congregate at the crossing waiting for the waters to cross the road. When it happens a feeding frenzy commences as they prey on the hordes of fish that have been waiting to move upstream too. It was interesting to see them using their front feet to shepherd the fish towards their mouths, and as soon as they touch one a quick snap sees it disappear pretty quickly. The only thing I caught was an aboriginal spear that was floating down the river!
Despite the park being a rich source of indigenous rock art the public can only access a couple of sites, the other one being Nourlangie Rock. We took advantage of the Parks ranger guided tour. Christian gave three different talks at different points in the park, about the landscape formed by the aborigines and how they lived, then provided some insight into the most famous art piece, painted in 1963/1964 by one of the last true elders in the area, in a last-ditched effort to re-ignite a strong cultural spirit. In his life the number of people living traditional ways had dwindled from 2,000 to around 300. Two languages have been lost in the region since 2000, and another is due to die when the last existing person speaking it oases away. n the next decade there will be no more people from pre-contact days with the “White fella”, when the cultural degradation began as they were exposed to Western ways.

Kakadu and Arnhemland communities do, however, remain culturally strong despite this. Much of their land has been retained or reclaimed to use as they wish, and permits are required to enter many of these areas.

Christian also talked about a famous dig in one of the living areas, performed in the 1980’s. When locals turned up periodically they would ask what the ancestors had left for them to see that day. Looking at some poor archaeology undergraduate trying to identify a tooth dug up from thousands of years ago, they would ask what they were doing. When told the children would grab the tooth and identify it instantly. Another stone tool dating back almost 20,000 years was shown to them and they would reply that the stone didn’t come from around here. They would then explain it came from a region at least two days walk away. Where else on earth can an archaeologist tap into 20,000 years of living knowledge? Language is the law, and the law is the language explained Christian. When nothing is written down in the culture all stories and language have been passed down from all previous ancestors before. Plants only have names if deemed important enough by the ancestors.

We listened for 3 hours and could have spent a day listening to his passionate stories. Being white too he was very wary of ensuring he told stories correctly. The kids were enthralled to the end, and when he pulled out his collection of rock artefacts they were in heaven!

That afternoon we decided to take a path less travelled and drove some 70km along a 4WD track from the Old Jim Jim road back to Jabiru. This was the Kakadu I was hoping to see, beautiful lily and lotus lined billabongs, rich in birdlife, Jabirus, egrets, magpie geese, radjah shelducks and lots more. A few river crossings too to make it interesting.

Kakadu wasn’t disappointing in the slightest.

 

 

 

Categories: Adventure, Animal Action, australia, Australian Outback, Big Lap, Camper Trailer, Discover Australia, Explore Australia, Journey Narrative, Kids Travel, National Park, Natural World, Northern Territory, NT, Photography, Photos, Travel, Travel Adventure, Walks, Wildlife | Tags: , , , , , | 2 Comments

Where the Hell is Noonamah?

Posted on August 12, 2015 by John Sear
Beer Regatta costumes
Crocodile trap at Fogg Dam
Unleashing the mighty thong throw
Practicing for the boat race
Boat race at the Regatta
Kingfisher at Fogg Dam
Battle of Mindl Beach in progress
Birdlife at Fogg Dam
Henley on Mindil
That sinking feeling
Darwin Beer Regatta boat

Home of the “Big Stock Whip” though we never saw it, we decided to use Noonamah as a base to explore Darwin. Noonamah is not much more than a roadhouse, small caravan park, and tavern, but a convenient location near to Darwin.

The car needed a service, we wanted to see the famous Darwin Beer Regatta, and Oscar’s birthday was imminent so we booked a few nights, that ended up stretching to a week. Our first night in an unpowered site was a piece of land next to the highway, where big trucks pull over at night. We got the worst spot next to the fence and after a noisy night, including what sounded like some family violence in a neighbouring van, we upgraded to a powered site – what a difference. The other side of the fence was a lush watered grounds with bushes, and all facilities right next to us.

Even our friends the “Roving Reeves” joined us for a few days. It was great to catch up with Tash and Steve after so many brief meetings over the last few months.

Firstly, the Beer Regatta on Mindil Beach. Amanda was super excited, I’m not sure why but the mention of markets may have been the trigger. It was a particularly hot day, 33 rather than the perennial 31 degrees there, but very humid too. We arranged to meet up with Mike and Rhonda from Margaret River, Marty and Crystal too making it a very social day.

First up were the boat races. I must admit I was expecting craft made entirely from beer cans so it was disappointing to see many water craft only covered in a veneer of cans. They paddled around a bit, and everyone was having fun. Some locals had made impressive costumes from beer cans.

Next came Henley on Mindil, where teams of four people run up the beach carrying a frame vaguely made to look like a boat. The highlight of that was when one team had a massive crash, destroying their “boat” and avoiding any injuries. There was also a tug-of-war.

Then came the thong throwing contest and after seeing Amanda make a very average attempt I stepped up for the men’s event. There were so many people queuing to have a go that it took 20 minutes to get a turn but when I did I unleashed a monster throw cruising into the lead by several metres. This lead was held for another 15 minutes when some determined youngsters finally surpassed the mark after a dozen attempts. Good fun and the gold coin entry fee went to a good cause.

The highlight of the day, the so called “Battle of Mindil” was supposedly a treasure hunt but at this stage it turned into a melee of boats trying to sink one another. One boat found the treasure, avoided all the fracas and snuck in to beach to claim their prize.

For us the day’s highlight was catching up with so many good friends we have met over the last few months. For Amanda, she got to immerse herself in the markets for a while too.

We visited the Darwin wave pool which provided the kids with some good entertainment for a couple of hours, and on other days we visited the water slides at Leanyer and Palmerston, both free entry which was unbelievable because in Sydney you’d pay top dollar and have to queue for 20 minutes for a ride. The kids kept going while we caught up with other families, “110 Around Oz” from Sydney, the “Grismacks” from Perth, and “Roving Reeves”.

The car service was a jaw-dropper. I had asked for a full service but knew I was in trouble when it took an hour to calculate the cost. Apparently the manager made them reduce it by $500 and it was still twice the original quote. It was good to get the clean bill of health though, knowing we had some serious dirt roads ahead of us.

For Oscar’s birthday we visited the Territory Wildlife Park, and visited Berry Hot Springs nearby with Roving Reeves. The park had a series of great aviaries, impressive aquarium exhibits, and we made sure we witnessed the bird show and feeding the freshwater stingrays. This park was a lesser known gem, well worth the visit. Marty joined us for home-made pizza dinner back in Noonamah that evening.

Then we had the trip to see the jumping crocodiles at Adelaide river. A short detour on the way there, to Fogg Dam, was rewarded with an impressive bird watching opportunity. As well as hundreds on herons and egrets standing shoulder to shoulder there were spoonbills, ducks, kingfishers and even water buffalo in the distance.

Before we knew it a week had passed and we hadn’t even scratched the surface of things to do in and around Darwin. We were getting too settled in Noonamah and had to move on again.

 

Categories: Adventure, australia, Australian Outback, Beer, Big Lap, Discover Australia, Explore Australia, Journey Narrative, Kids Travel, Northern Territory, Photography, Travel, Travel Adventure, Wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Litchfield National Park

Posted on August 6, 2015 by John Sear

As we got ever closer to Darwin there was another National Park to visit, Litchfield.

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With daytime temperatures exceeding 30 degrees, Litchfield provides a crocodile safe environment where one can swim and cool off regularly, and often. We stopped in the first campsite with a space just inside the park at a place called Buley Rockholes, set-up camp and went in search of water. We found lots of it!

With limited time we packed the activities in. Driving to the northern end of the park we walked up to the Cascades, immersed ourselves in the deeper upper pools, then worked our way down the creek, trying out some of the many pools along the way.

Wangi Falls was a short drive south, the main camping area for the park and when we arrived the pool beneath the falls was more popular than a local swimming pool. By early afternoon every day tour bus from Darwin had arrived and spewed out its contents into the shallow waters near the car park. Even so it was a beautiful spot, with two sets of falls cascading almost 100m down a precipitous cliff into a relatively shallow sandy lake. To get perspective we walked through the rainforest and massive colony of fruit bats, first, over the top of the falls and back down to the lake. At that stage everyone was sufficiently hot and bothered and needing a swim.

Once again Oscar swam out first to the falls and scaled a few metres up the cliff to find the “spa” pool. With forty toes in the pool it was sufficiently squeezy that all other occupants exited to regain their personal space while we enjoyed.

Hannah had seen the Tomer Falls in a brochure and demanded to see them so a quick walk to the lookout made our final stop for the day. They were impressive though Hannah remained unimpressed claiming the photo she had seen (probably in the wet season) was much better.

Back at camp Xavier, Hannah and I dashed down to the rockholes to check it out. All the tour buses had left, leaving a veritable wardrobe of towels and clothes behind, but we could pick and choose which pool we wanted to swim in.

The next day saw us rise early to swim in Florence Falls, before the tour buses arrived. With our first splashes the tranquillity of the place was dashed and shortly after a sole man meditating on the opposite back of the creek got up and left. Hannah and I grabbed a Geocache moment taking in part of the beautiful walk between the falls and our campsite. And as the first trickle of daily visitors appeared we made our exit.

The Lost City requires taking the 4WD track for about 12km into the bush where you encounter sandstone rock formations that could be mistaken (with a little imagination) for an ancient city. We explored the nooks and crannies, seized another geocache moment and realised that by the time we had finished lunch we hadn’t been in the water for a few hours. This needed to be addressed urgently as it was hot, as it always is up here. Another 4WD track, a bit further in, followed by a 1.7km walk and we discovered the less frequented gem at Sandy Creek. Tjaynera Falls there sprinkled lightly on the rocks at the base and Hannah found a rock to practice her newly-found daredevil cliff-jumping antics. She repeated it four or five times before goading her father into reluctantly copying. Here we also shared the lake with hungry sooty grunter who didn’t hesitate to seize any crumbs of snacks dropped into the shallows by the kids.

Then we met the “Grismacks”, just as we were leaving the carpark. On their recommendation we chose to drive further down the track to see Surprise Creek. I was happy because I knew it meant a Reynolds River crossing and it sounded like fun (long and deep). This swimming hole was three in one, the top two pools being 6+m deep, relatively small pools into which you could jump from up to 10m into. Hannah once again lifted the stakes, and after a couple of lower confidence-gaining jumps, leapt from the top of the second pool. Thinking, “If my 8 year old can do it so can I” was my first mistake. After a painfully long and lonely contemplation of the jump from the top of the cliff I forced myself to go – exhilarating? A little, yes. Scary? Absolutely. Never again? Well that’s what I told myself.

With the day fading fast it was a bumpy rushed drive back to give Amanda and Oscar a chance to enjoy Buley Rockholes before we left. As the sun faded we immersed ourselves one last time in the safe waters of this beautiful park.

 

Categories: 4WD, Adventure, australia, Australian Outback, Big Lap, Discover Australia, Explore Australia, Journey Narrative, Kids Travel, National Park, Natural World, Northern Territory, NT, Offroad, Photography, Travel, Travel Adventure | Tags: , , , , , , | 8 Comments

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