Darwin with visitors...

We have settled into the Darwin lifestyle easily and certainly feel better every morning after we see the weather for the rest of the country.  We had our first cold(ish) morning today at 17 degrees but it was still a shorts and t-shirt day.

We are both very excited to have some visitors this week with Kirsty, Isobel, Madelaine, and Grace up here for a week.  They arrived on Thursday and we got them settled into their unit and set out for the Mindil Markets for the sunset.  The bigger girls loved playing on the beach while Mummy, Grace,  and Grandma browsed the stalls.  Grandad wasn’t watching them closely enough and soon they were in the water which was lovely and cool after a warm day.  We dined out on the beach front and headed for home after a big day. 

 Sandcastles at Mindil

 Searching for that elusive shell

 Oops - the water came up past me...

Friday was a quiet day and all the girls went to a large landscaping centre just up the road for lunch and because they had large garden ornaments on display.  The girls were very impressed with the huge dinosaur statues on display. 

 Great garden ornaments !!

 What size garden do you need to fit this in ??

 Cute ones..

On Saturday we had a drive around town, let the girls play in the East Point Reserve, watched the last horse race, and spent the evening at the Indian Festival held at Mindil Beach.  Isobel and Madelaine both picked a horse out from the mounting yard and they picked the winner at each end of the field.  The girls loved watching the Indian dancing and costumes during dinner and enjoyed another play on the beach during the sunset.  

 Grandma got them in togs then the water

 Swimming at sunset in the middle of winter

Sunday was spent on a drive out through Humpty Doo to Corroborrie Billabong.  We stopped for morning tea at a really good Wetlands Information Centre located on a rare hill near the Adelaide River.  The big girls were occupied for ages with the very good interactive displays on the birds and animals in the swamps and waterholes of the area. 

 Isobel and the wetland birds

 Mads favourite - the ducks

 Searching the wetlands with Grandma

 Isobel, there is something behind you !!!

 We needed this shot for school. A very large ant hill, sorry, TERMITE mound

 

 The real thing for Mads

 It was a nice drive and as there has been a wind at sea, the number of empty boat trailers parked near the boat ramp at the Billabong was impressive.  All the time there were boats being launched and taken out with enough fishing tackle hanging out of them to half fill the waterhole.  We had not booked a cruise and so retired back to the Tavern for lunch.  We had a great steak sandwich and were able to see buffalo, pigs, turtles, and 2 large crocodiles in pens at the back of the pub.  There was a 4m salty and a 3m freshie for the girls see.

We have both got into the work groove at both the race track on the TAB and at the Hardware.  We will be at the Turf Club for the next few Saturdays and are putting in 2 to 3 days a week at the hardware. 

After our first week of work at the Hardware and at the TAB we decided not to cough up the $55 each to go to the V8’s which we might regret but not so much when Holden won the Sunday Race.  Carol has been very busy sewing and has quite a few little almost outfits ready for sale.  We have also gathered a large amount of material for constructing fancy hair clips and head bands.  Look out for the online sales address soon.

Darwin

This is a very different place to another city in Australia that we have visited.  It is a capital city but feels like a series of outback country towns joined together.  The people look and act very country.

The van park we are in feels to be in the bush but when you Google maps it we are surrounded by acreage lots.  There is a Woollies store next to us and we cannot believe how busy it is.  We have not been in there without having to line up and every checkout is always open.  It is the last Woollies out of Darwin towards Katherine, Kakadu, or Litchfield Nat Parks.

Having settled in, last weekend we re-entered the workforce with our first paid shift working for the Darwin Turf Club.  It was a training shift but we got the hang of the computers, the way to handle the cash, and the different types of bets we will encounter.  We are going in tomorrow Sat 16/6 for another training session in the morning and then working the Sat Races in the arvo.  Our first pay check in almost 10 months has gone into the bank but it won’t keep us in luxury.  Garry has also started at the Hardware with his first two shifts completed this week.  There are many fewer stock deliveries into the shop up here so the one we unpacked this week was much bigger than any into our old shop in Brisbane.  We intend to share the work at the hardware as it won’t be many days per week yet and so Carol has been busy applying for other jobs to fill in her time.  She has already had an interview at Woollies next door so something will come up soon.

 Relaxing picnic lunch at one of the seaside parks in the city.

After our TAB training last Saturday we stayed in town for the Greek festival which was being held in Centennial Park on the waterfront in the middle of the city last weekend and we went along with thousands of others.  The music was good, there was some traditional dancing, and there was some beautiful food.  The deserts were special and the lamb BBQ (souvla) was also very tasty.  The local inmates had knocked together a spit for the occasion.  It was based on a long car trailer which held a bed of heat beads 3m X 1.2m over which the meat rotated.  There were about 40 steel skewers which sat in slots on both sides and one end was held by a small bicycle cog sitting on a moving chain.  The chain ran the full length of the bed and each skewer was rotated and stayed in place but could be lifted off individually.  The paper said that the new cooker allowed them to sell an extra 4 tonne of lamb over last year.  It was sure popular.  The heat bead supply caught my eye; a 2m high pallet of bags of heat beads.  I was a bit disappointed that there wasn’t more info about Greece and its islands for potential tourists.

 A 9.2 inch gun placement from WW2 looking across the Harbour Entrance.

 The spit in action at the Greek Festival.with a whole lamb rotissery on top of the main bed.

During the week we also visited the East Point reserve which is a WW2 site and has a large park with man-made seawater lake for swimming – the stingers and jellyfish are filtered out.  It has a large playground and big grassed areas for kids.  We also visited the Stokes Hill Wharf.  This is close to the city centre and has plenty of seafood take-away shops and restaurants on it.  It also has good parking out on the wharf and fishing is allowed on most of it – except beside the restaurants.  We were talking to a couple of young guys that we parked next to who were fishing from the tailgate of their ute.  It is a great fishing spot 3 minutes from the city centre where you can fish from your vehicle in 15 – 23 metres of water, with your esky at arms reach.  We watched a guy through bread and chips into the water and the fish were boiling the surface and were large trevally that looked at least 600mm long with yellow fins.  Good fishing if you can catch one but how you would get it the 10m from the water up to the deck of the wharf, I don’t know?

 Parliament House

 The Chief Administrators (Governor) Residence on a hill overlooking the Harbour

 The first pole in the Overland Telegraph line from Darwin to Adelaide 

 The ex-Police Station / Court House still standing after bombing and cyclones.

We also took a drive out to Wagait Beach via the Darwin Dam on the Darwin River.  The beach was pretty but not impressive and the dam was huge and full of clear water.  We were amazed at how much water could be captured from such a small stream – 3.6 metres of rain in 4 months every year does it apparently.  Wagait Beach lost its appeal a couple of days later when all the midge bites came out!!!

 Wagait Beach with very pretty rocks

 Darwins water supply

Last night Thur 13/6 we ventured into the Mindil Sunset Markets.  We had a very enjoyable evening wandering amongst the produce, knick knack, art, jewellery, and food stalls.  They are smaller than the Eumundi Markets but there are more food stalls and great variety of international food styles and all are reasonably priced.  Having dropped our chairs off at the back of the beach when we arrived we had a perfect spot to eat dinner and enjoy the beautiful sunset over the water.  Some of the live music was very entertaining, as much for the dancing by the chemically enhanced locals as for the actual music itself.  It was a very nice evening and there were about 20,000 other people that thought so too….  Still the parking was easy and there was little trouble getting out and away when we were ready.

 Sunset over Darwin Harbour at Mindil Beach

 The colours were spectacular with bronze everywhere except for the blue water

 One of the sunset dinner cruises just on dark

Looks like we have settled here for a while as there is still plenty to see and do.  Tomorrow we will be at the races and Sunday we intend to go to Hidden Valley to watch the V8’s for the day.  We are fortunate that we are on the ‘Shaneen Roster’ at the Hardware – 2 days on and a 5 day weekend.  

Katherine to Darwin

Well lets get it out of the road first.......the Barra are safe and happy in their river at Katherine!!!
  I was more than a little put off by the fact that you had to walk into the bush away from the roads to fish in big enough pools (even though the river was running); and the banks were lined with signs warning of crocs.  Another day.

 Katherine River just below Low Level Bridge

 Homestead and campground below Low Level Bridge

After a couple of busy days we enjoyed a couple of restful days and the park at Katherine was ideal for it.  We stayed at the Top Tourist Shady Lane which is 6 kms out of town on the gorge road and is set several hundred metres back from the road.  The sites are large, seperated by palm trees and fully shaded by large trees, and the ammenities are new and clean.  The river is still running strong and very pretty even though the rest of the country has dried out already from the dry season.

We weren't sure where we were going to stay between Katherine and Darwin and every one we spoke to had a different idea of which was best.  We preferred Edith Falls but it was only half an hour north so we had lunch and went further.  Edith Falls was the nicest waterfall and pool we had seen so far and was very popular.  We could have camped but the sites have quite narrow access roads and we had only just got going. 

 Edith Falls and bottom pool

 A beautiful site in beautiful weather

We ended up camping at Hayes Creek which was described by our neighbours as a "hidden treasure".  It was a pleasantly green and grassy camp in a valley down below a roadhouse / shop / pub and there was plenty of room but the best sites further away from the road were fenced off for maintenance.  It was a pleasant enough stay but noisy as the main road was abaove the campground and the road trains are constant.  The valley was originally cleared and used to produce food for the army during WW2. 
Next day we headed into Darwin and settled a van park south of town.  On the way in we had to pull up for a photo with the giant ant hills.  There has been some ant hours go into the construction of this one.

 Carol in front of a 4m+ anthill south of Darwin

We wandered around the city and the wharf area and checked out the wave pool while we collected a heap of info on attractions to visit in the coming weeks.

There is a lot of WW2 history in the city and of course Kakadu and Litchfield Nat Parks to visit on weekends.
We made contact with Blane and expect to hear about some casual work in the Hardware from next week or so and last night started training as TAB operators for the Darwin Turf Club.  Their big racing carnival starts in 2 weeks and leads up to the Darwin Cup on 6 August (a public holiday).
Carol noticed an advert in the paper while we were in Katherine and it seems we have been successful.  It will not be much work but there are about 11 paid days over 6 weeks and it is something new to learn and may be useful elsewhere.
The van parks around here are filling up and putting their prices up especially for the weekend of 16 & 17 June during the V8 Supercars races.  Our park is already booked out.
Next week we will be either working or sightseeing so will se how that all pans out for the blog next Friday..?..

Camooweal to Katherine

Mt Isa to Camooweal is a fairly featureless drive but it does prepare you for the empty centre.  I have been through the area in 1971 and 1991 or 2 and there appeared to be much more vegetation than I can remember which must be a product of the good wet seasons in the last 6 or so years.  We decided to stay beside a waterhole on the Georgina River just west of Camooweal.  It was a great site with tracks along the river for several kilometres.  The water holes were huge and full of plants and birds; very pretty and peaceful.  Which probably explained why there ended up being about 20 vans camped in the same area.  Carol got on with some sewing in the afternoon while Garry went for a drive about 25kms south to the Camooweal Caves Nat Park.  They are along an average bush track and do have a camp site beside another pretty billabong.  The ghost gums are so white amongst the red soil.  The caves (2) are interesting in that they were formed by surface water washing through the dolomite to a more solid lower level then washing open huge long horizontal caverns throughout the dolomite layer.  The unfortunate thing is that the entrance to the caves is via a vertical drop which is 15m and 75m to the floor of each cave. 

 Opening of the larger cave.

 Birdlife on Georgina River billabong  

 Remaining summer flowers

 Leaving Qld again

Our drive west to the 3 Ways just north of Tennant Creek was interrupted only by a stop at the Barkly Homestead Roadhouse where diesel hit $2.03/litre.  Unfortunately it was in the middle of having the floors replaced and it was well before lunch so we pushed on to spend the night at another roadside camp at 41 Mile Bore.  We were told to buy fuel at Barkly Homestead because it was owned by the same people that own the 3 Ways Roadhouse but at $2.03 we decided to chance it.  We passed several old bores sites beside the road but only saw one still working (not 41 mile bore).  I found an open hole and dropped a rock into it; as you must.  There was still water in it but it is no longer pumped to the surface.  We refuelled at the 3 Ways Roadhouse (for only $1.84/litre!!) and had a talk with a Hungarian guy who is attempting a Guinness World Record for riding/driving a 3 wheeled 1961 Chekoslavakian vehicle around the world.  The converted bike has a top speed of 118kph, has 2 front wheels, a steering wheel, and vinyl/canvass covered panels.  It didn’t look comfortable but was no doubt much easier than the two Asians we saw a couple of hours north peddling a loaded tandem push bike uphill into a strong headwind; what makes them do it??

 1961 3-wheeler something. Hungarian driver in the background.  He was interesting to talk to.

 They even name towns after our grandchildren up here - got RBT'd in Elliott !!

That night we stayed at Daly Waters pub.  The yard next door filled up with vans and the overflow block over the street ended up with 18 vans in it as well.  Apparently over 100 vans gathered for the night and that is normal at this time of year.  No room for annexes; the vans were backed in to each other about 2 metres apart and you don’t get to leave before others leave around you.  The pub is a remarkable old place with great collections around the bar walls and roof.  The collections include hundreds of baseball caps, dozens of bras, dozens of knickers, hundreds of bank notes, and hundreds of coins stuck to the posts.  There are also collections of cloth badges, number plates, etc inside and outside. Chilli’s shop across the road is unique. It looks ready to fall down but you can’t miss it with an old helicopter sitting on the roof.  He sells jewellery and timber signs and key racks with bush sayings on them.  Chilli happens to be the entertainer at the pub during dinner.  Dinner was a Barra & Beef BBQ and both meats were fantastic.  We are amazed that they serve so many meals so quick and still hot.  As well as Chilli, there was also another Country singer, Rod Dowsett, on first.  He sang then Chilli recited poems, sung country songs, and told yarns for ages.  It was a very funny night.  

 Chilli's shop - a good wind and its gooone. 

 Outside the pub in front of my least favourite plant.

 Some of the collections inside the pub.

 Garry at the bar under the bras

Next morning the road north was full of vans with the odd quad road train trying to maintain its speed of 100kph+.  When I came out with Brendan and Fabian in 1991 or 2 (can’t remember which), we camped a night at the Roper River near Mataranka.  I was keen to find it again and we spent a night there.  The camp is now on a bitumen road but is still very pleasant on the banks of the river.  The hot springs at Mataranka are still very popular (not crowded) but the area around them has changed dramatically as a result of heaps of ‘Little Red Bats’.  They have destroyed the vegetation around the pool with only the tallest palm trees having leaves. The pandanus palms have disappeared and all the low palms have been flattened.  Carol was disappointed as I and others had told her how good it was going to be.  The river was pretty and it is a good camp area. The caretaker told us he had caught 30 barra in the last month but that they had gone off the bite with the overcast weather.  Typical of fish!!!

 Mataranka thermal pools - clean and clear.

 Carol at the spring supplying the pool with 30.5 million litres of water a day. Note the palms stripped by bats in the rhs of the photo.

 Roper River near our campsite

We moved on to Katherine.  Thursday we took a tour through the Cutta Cutta Caves.  This cave system is different to the Camooweal Caves.  They are limestone caves similar to the Etna Caves near Rockhampton.  Our Aboriginal Guide was very good and the caves are very interesting.  The caverns are huge with interesting rock formations and beautiful sparkly crystals. 

 Entering Cutta Cutta limestone caves

 A limestone formation dripping from the roof - note the clean side and the muddy side. It contains lots of sparkly bits of silica - just like stars but hard to photograph.

 Another stalagtite

After the humid caves we cooled off in the thermal springs pools in town.  They were cooler than Mataranka and also beautiful and clear.  Today we have been on a tour through 3 gorges in Katherine Gorge.  It is several boat rides with a walk in between ending in a side gorge with a waterfall and swimming hole.  The guide was great and made the tour special with his commentary on indigenous and geological history of the place.  It is very pretty. The guide recommended a walk to the top of the cliffs to a lookout to view the sunset.  We made the climb with about ten others and watched a lovely western sunset over the gorge. 

 Katherine Gorge #2

 Waterfall and swimming pool.

 A fine looking Johnstone River freshwater croc - not dangerous to humans of course.  We saw him and about 10 of his mates along the gorge.

 Another tour boat all run by the local Aboriginals group.

 Gorge #1 from the lookout on top of the cliffs

 Setting sun over 17 Mile Valley

 Sunset

 Just after sunset - very peaceful and only 200 steps back down again in the failing light.

The quote of the day was attributed to the local aboriginal leader just after the land claim in recent years - "All you white fellas thought we were going to take all this land off you when we won our land claim, but see; its still all here!!"

p.s.  Someone might want to warn the barra because tomorrow, Garry is going fishing!!!