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Published: October 1st 2009
In the beginning of July, I did a big trip across the northern part of Australia from Broome to Darwin, over 1500 miles in 9 days. I did the trip with a tour group. We camped all the nights with three of them at bush camps with no facilities.
The trip started out in Broome with a visit to the famous Cable beach for sunset. The north certainly has some of the best sunsets I have ever seen. I also was able to take in a movie at the oldest outdoor theater. Think of the old drive in but with lawn chairs setup instead. It was great!
Day 1
6am the next day was the start of the trip with a first stop at an Aboriginal art museum to learn a little about the culture. Then it was off to Tunnel creek to set up camp for the night and take a hike in Windjana Gorge. It was also the first freshwater crocodile sighting! These are the small relatively harmless ones. :-) Then back to camp for dinner and sleeping under the stars in an Aussie swag! Think sleeping bag with a gortex/tent shell to it that zips up
with a mattress built in. Pretty good idea for an area that has a distinct wet and dry season. I slept in this under the stars every night.
Day 2
Day 2 started out with a morning hike and swim in Bell gorge. Boy was that water cold but refreshing. It was nice after a morning hike with steep climbing as well. Then it was back to bus for a drive to the next gorge. We spent most of the afternoon hiking and relaxing by the pools of Lenard gorge. What a great day. Along the side of the road, we also spotted a dingo today! Very exciting. Time to pack up and make for camp for another night of sleeping under the stars. You can actually see the full Milky Way from up here!
Day 3
This morning it was off to Galvan gorge for a swim and Aboriginal art site. Boy I am getting used to this morning swim in freezing cold water. :-) Then it was back to the bus for drive to Manning gorge. For this gorge we had to swim across a river before hiking for 1.5 hours to the gorge. Great views
and swimming plus the excitement of swimming with a fresh water croc at the end. Don't worry. Nobody got hurt. Then it was off to our first bush camp. This means no facilities and the middle of no where outback. I never knew there were so many stars!
Day 4
This mornings first stop was not a gorge! Instead it was an art gallery and by that I mean a rock with painting on it. We were all a little confused at first. :-) Off for a fairly long drive to El Questro station and gorge where hot showers await! This is also the start of my reading "See Australia and Die". It is essentially short stories of how people have died in Australia mainly from being just stupid. Very funny book actually. Led to many funny tales along the way. Sunset at the top of a hill tonight and then back to the station for happy hour at a real bar! Entertainment was provided for the evening and lived up to the true redneck style that you would expect. :-)
Day 5
This morning we were in for a treat. A trip to the Zebedee hot springs.
Great but nearly as hot at those in Costa Rica. I imagine that is due to the fact that these hot springs are not volcanic, but still quite nice. Then it was off to Emma gorge. Just a short drive down the road and a hour hike in. This had to be the coldest water we had swam in to date! Very beautiful location though. The was however a mini hot spring in the corner of the gorge to warm up after a brisk swim. Yippee! Next stop is the Bungle Bungles National park. Sadly this is a long drive so we are off by 11am. The scenery is very nice along the way with the Lockham ranges and Puhalulu National Park. We arrived at the Bungle Bungles just after dark and set up camp for the night.
Day 6
The start of the Bungle Bungles. The name apparently comes from the bundle bundle grass. It looks nice and soft but be warned it is not! Ouch! We started out at the Echidna chasm. Cool place. You could touch both sides of the wall and if you looked up there were boulders stuck above you! Next stop was
the Catherdral gorge. The pictures really do not do this place justice. It was amazing and so peaceful. Then for the excitement of the day. Since we were only staying in Bungle Bungles for part of a day, I decided to opt for the helicopter ride. My first! It was amazing! I got to the see the rocks up close from the area and explorer areas of the park that would take days to hike into. Definitely a highlight!! :-D After that high it was time for another afternoon of long driving to our bush camp at Marsh Fly creek.
Day 7
First stop of the day was Molley spring for some more morning swimming. This is the life! Then a treat at the Zebra Rock Art gallery. This is a unique natural rock from the area that is striped like a zebra. Really coo! The river near by also has some massive catfish. Look at them eat that bread!! They also had some really good mango smoothies at this place. Our first country town was next of the list and where we would stay for the night. It seemed very noisy after all of those nights in
the middle of nowhere. Off to the local rum house for a tour and a few purchases. :-D Yum. Sunset cruise on the famous Lake Argyle was next on the list. The lake is 8 times the size of Sydney Harbour and has 25,000 fresh water crocodiles inhabiting it!! Wow. It was great for sighting those crocs on the banks trying to get the last bit of sun. What a treat! Got to love the telephoto lens.
Day 8
The trip is almost over an we just crossed over the border from Western Australia to Northern Territory. How crazy is that? And only a small part of WA. First stop today is at a famous boab tree. They retain the water like a cactus. We spotted a water buffalo along the side of the road today. Since they have a tendency to charge, we took photos from the bus. Then on the way to Katherine gorge for sunset and wallaby sightings! This is the last night for camping and star sighting. :-(
Day 9
Last day and time to head toward Darwin. We managed to fit in another gorge and waterfall for the last day of
swimming along the way at Edith Falls. Wow what a great trip. We all went out in Darwin that night to the night markets and sunset. Words can't even discribe how orange it was. Time to catch a bit of sleep and prepare for a short trip to Kakadu National park next.
Day 10
Day 10 and the start of my Kakadu trip. This group was quite small with only 5 of us and the guide. On the way in we learned a bit about the culture and aboriginal people that own and still live on the land next to the public piece of Kakadu. Very interesting. First stop was at the Jumping Croc river cruise. As its name indicates, they back the wild salt water crocs to make them jump. These are the big guys that can get up to 20ft in size! Next was to the Nourlangie Rock Art site also known as the sight of Crocodile Dundee’s crocodile attack! :-) Very beautiful! You can see the aboriginal land in the distance. Off to Yellow Waters to watch the sunset. What a great picture! Of course a bit more camping and sleeping under the stars. Not
quite as remote so it wasn’t the same.
Day 11
Last day for the Kakadu trip, started with a trip to the Twin fall gorge river boat and a hike to the falls. The croc signs were great here. Since salties tend to inhabit Kakadu, there was no swimming in this fall. Too dangerous! Next was a hike to the famous Jim Jim Falls. This is the waterfall in all of the commercials and advertisements for Kakadu. Unfortunately the falls only run during wet season and a month before and after. It is very hard to see it running as the road there washes out during wet. Shame but still pretty cool. We were able to swim in this very cold water. It would be my last gorge/waterfall swimming for a while. :-) Then it was back to Darwin for the night and an early flight home to Sydney.
Enjoy all of the photos. I had trouble narrowing them down. :-)
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Darlene
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What a trip!!
Dawn, you are your father's daughter when it comes to camping.