The Savannah Way is a collection of roads linking a tourist route from Broome to Cairns. Leaving Mataranka, Elsey NP the Roper Highway is an unsealed road alternate route which of course we chose to follow. This route follows closer to the Gulf of Carpentaria although still travelling inland.
The road out of Mataranka
The Roper Highway travels through very remote outback Northern Territory after a refuel in Mataranka we headed off with some big distances to cover. At Roper Bar, a small Aboriginal Community that have a small store and campground, we decided to take the side trip to Ngukurr Aboriginal Community to visit their Arts centre.
Holly pointing out a Kookaburra in the
This required crossing the Roper River Causeway and heading through the remote aboriginal community of Ngukurr. The kids were thrilled to see some horses on the footy oval in the middle of town.
A croc at the arts centre
The arts centre had some really cool eclectic artworks with different styles rather than a specific traditional style. I wanted to buy a couple of items but they were outside my budget. Whilst looking at the art one of the indigenous ladies had the three children playing games on her phone. It was a nice afternoon drive but this meant that we had no option but to stay at Roper Bar which had average facilities at a very high price – but we had to pay. Roper Bar was near the Roper River but there are crocodiles in the river so swimming is not possible.
Roper Bar camp
Our next stop was Mataranka – a small town next to the Elsey National Park this National Park was established from the purchase of Elsey Station which is famous due to the Australian classic ‘We of the Never Never’.
The Elsey NP is set on the Roper River and has a lovely camp bushy campground. We decided to camp there for two nights to enjoy the site the first being the Bitter Springs. We all had fun swimming in the amazing Bitter Springs a creek fed by a thermal hot spring from the Artesian that is approx. 32.C and has a crystal clear water flowing with quite a strong current which you float 250m downstream then get out and float around again. The kids loved it.
Holly underwater in the Bitter Springs searching for turtles
Aaron floating in the spring
We visited Mataranka Homestead which has the replica home from ‘We of the Never Never’ the classic Australian autobiographical novel of Jeaniee Gunn written about her life experiences moving from Melbourne to Mataranka in 1902 – quite a lifestyle change! This area is remote and quite wild now …reading the book has lovely descriptions of her adventures on an outback cattle station with bush men and indigenous community. In the book she describes the outback:
“Land of the Never Never; in that elusive land with an elusive name – a land of dangers and hardships, privations, yet loved as few lands are loved – a land that bewitches her people with strange spells and mysteries until they call sweet bitter and bitter sweet. Called the Never Never because they who have lived in it Never Never voluntarily leave it and too many Never Never do leave it. But we who have lived in it, and loved it, and left it, know that our hearts can Never Never rest away from it.” Jeaniee Gunn
I loved that part of the book and the outback Northern Territory is definitely beautiful country, the red earth and the blue sky framed with gum trees…but she forgot to mention the red dirt that you can Never Never escape!
A replica bed from the movie set
Mataranka Homestead adjacent to Elsey NP and has another Hot Spring Pool. When we arrived it was a bit like the hot spring scene from Cocoon minus the aliens. (ie lots of elderly people…Andrew and I did not notice any youthful beneficial side effects from the water!) Thankfully some other children arrived to join our family in bringing down the average age in the hot springs and the children all had a ball splashing around all afternoon in the balmy water.
Maternal Hot Pool
Later that evening we came back to the homestead for the evening entertainment which included a family of five singing followed by Nathan Griggs…champion whip cracker…this was very entertaining and hilarious show cracking his whips his finale was whips on fire to the tune of ‘great balls of fire!’ outback entertainment is a cultural experience for the whole family!
After the amazing Kakadu we started to head south and decided to return to Edith Falls for an easy stopover and we were lucky enough to get a camp for the night where we could stay hitched (one less thing to do in the morning).
At the falls we met Wayne a guy from Melbourne who plays the didgeridoo and travels around Northern Australia to collect hollow wood from termites to make his own didgeridoo instruments. He played for the kids and was amazing he also promised us a didgeridoo when we returned to Melbourne.
At Edith Falls we enjoyed a swim and the children were excited to see a Bower Bird in its nest dancing.
The next day we realised that in addition to the groceries we needed to buy some adult beverages and the shops are not open until 2pm due to alcohol restrictions…the Savannah Way route we are taking traverses Aboriginal Lands and has alcohol restrictions and mostly completely dry so if we missed this chance it might not be anything until Cape York.
We packed early and headed into Katherine to get the shopping and see if we had long to wait…we managed to keep busy. Andrew went for a hair cut and convinced Aaron to have one too after five months (about time) then we got the worst news you can get whilst travelling in a camper trailer…Aaron had head lice, so the girls had a haircut aswell (no nasties spotted) and we purchased the requisite supplies then headed to Katherine Big 4 caravan park for an unscheduled stop over.
The spa at Katherine Big4
Three after hair cuts!
There were lots of lovely birds at the Katherine Big4 we spotted a number of Blue Winged Kookaburras and some Rainbow lorikeets.
Katherine Big 4 have a swimming pool and we got busy washing all the sheets and any other item we thought might harbour lice eggs determined to ensure we did not have a recurrence – Especially as we were headed into remote Gulf Country and not all camps would have facilities to wash!
After a busy twentyfour hours we refuelled ready to hit the road again and we gave the Patrol and Tambo a wash – the first since leaving Broome!
Kakadu NP is huge and so we moved camp to the Cooinda Lodge Caravan Park in the southern part of the park so that we were based closer to the Yellow Water Cruise for our 6.45am start. From here we visited the Nourlangie (Burunggui) site and walked the loop to see the views and more amazing rock art…the scenery in Kakadu is truly beautiful words can’t describe these sites…and I am not sure the photos do it justice either.
Camp at Cooinda
It was another really hot day but we all enjoyed a walk around the rock art and the Sandy Billabong, which had beautiful views and plenty of birds for Aaron and Holly to spot and identify. The top of this walk we enjoyed views out over to Arnhem Land and the sacred dreaming sites – this is one of the most sacred aboriginal sites in Australia.
Views from Nourlangi
View across to Arnhem Land sacred site
The Lightening Dreaming Man
Thankfully we returned to our camp at Cooinda Lodge which had a very fresh (read freezing) swimming pool, which was great for the kids after a big day of sight seeing in the sweltering heat – they met some nice kids Aiden and Madison at the pool. After a swim it was an early night before our Yellow Water Cruise.
We were up early and had three excited kids waiting to board the cruise boat. We chose the sunrise cruise, as this is when the water is yellow – sunset and sunrise – and the scenery is really spectacular. When we arrived at the boat there was an eerie mist over the water.
The view over yellow water wetlands
Sunrise Yellow Water affect
The tour was fantastic we all enjoyed the scenery, birds and crocodile spotting. In stark contrast to the crocodiles we saw at Adelaide River these crocs did not approach the boat or even flinch at our presence…more calm and natural. We did see one crocodile try and catch a large Egrit that was having trouble swallowing a fish but as the crocs got close he just stepped back out of the water in time to avoid the snap! We could see he was a sneaky and skilled hunter moving very close before revealing himself.
We were treated to seeing several Azure Kingfishers, Brolgas, Greater Egrets, Magpie Geese, Whistling Ducks, a couple of huge White Bellied Sea Eagles, Jacana (also called Jesus birds because they walk on water as they cruise over the lilly pads) and a couple of beautiful Jabiru or Black Necked Stalk (Australia’s only stalk) amongst many other birds. It was a morning to remember but two hours sitting still on a boat was a tall order and the kids teamed up with their new friends and were ready for breakfast feast back at the resort.
White Bellied Eagles
Jabiru in dance
Cool croc on the yellow water cruise
Azure kingfisher – photo credit Aaron
Our last stop in Kakadu was Koolpin Gorge (now called Jarrangbarnmi). This gorge requires separate permits as there are limited camp sites. It is sort of remote accessible only by 4×4 and there is no mobile service. The area is also restricted to protect some rare the flora and fauna found only around this gorge. With our permit in hand we collected the gate key and set off.
View on the drive into Jarrangbarnmi (Koolpin)
The drive into Koolpin was a fair 4×4 track – some tight winding corners but nothing to difficult on the way out we passed closed uranium and asbestos mines – this area has long been the ‘sickness country’ by the Aboriginals where spirits in the rock should not be disturbed! Not a coincidence. We were excited to arrive and be the only campers at the camp ground.
The walk into Kaolin
The croc sign and croc trap – a deterrent from swimming
Hiking back to camp
After camp set up we hiked to the gorge past the first lower pool which had these signs and a croc trap…the pool may contain crocs YIKES! We walked to the upper pools (crocs done climb rocks) deemed safe for swimming. We had the whole gorge to ourselves…a rare treat in Kakadu! The waterfalls were not flowing and the high water marks indicate just how much water moves through here in the wet. We all enjoyed a special swim and some peaceful time enjoying the amazing environment. Another amazing day we are so lucky!
Koolpin Gorge upper pool
Camp at Kaolin
Andrew and Bianca in camp
As we were leaving Kakadu we visited Gunlom Falls but unfortunately the top pool was closed due to smoke from burning off. It was another hot day so could not resist a VERY quick dip in the lower pool…a quick dip as there was the croc risk sign! This was our last adventure in Kakadu we didn’t see it all, there is too much to see but we loved Kakadu it is a special place… we headed south back towards Katherine.
View from the bottom of Gunlom Falls
We were excited to be arriving in the town of Jabiru in the Northern part of Kakadu National Park. Kakadu had a big reputation as a National Park – World Heritage Listing for the natural and cultural significance and therefore we had big expectations and we weren’t disappointed.
Kakadu is amazing the scenery, the birds and animals, the aboriginal culture and what surprised me is that the area has such diverse landscape….huge rocky escarpments, flood plains, rivers and lagoons and it is huge covering nearly 20,000 sqkms large amounts of Kakadu. We camped at the Kakadu Lodge and Caravan Park an obvious choice for us as it was really hot and they have a swimming pool for the kids.
Listening to the ranger
The special rainbow serpent rock art
Ubirr Rock Art
Long necked turtle
Our first day in Kakadu we visited Ubirr, for a guided Ranger Talk , which was really great explaining about the different types of art around Ubirr and some of the Dreaming stories that the art represents. Two hours in the heat was a big ask for the kids but they were amazing respectfully listening the whole time… and several older couples comment on how well behaved the kids were – we were proud! One lovely lady shared her biscuits and lollies as we had not brought snacks. From Ubirr Rock there is an amazing view over some of the wetlands and across to Arnhem Land.
Ubirr View
Rock Wallaby near Ubirr
Kakadu has three aboriginal groups who are the traditional owners of the land the which the park covers being the Jawoyn, Manilakarr and Bunidj. The explanations of the rock art and the Dreamtime stories that have been passed down with generations were really fascinating. And having seen so much rock art is was really good to have the cultural significance explained. The rock art in the area is unique and different from the rock art we saw throughout the Kimberley.
View of Cahills
Cheeky crocs at Cahills
North of Ubirr is Cahills Crossing of the East Alligator River into Arnhem Land. The East Alligator river has tidal water movement and at low tide you can cross the causeway and it is a spectacle for tourists because you can see a number of crocodiles that come down hoping to catch fish on the crossing at low tide. You can also see a number of brave (or stupid) tourists getting rather close to the crocodiles. We had lunch and watched the crocodiles at the crossing too.
Whilst in Jabiru I was fortunate enough to have an amazing 1 hour flight over Kakadu and Arnhem Land. The kids waved me off very jealous and I enjoyed a peaceful hour with the most mind blowing views. Seeing the wet lands, the Alligator Rivers and the Arnhem escarpment from the air was truly spectacular – many thanks again to Lisa and Quin for the generous birthday gift.
Family photo before the flight
safety briefing!
Selfie
View of the rivers from the air
East Alligator River
The view of Arnhem Land Escarpment
Burning off in Arnhem Land
That afternoon we got a permit to enter Arnhem Land to visit the Oenpelli (now called Kanbarlanja) and see the Oenpelli Art Gallery and workshop – the children met some artists and were hugely impressed at their very steady hand. It was incredible to watch their fine line painted using traditional pandanus leaves as a brush.
The artworks were amazing. The indigenous women of this area have always weaved using pandanus leaves and there were some beautiful baskets and traditional dillie bags which were used to carry items. I bought a small bowl as a souvenir of our little adventure into Arnhem Land. Our original travel plans we had hoped to visit Cobourg Peninsula however we are running short of time and without anywhere for the kids to swim we couldn’t justify the long journey.
Fires in Arnhem Land
The road into Arnhem Land
Oenpelli Art Gallery
We had just a taste of Arnhem Land – it is really stunning landscape– we agreed we will have to come back another time to visit such beautiful country and the people.
Border Store Thai for dinner – Yum!
Kakadu at sunset
Kids at Sunset
Back across Cahills Crossing and we had a quick Thai meal at the Boarder Store before heading up Ubirr Rock for sunset views and photos with approx. 200 other tourists…it was amazing. This is a site made famous by the Crocodile Dundee movie and so spectacular – one of those views that has a spiritual feeling – after the photos we all sat in silence taking in the scenery.
Back across Cahills Crossing and we had a quick Thai meal at the Boarder Store before heading up Ubirr Rock for sunset views and photos with approx. 200 other tourists…it was amazing. This is a site made famous by the Crocodile Dundee movie and so spectacular – one of those views that has a spiritual feeling – after the photos we all sat in silence taking in the scenery.
We packed camp and took the trailer to get new tyres on the way out of Darwin just to be sure they were safe for the trip home. After the tyres we headed up the road past Humpty Doo a small town outside Darwin….famous for the large Humpty Dumpty…which we thought was hilarious!
Around the corner we found the BIG Crocodile…as we were driving to visit Fogg Dam and The Crocodile Jumping Cruise on the Adelaide River.
Initially against the idea of feeding wild crocodiles….feeding wild animals is not really appropriate especially dangerous wild animals…but we had some friends tell us it was a ‘must see’ tourist attraction (thanks Jeremy) and it was quite amazing to get up close and personal with some small and some not so small ‘Salties’ or Estuarine Crocodiles. We arrived and we were ushered down a small platform to sit on a fairly small boat as there was a crocodile right near the pontoon.
The tour guide reminded us to keep arms in the boat…but were we all certain to do that after we saw the crocs jumping up to grab the meat on the end of a stick…they were jumping vertically 2/3 of their body length…amazing and scary and really fast. As we travelled down the river crocodiles came out and approached the boat – looking for the feed. These tour operators have been doing this for 30 years but somehow I think the government will stop their tourism licence soon.
The largest Croc we saw was called ‘Brutas’ he is estimated at 5.8m and weighing over a tonne and approximately 80years old. As he grabbed for his piece of buffalo he hit the boat and it moved.so he was pretty big alright. I doubt anyone would be safe on this river even in a boat. We felt safe but I was happy to be back on land. It was another timely reminder about being ‘croc wise’ and staying away from waters edge anywhere there might be a risk.
This is Brutas coming for his piece of flesh buffalo meat!
A crocodile on the bank of the river
After the excitement of the crocodile jumping we drove out to the nearby Fogg Dam lagoon water reserve which had a number of birds and beautiful water lilies. The road in along the dam had signs saying do not stop or exit vehicle near water due to crocodiles!
Road into Fog Dam
Water lilies on Fog Dam were beautiful
We had lunch and enjoyed the view before driving on to Kakadu.
We packed camp early to avoid the heat and finally set off for Darwin. When we arrived we decided to camp at the Freespirit Caravan Park…which had reasonable Wiki Camp reviews and the children wanted to go there for some reason.
Arriving at Mindil Beach
We set up met our neighbours and their three kids, had a quick dip at the pool and set off for the famous Mindil Beach Market. The market is held Sunday and Thursdays during the dry has a huge selection of cheap food of all variety and several performers…which amazing and entertained the children…we marvelled at the Emdee playing five didgeridoos with an amazing drummer, a man fire twirling but by far the favourite was Mick’s Whip Show…a classic Mick cracks stock whips and sings a song about his tricks to the tune of the Devo classic ‘whip it song’.
Kids watching the fire twirling
Aaron also got up and had a go at cracking the whip and he wasn’t too bad..it is much harder than it looks.
Aaron having a go at the whip cracking
We had a yummy dinner of Thai food followed by sorbet that was so delicious and Holly and Bianca purchased a bag each and I bought and dress…as you do. The other entertainment at Mindil Beach is the amazing sunset shared by hundreds of others on the beachfront.
Family selfie at Mindil Beach
Sunset at Mindil Beach
After an action packed night we headed back to camp… we had not yet adjusted to N.T time so the children slept in which was a bonus!
We got the bikes down for the children as we planned to stay a few days and on Aaron’s first lap around he discovered Sam, Emily and Josie were camped on the other side of bushes behind our camp (friends we had met at El Questro). The children were thrilled to catch up again and were quickly off riding to the jumping pillow.
Jumping pillow fun
Boys on the bikes
After we dragged them away we headed out for some shopping for much needed groceries and a few other key items including a battery charger for the camera gifted to Aaron. When we returned to camp it was off to the pool for a swim with the other kids whilst Andrew took the car in to have the ‘Koni shock absorbers’ replaced – a total bonus they were replaced under warranty.
Girls at the pool
Whilst in Darwin we made the most free sights and activities around the city one of the highlights the Palmerston Waterslide Park where we bumped into Luke with Jesse and Pippa again. The water park had a HUGE water slide.
Ready for slide action
Holly was not sure at first but after the first time she was off and the kids and Andrew spent an hour riding the slides. For me it was scary the first time and terrifying the second…very fast. After a few rides Bianca moved to the water play paddle pool with Pippa and I had to leave the slide and watch the little ones. We all had an awesome time cooling off and having fun.
The next day we visited Territory Wild Wildlife park learning about all the various birds, reptiles and mammal species endemic to the Northern Territory. The park was fantastic (similar to Healesville Sanctuary) but in the heat they had a bus train to carry you from one exhibit to another. We loved the ranger talks about the freshwater fish and rays, the birds of prey and the huge bird aviary where we learned about the northern Blue Kookaburra – which live together with their extended family three generations and up to 12 birds! Holly loved the turtles.
On the train at Territory Wild
It was another great day but really tiring for the kids (still on WA time) we got home,had a quick dinner, then had a lovely visit from Lorraine and Terry the parents of an old school friend who were staying at the same caravan park.
In the bush at Territory Wild
Fresh water sting ray
The next day we visited Darwin Museum with all the history of the Cyclone Tracey which devastated Darwin on Christmas day 1974 and lots of WWII history. They had an awesome collection of local birds, lizards and bugs on display in the natural history section which we loved too.
Replica house ruins from Cyclone Tracey.
At the museum we met ‘Sweetheart’ a huge Estuarine saltwater crocodile that was accidentally killed when they caught him to remove and relocate from an area – he weighed 780kgs and measured 5.1m. We also watch the ‘Croc wise warnings’ making sure we were prepared for the rest of our ‘top end’ travels. Aaron loved the natural science section which had many of the birds we had seen on our travels.
Aaron and Holly with Sweetheart the Crocodile.
A lucky bonus our visit coincided with the ‘Telstra Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art’ finalists exhibition which had some extraordinary and really beautiful art works.
Very cool weaving Ute at the indigenous art exhibition
After another jam packed day we were all tired and we decided to head out for dinner (yay no cooking!) to the Darwin Trailer Boat Club which is by the beach in town and we enjoyed dinner watching the sunset. We were surprised that despite crocodile warnings there were people walking ankle deep water on the beach edge.
Our last day in Darwin the children visited the caravan park kids club (they begged us) and then we drove around a few sights and did some shopping we checked out the waterfront fake beach/pool and visited the World War II oil storage tunnels – amazing tunnels that were built and classified to secret until the 1990s. Very interesting with a huge amount of world war history but being hot and being in underground a little claustrophobic.
Recycled art in the WWII storage tunnels
WWII oil storage tunnels – they were a kilometre long
Darwin’s fake beach water front was pretty cool
After six great days in Darwin we needed to keep moving we loved Darwin it had a great feel and we could easily have stayed longer.
From Litchfield we headed out to the coast to Crab Claw Island Resort….up here the words resort are used liberally – if you have a restaurant, accommodation, toilets, showers and swimming pools you can qualify for the name “resort” but funnily it was not an island…only a peninsula shaped like a crab claw. We were happy to settle into our bushy little camp site.
Our campsite
Holly on the beach at Crab Claw
We headed here for the facilities and Telstra service but alas the mobile service only worked in the bar restaurant area! Making blog updates impossible and Andrew had to be at the bar to get his work done – tough life!
After lots of tourist activities over the previous week the children were in need of some slower more restful days and a chance to catch up on their journal writing.
Sunset view
The coast offered lovely view out to the ocean with quite a nice sandy beach that you can’t swim in due to the crocodiles. Crab Claw is a fishing destination and they had fishing boats for hire..no boat licence required in N.T. …but we decided the crocodile risk and the fact that neither of us actually know how to drive a boats it was best to stay on dry land.
Sunrise over the beach
The kids has fun in the pools between catching up on journal and school work. Andrew had to sit in the bar and do some work too. We had some lovely birds and wallabies visit our camp daily.
One of our little visitors
We were excited about heading to Litchfield National Park – this park has many beautiful sights to visit and see. We were coming from the south entered the park via the Reynolds Track a 4×4 track. (Of course) The track was pretty good going however about 20km up the track we came to this sign…however the ‘deep crossing was dry’ phew no worries and on we went.
Reynolds Track
We walked up the short walk to the falls to find them only a trickle but enough that the two top deep rock pools were fine for swimming but the lower pool was stagnant. We spent a couple of hours swimming with the kids all having a ball jumping from points around the rock pool. Our first night at Litchfield we camped at Surprise Creek Falls and we had the camp ground to ourselves….a surprise indeed!
Surprise Creek Camp
Aaron at Surprise Creek
Jumping into Surprise Creek rock holes – hours of fun
The next day we moved further up the track to the Sandy Creek Falls along the way we had to cross Surprise Creek which wasn’t dry it was a relatively deep looking crossing which was also wide with a sandy creek bed…and crocodile risk warning signs just to make things interesting.
Contemplating Renold River Crossing at Litchfield
Not wanting to wade through and ‘walk the creek’ to ensure we would easily cross the creek Andrew and Aaron let the tyres down to 17psi on the car and trailer. The creek was deep 70cm and up over wheels with the wash but we crossed easily.
Southern Litchfield and the Termite mounds
Further up the track found some Magnetic Termite Mounds where the termites build their nests on a north south angle so that the widest part faces either east or west providing one side shade at any time – very clever little termites! Some of the mounds towered over the car.
Sandy Creek camp
We arrived at Sandy Creek at lunchtime and after setting up camp enjoyed a short shady walk into the spectacular waterfall and large plunge pool. Yet another spectacular swimming spot…perfect to cool down from the heat of the day.
Sandy Creek Falls
Sandy Creek only has a handful of sites, set in a bushy location and you can have campfires, so we decided to base here and to see the rest of Litchfield. We set off early the next day visiting the Blyth Homestead – an historic site from the former cattle station and tin mine.
Next we visited the official Magnetic Termites site and learned more about the clever little insects. After the termites we visited the Litchfield Lost City where we enjoyed wandering around amazing sandstone structures formed over millions of years – Aaron climbed some too.
Bianca in a tunnel
Kids in the lost city
By mid morning it was getting hot so we headed to the Florence Falls which are only a short walk down 155 steps (although Aaron and I counted 165) to the bottom pool for a swim over to the waterfall. Another beautiful waterfall we all swam out to the falls and were amazed at their strength the fast flowing water pushing us away.
View of Florence Falls
After lunch we headed to the Buley Rock Pools (because Aaron insisted) and we were glad we did. Just when we didn’t think it could get better Buley Rock Pools was awesome fun for the kids – a series of gorgeous rock pools with water bubbling into some deeper larger plunge pools. The children especially enjoyed this spot.
Buley Rock Pools
Buley Rock Pools
We headed back to camp and understandably the girls fell asleep in the car. We called into Tolmer Falls, which are not accessible for swimming, and Aaron and I walked in for the view of the stunning waterfall reduced to only a trickle as so late in the dry.
View out over bush at Litchfield
View of Tolmer Falls
After three nights in Litchfield we packed and in the morning on the way out we visited the Wangi Falls which has two waterfalls into a large plunge pool. We all had a refreshing swim followed by a walk in the rainforest. This was very busy due to the proximity to Darwin it has large numbers of tour bases and self drive tourists. All the sites at Litchfield were spectacular but it was different being in a beautiful environment with so much infrastructure to cater for the large volume of tourists. Still we were really impressed with Litchfield yet another amazing location on our trip.
Wangi Falls
Our next planned stop was the Douglas Daly Hot Springs called Tjuwaliyn by the traditional owners of the area – this was a sacred womens only site however the Traditional Owners now welcome all visitors to enjoy the hot springs…lucky for Andrew.
Camp at Douglas Daly
After leaving the gorgeous camping at Leilyn Falls it was shock to arrive at the dusty dry sunny hot camp grounds at Douglas Daly however out of the camp ground and down to the springs and you could forgive the camps short comings the springs is a natural hot spring feeds into a creek that has some really hot patches up to 45’C and some cooler patches where it was pleasant to just sit and relax.
The warm water was really relaxing but in some patches too hot to sit down! We all enjoyed a relaxing afternoon in the warm. The children met some girls in the pool and they had fun painting their faces with mud.
Back at camp whilst cooking dinner we met the neighbour and he turned out to be an Australian Champion stock whip cracker…’Crackerjack’ he pulled out his two stock whips and showed us some of his tricks – you meet all sorts of people on the road. Aaron was very impressed and had a go at cracking the whip.
Crackerjack teaching Aaron to crack his whip
After packing up we all had another brief soak in the hot pools before heading to Butterfly Gorge only a short walk and supposed to be home to many butterflies but the gorge was stagnant and very green. We saw a few butterflies on the walk which was a lovely stroll along the river through a tall stand of paper barks. Then it was on the way to Litchfield NP.
Butterfly Gorge
Butterfly Gorge too green for swimming.
A huge termite mound at our lunch stop
Leaving Lake Argyle we headed east and cross the border into the Northern Territory.
We were a bit sad to be leaving the beautiful state of W.A. after an amazing four months on the road. The sign post into the N.T. was not inspiring and the next sign set the speed limit at 130km per hour but with a trailer the Patrol was not in any risk of exceeding that speed limit.
We had a huge day driving to reach Katherine Gorge at Nitmiluk National Park we arrived at dusk and whilst looking for a campsite we found a site that coincidently was next to our neighbours from Lake Argyle. ( we felt like stalkers but they said we could camp next door again). The children were all very excited to see their little friends again. After a late dinner it took them a while to settle down and it felt really late due to the change in time zones and put our clock an hour and a half forward.
The view down Katherine Gorge
The next day we set off for the Katherine Gorge look out walk which offered a view down the gorge and across the Katherine River. There are several gorges within this national park but the walks to the ‘croc safe’ gorges open for swimming were all outside of our walking range (about 9km) and the kids were a bit over long walks. Canoes were an option but the water was deemed unsafe for swimming but safe for canoes?
Aaron at Katherine Gorge
We enjoyed the short steep 1.2km walk with our friends and the view was pretty…then we headed back to the interpretation centre and the children read up a bit about the Jawoyn Traditional Owners and their culture. It was another beautiful day and the children were keen to try out the camp ground pool. They had a lovely afternoon by the pool and running around playing on a patch of green grass next to the pool area…we have not seen very much grass in last few months.
The pool at Katherine Gorge
The grass did not extend into the camp ground at Katherine Gorge….this was black dirt. After our second night we headed to Leliyn (Edith Falls) the other part of the Nitmulik N. P. and in contrast to the Katherine Gorge the campsites at Leliyn were surrounded by grass and trees providing lovely shady camping and the a freshwater swimming plunge pool at the bottom of the waterfalls falls only 150m from the camp ground.
Edith Falls camp grassy and shady.
Initially we though we would only stay a night and leave after the visiting the Sweetwater Falls but when we discovered it was a long weekend we decided to stay for three nights to celebrate Andrew’s birthday and avoid a long weekend crowds.
Our second day at Leliyn we headed up the short 900m walk to the Sweetwater Falls and enjoyed exploring around the pools. We then walked along the return loop back to camp only a kilometre but in the heat it was a hot return journey over the hill and back to camp.
Sweet water Falls Nitmiluk
We took the bikes off after deciding to stay and campsite had a great loop for the kids to ride. Aaron and Holly took turns riding with Bianca who is almost keeping up.
View at the top of Edith looking back to the swimming hole near camp and the surrounding bush
The next day was Andrew’s birthday and we celebrated with a relaxing day in camp with Barra Burgers for Lunch at the Leilyn Falls Café.
Birthday Barra Burger
This camp ground was a favourite for everyone – nice bushy camps, no generators allowed, swimming a short stroll away it was hard to pack up and leave but we are starting to feel that there is too much to do and see and we are running out of time!
Riding boogie boards over to the lower falls
Lake Argyle is called the Jewel of the Kimberley – and it was easy to see why….the amazing azure blue against the rocky hills provides stunning views from every angle. The drive to Lake Argyle from Kununurra is only 75km, mostly bitumen and as you get closer you get small glimpses of the big blue lake. The camp ground is perched high above with stunning views over the lake (although not from the actual camping sites) and the biggest attraction is an amazing infinity pool with views of the lake.
First glimpse of the lake
The Lake Argyle caravan park provide grounds men to escort you to the campsite and provide guidance on reversing into the allocated space…their guidance was of varying assistance but they were friendly blokes. Our camp neighbours had just arrived also, another family on a round Australia trip – The Nelson-Hauers -Luke and Joanne and their two children Jesse and Pippa and within a few minutes the kids were all playing together.
It was a hot afternoon and we all headed straight for the infinity pool which was VERY cool and refreshing (read Freezing!!) but it was a hit with the children and we spent the afternoon swimming – the adults had quick dip and then braved the water for the family photos!
Boats on the lake
Lake Argyle is huge it is Australia’s largest man made freshwater lake. Created by damming the Ord River in the late 1960s in order to capture the huge wet season water flows that pass thru the Ord River Valley.
ON the authorised of the impressive structure
Crossing the dam wall
It was built to provide fresh water for farming irrigation in the Kununurra Kimberley region and at the same time generate some Hydro electricity when releasing water into the lower Ord River. The lake holds more than 21 times the amount of water in Sydney Harbour. It looks like a seaside view with the water disappearing on the horizon. We drove along the dam wall and were amazed at the scale and depth of the structure.
View of the Ord River down stream of the big wall
We visited the historic Durack Family homestead, which was relocated prior to the dam being filled. Originally the stone homestead built in the early 1900’s was cemented together with termite mound mortar…(which only has a short life span) so the house could easily be removed with every stone numbered and then rebuilt in the current location. The Durack family were pioneers into the Kimberley and one of the first families to establish pastoral lease in the 1840s. They were also known for their close relationship with the indigenous communities that lived in the area. There were a number of interesting items at the homestead about the history of the family and the dam building process.
The Durack Family historic homestead
After our sight seeing Andrew and Aaron went off on a mountain bike trail that heads off around a path along some of the lake whilst the girls and I went to the pool for another swim and play with Pippa and Jesse.
Bike ride selfie photo Aaron and Andrew
We decided to stay an extra night at Lake Argyle to celebrate Bianca’s 5th Birthday! Bianca woke early on her birthday and was very excited to receive her birthday gifts and cards. We went for a walk to the lakes edge and swim in the lake, which was warmer than the pool!!
The swimming pontoon
We spent some time decorating a cake for morning tea and sang happy birthday again and then at Bianca’s request it was back to the pool for more swimming.
The awesome infinity pool
In the evening we went out for dinner and watched the entertainer Steve Case (the same guy from Kununurra) and he sang Happy Birthday to a shy Bianca when her cake was brought out to her. It was a lovely birthday celebration for our baby…now growing into a big girl!
My three gorgeous kids
Bianca the birthday girl!
Aaron and the lake
We really enjoyed the visit to the lake and would definitely return it is so beautiful.
fiveinafourwheeldrive 