A Journey Across The Top End

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Travelling from Lake Argyle to Keep River National Park was a short journey, however it took nearly 3 hours. No this wasn't the result of bad roads or heavy traffic, we crossed the state boundary into the Northern Territory and consequently lost an hour and a half.

So with the day nearly gone there was just enough time for a walk into the Gurrundalng. This is the Aboriginal name for Keep River N P, and suits it much better I think. It's also the name of a beautiful blue/grey stork-like bird, many of which we saw in the park. Scrambling through rocky gullies and over wooded banks of woolly-butt trees we felt completely alone amongst this beautiful wilderness. The undulating cliff faces and sporadically placed palms seemed to stretch forever with no hint of human habitation. Our sense of desertedness was reinforced when we returned to the camp ground, ours was still the only car there and it remained that way all evening. It was one of the most tranquil camping experiences, utter silence except birdsong and a soft breeze. That is until the sun set and a high pitched drone began. Invasion of the mosquitoes! So despite the amazing beauty of this place, the incessant mosi's and intense heat all through the night meant we didn't sleep especially well.

The next morning, with the sun rising at a more reasonable 5.30am we began our day. It was just a short drive through big open landscapes to Gregory N.P where another free nights camping awaited us. A tiny national park by Australia's standards Gregory was little more than a stopover on the way to Katherine.

Katherine was the first real town that we'd come across since we left Kunnunura, and it seemed like a metropolis. It was strange to see so many people; talking, shouting and sadly lots were drinking. Unlike other people's previous experiences though, we felt no threat from this largely aboriginal community. The town ticked all amenity boxes, there was a shopping centre, library, petrol stations galore and even a hot springs! We rushed through our chores at the first three and then relaxed at the oasis in the midst of this dusty town. Looking more like an exclusive spa resort than a naturally occurring water system the thermal springs were a treat. A pandanus fringed, multi tiered pool bubbling at a balmy 34 degrees...just magical.

The nearest national park campsite was over 200kms away at Litchfield so we had to get moving, calling in at the beautiful Edith Falls on the way, where unfortunately we couldn't swim for fear of crocodile attack. Australia is the biggest tease, it has all these fantastic water holes which are so inviting in such oppressive heat, but you can't swim in them!

The road to Litchfield was long and winding and it was dark before we reached Florence Falls. Exhaustedly we munched on baked beans on bread and erected the tent. As we relaxed in the car, safe from the mosi's outside, and enjoying our evening ritual of 'BBC world service' followed by some music on 'Triple J', a tiny little wallaby hopped around the tent curious of this new being in his environment.

It was off to Darwin the next morning, another 2 hour drive. This was as far north as we would get, having now travelled 7,000 kilometres from Augusta. It was Sunday morning and we joined the crowds of people searching for a car parking space outside the Parap markets. An Asian food lovers dream, the market had everything from Tom Yum soup, to Satay, Samosa's to Papaya salad. We inhaled the delicious scents and almost chocked on the prices, but I convinced Lewi that we should at least have a couple of dishes. It was like a flashback to Thailand as our tongues burnt from the extra spicy chilli's in the papaya salad, we were happy.

The Museum of The Northern Territory was our next stop and showcased an impressive array of contemporary and historical displays of art, anthropology and nature, including the gigantic stuffed corpse of 'Sweetheart' the 7ft crocodile caught and wrestled in a neighbouring village.

Darwin had been an interesting town, the mix of cultures, pretty harbour and brash locals with their harsh Aussie accents made for an unusual mix, but with nowhere to camp it was back to Litchfield for us. If it hadn't been for the wild horses and plagues of frogs on the night the roads I would have struggled to stay awake, but we made it safely to our campsite and to bed.

So after two nights of sleeping in Litchfield we were finally going to see the park during daylight hours. With dozens of beautiful waterfalls and refreshing plunge pools, most of which are croc free, this was the best place to be. We spent the next two days lounging at Florence Falls, and Buley Rock Pools. The temperatures were soaring and it was such a relief to be able to cool off after taking walks in the lush parkland, a thought echoed by the monitor lizards we saw swimming in the pools. It was a great time of year to be here, technically the wet season and so much quieter, however still no rain had fallen so tracks were dry and easily passable. The humidity was extreme though and in the evenings we had to sit in the air conditioned car to cool our bodies down to a manageable level.

Now it was time for the big journey, south and east to Katherine and Threeways and then all the way east to Cairns, a massive total of 2000km of road lay ahead. We planned to cover this land in three days and so to give ourselves a head start we drove out from Katherine that evening to a little outback town named Mataranka. It was a small place, population of five hundred, as we passed the "Welcome to Mataranka, land of the never never" sign the oil light came on the dash. We pulled over and checked the dipstick, sure enough she was right out of oil...this was a sudden loss of oil... initially perplexing but with one peep under the engine we knew why, the oil was pouring out! Our hearts sank, we thought we truly might be stuck in Jeanie Gunn's fictional land of the Never-Never for ever-ever. With no garages open at 8pm we checked into a kangaroo infested campsite and fretted ourselves to sleep.

Bright and early we sought out Willies' Auto's, the only garage in town and hoped he wasn't a hillbilly crook. Fortunately he was as down to earth as they get, he and his son were an honest pair who couldn't help us enough. They hoisted Stan up, we waited like expectant fathers for the verdict. And we couldn't have had a better result, a seal on an oil switch had cracked up with the extreme heat (apparently it happens all the time up here) which was a simple and cheap problem to fix. The wave of relief washed over us and with beaming grins we shook hands with Willie, parting with a mere $80 and setting off on our way. It was our first outback mechanic experience and a lot less painful than we had imagined.

So we were on the road again, and what roads they were. Hundreds of kilometres of bitumen stretching across the Australian bush. For the next two and a half days we marvelled at the vast open spaces, the endless (and stinky) carcasses of cows and kangaroos bulldozed by speeding road trains, and the enormous raptors or eagles who feasted on the flesh barely batting an eye as we drove past them. And it wasn't just animal carcasses that we zoomed past, every few kilometres were burnt out, piles of rust that used to be cars, a reminder of how lucky we were to break down in friendly Mataranka. It was an essential Australian experience, to be at one with the open road, the heat, the gigantic road trains who thunder towards you, rocking the car as they steam by leaving you in a cloud of dust. We camped beside the roads in conveniently regular rest areas, where aside from the odd rumbling of a truck our nights were peaceful. Some roads were arduously long and straight, with only a desolate cattle ranch to break up the view, and I won't deny we did go a little crazy. But on the whole the drive across the top end was one of the best and most challenging journeys of our trip and we loved it!

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