Advertisement
Published: February 3rd 2009
Edit Blog Post
It should be noted that it's now Feb 2009 and this is very much written in retrospect, but with London snowed under and no school today I feel the need to catch-up on some long-term projects that have began to fester, so armed with a brand new macbook, I begin the long road north....
From the red heart of Australia we put our foot down and made the long trip north passing: Renner Springs, Elliot, Newcastle Waters, Dunmarra, Daly Waters and Larrimah, 700 km of monotonous road. Eventually we arrived hot and dusty at Mataranka. We bush camped at a national parks managed site in the forest; not long after our arrival a tall man appeared from the bush and introduced himself as 'Tall Dean'. Dean was a nice chap who spends 3 months of the year camping out in the bush, what a way to live! The reason we had decided to pay Mataranka a visit was to try out the natural thermal pools and the next morning we did just that. Free to use these pools are a natural wonder, perfect for washing away the red dust and soaking our weary bodies. Set in lush vegetation the pools
were a perfect 30 degrees! Refreshed we made our way further north to Kakadu National Park, staying at Mardugal campgroups. The weather was sweltering outside and the mosquitos out in a raging force. We spent the next few days exploring Kakadu, visiting a series of walking platforms, and the very interesting Ubir to see the Aboriginal rock art and wet land vistas. This was a place of magical moments, one morning we woke to the mist hanging across the landscape, watched a wallaby bounce by curiously, and realised how special this place is. With a 4x4 you can really explore further, but the campervan did alright.
Darwin was a pleasant enough place and we indulged in the modern delights of the internet, I got a haircut and we took an spontaneous tour around Parliament House, learning all about the local politics of Darwin! Mindal weekend market was brilliant; down by the beach, featuring a host of food stalls and and incredible performance by a band utilising the didgeridoo in a way I've never seen before or since. Inspired we purchased our own didgeridoo from Katherine on our way back down and west.
The drive out to Broome was
strange, this really is a barren drive with the weirdest towns en route. We tried to stay at a free camping spot but the flies were completely unbearable, so pushed on another 100 km to the town of Timber Creek. There really isn't many tourists out this way. We stayed in a nice enough site then pushed on another 600km the next day to Hall's Creek, crossing into Western Australia. It should be noted at this point just how well our beat-up old campervan was coping with these conditions and huge distances (even now writing "600km" seems improbable, when a drive from London to Portsmouth seems like a long way!) The huge distances were all worth it just to see the huge, bulborous, 'Ent-like' trees just before Halls Creek. Even on reaching Halls Creek we needed to push on another 700 km to Broome the next day. I had been excited about reaching Broome since reading about it many moons ago "laid-back, breezy, wondrous ocean, multi-cultural, no traffic lights!" and we were not disappointed. We had timed our visit for the natural phenomena of the Staircase to the Moon; were a full moon rises over a very low tide, the
reflection of the moon illuminates the exposed mud flaps, thus creating a 'staircase to the moon' illusion. Quite impressive. Broome is also home to the worlds oldest (still running) outdoor cinema, Sun Pictures, which by default was of particular interest to me. We looked around the venue in the daytime soaking up the abundance of atmosphere the place has, then returned in the evening to watch a disappointing film called 'Evening' that has since been removed from my memory. We took time out to visit Cable Beach where all the young and beautiful people hang out then Broome's Historical Museum, a delightful little place full of curiosities run by volunteers of an old, grey and friendly disposition. Risking life and limb, we climbed down across slippery rocks as the tide went out in search of dinosaur footprints, and found them, incredible! We actually stood in the footprints of a dinosaur, surely a once-in-a-lifetime experience... Delighted with our Broome experience we made haste at 5 am the next morning, for another 700 km marathon down to Exmouth.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.066s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 12; qc: 28; dbt: 0.0207s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb