Step 91 Daly Waters – Banka Banka 305km's

Monday 25^th July

Well it was freezing overnight. Well very cold anyway. Di even put on her sexy long pyjamas and bed socks. You wonder why I go to Bra Bars in the Outback?

Back on the road and the scenery is very different to what we expected. Lots of trees and lots of wildflowers starting to bloom.

Roadside stop - still red underneath despite the trees

Another day and another couple of lone cyclists. Why do they ride on their own? I'm guessing if you talk to someone and they say “I think I'll just ride Australia. South to North” most people walk away, shaking their heads.

Well, we have another winner today. Renner Springs wins the award for the most expensive fuel for the trip so far. $2.05 per litre. Still can't quite work out how they decide on the prices. 200 km's down the road, further from anywhere, fuel is $1.85 per litre.

What's this? Cows in a paddock?
Nope, that would be the side of the road.
Are you sure the speed limit should be 130 here?

The stop for tonight is another place that features on previous travellers highlight reels. Banka Banka Station. Another little oasis in the outback. Just a paddock at the front of the station, no power but clean facilities, spring water and beatiful grass sites. The grass is that well maintained it's like a manicured lawn in most places.


Another highlight - $2.00 per load washing machines. Too good an opportunity to miss so I sent Di over to do some washing.

While Di was enjoying herself, I headed off on the little walk to the top of the hill at the back of the park to take in the view.

I don't want to get carried away but this next shot could quite possibly win an award. Artistic or what?

The juxtaposition of the wheels with the rugged harshness of the rock outcrop in the vast expanse of the Australian Outback. A symbol of the struggle to eke out a living in this remote corner of the Commonwealth.

Meanwhile back in the real world, wine o'clock is cut short as it starts to cool down very quickly. A combination of the cold and the sight of, a quite unattractive, older gentlemen cooking his tea while wearing his woollen dressing gown, tempts us to move inside for dinner. But the pioneer spirit prevails and we eat outside, wearing our hoodies. (The hoodies as well as keeping us warm also restrict our peripheral vision. Hopefully shielding us from any “accidental viewings” with the dressing gown).

We have had to increase the size of our mailbox
due to the enormous influx of congratulatory mail
on the success of the blog.

Thank you all.

Step 90 Katherine – Mataranka Springs – Daly Waters 290km's

Sunday 24^th July – Pre-emptive TED

Packed up and on the road by 9:15, to satisfy Di's craving for a Macca's breakfast. I know, the crosses I bear, I had to force down a Macca's myself.

Given this is the last bit of civilisation for a few days we also ducked into the supermarket for a bit of a stock up before leaving town.

Then it was off to the local park to set-up Skype so that Di could make a guest video appearance at a “girls lunch” that was on in Melbourne. To be honest I think she was a little unkind doing the video and showing off her tan while the girls were cold and wet in Melbourne. But then again I guess there would be less point doing this trip if we didn't take every opportunity to gloat :-)

Back on the road after lunch and after Lady Chatalot had finished chatting, a lot, and 20 kilometres down the road we pass the guy with the pull along trailer walking down the side of the road. You might recall we first saw him at Pine Creek on our way to Darwin at the beginning of the month. So in 3 weeks he has walked approx 91 kilometre. Not sure what else he has been up to of course.

We had originally intended to stop at Mataranka for the night and have a swim in the hot springs. But we arrived a little early so we decided to just have a quick dip and move on. The water was amazing, very clear, very warm, quite crowded. 

Di decided that this would be a great place to try out the “noodle” that she bought in Darwin. For $3.50. All going well, she was hanging on to the noodle and floating nicely. Then, I looked around and she was about 40 metres away, waving. Oh hang on, I think she wants something. Oh yes, she wants rescuing. It seems she hadn't noticed the current in the spring. Until she started drifting off into the distance. Luckily my Herald Sun Certificate training came into play and I was able to swim across and sidestroke our way back to the ladder. Of course the other alternative would have been to keep drifiting and get out at the next ladder. But where's the excitement in that.

Back on the road we drove pass the biggest off road/free camp we have seen so far. There must have been a 100 vans on it. We kept driving.

One of the places that has been on my list since the start is the Daly Waters Pub, having heard so many stories about it over the years from people doing the lap of Australia. 

So we checked into the attached caravan park (more like a paddock at the back of the pub). 

In a bit of budget relief effort we took the unpowered site and paid the princely sum of $14.

Wandering into the pub we blew $11 of our accomodation saving on a beer and a glass of wine. The pub is famous for it's, eclectic, collection of memorabilia pinned up on the walls. Things such as Police & Ambulance  badges

Firemen's badges

Thongs

Underwear

Bra's

Stephen! Did you just come here to see bra's hanging up on the wall?

Well not just for that.

There was also live music. A guy playing the soundtrack of our youth. Hits of the sixties and seventies. Including Di's all time favourite (NOT) Nutbush City Limits. Not sure if it was the white wine or the Alzheimers but the two ladies who got up to “dance the Nutbush” got one verse in and had to sit down because they couldn't remember the steps. I couldn't help them, I never knew the steps in the first place. Di couldn't help them because she hates the song, after hearing it a every party and 21st for half the seventies. 

A more succesful dancer was this young lad. Remind you of anyone?

Sorry it's a bit blurred, my hands were still shaking after the Bra Bar

The pub is also famous for the Barra and Beef BBQ. We are famous for our Woolies cooked chook and crunchy salad, so we had that instead

It ended up being quite cold again tonight. These couple of hundred km's further South seem to be making a big difference.

Step 89 Cooinda – Katherine – 330km's (including side trip to the gorge)

Saturday 23^rd July

Our Torquay friends had already departed for their day trip by the time we got up but we did have a quick chat to the family behind us before leaving this morning. Five weeks into an eight week trip with her husband and three kids and the mum has had enough. Yep, two adults and three kids in a station wagon and a camping trailer. That's not a holiday.

Uneventful drive of 250 km's or so down to Katherine and we checked into the Big 4 Low Level Caravan Park. All very pleasant but it's all go go go for the Kendalls this week. So after a quick lunch it was off to the world famous Katherine Gorge to take the (boat) tour.

Again, the sign posting leaves a lot to be desired and we end up parking in the wrong car park before moving over to the correct one.

Editors note: No seriously, the signposting was just down right misleading. My story, I'm sticking to it.

The park at the boat ramp is absolutely full of bats. 

They would have to be the smelliest animal around. Maybe that kids song is right:

Jingle bells

Batman smells

We opted for the two gorge tour today. It goes for two hours, you can take longer ones that go further down river but two hours sounds about right to us.

Incidentally you can also paddle your own way down and up the river in kayaks. As Vicki and Herb did. Well Herb paddled. Maybe next time for us.

That's not going to work
You need to put the paddles in the water

Again the superlatives fail me. Truly spectacular and although we know the gorge was formed by the continual wet season floods it is still difficult to imagine the sheer volume of water that flow through here each year. There are places where the water is over seven metres higher than it is today.

That's croc footprints. They go up there to lay their eggs.
Croc eggs are harder to collect than chicken eggs

Half way into the trip we have to get out and walk for a couple of hundred metres to get past a shallow part in the river. This time though, it's a nice easy walk along a paved walkway. No climbing, no clambering, no falling over.

Is this camera on ?

Then it's back into another boat for the second half of the trip.

Back at MM, while DI prepared wine o'clock I jumped in the pool for a quick cool off. Wine O'clock is much quieter tonight without our friend from Torquay.

Excellent facilities at this park. As well as the pool there is a cafe/bar and tonight there is a bush poet performing, followed by a one man band. We're not quite ready for the bush poet scene as yet and by the time the live music comes on we can't be bothered going out. (Maybe we should have gone to the bush poet).

Just an overnight stop here and we hit the road tomorrow for a solid few days of travelling.

Editors note: I have just remembered (well I was reminded) that I may have neglected to publish the results of the reader quiz "can anyone identify the plant in this picture?" from about 3 months ago. The response was underwhelming, so by default the winner was Mrs. V. Hertaeg of Jan Juc with " melons”. Thank you very much Mrs. Hertaeg, your cheque is in the mail.

Step 88 Jabiru – Cooinda (Kakadu National Park) 80 km's

Wednesday 20^th July

Breakfast outside this morning and it's lovely in the shade but already starting to warm up. Much cleaner heat than Darwin though, not so humid.

Nearly got away on time but ended up chatting to a couple from Adelaide for half an hour and all of a sudden it's 10:00 by the time we get away.

First stop this morning Nourlangie Rock 

and some more indigenous culture and art 

as well as another lookout for a view of the wetlands and escarpment. It really is Crocodile Dundee country out here.

Second stop Nawurlandja lookout. Bit more of a climb to get to the top but this will be a good warmup for the tour tomorrow.

Did I mention that our camera has a self timer
Luckily it didn't fall of the rock while taking the photo

Finally it's off to Cooinda to check into the caravan park. At $45 per night it could have /should have been a well organised easy process. Obviously not. After making our way to the front of the queue to be served by the only staff member at reception we were directed to our site for the two nights we had booked. Now I will take full responsibility for yesterdays trials and tribulations for finding a site and setting up but today it definitely wasn't me! The first site we were directed to already had someone on it. The second wasn't big enough to fit MM on, honestly if we had got on the site, to get out we would have had to climb in through next door's window and use their door. The third site, we would have blocked another van in. Eventually though we ended up on a lovely shaded site with loads of room. 

The rest of the afternoon I spent explaining the site numbering system and directing people to their sites as they came in.

Editors note: Scratch caravan park guide from the list of possible career changes.

Wine o'clock, came early today, and finished late, but given our early start tomorrow Di and I were still off early to bed.

Thursday 21^st July

Big day today, The Twin Falls / Jim Jim Falls 4WD tour. Pick up 7:30am. Yep, 7:30am, in the morning. Long time since we have been up and out at that time. But there we were bright eyed and bushy tailed, at the bus stop, ready and waiting when John the driver turned up in the Oka.

Editors note: The Oka is an Australian designed and built 4wd bus. In this case capable of carrying 13 passengers plus the driver

A full bus today with a mixture of young and old, Australian, English & French. Remarkably the French (a mum and dad and a cute little girl of about 8 or 9) were lovely. Made me feel guilty about the battle of Agincourt really.

Got the first pangs of worry when the Oka rattled it's way down the bitumen road. 45 minutes into the teeth rattling run down the next bit, a gravel road, and it's looking like a long day. But after a quick bio break (politically correct terminology for a toilet stop) we hit the serious four wheel drive track and the little Oka came into it's own. Single track, sand, hills, creek crossings, water up to the top of the (large) wheels it just kept belting along.

First highlight for the day – Twin Falls. 

A permanent waterfall (as in it keeps flowing, and falling, right through the dry season). But to get there requires a couple of hundred metre walk along a sandy path to a boat. The boat then takes you upstream a ways where you embark on a “strenuous” 600 metre walk to the falls. It's at this point the words of the brochure return to our minds: “Good levels of agility, balance and fitness required for climbing over rocks slippery with water and sand”. Who knew that this would be the one brochure that decided to be completely accurate. Hands up anyone who would consider Steve & Di to be “agile, balanced and fit”. But we made it, and the view was more than worth it. At one point the trail takes you across a pontoon bridge that is helicoptered in at the start of the dry season every year and anchored to the rocks. One guy in the team has to get in the water to do the attaching. That's into the water that the parks ranger has just said “is free of crocs”. “I think”. Another potential job scratched from the list.

Morning tea at the falls, tea, coffee and biscuits which John the driver has carried in on his back in a big rucksack. Apparently that bit of the job didn't crop up in the interview. They didn't mention it until he set out for his first tour. To make sure John didn't have to carry too much back, we all dived into the biscuits. I think there must have been a good old fashioned Arnotts assorted creams pack in there somewhere because I managed to snaffle a couple of custard creams. Woo hoo.

No swimming at Twin Falls anymore unfortunately. Partly for the risk of crocodiles and partly for the fact the pool was getting covered in a film of sunscreen oil and insect repellant from all the tourists swimming there.

A croc trap beside the pool
Not sure it's a good thing or a bad thing that it's empty

The clamber back over the rocks wasn't any easier on the way back but at least we'd had some biscuits.

Back in the Oka for some more serious off road adventures. This thing must have four wheel steering as well as four wheel drive because it is going around hairpin bends a lot easier than a bus should.

Next stop Jim Jim Falls, well the car park for Jim Jim Falls. The sign says 900 metre walk to the Falls. How hard can that be. The answer: it can be extremely (very) hard.

Editors note:

Let's round the distance up to 1 kilometre. 1,000 metres.

The world record for 1,000 metre is 2 mins 11 secs set by Noah Ngeny of Kenya

A serious amateur jogger would be aiming at somewhere in the 4 minute range

During his (albeit brief) triathlon career Steve would be aiming at somewhere in the 5 minute range.

Today it took us.................. 60 minutes. Yep an hour.

To be fair though, in none of the above time comparisons do you have to climb over boulders, up and down rock-faces and slip and slide over uneven ground. Add to that one fall each way for Di and I think we did very well indeed.

PS – she is ok. Thanks for asking. One fall when she misjudged the height of the rock she was stepping on to and one fall into a pond. Well just up to her ankles into a pond.

But the falls and the gorge are spectacular

Maybe we would still have been as appreciative if we had got there by helicopter and avoided the effort but a) you can't get there by helicopter and b) some say that it's the anticipation that adds to the experience.

It's almost like a male version of the
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit calendar isn't it?

At the falls there are two swimming holes. Apparently the only place in Kakadu that you can swim now (apart from resort swimming pools of course). One pool is slightly downstream from the falls and has a nice sandy beach and is just cold. 

The other is a deep deep pool, at the base of the falls in the shade of the cliffs at this time of the year. It is seriously seriously cold. Ever the adventurer Steve is the only one from our tour to experience the deep pool. Consequently he is the only one with hypothermia on a 30 degree day.

After a wonderful lunch of bread rolls with cold meat and salads (again lugged in by the guide Sherpa John) it was time to make the trek back to base camp.

Somehow it was all a lot harder on the way back, but we still made it in the non-record breaking time of one hour.

Missed some of the scenery on the way back in the Oka as we dozed a little (as much as possible with our teeth and internal organs bouncing around inside us) but we arrived safe and sound at the caravan park by 5:00pm.

A bit of scenery we didn't miss

What a fantastic day though. Not for the faint of heart or the frail of body but truly spectacular.

After the exertion of the day it was off to the park swimming pool for a long soak and a relax. Given neither of us fancied cooking after all that and given Di had a craving for hamburger it was off to the resort restaurant for dinner. Expensive though it was, it was worth it given the size of the meal meant we managed to get by with sharing one, washed down with a beer for Steve and an Annies Lane red for Di. (Ooh ah, bottled wine. How posh).

All followed by a very sound sleep.

Friday 22^nd July

Deep deep sleep. Hazy dream. “What's that Megan, you and Jennifer want me to come for a swim with you. But you can't find your bikinis.” Oh well....

beeeeeeep beeeep beeeeeeep.

Bugger, that's the alarm.  In a brilliant piece of planning we have booked in for the sunrise tour at Yellow Waters. Allegedly it is a must see. At the moment, half asleep, in the dark and the cold, pining for Jen & Meg I'm thinking it better be un-bloody-believable.

The first bit of the tour is going to be a bit boring
It's still dark !!!

 Rousing my other sleeping beauty we head off to the bus stop and jump on the bus to the boat ride. Really, two mornings in a row, up before 7:00, this is stretching a friendship.

As the sun slowly rises, and the mist lifts off the water we set off on the adventure. 

That's better

To be honest it is all very spectacular. 

The Yellow Waters are an arm of the East Alligator River surrounded by the wetlands. 

Rich and diverse in wildlife, particularly birds. 

Hundreds of them, and all different types. 

The Comb-crested Jacana
Also known as the Jesus bird
For it's seeming ability to walk on water
Not to spoil the story, but it doesn't really. It walks on the lily pads 

In the distance - Jabiru.
They can grow to 1.4metres in height
Took me until I was 16 to get that tall

A white bellied sea eagle
Australia's second largest flying bird
The Wedge tailed eagle is the biggest
(Thank you  Stephen Attenborough)

The whistling kite.
We've seen hundreds of these on the trip so far
They hover over the road looking for prey
So far MM has been too big for them to have a crack at

There are also croc's in here but at this time of the morning they are, sensibly, asleep. In their little mud caves or in the water. It's not only too early from them it is also too cold.

It's cold because half an hour into the trip and this is how far the sun has risen!

I got a bit carried away with the camera again, and another hundred or so images got added to the collection. Bringing the total to over six thousand. It's going to be one hell of a slide night when we get back.

This is Paul Arnold
He is a famous Northern Territory photographer
I think he was sitting here trying to work out how
I have got such great shots for the blog.
Not telling Paul. Not telling

Our favourite French family (nationality, not surname) are also on the tour and the little girl is very subdued for the first half of the tour. “Les birds” are not what she has come to see. Then with about half an hour to go of the two hour tour “le crocodil, mama. Le crocodil”. Even the ornithologists, and there are a few of them on this trip, sit up and take notice.

How to tell the difference between
a log odile (in the background)
and a croc odile (between the log and the lily pads)
?
A logodile won't bite your arm off.

Just when our petite madamoseille thinks it can't get any better the tour finishes with a “le tres tres grand crocodil” sitting on the bank about 200 metres from the boat dock. (The opposite bank to the boat dock fortunately).

Well done driver. Incidentally the guide for the tour is nursing a broken wrist. Sustained two days ago on the Jim Jim Falls tour. Guess he wasn't as agile fit and balanced as he thought. Or as us.

A side note: The early bird may get the worm, but I reckon the early croc would definitely get the bird.

Behind you !
Behind you !

Luckily we didn't see any croc/bird action because a bonus with the sunrise tour is that breakfast at the resort is included in the price. A very nice breakfast it is too. An upmarket hotel, buffet breakfast. So half a pig (bacon & sausages), several eggs (scrambled), enough potatoes to fix the famine (hash browns) washed down with tropical fruit juice and a reasonable black coffee later, we waddled back to MM. At least we didn't have toast, wouldn't want to overdo the carbs. Mind you we did grab a couple of muffins as take aways for morning afternoon tea.

Back at camp we start chatting to our new neighbours. A couple of teachers from Torquay, on long service leave, travelling with their two kids. Small world, but these two are a bit younger than our last teacher encounter so they did not experience the delights of teaching any of the Hertaeg, Pearson, Leary kids. They did spent a year each teaching on the Frankston Pines though, again too late for any familial contact.

After an apple and a piece of cheese for lunch (still struggling to digest breakfast) we managed to plan our way to Katherine. We even managed to book a caravan park and the tour of the gorge that we wanted to do.

With that exertion out of the way it was time for a relax in the pool. As a bonus the pool actually had a bit of warmth in it.

Wine o'clock. We are joined by the teachers from Torquay. Exuberant probably does not do the wife justice, but a very entertaining night. Don't you mean hour Steve? No I mean night. Missed dinner, their kids missed another swim in the pool that they were planning, we missed two calls from Vicki. So the agenda was: Wine o'clock, bed. That's that day over with. Torquay people, they'll lead you astray every time.

Kakadu summary:

20,000 square kilometres – we didn't see them all, but the ones we did were quite pleasant

68 mammals – we saw a couple of kangaroos

300 species of fish – didn't see any barra's but we saw quite a few dirty Sharapova

10,000 species of insects – over a dozen of which bit one or both of us

120 different reptiles – including the two different types of crocodile

Aboriginals call the croc Ginga. Making it the only language in the world where ginga is not term of mocking.

So, some say Kaka do

Some say Kaka don't

We Kaka did

and reckon you should Kaka try it

Editors note:

OK, that was at least one Kaka too many. Only Brazil or Real Madrid would want that many Kaka's

Editors note note:

For the non-sporting readers Kaka is a Brazilian footballer (soccer player) who until recently was the most expensive player in the world after his transfer to Real Madrid for 56 million pounds. He is a former FIFA World Player of the Year.