We have been offline for the past few days – the joys of the outback. Some people miss it more than others.

Since we left Tennant Creek, we have had a strong south-easterly head-ish wind all the way to where we are now. The fuel economy has been shocking on these wind driven roads.

There haven’t been too many things to talk about, as we basically wake up, have brekkie, get in the car, drive to where we intend to get to, setup camp again, and go to bed.

Our first night out of TC was at the Camooweal Waterhole. It is a billabong just west of the township, and we drove 3.5km south along the river. We setup camp, and for the first time, we felt really cold. The wind was blowing from the SE (as usual) and when we got up in the morning, it was only 6 deg C! No wonder we were cold. I even had to put on my tried, proven and holey Saucony trackie dacks. I have not had to use them since, but I am sure the further south we go, the more I may need to get them out again. See the photos for what it looked like.

The second night we got to Wal’s Camp in Cloncurry. Never again! It was disgusting, with us all lined up in alleys, which was a pain, but the worst part was the amenities. The toilet/shower block was made of a little tin shed, with 2 ramps up the middle. One was to the men’s, the other to the women’s. The 2 sections were divided by only a shower screen! Ahead of you when you walked up the ramp, was the men’s toilet, and the door between you and the toilet didn’t go anywhere near the floor. The women’s was the same, so you could see if anyone, either a man or a woman, was on the loo! The showers were no better with only a shower screen between you and the rest of the world! Luckily we found the handicapped toilet/shower out the front, so we used that. At least it had a door, but it did get completely flooded, so the floor was wet all the time. I do not think the whole affair would come close to any sort of building and health standards….let alone privacy rules! We shall not be going back there, and will tell everyone who asks. Also, they only take cash, and no receipts, so it is all a bit dodgy.

The third night we made it to a roadside camp, 25kms NW of Longreach. This was a huge camp, and very few people, so we put up camp, and settled in. Of course, when we were all settled after dinner - at about 7:30pm - 3 road-trains pulled in for the night, and left their engines running for a while. Eventually they turned off the engines, and went to sleep. Surprisingly, we didn’t hear from them until about 6am, so all was good. Of course, quite a few road-trains went past, but we were about 100m from the road, so we were able to cope.

This morning we broke camp again, and left about 8:30. Our objective was Emerald, and that is where I sit now. We pulled into a nice caravan park so that we could get a good, and private, shower!

The following photos show our ‘exciting’ road travels over the past few days. We are only here for the one night, with another free camp tomorrow (don’t know where), and then we are booked in for 4 nights at Harvey Bay. None of us have stayed there before. I know people who have stayed there, and I have driven through there about 6 years ago, but didn’t stop. We are looking forward to it.

Enjoy!

Sunset at Camooweal Waterhole - it wasn't our best sunset, but was still nice to watch.

The setup at Camooweal, with the setting sun giving a nice glow...

Things can look a bit upside-down when wine is involved.

Sunrise at Camooweal....it was cold!

This is our setup at Wal's Camp......never again!

All set up at our roadside camp near Longreach. We didn't put up the awning, as we were not going to be there long..

The sunset...

The sunrise next morning....

One of the road-trains kept us company overnight.

It was very tempting not to run over the 40+ Apostle birds that ate their way past our tent. Wendy doesn't like these at all. Lucky she was still in bed.

Farewell Tennant Creek

Day 33 – Wed 24^th June.

It is our last evening at Tennant Creek. We have just pigged out on Pizza, Garlic Bread and drink. It was really good. It is the first pizza of our trip!

We have really enjoyed our stay here with Chris & Ali. The 4 days have gone really fast, but we have seen most of TC has to offer, so it is time to move on.

While we have been here we have been out to the ‘Pebbles’ (Kunjarra) which is an aboriginal cultural site which is a smaller version of the Devil’s Marbles further south from here. Unfortunately a lot of people do not respect these sites as they should, such as the tourist family who set up camp (tent, screen, flower pots, clothes line, etc) under the picnic gazebo, with their 3 large dogs who wouldn’t let anyone near them. They parked their car and camper in the car spot adjacent to the picnic area. They are probably the same people who left the toilet paper amongst the rocks. It is disgusting what people will do, especially when there is a camping area with toilets within 50m of where they were. Walking around the site with Ali was very enlightening, as she was able to tell us some of the history and meanings.

Chris also took K, B & I out to one of the Gosse River – about 1hrs drive into the bush. Beryl didn’t realise that we went out there to site in Chris’ 22.250, but she soon found out when we got there. We were there for an hour or so, and ended up returning just on sunset. It was a great drive. Chris was also able to impart a lot of his knowledge of the area, history and culture understanding…it was very enlightening, and I have a greater appreciation of the aboriginal culture.

We also spent some time with Bugalugs. He is a Bearded Dragon who is very friendly. You can see him in the photos below.

We made a quick trip to Lake Mary Ann (Tingkarli) which is the dam created to supply water to the town. We saw some very strange Australian wildlife while we were there – chickens, roosters, Peacocks, Geese and Guinea Fowl – not what we expected, and these were in the main grassy picnic areas. There was one Pelican on the far side of the lake so at least we did see some ‘real’ wildlife.

K&I did an underground mine tour without the women. This is a gold mine pretty well in the middle of town, which was active up until the late 1990’s. This mine was a bit different to other gold mines in that instead of finding the gold amongst the quartz rocks, it was imbedded in the blue Ironstone, and it wasn’t seam gold, it was ‘grains of sand’ sized bits. We were shown a piece of gold in the rock, and I had trouble even seeing it. However, the quality and value of the gold found here was larger than the Bendigo and Ballarat fields combined. Of course the problem with these mines is the effort needed to get the gold out of the rock. Large Battery machines were used, but continually failed due to the effort required, and the poor miners lived a very hard and brutal life.

W&B came along after our underground mine tour, and they saw the Battery tour, in which they actually showed the Battery running, but it was crushing quartz rather than bluestone to show you how it worked without damaging the Battery hardware.

Both tours were very informative.

Late this afternoon, we said farewell to the town by all six of us driving up on one of the outlying hills and watched the sunset, with our chairs perched on the wind swept rocky ground and drinks in our hands.

I am sure we will return to TC someday, and we will have a more interest in staying and looking around, rather than just driving through like we have done in the past.

Again, a big thank you to Chris and Ali for putting up with us ‘old folk’, and allowing us to be part of their personal lives for a little while.

So….we are off in the morning, heading 35kms north up to the ‘Three Ways’, then turn 90 degrees right and head East towards Qld again. Hopefully there will not be the usual SE ‘Barkly Breeze’ blowing which means a fairly strong headwind, for all of the roughly 460 km objective. We shall see, so watch this space.

A Holy Grevillia tree is endemic to this area and is actually a threatened species now. 

The wind made these grasses dance, and enhanced the beauty of this special area.

Chris & K doing some first aid training???...or maybe it is sighting in the 22.250 at 100m!

Leaving the 'range', by exiting the dry Gosse River bed and starting the return trip as the sun drops behind the horizon.

Bugalugs the Bearded Dragon....very beautiful.

He is fascinating to watch....

...and he probably says the same about us...

He was happy to sit on my for 30 mins or so. 

The rugged rock formations found in the area. It would have been a very hard life in the early days...

These are some of the 20-odd strong Guinea Fowl that roamed the picnic grounds of Lake Mary Ann.

Our underground gold mine tunnel...

This is a 'Bogger', which is really a small front end loader that scooped up the dug out rock and tipped it over the top to the 'trailer' that followed it. 

The Battery in action as it crushed the quartz rock...

After the crushing, mercury was added to the slurry which adhered to the small pieces of gold to form an amalgam ball. This was then removed, the mercury scraped from the gold, and the gold was melted and put into bars. This was a very long and intensive process. 

Preparing for the sunset....

Enjoying our drinks as the sky changed coulours

Looking across my car to the sun sinking...

What a hard life...!

Mercury and Saturn sinking behind the horizon..

Before....

....and after.

Nice silhouette Chris!

After Katherine...

We headed south from Katherine after a late-ish start (not our fault this time), and had a short morning at Mataranka, parking in the same place as on the way up. This time we didn’t have Devonshire Tea, but tea and bickie in K&B’s van. Heading off again, we hit a head wind which slowed us down a bit. We passed a free roadside camp (Newcastle Waters), and noticed that It was completely blocked up with vans. It was so full it would have been hard to even walk between the vans crammed in. It wasn’t far north of Elliot, and with our objective of staying at the Longreach Waterhole, near Elliot, it made us wonder if that too would be full. It was 12kms in from the highway, but when we got to the waterhole, there were quite a few vans there, but as it was so big –about 1.5kms long – we just drove around a bit and found a great viewing spot, and a campsite that suited us. It was beautiful there. Wendy made a comment later on which was something like ‘think of those poor suckers out at the roadside camp’!

We set up camp without putting the awning out, and watched the sun go down over the amazing wildlife that surrounded us. It was quite cool, and as the sun went down more and more, so did the temperature. It was a perfect night for some night photography so after dinner I set up the camera preparing for a cold night, standing outside…..and it was a cold night! After a cold night, with about 3 hrs sleep for me, we woke to a very cold morning with a very cold wind blowing. The thermometer showed 9deg! We have been used to high 20s and 30s!

We met a really nice couple who have been going to the water hole for 4 years. She is an avid photographer who sits in her chair, with her Cannon camera and 500mm lens, on the water’s edge all day. She showed us some of her photos, and they are absolutely stunning. If you want to have a look at some of her work, go to http://www.lizaxton.com   The bird shots are incredible. She showed us a lot more on her iPad, but they haven’t hit the website for a while. She is also thinking of publishing a book. We gave her some ideas and contacts that may be able to help.

Anyway, we all survived, and now we have landed in Tennant Creek to stay with K&B’s daughter for a few days. We will have a look around here and I will post something when we move on from here.

We are on day 31 today – June 22 – so we are past half way, and are now on the fast track to the end. I hope you like the photos here..

The moon and planets aligned for us!

Wendy playing on her phone..

A 1.5hr exposure shot of the southern sky....there was so many stars the sky became very light.

This Black kite was looking for breakast next to our tent. The morning light showed up all his beauty..

The Spoonbills went for an early morning flight.

I think this is a Pacific Heron.

The sun was starting to go down over this beautiful water hole.. 

We had just finished our quick set up. We didn't bother putting up the awnings.

Klaus wandering around the water's edge.

I found a new feature on the red camera!

Wendy enjoying the situation...

The setting sun providing an amazing environment..

Nothing like a glass of wine in this spot...

Chris and Alison took us to Philip Creek Block which is an aboriginal site. We had afternoon tea by the billabong..

These Diamond Doves were watching our activities..

This is what it was like following Chris out through a very dusty, narrow and winding track. We were about 4 kms of the main road, and with no wind, the fine dust just hung in the air. At this spot, Chris was about 300m ahead, but I ad to stop and wait.  

Ok, back online again….today is Friday 19^th – Day 28. It has certainly gone fast. A couple of day to write about here.

We left Daly River on Wednesday at about 9am, as normal. On out last night at Daly River, I set up my camera for a 6-hour time exposure photo. I had to get up at 3am to turn it off, but when I got out to the camera in the paddock, it was already off – the battery had died. So I didn’t know how long it went for. I just looked at the meta-data of the photo and it went for 12,115.9 seconds – 201 minutes – 3hrs 20ins-ish. It was a bit over exposed, as you can see below.

We headed north from Daly River and arrived in Litchfield on Wednesday about 11:30, in plenty of time to find some adjoining campsites at Wangi Falls. The camping is typical of most NPs in that each site is fenced off by poles and you only can get one camp in each site. It is an honesty payment system where you put your money in an envelope, together with your details (arrival/departure dates/campsite number/number of campers/etc), and put a sheet on your car dash. It was only $6.60pp/n. We had hot showers and flush toilets, and there are BBQs and tables spread all around.

 There was not a whole lot of shade, but we survived the very hot conditions, even tho the heat went well into the night. We had lots of mozzies and bugs, so we all retired to bed about 8pm! After we set up camp we headed off the fall for a swim in the pool created by the falls. It was beautiful – see pics.

Litchfield has a lot to offer the tourist. There are lots of falls, cliffs, look-outs, swimming areas, termite mounds, creeks, creek crossing, river crossings, walks, wetlands, mozzies and heat. We had a look at a few things in the arvo we arrived, but most we saw on the second day. All the places and things we saw were well worth it. The park isn’t very big, and most attractions are within 6 or so Kms of each other. That makes it easy. The furthest place we went was down the dirt road which can take a 4WD (no vans or campers) SW to the Daly River Rd. We only did about half of it, just far enough to cross, over and back, the Reynolds River. The crossing is the main obstacle of the road, as it floods easily, deeply, and is full of crocs. Luck for us, the water was only about a metre deep at it’s deepest, but considering it is about 100m long with a sandy, rough bottom. Both cars survived the crossings so all is well. K took video of me, and I took photos of him – apparently I was supposed to take video of him too, but he didn’t tell me that until afterwards. You can see his crossing below.

All the falls were magnificent, except for maybe the last ones we did which was a rough 2km walk in and quick splash, and then a 2km walk out again….all trying to beat the sunset, and hence a dark drive back up the dirt. Again, we made it ok, and even got to call into the Old Homestead ruins on the way back…the crossing there was in more darkness than light! No one died, so that is always a plus.

I thoroughly recommend Litchfield. Quite a few people have said they prefer it to Kakadu, butI think that is because you can see a lot more in a short period of time. Kakadu is probably 10 times bigger than LNP.

So although it was a quick visit, we saw all but one spot, and that was because we had seen the same thing earlier on in the trip.

We headed out of LNP, back through Batchelor where Wendy wanted to post some cards, and then back to the Stuart Hwy, heading south. Our objective was Ketherine again, to get some power, some shopping, some fuel and some internet. It is now 6:23pm, and I am sitting at my campsite, typing this, getting the photos ready, all so I can go in McDonalds and use their free wifi. My phone has used up nearly all the data - I passed 85% about 4 days ago, and I think it restarts again tomorrow. We are only here for the night, heading off tomorrow and will probably stay near Elliot at the billabong. There is no phone coverage there. From there we will head towards Tennant Creek where K&B’s middle daughter lives and works. We will be there for a three or four days. My next post will be from there. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the photos…  

Here is my 6hr, which ended up 3hrs 20mins as the battery died, exposure at Daly River

This Short Eared Rock Wallaby mum visited us on our first morning. She had a very young baby in her pouch. She was about 3m from our breakie table.

She was cleaning out her pouch. She is holding it open with her hands, and licking inside. I hate to imagine what the baby did!

Litchfield NP is littered with old Tin Mine relics.

Florence Falls from the lookout. There were 135 steps to get to the bottom. We went down the steps and then did the 1.2km walk back along Shady Creek. It was beautiful.

Lots of Turkey bush in the area. This was on the path into the Tabletop Swamp.

This wetlands swamp reminded us of Lara Wetlands

This is the biggest falls in LNP. It was a very hot walk.

This Pheasant Cuckoo ran across our path...

The Magnetic termite mounds on the dirt road south. These mounds are constructed so that the this edge faces the mid-day sun, to stop it getting overheated.

Preparing to cross the Reynolds River

K&B doing the same...

They plunged in...

...through...

...and out.

I thought this guy standing on the roof as they came back was a bit dangerous...especially considering crocs were in the river.

...a bit of a bow wave...

Heading back up the track.....it was a bit dusty.

Me taking the plunge in Tjaynera Falls. This was the one late in the day that was 2km in and 2km out....some of the group suffered a bit of stress worrying about the darkness approaching...

The old homestead ruins..

This is K&B crossing the creek near the ruins on the way out...They were moving away from me...

These red-winged parrots were following us around...

These Red Tailed Black Cockatoos were sitting in a bunch of over 20 on the side of the road...We have never seen this many at once.

This Road Train was not very patient and could wait for the passing lane.

The white-breasted honey eater was getting thirsty.

....and this Rainbow Bee Eater was looking for dinner..

This is Wangi Falls....where we stayed..

Wendy is there under the falls...

....and this was me when the croc grabbed me by the leg...

In Buley Rockhole.....we could have stayed here all day...

Wangi Falls at sunset...

Wendy and I at Buley Rockhole.

K&I

K being a baby...

Me diving head on...

On the track back at night...