Katherine NT
I have mixed feelings about this town,Aborigines were sitting in both large and small groups and while waiting for Annie in the shopping centre I witnessed some of the indigenous people filling water bottles with white wine probably in an attempt to hide the alcohol from police (street drinking is banned in the Northern Territory) We went to the cinema for and evenings entertainment to view OBLIVION and were the only 2 people in thee ! Film was a bit confusing an I wouldn’t recommend it.We went for a few beers in the local RSL and the place was alive with servicemen enjoying this day to the fullest (ANZAC DAY) and so did we.WE picked up a couple of Darwin Stubbies for some friends in Hervey Bay and the size is depicted in the cartoon on this page.There is a very scenic river weir called Knotts Crossing (Katherine River)and is known for crocodiles to be in this area BUT people were actually swimming mid stream in the very fast flowing water totally ignoring the Danger Croc Signs ! We leave for Daly Waters today
Kununurra 2… Cows,Crocs,Uni Cyclist and other stuff
We arrived at Lily Lagoon an stayed a few nights simply because we really like this place,we parked up and quickly found that a crocodile was a mere 30 metres away from the bus !! More surprisingly was pitched tents from the waters edge even tho there is a 3 foot river bank. The fully grown croc was assisted by (w think) its smaller off spring !! We sat on the bank (very wary) and was amazed to see a turtle “cleaning” around the croc AND lots of very large fish swimming in close proximity! It is easy to see how good the crocs are at hunting and they seem to disappear when only a couple of inches below the surface.One of my favourite places in Australia is Ivanhoe Crossing and it didnt disappoint.Half across was a fisherman and we thought he;d caught a large fish BUT apparently he used it for bait! The fish he was catching is Barramundi (he showed us one of his catches and it was a metre in length !! This town has only been in existence since 1963 by virtue of the massive Ord River scheme.Time to move on and over the border into the Northern Territory headin for Katherine.Along the way we fuelled up at Timber Creek and stayed overnight at a top cheap stay at the Victoria River roadhouse and the scenery was brilliant ( Million year old mountains,very rocky,red and yet abundant in flora,ie trees and shrub) The Bar top in the pb was great (we think polished Ash) The barmaib was from Estonia and had signed up for a 3 month contract (travelling around Oz ,we have come across lots of young foreigners doing “The Australian Thing” she had not realized how remote this part of the world is (although splendid scenery) and is hoping her time spent here goes quickly !! We saw wandering along the road the biggest cow Ive ever seen ( we steered clear,oh dear!) and we bumped into a Uni Cyclist doing the trip around Oz for his sister,his bum must be very concrete like !! From his web Quote….
My name is Samuel Johnson. My sister has terminal breast cancer.She is the mother of two beaut boys and as such is keen for me to help her remind every mum in the land to be breast aware.How? Well, starting on the 15th of February, 2013 I will ride my unicycle around the entire country, hitting up hundreds of communities and every capital city.We are officially attempting to break the Guinness world-record for longest distance traveled on a one-wheeler(15,000kms)and are proud of our lofty aim to raise $1 million for the Garvan Research Foundation.(his amazing story can be found here.and he is a truly inspirational human being) http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/01/06/1073268026745.html)
Next we arrive in Katherine in the Northern Territory
Fitzroy Crossing to Kununurra
We traveled further North heading for Kununurra and stayed overnight at a free camp alongside the Mary river in the Kimberleys (WA has another river with the same name in the South,completely different river !) The temperature was heading for the 40 c mark,we tried to go the day without using the generator for our aircon in honour of the pioneers of yesteryear,sadly we didn’t last long !! The ongoing journey was fantastic and the scenery magnificent .Age old cliffs and ranges remnants from prehistoric times graced the skyline.We were stuck in the middle of a huge train transport convey and they restricted us to 80 km an hour and was a great opportunity for this driver to take in all the breath taking scenery along the way ! We are now camped alongside Lily Lagoon (that has crocodiles in its waters) ane the receptionist still had us on record from 3 years ago ! My,how times fly !! Also along the way we were privileged to see 2 small herds of horses,Australians call them Brumbies and they looked in magnificent shape (Annie managed to get really close without startling them)
Fitzroy Crossing a Favourite Place
We travelled onto Fitzroy staying overnight at Roebuck Roadhouse.In the late evening i ventured across to the ablutions and on the way back confronted by a large white dog (this area has recently been poisoned baited for wild dogs !!) After my momentarily freeze up is became obvious it was domesticated and I fortunately didnt need a revisit to the ablutions !!The trip onwards was fairly incident free and it was noticeable how very bloated recently killed cows were (sad) Looking at the size of some Roo Bars on the massive trucks NO animal would stand a chance if struck !
Fitzroy is a wonderful inland country town and mainly populated with Aboriginees(and we met a few of these guys in the Fitzroy Crossing Inn) The historic Crossing Inn sits on it’s original site on the banks of the mighty Fitzroy River, and is the oldest established hotel in the entire Kimberleys region.The Inn has welcomed travellers and locals since its establishment on 5th July 1897. Originally a “shanty inn and trade store” that served prospectors, bullock team drivers, cattle drovers and locals, it has operated on the same site ever since… although floodwaters have meant continual rebuilding over the years.
Floodwaters through the bars at the Inn are measured by bricks up the wall, and in 1993 this was recorded at 9 bricks high. We visited the Geike Gorge around 20 kms from here and met a runner thru the riverbanks in training for his management job in the Bungle Bungles (lucky man) Creatures spotted around the river included Dingoes,Crocodilemstorks,Eagles and green frogs !!
Karratha,a ghost town named Cossack and a Hospital,with a short side trip to Roebourne
We arrived in Karratha for and overnight stay that turned into 5 nights(BUT my R eye became very heavily infected and went to the Doctors and after a second opinion (2 Doctors) they put me on Penicillin warning me it could be a cancerous growth !!and I was told to come back Monday next ! Saturday and the pain was excruciating so off we went to the Emergeny Dpt at Karratha Hospital.The Triage nurse was great and got me to see a Doctor imediately and he was fantastic ! He took a noodule from the swelling and proceeded to lance the infection Oh the pain !! I thought I was going to faint .The service was truly great and the pain relief brilliant,follow up to the ambulatory was also great.I have been around this ole planet a lot and this particular visit was one of the nicest ! Thanks to all involved and a letter of appreciation has been registered to the proper authorities by me.I await the biopsy for knowing exactly what the problem was
Karratha is a massive mining town and producer of gas (ONE gas filled ship is condensed to the equivalent of 600 hundred ships !! and each one can gas fuel a town the size of Melbourne for months!) The shopping centre is very good and the visitor centre at Woodsidw was very informative Situated around 30 kms is a ghost town named Cossack that once was thriving port and Pearl diving was a main industry The town boasted at one time around 400 residents Sadly the area was “pearled” outand the waters became to shallow for the bigger boats that were being introduced and the pearling moved further North to Broome .There are a few buildings that have been restored to former glory for the visitors Well worth a look see just for the seaside/mangrove scenery.We ventured into Roebourne for a look BUT the visitors centre is closed until May !! BIG 4 Caravan sites are getting to be quite expensive at almost $50 a night!!!
Nanatarra Road House WA
Nanatarra Road House is situated on the Ashburton River and a Tank full of Diesel will just about get you there (have extra just in case) The wildlife is extraordinary with birds of Paradise in abundance.We were graced with a Giant Monitor (lizard),who seemed to pose for a picture then wandered off into the bush The sunset was again brilliant and made tremendous viewing especially with the river and bridge making the scene even more beautiful
Out of the Wilderness
We have just spent 2 great weeks on the Exmouth Cape Range Peninsula parked a stones throw from the gloriously coloured turquoise/green/blue Ocean..The Camp over seers Carl n Bernadette have been fantastic camp co coordinators and a pleasure to know..We have sampled swimming at its best canoed (well Annie has) in this pristine Indian Ocean.Around 5pm most campers gather at the picnic area by the sea for a few drinks and friendly chat (known thru out Australia as “Happy Hour” which usually goes well beyond those times !) We have been fortunate enough to meet some lovely people and we always pick up a few tips to help us on our way From losing my fishing rod to setting up the TV,organizing the Generator (Annie is very competent in starting this beast up !) Being without phone and computer signal for 2 weeks has been no great loss ,The wind,heat, the torrential downpour have all been challenges that we easily over came and a distant storm gave us the best free lighting show we have had the luck to view !! To all the nice people we have met here THANKS for the memories and hope to see you down the track !!Last night and we gave the Happy Hour a miss in order to take some last minute pics and videos Great Place to stay and after 3 years we finally used our shower !!
Osprey Bay Exmouth WA next 2 weeks NO water/Electrcity
Osprey Bay is situated in the Cape Ranges in Exmouth and we have been here before and liked it PLUS tis only $7 a night ! The first day we met all other campers at the daily traditional Happy Hour and the evening flowed quite pleasantly ,after the session we returned to base, got the chairs out and lay back marvelling at the Milky Way. In the distance I could see a faint orangey glow and eventually we witnessed the rising of the moon!! And it was a brilliant spectacle and once again the complete darkness was lit up by sheer moon light alone!!Bed and the wind got up and it was a howler! We thought the awning was going to be ripped off BUT we had secured the Guy Ropes and amazingly they held everything in place.
Day 2 we visited a few beauty spots and took the car over very rough terrain to view Gorges in the area The campsite organizers Karl and Bernadette are lovely people who attempted to get our TV going, but to no avail SO we will take the whole setup in Exmouth in the hope we can fix it !!We drove 4 wheeled to the entrance of Mundu Mundu Gorge and because of the heat we gace the walk/climb a miss !!
Day 3 and we drove off to our nearest dump point 13 kms away and took some pics around Yardie Creek Gorges ( we toured this place last time we were here 3 yrs ago) Back to base then another Ocean Dip and it is VERY refreshing This time around Annie used the noodles Last night one of the lovely campers came over and offered us her hard drive to watch movies ,she had heard about ours stuffing up How nice is that? Next few days were spent idling in the sea and Annie is getting very confident in the rubber canoe!
Wednesday we did the round trip of 150 kms into Exmouth getting scripts and replenishing supplies .To get the scripts we had to go to the hospital and do it thru the doctors there! Exmouth has a pop of around 3000 but only 3 doctor’s service this area and they are all based at the Hospital!! We paid a visit to the satellite TV man and went thru various paces on how to set up. What can I say except it still doesn’t work !! I honestly think we are on top of some iron ore mother lode!!.Night time fell and we were treated to a fantastic storm lightening sky that was way off in the distance Very reminiscent of the Day of the Triffids movie!!I wasn’t feeling the best and had to retire to my bed. The wind became very strong and we had such a downpour (the like I haven’t heard before ) that lasted around 10 mins and the rest of the evening remained very calm !
SUCCESS!!! WE SAT OUT SIDE WITH CHAIRS EITHER SIDE OF THE SATELITTE DISH WENT THRU ALL INSTRUCTIONS METHODICALLY AND YAHHHOOOOO !! WE HAVE A WORKING TELLY!!
Sad you lost your Rod Geoff
Oh Dear !!
Humble apologies to all my DSC friends who contributed to my farewell gift of a fishing rod !! Today we tested it out,I cast into the pristine turquoise coloured Indian Ocean, lay my rod 2 metres from the cliff edge to get a towel from my bucket and the rod FLEW into the air, not getting trapped in the craggy cliffs and the last we saw it was heading towards the Horizon in a very quick fashion !! No chance of retrieval so? Goodbye purpose bought pink fishing rod ! .Walking along the coast in the hope it may have washed ashore we spotted very large fish about a metre long and 3 metres off shore swimming merrily along its way The happy hour session turned out to be hilarious due to my misfortune and people were asking me about the event as the story had spread quicker than anything ole Ena Sharples could have put about!!
Sad you lost your Rod Geoff
Watch me play Didgeridoo
Geoffs Life After Work ! 