Alice to Kakadu

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Today we left Alice Springs heading north for the Devils Marbles. It was about a 400km trip. Getting there at 2pm we decided that we’d have lunch and then push on, to Tennant Creek. The camp ground was pretty busy and we figured once we’d seen his marbles there was not much reason to stay! We climbed the marbles and standing on top we could see thousands of acres of marbles ready to be explored. The marbles were formed when molten lava was pushed up from underground. Over time the ground around them has been eroded.
We stopped in at Brenner Springs Roadhouse and checked out there famous hat collection and chowed down on some of their home-made sausage rolls! Fuel is getting cheaper, now $1.73 a litre!!
After arriving in Tennant Creek, we tried the local caravan park to see if there were any vacancies. Luckily heaps!! After setting up I went walkabout into town, about one klick. Along the way I met many of the “brothers and aunties”. One even asked me “how r u goin’ dere brother?” I felt like one of the clan. Tennant Creek is definitely warmer than Alice, shorts and T’shirt weather … just. Kids met up with another family with 3 kids, so they ran around and rode their scooters with them while we cooked dinner in the camp kitchen. They were travelling south. Glad we are going North. It was 3 deg in Alice this morning. All the shops in Tennant Creek are very ugly from the outside, they have heavy duty shutters to stop the shop fronts being smashed in. Even the pub didn’t look very appealing until I stepped inside.
After packing up the van, we are definitely getting better at it, we headed off for Mataranka. We were planning on staying at Bitter Springs in a Caravan Park. They weren’t very full, so we found a non-powered site close to the springs. The Springs or thermal pools, was really a river about 35deg flowing from a vent coming from under the earth. The river was quite flowing and the fish life was amazing. Finally it is getting warmer, however after getting out of the hot springs on dusk, we were still a little chilly. Camp kitchen again for cooking tea. We chatted to a bloke who had come from WA and had visited the Bungle Bungles. He had all the photos on his laptop. He did give us some good advice on not taking the van all the way in, so we’ll change our plans a bit there I think. Definitely can’t miss them though.
From Mataranka, filled up $1.68/litre, we headed for Katherine to stock up on supplies. We called in past 13 De-julia Ct Katherine East, our old house, hasn’t changed much in 14 years. It was a Saturday and Katherine town centre was crazy. So was Woolies. Jac and the kids hit the supermarket and I hit the fishing shop for a crab pot. We grabbed a pie from the bakery and headed out again for Kakadu National Park. Didn’t get much through town before a smell of turd wafted through the car. Accusations we flying thick and fast before Jac and Jane discovered they had stopped in poo!!! And it wasn’t dog poo either! Where we had stopped had been a bit of a corroborie. Maybe one of the brothers couldn’t hold on? After ditching some thongs we headed off again!
Few more hours in the car and we stopped in at the Kakadu visitor’s centre, paid our park entry fee and checked out the indigenous souvenirs. Next stop was Jabiru, the Kakadu Lodge Aurora Resort. They have a great setup and we figured rather than stay in two different places in Kakadu we’d stay setup and the kids could stretch their legs for a few days. We had spent quite some time in the car and not stopped very long … cabin fever was setting in!!!!
(Jane) We’ve just had our first night in Kakadu and just about to have our 2nd.
Today we went to Jim Jim falls and climbed through the rocky wilderness of the cliffs. It was an amazing climb and totally worth it!!!!! At the end we went to the beach pool under the bottom of the water fall and had a splash about in the Freezing, ICY COLD water!!!!! Jane xoxo
Yes it was a great day indeed, we drove for about 20mins on the road then went onto a dirt road to Jim Jim Falls. The road was good, some very heavy corrugations, but easy to travel at 80-100km/h. Once we had done about 50km on the dirt we came to the Ranger Station, from there it was 4WD country. Sand, rocks, creek and river crossings and MUD!!! The Pajero was in heaven. Thankfully my newly installed suspension held together and kept us strong through the rough stuff!! As Jane said, the walk was a climb. It took us 40 mins to traverse the rocky river bed all the way along to the falls. We had a Japanese safety boots on today, so we ended up climbing in bares! You may notice in the photos a small object zip tied to our bull bar, "Macca Packa". He was a little scared during our 4WDing and got a little wet on the river crossing. He is a little joke we have about packing up the car for long trips as Dad is the Macca Packa. Now with the van, Mum has joined the clan!
Totally recommend to you all come and see these falls, they are remote, you need a 4WD, but there are few tourists and it made an awesome day, the kids loved the 4wding, not so much the corregations. Matt screamed out half way in “DAD!!!!! When is this noise going to stop????” So I didn’t tell him we were also coming back this way! Kids were very tired after all there climbing and have crawled into bed after a swim in the pool and Dinner. It is off to bed for us two as well, Croc cruise on the East Alligator River tomorrow and then Darwin.
Love Jac&Rus, Jane Matt and Ben. xoxo

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Photos

Devils Marbles
Bit hard to set this one up and run in!!! Poor old Mum!

Katherine
Smile Jane!

Road to Jim Jim
The creek and river crossings were fun!

Jane and Ben consider swimming
Should we go in?

Jim Jim Falls
The trip was worth it!

Jim Jim Falls II
Matt and Dad after climbing to the base of the falls, dont we look so small (bottom right)

Comments

[Wally]

Don't get munched by the crocs!!
Trip still sounds fantastic guys!! Looking forward to the next update. you taking the kids to the wave pool in Darwin ?