The Water Ski Club to Kununurra

On Tuesday afternoon we spent the afternoon at the Darwin Museum which was excellent and free!! There were superb collections of Aboriginal Art, insects, birds, reptiles, fish, ecological systems along with an excellent maritime collection of boats from the SE Asia region and a Cyclone Tracy Display. Sorry no photos allowed so you will have to visit yourself!

In the evening we caught up with Mike and Lobby Thomson at the Water Ski Club for dinner and were treated to yet another magnificent sunset over the Darwin bay.

The tree below is a mahogany tree in the garden of the water ski club and there are a number of these trees throughout Darwin.

The next day we packed up and left Darwin to head back to Katherine. As we arrived in Katherine we headed into the shopping centre to pick up some supplies and lunch and ran into Ashleigh Cavagnah working at Banjos Bakery. She was surprised as we were. It was great to catch up with her and in the afternoon we called around to her place and caught up with Bob and  Claudia. Ashleigh was in fine form and has been accepted to study law at JCU in Townsville next year.

Bob took me up on his biggest tree trimming tower which gave a spectacular view of Katherine on sunset!

Yesterday we left Katherine after a final shop before heading to Victoria River Road House. An easy 2 hour drive up the road with ever changing views as we got closer the escarpment which encompasses Victoria River. (AKA - Red Valley Gorge which is a part of the Gregory National Park)

We had set up camp by 1pm, however as it was a warm afternoon (36'C) we sat under the shade of a tree and did some school work with the girls.

The views during sunset on the Victoria River and the surrounds were spectacular. The red colours of the cliff faces really are incredible.

Victoria River

Looking down the road from the Victoria River Road House

This photo captures the colour 

Another road train! - along way from home at Cavan in SA

Today we got going early as we wanted to do couple of short walks just outside of Victoria River. The first one was the escarpment walk which gave spectacular views of the Red Valley Gorge.

The view from the escarpment

A further 5 kms up the road, we headed into Joe Creek and walked through a gallery of aboriginal art at the base of the escarpment. The natural amphitheatre was vast and gave spectacular views of the red cliff face above.

Just a small part of the natural amphitheatre

We stopped for lunch at Timber Creek and were glad that we had decided to stay at Victoria River instead of heading further up the road. Between Timber Creek and Kununurra we stopped to see the Gregory Tree. This is a huge boab tree engraved by Augustus Gregory in 1856 on one of his explorations. 

There was another boab tree next to the Gregory Tree with the initials PJM  - the same initials as my father. Annabel's comment - Did Pop Pop know Mr Gregory ?? Probably just a few years before his time!!

We crossed the border some 40 kms from Kununurra and had to hand over our fruit and nuts that we had not been able to eat prior to getting there. It is good to be back in WA and we look forward to the weeks ahead.

On sunset we headed up to Kelly's Knob which overlooks Kununurra tonight. Great views and good to know that we have a couple of days here before heading down to Purnululu (Bungle Bungle) for 4 days on Sunday.

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Nourlangie Rock, Aqua Scene and the Mindil Markets

On our last day at Kakadu we drove out via Nourlangie Rock on our way to Darwin. The upper part of Nourlangie Rock is known as Burrunggui; the lower areas are known as Anbangbang. Nourlangie Rock itself is impressive, yet very accessible so the tour buses arrive in their droves. 

We saw two of the three main sites around Nourlangie Rock: 

1)  Anbangbang rock shelter

An archaeological dig at Anbangbang rock shelter in the early 1980s revealed that Aboriginal people have been using the shelter for at least 20 000 years. Excavated layers of soil contained a variety of stone artefacts and implements that had been discarded over time. By examining the number of artefacts in each layer, researchers concluded that the shelter was used occasionally from about 20 000 to 6000 years ago.

According to Aboriginal people, Anbangbang rock shelter was used primarily by the Warramal clan, who were traditional owners of the area, and by the neighbouring Badmardi clan, who moved down from the stone country to take advantage of lowland foods from the surrounding woodlands, creeks and billabongs. The Warramal clan has since died out and responsibility for the area has passed to Aboriginal traditional owners from surrounding areas.

2) The main (Anbangbang) gallery

While the art work here is not as impressive as at Ubirr, yet it tells the story of aboriginal marriage culture.

Rather than trying to tell the story - hopefully the description below will help.

 The largest figure (centre, top) is the Creation Ancestor Namondjok, and on the right is the Creation Ancestor Namarrgon, the Lightning Man.

The Lightning Man

From Nourlangie Rock we headed to Darwin - a relatively easy drive of 3 hours north!

Yesterday we headed to Aquascene in Darwin where we were all able to feed a wide range of fish (catfish, barramundi, diamond backed mullet, teira bat fish just to name a few.)

Probably the easiest place I know to catch a fish in Australia, yet unfortunately fishing is prohibited in this area.

In the afternoon we headed to the Mindil Markets which are located alongside Mindil Beach in Darwin. A superb sunset to the West and then a fantastic array of food from a wide range of cultures and performers

Tom Keable - we were thinking of you as we watched this fire and acrobatic act. Unfortunately this picture is not that clear, yet they were fantastic!

Finally - for all those Southerners and Warwickites who think it is cold at the moment - have a look at the front page of the NT Paper below:

An overnight low of 15'C in Darwin - look out they will need to wear a jumper soon. The days have been superb with temps of 35'c. I am so not missing the frosts of Warwick!!

Today we head to the Darwin Museum and then the Ski Club this afternoon to catch up with Michael and Libby Thomson. Tomorrow we head back to Katherine on our way to starting the Gibb River Road.

Gunlom Falls

Today was a relatively sedate day when compared to yesterday as we all needed a sleep in and time to get a  few chores done.

We headed off to Gunlom Falls at about 9am for what we thought was going to be a relatively easy day. As we turned off the bitumen and onto the dirt road, we were greeted by 40kms of corrugations that I would say were worse than yesterday. I hate to think what this road would do to a 2WD. This road is open to all vehicles yet it is not one that I would be keen to drive on without the decent clearance of a 4WD. That said the number of Britz and Apolo hired camper vans that you see on these roads is amazing and I feel sorry for the hire companies trying to put these vehicles back together!!

On hour and a half later we arrived at Gunlom and headed straight up to the top of the falls. The 1km climb pretty much straight up was well and truly worthwhile when you were greeted with a series of small pools /ponds that were so clear and fantastic to swim in.

Gunlom Falls bottom plunge pool was used in Crocodile Dundee as the site where Paul Hogan rescues Linda Kozlowski from the jaws of the salt water crocodile! The only problem is that salt water crocodiles are not found in this area!

Bella making good progress on the climb up to the top of Gunlom Falls

                                            

                                            

The view from the top edge of Gunlom Falls

Rock Pools at the top of Gunlom Falls - the water was so clear.

The view from the bottom of Gunlom falls. 

Tomorrow we head to Darwin. Kakadu has lived up to its name and I look forward to returning again to continue to explore this unique area.