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Published: June 19th 2012
Look! Dinner!
Tab finds a friendly kitty near the beach restaurant, Bali****Due to a change in settings on the blog, some of you may not have got our last blog, so you might want to go back to the one before this one so the trip is in order of our journey****
On the 17
th April (happy birthday Jase!) we finally crossed the border from WA into NT. The sign simply said “Thank you for visiting Western Australia”….well, that was some “visit”!! The first thing we noticed was the NT speed limit is 130km/hr, so we promptly booked Boris in to have rocket launchers fitted so we had ANY hope of reaching the speed limit!
Straight away the facilities at free camps and national park camps improved, there was always water, loos, fireplaces and often a supply of firewood too. Gotta love that! We stayed at some beaut spots with our first big destination of Katherine Gorge in mind. However, as fate would have it, we lost the clutch just outside of a little roadhouse town called Victoria River, limped into the park in first gear and Jeff promptly got on the blower to make some enquiries about
parts (the travelling mechanic strikes again!). With luck, the parts place in Katherine was able to get in what we needed from Brisbane then throw it on the Greyhound bus that runs from Katherine to Kununurra daily, so we anchored in at Vic River for about 5 days. Made all the better simply because we had the opportunity for a beaut nosh-up at the pub there and even got an amazing storm front roll in one arvo, with cool lightning show that night.
With a lot of Gregory National Park unfortunately still closed from the wet season, we were at Katherine Gorge before we knew it. With only our beer elbows being exercised recently, we decided it was high time we tested out Jeffs Dickie Knee, and set off on a 10km hike up to a lookout above the gorge, then down some crevices to a crystal clear pool below a stunning double-waterfall. We were lucky enough to see a big monitor sunning near the water, while a bright yellow tree snake swam all the way across the pool, while we fed the little fish crumbs from our lunch – ahhh, the serenity.
Next day we arrived at Edith Falls where we did some amazing walks, and then onto probably our FAVOURITE spot in NT, Douglas Hotsprings. This place is so good, we just had to come back through on our way south again after we’d been up to Darwin. It was also here that Jeff caught his first ever Barra, not a bad size at about 70cm, and absolutely delish. Even the boys got a feed of fresh barra for breaky which they enjoyed immensely. Picture this….early morning, pools of water about 50 degrees steaming in the dawn light, about 15 degrees outside, soak, soak and soak some more! Then in the afternoons, go back, cold beer in hand (Ok, and a few in the esky to tag along as well), soak, soak, soak. Repeat as desired. Bliss!!
So onwards and upwards for our first visit to Darwin with a brief stopover in Adelaide River, which is the pub where the bull from Croc Dundee has been stuffed and placed on the bar, and lo & behold, the NT Food & Wine Festival just happens to be on
at the Casino the day we arrive. Pure coincidence….truly. Needless to say we promptly settle ourselves into a caravan park for the night and organise a cab to take us to the casino for an early evening rendezvous with some nice wines (mainly SA), nice tucker and live music. A pissy, late, and brilliant night!
With sore heads the next morning, we start making our way to Kakadu, dropping the boys off at boarding in Howard Springs along the way. On the first night we stayed just outside of the park border on Wildman River, where in the morning Jeff is stoked to find some “old abandoned nets” full of live bait! Just 2 minutes after he collects the haul and puts the nets back some cowboy rocks up to check his nets! Not so old and abandoned afterall! Jeff had to keep a straight face while the guy puzzled over why all his nets were empty, and we got a load of fresh bait for the freezer. Shhhhhhh
Our first camp proper in Kakadu is at Ubirr Rock, where there is some beautiful rock art,
Chinese Laundry
Boris momentarily became the clothes horse at Vic River up to a lookout viewing lush green grasslands below. Remember, wet season has only just finished up here, so the grasses are green, the pools are full, waterfalls are running and the MOSQUITOS ARE BITING!!!! My god, you’ve never seen or heard anything like it. It’s like a high-pitched freight train through the bush every night, and you lay in bed with all these little nozzles poking through the fly mesh of the bus, just trying in vain to find a vein! At some point Jeff must have pressed one of his feet up against the mesh during the night and ended up with a bitten sole! And no, they weren’t much better during the day either.
Mozzies aside, Kakadu remains a huge highlight of our NT journey, with more rock art, caves, waterfalls, plunge pools, bushwalks, wildlife and beautiful camps all the way through. We did a cruise on Yellow Water savannah, heading off to the South Alligator River, sighting about 5 crocs (one monster croc!), abundant waterlilies, endless birdlife (even the elusive Jabiru!) and would love to revisit again one day, perhaps in the dry season this time so a few
more of the tracks would be open, as quite a few were still closed while they check for crocs & wait for the mud to dry up. Our journey to Kakadu was made all the more special as we celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary on the 11
th May, where we cooked up a feast of scallops and sipped on a magnum of Leeuwin Estate Chardy that we had cradled all the way since Margs for just this occasion!
From Kakadu, we headed straight into Litchfield National Park (boys still boarding…missing them terribly!) where we celebrated another milestone, Jeff’s 36
th birthday. He was treated to a nosh-up breaky, a visit from the beer-fairy who left him a huge NT stubbie, and then we took off on Daz for a day of sight-seeing and swimming. Litchfield is waterfall central, with heaps of amazing bushwalks to fall lookouts, swimming pools under some, and cool rock formations. Birthday boy even got a spa treatment (from nature) sunning himself while lying in a waterfall at the Cascades near Curtin Falls. A birthday to remember. Upon our return to camp he promptly cracked the seal on the NT
Hittin the hard stuff
Nervous flyer Tab hits the top shelf on her way to Bali to calm her nerves...it appears to be working! stubbie and we enjoyed a night in with a good butter chicken and singing tunes til the early hours!
We picked up the boys a couple of days later and cruised around, just south of Darwin, out to Mandorah where there is a really cool pub only 20 minutes ferry-ride across the bay from Darwin City. It’s the kind of place where you can enjoy a steak sanga for ten bucks, while sipping a cold beer in the sun, overlooking blue, blue water. Sadly, the caravan park there closed down some time ago so we couldn’t stay all afternoon like we wanted to!
We had been waiting for Fred’s Pass Rural Show coming up that weekend, so we pulled in to the horse stable area behind the showgrounds and waited for the festivities to begin. It was a cool little show, with lots of cattle/goat judging, a few rides, sideshow alley (we tried the duck shooting and throwing a softball into an old milk-can…..hopeless at both!) and open bar at the footy club stands. Later on there was a fireworks show, the cats still haven’t forgiven
us for that one, and Jeff almost made himself throw up with a “rocket” from the Mr Whippy van. It’s a double cone, with 2 full-sized flakes stuffed into the soft-serve, then the whole lot dipped in chocolate. All this on top of the biggest boerwors sausage for dinner, wedges and several beers. Thank Christ we didn’t go on a ride too! All in all a good night, and the camping was free, including hot showers the next day, nice!
With only a week to kill before our flight to Bali we spent a couple of days in Darwin, visiting the many markets, and Tab enjoyed an early birthday pressie aboard the Cape Adieu Dinner Cruise. It was awesome. Open-deck buffet of cold & hot seafood, steak, wine, all while cruising around the bay and watching the red sun set into the ocean. After that we headed out to explore above Darwin, staying a few nights at Tree Point. We had an awesome spot, just metres off the beach, had the place to ourselves, just chilling out, fishing, walking, beering!
Then back into Darwin ready for
Ahhhh grasshopper!
Cool bonsai at Stokes Hill Wharf Darwin (Gibbsys this ones for you) a week of liver-abuse in Seminyak with our good mates Mick & Madge. We had a ball, the villa & food was amazing (our own full sized pool in our villa), spent a day out with a tour guide who took us up to volcano Kintamani for lunch (fogged in, bugger!), to see monkeys, markets, coffee farm and more. Highlight would have been hiring scooters one day and heading off into the absolute madness that is Bali roads! There are no rules here, you can drive on whatever side of the road you like, traffic lights are ignored, you can squeeze as many people on the scooter as you can fit and it’s just CHAOS!! However, there is no road rage as no one gives a shit what anyone else is doing because they have no idea what they are doing themselves…it works! We also spent an amazing night having a beach & Bintang dinner, however there were some Bali bellies in the house the next day! The girls also enjoyed one morning of pampering at a day spa, and of course we all shopped, ate & drank ourselves silly, as you do while in Rome. We bid sad farewells
Livin the good life
Yep, Bailey stays in bed A LOT over a few Bintangs in the airport and a vow to not let it be so long in between catchups next time! Thanks guys, we loved every minute, when should we re-book???
After flying back in (3am arrival…yawn!) we spent a day catching up on sleep and washing, before heading south again, stopping for another indulgent week at Douglas Hotsprings (where we spent a pissy night with Bec & Brett and Jergen – welcome to our blog guys!), onto Umbrawarra Gorge near Pine Creek, stopping for a trek into Cutta Cutta Caves south of Katherine. Now, as we head south and Tabs parents head north, along with her Aunty Patti & Uncle Michael, we will no doubt all catch up in the next week or two “on the road again”. Stay tuned for our next adventures!
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