Jim and Kims Travels

Reluctantly, we left Kakadu National Park and headed south to visit Edith (Leliyn) Falls. Leliyn is part of Nitmiluk National Park, which has as its key attraction Katherine Gorge. We had booked a campsite in Leliyn for our caravan, to enable us to enjoy an afternoon swim in one of the largest croc-managed plunge pools in the NT. The waterfall that cascades into the plunge pool is a long swim across the dark, foreboding pool, with reedy banks just like we had seen in Kakadu, potentially hiding fearsome saltwater crocodiles. With some hesitance, I ended up swimming across to the waterfall twice, taking the opportunity of a massage under the falls. After an overnight stay at Leliyn, we drove to Mataranka for a two night stay. We had unfinished business at Mataranka, as the renowned Bitter ... read more

We didn’t quite know what to expect of Darwin, with again, a lot of unfavourable press coverage clouding our vision. We were pleasantly surprised at what a colourful, multicultural city Darwin is today. Darwin's proximity to South East Asia makes it a key link between Australia and countries such as Indonesia and East Timor. The city has been almost entirely rebuilt four times, firstly following devastation caused by a cyclone in 1897, another cyclone in 1937, Japanese Air Raids in 1942, and Cyclone Tracy in 1974. Darwin endured over sixty air raids during WWII. We set out to explore the Darwin CBD, and met up with our 2022 traveller friends Mandy and Glenn from Lakes Entrance for lunch overlooking the harbour. After farewelling our friends later that afternoon, we enjoyed a swim in Darwin Harbour lagoon. ... read more

The turnoff for Kakadu National Park is at Pine Creek, and we had to decide whether to head into Kakadu or trek north to Darwin. We decided to head north into Darwin, as we were catching up there with friends that we had met in Queensland last year, and I was keen to get a new set of tyres fitted on the caravan before we move on too far. Pine Creek was founded when workers digging holes for the Overland Telegraph Line discovered gold, triggering another Australian gold rush. There have been a number of gold and iron ore mines operating in Pine Creek, with an open cut gold mine only closing in 1995 after having extracted 21,700 kg of gold over a ten year period. The open cut pit is now filled with a lake. ... read more

We had an interesting journey from Alice Springs, with stopovers, on our way to Mataranka. After crossing the Tropic of Capricorn, we stopped off at Aileron Roadhouse to view two massive sculptures of Anmatjere Man’ and 'Anmatjere Woman and Child'. The 'Anmatjere Man' was erected in December 2005. At 17 metres he strikes an impressive figure as he overlooks Aileron and the surrounding region. The figure is 12 metres high, with the tip of the spear taking it to 17 metres. Weighing approximately 8 tonnes, the sculpture is made from a steel frame, mesh wire and ferris cement. It was created by local sculptor Mark Egan (son of Ted Egan). ‘Anmatjere Woman and Child’ was erected in December 2008 joining ‘Anmatjere Man’. Josephine Stone decided to create Anmatjere woman and child to match ‘Anmatjere Man’. Our ... read more

The vast distances in the outback again came into play with our four hour drive to Kings Canyon, where we booked into the Discovery Park Caravan Park. The creek was named by the explorer Ernest Giles in 1872. He wrote in his book Geographic Travels in Central Australia from 1872 to 1874: "I called King's Creek after Mr. Fielder King... an old and kind friend of mine". After setting up our caravan, we drove to Kings Canyon, also known as Watarrka, and completed the 3 km Kings Creek walk, which follows the creek along the canyon floor. At the end of the walk is a platform, with views of the canyon walls above. On the way back to our vehicle, we passed the steep ascent of the Kings Canyon Rim walk, which we were proposing to ... read more