Kimberley 2 ~ June 22-28

Halls Creek

In Halls Creek we booked into the only caravan park in the town and set up in one of the few shady spots before going out to explore the China Wall.

Not having read up on this local phenomenon we stared at the strange white wall standing up in the middle of the limestone ranges discussing whether it might be natural or constructed by humans. Then we turned around and saw another one. It’s got to be natural we decided and learned later that it was a vein of white quartz, naturally occurring in this limestone formation. It looks like a deliberately constructed wall which makes its way up and over the hills, giving it the appearance of the Wall of China. (Not that I’ve ever seen the original!)

We travelled on out to the site of the old Halls Creek township which started life in the 19^th century as a gold mining town. Remains of the old Post Office still exist; it was made of a mud mix of spinifex and ant bed, protected now by a cover and walls which allow one to look without touching.

We encountered some Road Trains along the Duncan Hwy between Halls Creek and Old Halls Creek. Big, dust creating trucks. We used the UHF and looked along the road for their tell-tale dust plumes so that we wouldn’t be trapped at the edge of the road. There isn’t enough room on the road for both of us. They travel down the centre of the road at such a rate of knots you have no choice but to get off, close all windows, doors and vents and wait for the dust to settle. Now we know why the first 20 metres of vegetation along the edge of the road is so dirty. (By the way, if you click on the photo of the big truck you should see the movie.)

Wolfe Creek Crater

The next day we got up early and, with a packed lunch, made our way out to look at the Wolfe Creek Crater which you get to via the Tanami Road. We are getting used to letting down the tyres to reduce the damage caused by corrugated and otherwise crappy roads. The Tanami itself wasn’t too bad but then we turned off on the Wolfe Creek Crater road! It was AWFUL. The corrugations must have been six inches deep in some places and it took us over an hour to do this last 20 kms. Just as well we enjoy the actual drive and the scenery.

Wolfe Creek Crater itself was interesting but really just a big hole in the ground with vegetation in the middle of it. Having come all this way, I was determined to do everything possible while we were here, so I climbed down into the crater, heeding the warnings to take care as the track was very slippery, steep and rocky. I took only what I needed – water, binoculars and camera in my bum-bag so that I could hold onto rocks if I needed. 20 metres almost straight down and then a walk along the base of the crater, dodging the spinifex, where I was not rewarded by seeing any of the Major Mitchells they say are around. It is amazing to visualise the impact over 300,000 years ago of a meteorite crashing into the earth and making this big hole, splattering fragments of rock which have been found over 4km away. Imagine the thud!

It was a long way home, too. The corrugations put me to sleep at one point!!

Fitzroy Crossing

Fitzroy River Lodge, the caravan park we found in the little town of Fitzroy Crossing is like an oasis in the sparsely populated but beautiful land of the Kimberley. The distances here are vast and the land is harsh. The extremes of wet and dry govern the land. All the structures in the caravan park are built either on hills or stilts, so you have to climb a hill to use the ablution block, climb a hill to go to the reception or the restaurant and even the swimming pool. In the wet season everything floods except for these buildings which are beyond the reach of the high water mark.

The seasonally diminished Fitzroy River is close by so I took off one morning to see what birds were to be found. I didn’t see much to start with but then I thought I saw something move. Probably only a bit of rubbish blowing in the wind, I thought. Instinctively the binoculars went up anyway and I was rewarded for the effort. A Black Fronted Dotterel with a bright red beak and eyes was feeding along the bank. Can you see it in this photo? There were some interesting tracks on this sandy part of the river and I kept a watchful eye out for the Freshwater Crocodiles which live here. My other delight on this beautiful morning was seeing the Striated Pardalotes flying in and out of their nesting burrows in the river bank.

Geikie Gorge

Geikie Gorge is one of the main places of interest close to Fitzroy Crossing and you cannot see much of it without going in a boat. The DEC runs boat cruises at a reasonable cost so we got up very early one morning to get on the first cruise. (I like to see the wildlife early in the morning.) Geikie Gorge is the result of the Fitzroy River carving a 30 metre deep gorge into the remains of an ancient limestone barrier reef that existed here in the Devonian period. In the wet season the water of the Fitzroy River rises 16m through the gorge and covers the whole of the National Park. The water constantly rising and falling has caused the bleaching of the gorge walls as you can see in this photo.

We saw lots of freshwater crocodiles on our trip and I was treated to my first sighting of an Osprey. The crocs were sunning themselves on the sandy banks and the Osprey was soaring and diving, probably looking for food.

After the boat tour we went for a couple of short walks around the area and were able to see more of the Devonian Reef formations … and more birds.

Tunnel Creek

While in Fitzroy Crossing we took a day trip out to see the natural phenomenon of the Tunnel Creek. This is a long tunnel carved out of the limestone of the Napier Range by flowing water. During the dry season it is possible to walk the length of the tunnel which we did, getting wet feet, climbing over large boulders and carrying our torch. There are bats which live in the caves although we didn’t see any and there are some pretty cave formations - stalactites and shawls. We didn’t see any crocodiles (freshwater) but we did see lots of small fish in the water. We waded up to our knees through some of the pools and came out the other end to see a beautiful creek, some rock art and kangaroos which came down to the creek to drink. The only way out is back through the creek cave. Not nearly as eerie the second time! We read the sad story of Jandamarra the Aboriginal who was killed at Tunnel Creek. Here is an internet link if you want to read it, too.

http://www.dec.wa.gov.au/hotproperty/property/national-parks/tunnel-creek-national-park.html

Still in Fitzroy Crossing on Saturday and the footy oval was the place to be. The playground here was filled with young children playing on the equipment. Family groups sat on rugs around the perimeter of the oval watching the game cheering or just chatting. The first thing we noticed about this footy match was that footwear was optional. Over the loud speaker came a request for someone from the Magpies’ team to help with the stretcher. The game resumed and it really didn’t matter about boots. The kicking was just as long and hard. Another announcement, “Would the drink boys please put on their green shirts … properly!” Then, “Would all the guys please wear their uniform. Mr Waters, please put your uniform back on.” One of the umpires put his uniform back on. Shirts are obviously compulsory even if socks and boots are not!

Blessings to you all and I’ll see you next time on the west coast.

Kimberley 1

Our tour of the Kimberley started in Kununurra and will eventually take us to Broome mostly along the Great Northern Hwy. We won’t be “doing” the Gibb River Road as a whole, just travelling along a small section of it. The Kimberley is a vast area of Australia and we have travelled lots of kms over excuses for roads variously called highways, roads or tracks.

18/6 – Keep River National Park

While in Kununurra we drove back east over the WA/NT border to spend a day in Keep River National Park where we went on a much longer walk than we intended due to poor signage or making a mistake but there were no complaints as we identified 52 different kinds of birds, 4 of them new for me.

20/6 – Parry Lagoons

While in Kununurra we took a trip out to Parry Lagoons where we saw 3 brolgas even before we got out of the car! This was a magic place, overwhelmingly beautiful, peaceful though not quiet.

Here are my notes. WARNING – they are very birdy!

What a magic place we have visited today! We parked the car and right in front of us were some brolgas feeding under a tree.

We turned our heads and saw Jabirus. It took a while to walk to the bird hide, not because it was a long way, but because there was so much to see. It was such fun to watch the Pelicans feeding in their large groups, swimming in unison, then heads down and tails up, again in unison.

2 Jabirus arguing. The one which won flew off with the fish hanging out each side of its bill.

A Glossy Ibis flew by. Was it really? I haven’t seen one before. But yes. I was right. I saw it again later on.

Lots of Straw-necked Ibis, Purple Swamphens and Green Pygmy Geese. A little Restless Flycatcher in the tree near the lagoon. Lots of Willie Wagtails and the beautiful Rainbow Bee-eaters having their fill of insects.

Beautiful White Rajah Shelducks and a multitude of Magpie Geese. Cormorants hanging in trees looked like bats.

There were Black Cormorants, Pied Cormorants and Darters. We watched a darter catch a fish; so snakelike their necks.

One bird was different. We saw just the one. It was a Red-kneed Dotterel.

So many Egrets, Great and Intermediate. So graceful in flight.

Some ducks even swam and looked for food underneath the grating of the bird hide.

The whiskered Terns flew without tiring over the lagoon looking for food. Australasian Grebes and Black and Hardhead Ducks swam peacefully on the lagoon.

The Cormorants on the bank moved generously out of the way as a 3.5m Estuarine Crocodile swam slowly to take its position on the bank to sun itself.

Just then a tour bus arrived so we retreated outside the bird hide for a while, saw a goanna near our car and spent more time watching the juvenile Nankeen Night Heron feeding at the edge of the lagoon.

Later, after a feast of birds, we drove into Wyndham where we went to the lookout to see the view of the 5 rivers wending their way into the Cambridge Gulf.

On the way home we took a trip on one of those excuses for a road and visited the prison boab tree. It is alive and hollow. They say about 1500 years old and was used as an overnight prison cell for police travelling with prisoners. I stepped 17m around the base of the trunk but was a bit out from the edge so maybe it is 15m in circumference.

21/6 – Purnululu National Park

Today’s was a massive drive, not in kilometres but in time. We had driven from Kununurra to Warmun and then out to the track into Purnululu. The 52km from the highway into Purnululu Visitor centre is a 4WD track, an exciting drive of corrugations (That’s not the exciting bit!), rocky track, water crossings and absolutely stunning country. We were later than we wanted to be and in retrospect it would have been fantastic to camp overnight, experiencing the sunset and sunrise of a very beautiful place. Having been here in 2007 and already seen the Beehive Domes and Cathedral Gorge, we had planned to visit Echidna Chasm and the Mini Palms Gorge. The roads within the park are as bad as the one coming in so the 20 km to get to Echidna Chasm took another hour, meaning that the Mini Palms Gorge was out of the question. Time was short as we wanted to get through the worst of the 4WD track out before dark. Enough about the time we didn’t have due to lack of foresight and on to the beauty of the trip we did have.

The country is wild and vast. There is so much of it and it is forever changing. There are acres of spinifex, beautiful sandy creek beds, ranges of sandstone, more acres of trees – palms, red gums, boabs and plenty I don’t know – even more acres of paddocks of rocky ground, red dirt and amongst it all someone has found and allowed us to visit this amazing chasm.

We walked along a dry rocky creek bed lined with palm trees into a chasm with 200m high walls where the palms suddenly got very tall. The walls of the chasm are made of a conglomerate rock. It looks like a whole lot of little round rocks cemented together. I’m sure a geologist would explain it better. And the colour is red, pink, orange, brown, ever changing with the way the sun shines on it … beautiful. The walls of the chasm narrowed as we walked into it. It began to get a bit scary. One of the signs warned against climbing any of the walls or remaining underneath the sheer walls of the chasm! What did that mean? Memories of the collapse of London Bridge on Victoria’s southern coastline (I jumped up and down on it proclaiming its permanency.) came flooding back and all of a sudden I was no longer feeling comfortable or safe. I took lots of photos and didn’t linger too long in this majestic, skinny chasm.

Outside again and we climbed to the lookout at the top of the Osmand Ranges. Yet again I had an overwhelming feeling of awe and wonder at the majesty of our earth and the forces of nature which shape such places.

It was getting late so we jumped in the car and drove back along the excuse for a road to take a look at the surrounds from the Kungkalanayi Lookout which affords a 360^o degree panoramic view of the Purnululu National Park. This is where those who are camping the night will bring their evening cockatails to enjoy the sunset. We’ve seen it in other places, the magical and visible change of colour of the rocks in the ranges. Sunset happens quickly in the north. It’s as though someone has a fast motion dimmer switch on the earth and rather than linger through the half light it just goes out. Darkness.

Half of our drive back through the park necessarily was done in the dark but we had the creek crossings done before it turned black and fortunately we came accross the bulldust at a very slow speed. You can’t see the rocks underneath the soft sand and have to be particularly watchful.

Another spectacular day.

Blessings to you all and I will post my notes from Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing very soon.

Litchfield and Kakadu National Parks

1st - 10th June

As I sit here in a Caravan Park in Katherine writing my blog the beautiful song of a Butcherbird fills the air while some Apostlebirds screech and scratch around under the trees.

We had a wonderful 9 days in the National Parks of the north – Litchfield and Kakadu.

The creeks, falls and rock pools of Litchfield delighted, awed and relaxed us for four days. An extract from my journal makes an effort to express some of the magic of a small part of this place:

Tuesday: From Buley Rockhole we walked along a beautiful track sometimes following the Florence Creek, sometimes walking through the woodland, all the way to Florence Falls.

What a fantastic view of the falls we had from way up high. We walked down 135 stairs which someone had kindly constructed for us to go for a swim in the plunge pool. On the way down we saw a Short-eared Rock Wallaby which everyone including myself had to photograph. We were very hot and wet before we got into the pool. Some big rocks in the middle of the pool enabled us to stand up but most of it was quite deep. We swam all the way across the pool to where the water plunges down the cliff. I loved the scary noise and feel of the water pounding down even though it was quite disorientating.

Later we had our lunch by Florence creek feeding the little fish tiny crumbs from our sandwiches. It was fascinating to watch them all grab at it, fighting for any tiny crumb they could find. They did the same if a leaf fell from a tree. Perhaps there are insects on the leaves. By the time we had returned to the cascading pools of the Buley Rockhole we were hot and wet again so we sat in one of the pools there until our skin was wrinkled.

Kakadu has been a wonderful place to be in. We didn’t intend to stay this long but after 5 days we have become familiar with being in the midst of this beauty, the rainforests, the sandstone rock formations, the monsoonal wetlands and the grassy billabongs. One very hot afternoon we spent at the Jabiru swimming pool, the only place to swim in Kakadu apart from Jim Jim.

I have seen and managed to photograph a crocodile swimming down the East Alligator river but far more exciting were the iridescent colours of a Rainbow Pitta bird I saw and snapped in the dark basement of the rainforest Manngarre walk. It is the wildlife of Kakadu which enchants and astounds and the scenery which takes one’s breath away again and again.

We learned a little of Aboriginal culture at the Warradjan Aboriginal Cultural centre and from our presence in this very Aboriginal part of our country we are starting to appreciate the depth and complexity of their society and way of life and the respect they have always had for the country we live in. Theirs is a history we cannot learn in an afternoon.

Jim Jim Falls was another 4WD trip. (I love 4WD trips!) We left our Mardugal campground and some distance down the Kakadu Hwy we turned off and drove 60km mostly along a gravel, lightly corrugated, dusty road before hitting the sand, the rocks and the water which made the drive as exciting as the scenery along the escarpment was beautiful. At the first water crossing I balked and handed the steering wheel to David. Of course this gave me an opportunity to photograph the exercise. Jim Jim creek itself is a wonder to behold. The palms around the pools of water make it a very pretty place. It was a difficult climb/walk across boulders along the gorge to the beach and plunge pools and we certainly noticed some new muscles in our thighs.

The water doesn’t fall over the cliffs later in the dry season but there was still a little for us to see pounding over and down these spectacular 150m high cliffs. Some tiny frogs were jumping over the rocks near the plunge pool where we dangled our feet in the cold water. I drove back through ALL the water crossings!

The photo below shows our van in the Mardugal Campground, Kakadu.

Still as I sit and write the birds are all around. Some Grey-crowned Babblers have joined us. The Butcherbird is still singing and has been interrupted a few times by a Blue-faced Honeyeater. A pair of Great Bowerbirds is sitting in the tree and the White-bellied Cuckoo-shrikes are flitting around the trees.

Blessings to you all and we will see you next time in WA.

Darwin ~ Fogg Dam and the Wave Pool

What a beautiful place Fogg Dam is. As soon as we drove into this wetland area (just off the road to Kakadu) the sound of thousands of birds filled the air. It’s crocodile country, too, so not straying off the road is an excellent idea. We drove to the bird hide and looked out over a body of water. You can see in the photo below the saltwater crocodile and the Jabiru not too far from one another. I don’t know if you can see the pair of Bush-stone curlews or the group of Wandering Plumed ducks. In the background there are lots of Magpie Geese which formed the largest group of birds. Intermediate egrets, pied herons, Pacific herons, ibis, darters, cormorants and Rajah shelducks were also there in numbers large enough for amateur bird watchers to see. We were delighted to see what looked like a Swamp Harrier looking for tucker and even a Crimson finch which came to sit in one of the palm trees and show us his beautiful colours.

We watched for ages, discussing many things with a German couple we met taking photos with a camera which had a lens as long as your arm. They had some amazing close up photos. Then slowly the crocodile’s tail moved a little, then it slid. We watched and waited. And then without a ripple it was in the pond and hidden from view. Some time later an island appeared in the water. An island with eyes ... and then it disappeared.

Today was the day to pick Abby up from school and go to the Darwin wave pool. All the Koondy kids will know Abby from her time at our school. If you look very closely at this photo you just might see what fun she is having in this wonderful place. All you can see of Abby is her head and a little bit of her pink board. There are no waves in the oceans around Darwin so it is a good idea to have a wave pool. We got dumped many times but we also caught lots of waves and went surfing into the shallows.

Blessings to you all and we will see you next time in Litchfield National Park.

Devils Marbles

We spent Wednesday afternoon and evening at the Devils Marbles campground meeting up with some people we had got to know in Alice Springs. I climbed all over the rocks and took lots of photos. The top one shows just one of the rock formations which are formed by the wearing away of the softer rock. I love the colour of the tree which somehow managed to grow through a crack in the rocky ground.

This bottom photo shows just half of the caravans set to stay for the night. If you enlarge the picture you can see ours!! We are in the back row, 6th from the right. The most beautiful time to see the rock formations is at sunrise or sunset which is why people come to stay the night. The rocks light up with a golden hue when the sun is low in the sky. In the morning it feels like a magic place as I wait for the sunrise, listening to the music of the birds. Too peaceful to take photos at this time of day. (Actually I forgot to collect my camera before I went climbing!)

We are in Katherine now enjoying the lazy, balmy swimming weather.

Blessings to you all and we will probably see you next in Darwin.

Palm Valley, Finke Gorge National Park

Friday was a magic day. We drove the 136km out of Alice Springs towards Hermannsburg through the MacDonnell Ranges which are just amazing in their colour and formation. We turned off towards the Finke Gorge National Park and Palm Valley. We love the MacDonnell Ranges and as most of the country near Alice Springs is dry it was quite a surprise to find a lush valley of ancient palms.

The track to get there was an experience in itself with rocky climbs and large sandy patches to traverse. David did a fantastic job driving the "road" which claims plenty of vehicle casualties. It is marked as "4WD high clearance required" and they weren't joking! We drove to the valley along the rocky and sandy Finke river bed.

Blessings to all and see you next time wherever the van stops.

Alice Springs

We took a picnic out to the Rainbow Valley Conservation Park, south of Alice Springs. Once again the scenery was astoundingly beautiful. The flies were thick and we were again very grateful for our fly nets. The picnic happened in the car under the shade of a lonely desert oak which we found on the way out of the park.

Here is my photo of the Todd River which runs through Alice Springs. I love the colour of the sand and the way the trees grow so straight and strong in the dry river bed.

We went to Simpsons Gap and discovered a pool of water stops you from walking through. I hope Simpson (no one knows who he was) knew how to swim. On our short walk to the gap itself we saw a Peregrine Falcon nesting high in the rocky sides of the gap and a Black-footed Rock Wallaby grazing amongst the rocks. Its tail is very long and it stayed still long enough for me to take a photo of it. You may be able to see it somewhere in the middle of this photo.

Blessings to you all and we'll see you next time in Alice Springs again.