Sun, Sun, Sun, Bushfires, Crocs and crazed gunmen!!! Excitement in the Territories!!
Date: 10th September
Katherine Gorge
Katherine Gorge... after dry bushland this was a real treat! Deep flowing cold water and plenty of it!! And the gorge is outstanding! Just so beautiful.
DAy 1 was obviously spent relaxing in the water, swimming with the 'freshies' (shy, non-bitey crocs) and chilling out. We did a bit of a walk to the 2nd gorge, only 4km-ish but the heat was immense, up to 40C in the sunshine, which really does wear you out incredibly. BUt the 2nd gorge was worth the effort and we all ahd a lovely swim away from hordes of tourists that crowd gorge number 1, with the canoe trips, boat crusies, croc-spotting tours etc etc etc.
After successfully returning from the little 8km return walk we sat around that night and edcided to walk the 8th gorge walk, a 32km round trip, with camping atb intervals along the way. We had plenty of supplies (noodles, rice, soups), tents, and hats, so that was it! The next morning we registerd with the rangers and by 10am we'd packed, parked "Fortuna" (the re-named Toby; girls names are supposed to be luckier, right?!) and set off along the trail.
The walk is hard. NOt too steep, not too rocky, but the heat is immense and the top temperature for the day rose from 40C to 45C! Walkign in this heat is just unbearable, so you can imagine how happy we were to reach the next set of gorges and swim holes along butterfly creek. Beautiful! A bit of diving, swimming and cooling down and then we headed to the campsite, another 5-6km along the trail.
Imagine somewhere called "Dunlop Swamp CAmpsite". It brings images of soggy grasslands, rotting corpses of trees and smelly, boggy, peaty places. Well, probably when it rains this place is a swamp, with lots of water, a nice creek and fresh water. We arrived in the middle of the afternoon, tired, hungry, thirsty, to find the swamp was a small collection of quickly drying out pools of stagnant water. Our only source of water. Great. We sat down and then iot dawned on us why Ozzies wear these silly nets around their heads that protect their faces from flies. The flies were EVERYWHERE!! They buzz around like, well, flies to shit! They crawl into your ears, your eyes, nose, mouth. They find they sore bits on your feet and begin eating the raw flesh on your toes. They are EVIL!! And they don't go away, ever. Not until the sun disappears.
But, then you can relax, because there is generally 15 minutes of calm... before the bloody mozzies come out and attack any uncovered flesh!! I don't think I've ever been quite so annoyed in my life!
"PorcoDio!!"
"DioCane!!" and Mosque de Merde!!"
which I won't translate here!
We spent most of the afternoon in the tents, avoiding the flies, then quickly cooked noodles with soup, before running back to the tent to escape the mozzies. I did try a swim in the stagnating water as the heat was unbearable, but although it was coller, the slime, the smell and 12inches of water were not conducive to spending lots of time in there.
We were glad to head out the next day, onwards to the 8th gorge, which wqas a hard slog, but well worth the effort. A really beautiful place, the campsite just in the middle of a waterfall (it only runs in the wet) ona sandy beach. A short walk down the rocks led down to the river and a cooling swim. Ahhhhh....
And if only I'd brought a fishing line... so many BIG fish in the crystal clear waters you could've opened a chippy in Yorkshire. JUst on the horizon too we could see a couple of bushfires, snaking smoke into the sky. But we wern;t worried. The rangers knew we were here, the boats were still running up the gorges and lets face it, we were camped next to greta big fat river. Couldn't be safer.
It was here that we made the mistake of deciding to stay an extra day and visit some of the other gorges. The problem wasn't the sights, but the fact we'd eaten only rice and soup or noodles and soup or just soup for 2 days running and we had only a few noodles and soups left. Not only were we bored by the food, we were bloody starving too! We hadn't brought enough!
As we walked the boys setr a fast pace and we lost them into the distance. Anna and I kept happily strolling along, happy in the knwoledge food was only 2 hours away. An english breakfast with all the trimmings!
As we turned a corner, or passed over a hill we suddenyl noticed the bushfires, the same ones that we'd seen the days before, but now close up and rather hot and RIGHT NEXT TO THE PATH BACK! Luckily the wind was low and we walked past the fires, through the smoke, throught the escaping animals and crickets (Anna's fave bit!) and eventually back to camp. Rather scary though! I'm starting to think hiking is more dangerous than I first thought! Floods in Chile, fires in OZ... what next one might ask?
Date: 14th September
September 11th, eh? Seems like you can't escape this day wherever you are. I've never seen so many programs on TV before, except for maybe the olympics and the world cup. But anyway, where are we now?!
Well, still in Darwin. YOu see our poor van is ill. He coughs and splutters like an old man, chucking out huge amoutns of black oily smoke, the carby seems dead and the other day (of course friday the 14th!) the negione started with another disturbing noise. A clang, clang, clang noise emanating from the bit in the engine that seems most importnat. Another cylinder gone i fear. So, another week in Darwin, a new engine, a loss of cash, but safety first when it comes to the outback and I wouldn't wanmt to drive 5000km with a dicky ticker!
But, back to Katherine. After our intrepid walk through the fires we headed fyurther north, to a wonderful waterfall, Edith Falls , a huge swim hole, with several waterfalls cascading down into the main pool. There's a really nice walk to the top pool, where the icy cold water falls on your head as you swim. Unfortunately the fires had already spread and the whole park, excepot for the bottom pool, was closed to visitors. We stayed the night, admired the smoke from the fires, whilst choking on the soot, and were severely plagues by the ever-present mosque de merde (Italian for "those damned flies!"). It was thoruoughly unpleasant and we were happy to leave the next morning, after the customary swim of course.
KAKADU NATIONAL PARK
At the next stop, Pine Creek, Seamus ran out of cash and had to say goodbye. A real shame as he really wanted to see the parks at Kakadu and Lichfield, but needed to get a job fast.
At the gates we cursed. "$16.25!! EACH!!!" Why those sons of... I really oughtta... just you wait till we..."
etc etc etc. A bit pricey, but not as bad as the $25 it's apparently set to go up to in a few weeks time! Yikes!!
Firstly we wanted to visit a beautiful waterfall called "Gunlom", only 30km into the park and down a good, unsealed road.
We peered at the map of the park we'd been given. This was the best dirt road in the park. We couldn;t go anywhere without sealed road. This was upsetting as most of the fun stuff is just off the beaten track. We knew you needed a 4WD for lots of things, just not ALL the things.
Thoroughly disappointed we headed further north adn met the touristy "yellow Waters" full on. Guided river trips ($50/hr), aboriginal cultural centre, marked walks away from all the funa and dangerous stuff. BORING!!
We got out of the van, saw the croc warning signs (yeah right!)
that are posted all over waterways throughout NOrthern Australia, walked to the river's edge and immediately spotted a bloody huge Saltwater Crocodile (Crocodylus Porosus)!!! HOW COOL!! And the first for Luca and Anna! It was only 10feet away, watching and following US down the boardwalk! Not so safe after all! The whole point of coming to Kakadu for Luca was to see a big croc and to see some rockart. One down, one to go!
OH!! It was my 30th birthday too! So we stayed at the hotel complex, stole a shower and a swim in their "croc-free" pool and then drank beer in the bar.
Whilst there, I tried a little fishing off the side of the billabong. I didn;t have any spinners or lures, so I'd decided yo use bacon fat. I realise now this isn;t such a good idea. Standing next to the water's edge, dnagling the fave food of salties into the water, hoping for a big fish to eat it instead of a croc. HOw silly am I?! Won;t be doing that again! Anna kept sending Luca over to make sure I hadn;t been attacked, eaten or dragged into the water! Well, you live and learn eh?!
We then headed north again, hitting the public swimming pool at Jabiru one day and then the next, the rock art at Ubirr,
After Ubirr, we headed directly out of the park, having had enough of the hot and stickyness and no swimming policy of Kakadu.
And then directly to Litchfield National Park, where Anna takes the helm...
Litchfield National Park
Litchfield national park............
Home to big waterfalls, small waterfalls, plunge pools, beautiful
wildlife
and international kidnappings!!!
Litchfield national park seemed to be a more attractive prospect than
Kakadu
since all its water holes were croc free and intended for swimming -
the
main reason most tourists head to the park. Beautiful crystal clear
waters
serviced by some magnificent waterfalls scattered all over the park and
great for cooling off in. Whats more the park allows bush
walking, which
means taking yourselves off onto the tablelands and trying to make your
way
round, up and over a marked 60km trail in the middle of nowhere for a
period
of many days. And of course, being the sort of people who like a bit of a
challenge and not wanting to do things the easy way, we decided to give
it a
go.
This time we headed off into the bush slightly more prepared than our
previous walk in Kathereine. Of course it wasn't going to be hard to
pack
more food than we had done last time, but little did we realise that
when we
got to our first destination (15km over a very rough track in
blistering
heat) Luca had been carrying 20 cans of lager in addition to all the
necessary gear!!
Our first spot at Walker's Creek was truely
beautiful. It
comprised of a small camp area with fire pit and our own (almost
private)
plunge pool with a series of mini waterfalls. So here we remained for
four
days soaking up the sun and jumping into the pool to cool down every so
often. We ate plenty of pasta and noodles and in the evening drank
beer or
wine and munched on freshly made popcorn. It was an absolute paradise
which
we shared with two big green water lizards by day (Nicknamed "Bighty 1 and Bighty 2) and two cheeky
bandicoots
by night!
But, with over 40kms left to cover we had to move on round the trail.
Luca
had managed to cut down the number of tinnies he would have to carry
quite
considerably, and we had drank our way through the 2 litres of wine Carl
had
so graciously carried.
Heading back up onto the trail over rocky
ground was
alot easier than the first leg of the journey due to alcohol free
backpacks!
However, it wasn't to be long lived since the girl (that's me - Anna)
sustained a knee injury of quite a serious nature (and I can tell you
now it
was damn painful for anyone who doesn't believe me!). So, the contents
of
my bag were emptied into the rucksacks of the two lads and thus their
bags
were very heavy once again and mine was very, very light!
In the
blistering
heat we continued to walk (or limp in my case!). Another 12km we
walked
and not a decent bit of flowing water did we pass, and on arriving at
our
next camp spot for the night there was only a nasty boggy pit for
water.
Disappointed, hot, and with no escaping the flies, all we could do was
sit
and swelter until dusk fell.
When dawn came the following day we set
off
early since walking anywhere was taking twice as long due to me (now
named
"hop-along"!). We headed straight for Wangi falls, the nearest point of
exit
off the track (only 8km!),as hop-along's inability to walk meant that
completion of the trek would be impossible. It was also the nearst swimming hole and therefore escape from the heat
But rather than walk off the track through wild bush fires as in
Katherine,
this time we walked straight into the thick of what became
international
headline news!
Two german women kidnapped, held at gunpoint in the
bush, who
then eventually escaped making their way to Wangi falls and leaving
there
with police just after we arrived.
Although completely oblivious to
all
this at first since all we wanted to do was swim in the huge plunge
pool and
then stuff our faces with meat pies from the cafe, we couldn't help but
notice later the police cars, policemen, helicopters, and armed forces
swarming all over the place! And whilst the gossip flowed around us
and the
police continued with their business, Carl managed to hitch a ride to
Florence falls where our van was parked.
The following day we left the park unable to help the police with their
enquiries and headed to the thermal pools of Berry springs. After a
relaxing swim and massage under a thermal waterfall, and feeding the Archer fish (You hold out a small piece of bread over the water and they spit a stream of water at it, VERY accurately Imight add, which knocks it flying out of your hand into the water, where they gobbleit up! Much fun!) it was here that
we
said goodbye to Luca. A sudden decision, but possibly as a result of a
sudden need to sleep on something softer than the floor after the last
two
months in a tent! But he didn't leave us empty-handed... we were left with "Scoopa!!" and "Briscola!!" , two very complicated Italian card games, most often played in small villages by retired drunken men. A bit like Crib, back home, eh dad?!
And then there were two..................
Date: 20th September
The Territory Wildlife Park and Darwin
After dropping off Luca,the next day we took a trip to the wildlife park. It's basically a sfarai park that you can walk around, or take a small driven train around, as it's pretty big. It's got most of the wild animals you see in the Northern Territory, and some from around Oz, but it's set out fantastically.We ended up spending the whole day here. They have eagle and owl shows for the kids (and big kids!) and they have little shows for the other animals, like lizards, snakes, etc etc.
The most unbleievable part was actually when Anna touched the lizard, a great big, blue-tongued Skink. BUt then, she outdid herself and held a python around her neck! Seriously!! AFter all these months of slow cajoling, shesi now one with nature...well almost!
Darwin
We came slowly into Darwin a coupleof weeks ago now, found a campsite and slept. All that execrcise was knackering.OF course after the dust in the centre everything you own is dirty so wepulled the van apart and started cleaning.
As soon as everything was out, we noticed THEM. Little scurrying noises around the van; long whiskers out of the gaps between the wood and the metal; shiny black bodies; we'd been infested with COCKROACHES whilst in the bush!! YUCK!! And these things aren't small either. Some of them were 2 inches long! And this was our home!!
I didn't sleep a wink. The scurrying continued all night. I couldn;t hack it. I woke, with Anna (she slept like a baby!) early in the morningand we set out to the shops. We bought a huge can of cockraoch killer and a dozen baited traps. Egg-killers, baby-killers everything!!
We headed back to camp and unapcked the van. Then it was time. Armed with the spray we began chasing the little buggers arounf the van,and one by one the poison got to them and they tried to escape! But after the sleepless night I showed no mercy spraying them with glee,wiping out whole families.
As we planted the traps, more came out of the woodworkand we chased them out of the van, both parties happy for them to be leaving. In theend, after 2 hours of wanton destruction, I'd counted 19 (yes, NINETEEN!) bodies.
That night I slept like a baby.... Happy times once again!!
You may have headr on the grapevine that our van was a little ill. We'd decided to let a mechanic fix her, try and stop the oil leak and get the shock absorbers done. So, off to the mechanics (recommended by a friend of a friend of Susan's (Anna's long lost cousin now based in Darwin) and he fixed the shockys, the points, the dizzy and the carby for us, but the engine was
"Buggered mate. She'll be right though, might even get you to Perth, if you're careful with her and she's gonna sup oil all the way. OR, you could get a new engine put in for about 6-700 bucks."
So we drove away, black smoke pouring out the back, backfiring at the traffic lights.
It was no-brainer really. We phoned around and found an engine $895 plus $500 to fit. Gulp! And that was our only option. We handed the van over and paid the money, wiuth a little haggling, the total came to $1350... not too bad, really. As long as it lasts the next 40,000kms! Touch wood.
So whilst the new engine was fitted, we headed out to Mandorah, a quick ferry ride across the harbour and stayed in the backpackers there. MUch cheaper than town and a whole different experience.
It's weird, your only 10 minutes from central Darwin, but you've just re-entered the mad outback! The characters over there are just plain bizarre.
Colin... 74yr old veteran of Korean war. @nd best sniper In Oz at the time with 34 kills to his name.H emanaged to cut his leg recently, and an infection spread to his "bits". He happiuly told us about this rare flesh-eating fungus that he caught and now he had no willy left. Chopped off in 3 operations to save the rest of him!
Terence... an old surfer/traveller dude. Been helping out at the hotel for about a year, friendly guy, but a little whacked outta shape!
Stevie... A Kiwi traveller, settled in Mandorah. He gave us a 4WD tour of the surrounding area, just to see where all these roads go, giving history and local knowledge. But we did the whole 4WD thing in small mitsubishi, with no rego, not much engine left and what felt like no suspension! He flew around the bush in this thing, having to keepthe thing moving to avoid dropping into deep snad,or treacherous water holes, leaving the "track" in places to avoid rocks and driving through the bush until we hit another "track". BUt we did see some gorgeous beaches, fnatastic magnetic termite mounds and just great sights. Good bloke!
At low tide the reef becomes visible from one part of the beach and you can walk along the rocks, see fish, and crabs and bright green coral, whitecoral, spongy coral, all sorts of things. It'd be lovelyto snorkel,but theres always the chance of a big saltwater croc, shark, box jellyfish, blue-ringed octopus, stonefish... you get the picture I think. But a really lovely place to relax and enjoy Ozzie hospitality whilst in Darwin.
Now, we have the van fixed, all our shopping done and its time to leave Darwin for the West Coast. There's some great things out there, but not much civilisation, so don't expect too many calls, texts or e-mails!
FOrgot to mention Darwin. We arrived and met up with Ana's cousin Susan for breakfast one morning at her new place, just outside the centre. Very lovely and Susan was cool too.
Darwin seems to be based around markets, all of which occur either bfore 12 midday or after 6pm. Otherwise it's just too hot.
The city itself is very laid-back, very hot and is now getting very humid. The tropics, eh?! It;'s so warm in fact that when you go to the pub, they give you a free glass of icy water with every pint! AND you drink it!!
Worldfamous Home Page... see earlier travels through Central/South America and New Zealand with the boys, or catch up with Gonzo and Astro in Asia.
Text by: Carlos
Luca did teach us some more Italian...
The next day was hell. The temperature soared to 50C and we were tired, hungry and we suddenly realised we had to camp at the swamp again. As if in time with our mood the flies returned, in larger numbers and even more annoying than before. Our dinner (before the mozzies) of noodles and soup, didn't cure our distemper and the next morning we set off early, with no breakfast and a 8km walk back to the ranger station and semi-civilization.
Text by: Carlos
And then, excited as hell, Anna, Luca and myself set off for the famous Kakadu park! Where Crocodile Dundee (the biggest grossing film in Ozzy history) was filmed!
We set off down the road, trundling along quite nicely... and then the "REAL" road began. Fully corrugated dust road, bulldust in places and only as wide as the van. After 2 minutes of going 2kmh and bouncing the van to pieces, we stopped at a wide part in the road and turned around. After just 2km, we'd been beaten already. 
All was cool till we heard a familiar scouse voice calling over to us. We'd met this guy in Gregory Downs earlier in the trip and he'd just had a big argument with his aboriginal (24yr old!) girlfriend about him staring at half-naked german girls. So he was drinkjin g alone and wanted to join us. Fair enough, so he came over. It turned out this guy was about as mashed as anyone I've ever met. He'd give Ozzy osbourne a run for his money! Seriously! He apparently used to be some sort of serious criminal in the UK, knew all the scouse mafia as brothers (he knew the names I'd heard of anyway), and had retired, straight in Oz. He was in his late forties. But the man was strange! We couldn't get away; he bought us drinks, managed to bring his girlfrien out of the van and then they slagged each other off for about 2 hours whilst we sat lisetening! Thenthey asked us to join them, camping illegally on the rather expensive campsite. They went to the bar... and we made a run for it! We jumped in the van and headed for the next free campsite, about 6km down a dirt track. Anna had to drive as I'd been drinknig, as had Luca and the bulldust was something else. The van slipping and sliding around in the dark, until we reached the campsite at Jim Jim Billabong, where we sat for the next 2 days, hoping to avoid the mad scouser!
which overlooks Arnhem Land, the inhospitable and aboriginal land we're not allowed to visit without a permit, applied for at least 6 weeks in advance! At least we saw the art (very nice, touched up in the 60's by one of the local artists), saw more corcs and bats at the East alligator river adn some aborigine guys spear fishing. They didn;t catch anything either. Made ME feel better anyway!!
Date: 10th September
Text by: Spanner
The Magnetic Termite Mounds... look a bit like gravestones to me! GULP!
Wangi Falls
That night, with a park
nearly
empty due to being shut off to any more incoming touristes, we slept
like
babies on comfy matresses, smelling clean, and free from biting
insects!
Text by: Carlos
Wangi Falls
Now, I don't mind being in the bush, sharing the outdoors with wildlife, even insects, but I have to draw a line when they invade OUR van. They had to go. But it was late now and the shops were closed, so we packed the van and went to bed...
The mindil market is held next to the beach, where you watch sunset over the water, drinking stubbies, then watch fireshows, jugglers, etc before stuffing your face with delicacies from all over the world from some of the 60odd food stands. Lovely!!
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