Australian Outback Adventure - Day 7 - Katherine Gorge

Canoeing Up The Katherine Gorge 

Thursday, October 25, 2012 - Push to Darwin - Two Fabulous Water Activities

Way Outback Itinerary for Day 7

Your guide will wake you early this morning for the short drive to the Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) National Park which is owned by the Jawoyn Aboriginal people. Ancient sandstone has been carved away by the Katherine River to create a deep and picturesque gorge. You may like to take a boat cruise or paddle a canoe (seasonal) through the peaceful water (both optional and additional cost). In the afternoon, relax and watch the changing landscape as we travel to cosmopolitan Darwin. Overnight accommodation in Darwin is included (hotel room with ensuite).

• Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) National Park

Bitter Springs in Mataranka

We were up at 5:00 a.m. this morning and immediately dressed in our swim suits.  Today we would travel nearly 500 km, about 300 miles to Darwin, with the usual pit stops, plus two major activities - a swim at Mataranka thermal springs (delayed from yesterday afternoon), and canoeing on the Katherine River through Katherine Gorge and picnic lunch.

It was so warm and humid at 7:00 a.m. in the morning, that the thought of a thermal swim didn't seem all that enticing.  The bus swung off the main road onto a side road.  Shortly after the turn  the topography changed from desert brush to jungle tropical as we approached the springs.  

Our group of 10 were the only people in this magical place of green in the desert.  After a short walk down a path we came to a beautiful crystal clear spring fringed with budding lily pads.  The pond meandered off through palm trees and grasses.  We were told that this stream meanders with a slight current for a couple hundred meters, where there are stairs at the end.  We can exit and walk back along a trail to repeat the float.

Most Fun in the Outback - Bitter Springs

We eased ourselves into the mildly warm water, just about body temperature. 

 It felt wonderful.  There was no perceptible current or odor. One of my gifts is being able to float easily on my back (fat floats).  Heading down stream on my back with feet forward the palm trees and and jungle meandered past as we drifted downstream. Russ is more of a forward facing swimmer. Whatever the viewpoint,  

it was delightful, so much so that several of us wanted a second go of it.  We spent an hour floating down the thermal stream.  So far, I've enjoyed this activity, one which I hadn't really looked forward, the most.  We left on our swim suits, as our next activity two hours down the road would also be a wet one.

Canoeing the Lazy River in Katherine Gore

The Katheine Gorge is a sandstone eroded river that meanders through towering cliffs.  We paid for our double canoe at the Nitmiluk museum and cultural center and after a brief look around proceeded to the launch point where we picked up our life vests, canoes, and paddles.  We were to paddle two kilometers up stream to the turn around bay for the canoes prior to the rapids.  There we could swim if we chose, turn the canoe around and let the current push us back down the river.

Since we were going up the river we didn't need to worry about the rapids presumably ahead of us.  We were paddling against a mild current even though the current on the river surface seemed invisible. If the bow of the canoe wasn't nosed directly into the invisible current, the bow would be caught and veer to one side or the other.  We were a bit of a comedy routine going up the river and seemed to zig zag all over the place. Finally, we got the hang of digging the paddles on the lee side to bring the bow in line with the current.  Russ was much better at this than me because he has more patience. 

Most of our mob is behind us

I tend to paddle faster for a correction then over correct.  Oh well, it was fun and good exercise.

We paddled by several lovely sand beaches that warned us away as this was a crocodile nesting area.  

These aren't the nasty saltwater crocs.  These are the smaller more docile freshwater crocs, and there is a $45,000 fine if you trespass in their nesting areas.  Well, they didn't need to worry about us.   We didn't see any crocs or even any prints on the sand.  

When we reached the turn around bay, we beached the canoe in an area where there was no crocodile nesting signs.  There were dry rocks where we expected to find the rapids, but it is the end of the dry season and the water is low.  The bay was clear, shallow, and inviting.  So we took a swim, walked about a bit, then paddled back down the river. 

We thought the paddle back would just be a float, but it turned out that the same invisible current that caught our bow going up, caught the stern going down so we had to pay attention to our paddling downstream as well.  

Hello Darwin

After our last picnic lunch, we hit the road again for Darwin.  It was just after 6:30 p.m. when we were
dropped off at our hotel.  The bus departed and we as we check in, we find out that we do not have a reservation at the Holiday Inn.  Oops. These arrangements were to have been made by the tour company.   We were given a free drink at the bar coupon while the tour company and hotel worked out the details (since there was no room available at this hotel tonight).  

Our Guide John and Russ

The hotel had a sister property of comparable quality next door and eventually everything worked out okay, but it was 7:30 before we were in our room.  We had just enough time to get  showered before it  was time to  walk into town for an 8:30 dinner reservations at Monsoons.  It happened to be ladies night so the ladies all received a free flute of bubbly wine (champaign seems to be the popular Oz sundowner drink of choice with the ladies).  





Had we stayed until midnight we also would have seen the male strip show, however, we left just prior to midnight wined, dined and exhausted from our road trip.  We are no longer in the hot dry outback.  We are in the hot and humid tropics of The Northern Territory.

This is the end of the road for some of our fellow travelers.  Tomorrow, we start the last leg of our adventure to Kakadu.

Australian Outback Adventure - Day 6 - Ghost Towns

Wednesday, October 24, 2012 - Road Trip Through Ghost Towns

Way Outback Itinerary for Day 6:

No trip to the ‘Territory’ is complete without a visit to the Daly Waters Pub, an important watering hole for explorers and drovers in days gone by and now a great spot for a cold beer, a bit of history and a ‘fair dinkum outback experience’! Later in the day you can take a soak in the Mataranka Thermal Pools, a lush oasis fringed by paperbark trees and nearby where we camp overnight.

• Daly Waters Pub
• Mataranka Thermal Pools

John told us we could sleep in this morning, as we would not need to leave until 8:00 a.m., but I think our bio-clocks and the cacophony of morning bird sounds woke us while the stars were still twinkling overhead.  The birds here are amazing, day and night.  I got up to take pictures of the desert sunrise. 

By 7:00 a.m. everyone was dressed, fed, and ready to go so we hit the road.  More roadhouses and potty stops.  We passed by several small bush fires and in fhe middle of nowhere there was a police road block and random safety inspection.  Our driver was only obliged to show his lecense and we were on our way.

The brush blurred past us as we continued our journey up the Stuart Highway.  Brush Fires, Safety Check Points, and Truck Trains kept us entertained on this long day of driving.

Truck Trains

Move Over Buddy

Newcastle Waters Cattle Station

We stopped briefly in this little community, most of which is a ghost town remnants of a time in the 1930-1940s when stockmen would stop here for the night as they herded their cattle through to market.  There was enough water here for the herd.

Daly Waters Roadhouse Pub

We stopped at Daly Waters Roadhouse Pub for lunch, swim, and cold beer,  The inside of this roadhouse is filled with mementoes from travelers purposefully signed with names and dates, hung, tacked, and draped on posts,walls, and ceilings by collections of hats, shoes, patches, badges, t- shirts, license plates, paper currency, photo IDs, panties, and bras. The place was chaka with stuff!  Got to have some fun in  this desolation.

Outback or Bust!

Our group spent a couple of hours sitting in front of a large cooling fan in the shaded patio area where we grilled sausages and bacon for lunch.  And of course, nothing helps better to slide down sausages than a cold beer.  After that we submerged ourselves in a lovely little pool off of the bar.  Eventually, we packed up our gear and got back on the road.

We stopped a few more times for breaks along the way, one was an old telegraph station and an abandon airport strip that was used during the war and later as a fueling station for Qantas transcontinental and planes headed to Papua New Guinea. Those abandoned places are eerie as the corrugated metal panels that have broken from their bolts swing, creak, and clank in the wind.  

Our itinerary indicated that we would be visiting the Mataranka Thermal Pools today, but because of accommodation problems near Mataranka, our itinerary has changed a bit.  Instead we will be staying at the Pink Hotel...sounds interesting.

By late afternoon, we reached our evening encampment, at, the Pink Hotel and Caravan Park.  And yes it was pink!  The hotel, out buildings, camping cabins, camp kitchen....all pink.  Besides its pinkness the property had a mini zoo, train and plunge pool (above ground 4 foot high, 10 foot diameter tank) with cool clean filtered water.  The return water gushed back into the plunge pool via and overhead wide mouthed water hose.

Russ and I explored the little zoo, then while he took a train ride, I got into the plunge pool to cool off.  The pink camp kitchen was outback dirty.  I felt compelled to help John clean it up before we started dinner.  John swept up the ground and cleaned out the fridges while I washed off and wiped up tables, chairs, counters, sinks, toaster, teapot, fridge fronts.  By the time everyone returned from the train ride, the kitchen was cleaned up and ready for our chicken carbonara preparation.

Russ and I sat outside of the kitchen in patio chairs sipping wine coolers that we made from merlot and lime soda, while letting some of the other campers work on dinner.  John and Tarynt had built a campfire in a bar-b-que barrel for making the carbonara and pastas.  We had to move our  chairs back because it was blazing hot.  The meal was delicious.  Russ and I help with the cleanup.

We had been offered one of the pink camping cabins.  There was only one pink cabin available.  It had screened windows, two cots, and  four electrical outlets.  Age has its privileges I guess.  It was very tempting, but we turned it down, opting for the cooling breeze that would blow across the outback and skim over the top of our swags as we slept under the starligh just like the drovers of the past.

Australian Outback Adventure - Day 5 - Road Trip North

Lots of Unique Potty Stops - Gotta Go!

Tuesday, October 23, 2012 - Road trip to Darwin

Way Outback Itinerary for Day 5 

You will be collected from your Alice Springs accommodation at approximately 6.00am when our adventure through the ‘Territory’ to Darwin begins. Just north of Alice Springs is the Tropic of Capricorn (80% of the Northern Territory lays north of this point). Further along the track are the Devils Marbles (Karlu Karlu) which are a collection of gigantic granite boulders magically balanced on top of one another. Our day winds to a close just north of Tennant Creek at historic Banka Banka Cattle Station where we camp for the night.

• Tropic of Capricorn
• Devils Marbles (Karlu Karlu)
• Banka Banka Cattle StationYou will be collected from your Alice Springs accommodation at approximately 6.00am when our adventure through the ‘Territory’ to Darwin begins. Just north of Alice Springs is the Tropic of Capricorn (80% of the Northern Territory lays north of this point). Further along the track are the Devils Marbles (Karlu Karlu) which are a collection of gigantic granite boulders magically balanced on top of one another. Our day winds to a close just north of Tennant Creek at historic Banka Banka Cattle Station where we camp for the night.
  • Tropic of Capricorn
  • Devils Marbles (Karlu Karlu)
  • Banka Banka Cattle Station

On the Road Again

Today starts our three day drive to the Northern Territory.  We are looking forward to letting Way Outback do the driving so that we can just watch the scenery, read, listen to music, sleep or whatever we want to do .  The tour company sent us an email last night alerting us that we would be picked up from our accommodations at 5:30 am. We arose early, and were standing by the bus stop outside the hotel portico just before the appointed time.  It was still semi-dark and lighting up.  The street began to fill with people and vehicles on their way to work.

Our bus with a new guide/driver John didn't arrive until 6:15. We were on the schedule for 6:45 and everyone thought they would have to wait around for us.  Seems that gremlins are messing with the schedules.   The 24 passenger van carried only 9 passengers including ourselves, 4 of whom we already knew from the first leg of the trip, three young German women, and a young man from Israel.  New passengers included an Aussie, and two independent women from the UK.  The Aussie was a passenger/guide trainee.  

We were able to spread out more which was a good thing for the extended hours we would be traveling to the top end.  The mini bus was actually less comfortable than the 4x4 with its independently adjustable seats, seat back pockets, insulated curtains to block out the blazing sun.  Lacking those amenities, spreading out was very welcome.  We each established our little nest for the long trip to Darwin.

John provided us some history and pointed out geographic features, passage over the Tropic of Capricorn, and changes in flora and fauna.  But for the most part, it was a long road through what seemed to be a never ending desert brush.  

There were many stops along the  road through the outback for petrol, cold drinks, and toilets.  John considerately stopped every hour or two for us to stretch our legs and move about.

Unique Road Houses

Stops along the Stuart highway included numerous roadhouses each trying to carve out a unique and memorable niche in the desert sands whether it be a place where there were large metal sculptures, 

Swimming Pools and Places to BBQ Lunch

Places that claimed to be UFO Capital of Australia,

cold beer or unique bars with hanging objects, stuffed buffalos and Crocodile Dundee mementos.

Devils Marbles

One of the geologically interesting places we stopped was Devils Marbles, which is an indigenous sacred site.  Called Devils Marbles, the egg shaped rocks represent spirit serpent eggs to the locals. 

Large boulders are split and look precariously balanced on top of one another.  One of the boulders was removed from this site for a monument and the nomadic indigenous people so in tune with every rock and tree spotted its absence immediately.  Eventually, the Aborigines were able to get the rock back, but it had been sand blasted clean.  John pointed it out to us and indeed it was back home, but cleaner and whiter than the other boulders.

Pyromanic Birds and Termite Mounds

We also crossed through the table lands, vast open land as flat as the eye can see.  Plums of smoke and haze dot the landscape with occasional bush fires.  Bush fires are not fought out here.  John told us that when there is a bush fire, all living critters evacuate the area, and the birds feast on their scurrying bodies.  Some of the large kites (birds) have become so smart about bush fire feasts they have learned to pick up burning twigs and purposely drop them elsewhere.  We thought this was brilliant from the bird's point of view.  Wonder if this adaptive behavior is prevalent with other types of birds looking for food.

We are also beginning to see these little mounds of dirt in the burnt out bush.  Turns out they are the protective castles of the termites.  These critters are protected from brush fires as they burrow into the dirt and under ground. John tells us to keep a watch out these mounds as they will become larger in size as we travel north in to the more humid climate where the termites thrive.

The road disappears into the horizon.  Both the overland train to Darwin and the huge long truck trains barrel across the land.  The speed limit on the Stuart Highway is posted at 130 km which is about  80 miles per hour. The truck trains are supposed to keep their speed down, but I suspect that our own vehicle is traveling close to that speed as the bush blurs by.

Indigenous People

The indigenous people of Australia were becoming more prevalent the farther north we drove.  While their demographic designation is Aborigine, they are as diverse as our Native American population with numerous clans, languages, and complex customs.  So far we have noticed that the indigenous people with whom we have passed on the street are very shy or non-responsive to greetings.  One might even think there is some smoldering passive aggressive behavior going on, but it is hard to tell.  Some of the older folks have first-hand recollection of the miserable treatment of their people as their lands were taken by Euro/Aussie settlers.  

They keep their eyes downcast and maintain a distance both physically and mentally from visitors.  Smile and greet foot travelers, and one gets nothing in return.  It is an interesting cultural response and so different from the friendly greetings of people in French Polynesia, Samoa, and Fiji.

While in Alice Springs, one forthcoming lady came up to us and wanted us to buy a 1 foot square painted canvas.  She used sign language that she wanted money to eat and she would give us the canvass for $30.00.  Our response was a polite no thank you.  It was evening time, and we had just witnessed some drunken violence of some indigenous people towards one another as we skirted around them in the park. Alcohol can be a problem with the indigenous folks.  A little seems to go a long way in triggering aggressiveness.

The art wasn't particularly to our liking, and we were inclined to think the woman would be using the $ for the art for liquor rather than food.  Again she pushed the art work towards us in an unfriendly way with a deep scowl.  Again, we said no thank you.  And again she shoved it toward us.  At that point, a bit tense that the situation might escalate into something more, we simply turned and walked away.  I could feel her dark brown eyes boring into our back.  The outback is a culturally, historically, and currently a complex mixture of people living in a rugged, unforgiving environment.

When we reached the outback settlement of Tennant Creek, school was just getting out in the early afternoon.  The shady side of the street sidewalk was filled with aboriginal adults waiting for children from school to cross over the pavement as the spilled out of the school.  Most of the children were Aborigine, some were mixed, and some very European in appearance.    The most striking characteristic was the lack of school uniform for the children which is fairly standard in Australia.   Many of the children regardless of their skin color were barefoot coming out of the school. The pavement was hot enough to fry eggs, yet none of the children were hopping about uncomfortably. As soon as the children got on buses, disappeared down the street, or met up with their parents, the town fell asleep in the hot afternoon.

Lake Mary Ann

Our last stop of interest was Lake Mary Ann.  It was simply a reservoir created for recreation.  Our guide stopped the bus here in  the late afternoon so that we could cool off.  We all changed into our swimming "costumes" and spent a lovely hour cooling off.  Many of the swimmers were indigenous Australians.  I suspect that some of the folks were the families we had seen a few miles back picking their children up from school.

We made one last stop before reaching the Banka Banka Cattle Station Campground where we would spend the night.  That stop was to collect firewood for the bonfire.  When we arrived at the station that evening we were told that since the fire danger was extreme, there was a fire ban.  The Banka Banka station is a public camping ground with generated electricity, so we had lights, a camp refrigerator, and outlets to charge the Ipad, phone, Ipod, electric razor, etc.  

Our Mini Bus is Center Left - We are the Only Campers on This Working Station

There was some patchy green lawn where we could set up our swags for the night.  Yes! Russ and I did a quick survey but decided against sleeping there as the biting ants had crisscrossing trails throughout the greenery.  Darn!   We found a place in the dirt and dust where even the ants avoided. 

John (not us) prepared a great barb-qued steak dinner with mashed potatoes and salad, while we the passengers hiked to the top of a small hill with our metal cups filled with wine, beer, or whatever to watch the setting sun over the desert.  We are living large this evening!  Lovely.

Before going to bed, we had nice cool showers, and I slathered up with insect repellent as I knew it was too warm to tuck into the swag.  The stars were twinkling overhead as we fell asleep under the Southern Cross.