Blogs from Northern Territory, Australia, Oceania - page 6

We're still keeping a very nervous eye on the list of COVID exposure sites back home. I wonder what‘ll happen if anywhere we’ve been to does pop up on the list. I’m starting to have nightmarish visions of squads of heavily armed guards breaking down our door and carting us off to the local Howard Springs quarantine facility. I then make the mistake of Googling “Howard Springs” to find out a bit more about what we're in for if we do end up there. It doesn't sound all that appealing. We're not allowed to take any grog there with us for starters, so there go any plans we might have had for spending the two weeks in a drunken haze. I know my imagination might be starting to play tricks on me, but if the aerial ... read more

Another Solo End to End Trek (Larapinta East to West) started 21st June and completed on 6th July 2021. Entirely influenced by COVID-19 travel restrictions in Western Australia, I chose this as my longish distance trail for the year. Tasmania, South Australia and the Northern Territory were classified as ultra low risk states and the Larapinta was the most intriguing. I was hesitant, the heat is not my friend and even in winter you can get hot days in the NT but I was up for it. Booked frequent flyer flights from Perth to Alice Springs with the intent of spending a couple of nights in Alice pre-departure then another week with a hire car post trek to drive to the Uluru region, Kings Canyon, Devils Marbles, etc. This report differs to my usual day by ... read more

Larapinta Trail 21 (>225km) Part 2- Brinkley Bluff to Serpentine Gorge WARNING- Millions of pictures continues... So now I'm at Day 6. Glorious sunrise, frozen fingers. Steep traverse down from the summit this morning- rugged and rocky but not so bad really. Long morning of multiple terrains including an extended gorge navigation climbing up and over lots of boulders in Spencer Gorge. Saw my first snake! In the afternoon got to climb again to Windy Saddle and along Razorback Ridge with steep drop-offs as well as very steep drop-offs. Non-predicted Situation #3- getting slightly off track on the ridge- map said avoid steep unstable shale and loose rocks- that of course is where I ended up! Having rescued myself to rejoin the trail the day got massively easier. Got into another dry camp in a river ... read more

The Kimberley region in the far north of Western Australia is rugged, beautiful, and stunningly remote. The population is sparse and the distances are vast, but there is an option to explore the East Kimberley region from a gorgeous little base, and that is the town of Kununurra. For most of my adult life I have been intrigued by this remote town close to the border of Northern Territory, and it's great to have the chance to revisit after a long absence of 20 years. Travellers in Katherine are able to reach the town of 5,000 residents by jumping on the greyhound west across the border on the Savannah Highway, a three thousand kilometrre adventure journey across the top of Australia from Cairns in North Queensland to Broome in Northwest WA. The bus trip is under ... read more

On Wednesday morning I checked out of the hotel and had a couple of tasks to take care of before I left Coober Pedy. I needed fuel first, and then I had to visit the most useful vending machine in the outback. This may exist elsewhere, but it’s the only one I know of – a coin-operated water station. For just $1.00 you can get 30 litres of water. One of my jerry cans was nearly empty so I wanted to fill it up. Unfortunately, the station seems to just start when you put the coin in and keeps going until 30 litres is dispensed. I wasn’t ready, and the jerry can only holds 20 litres so some water was wasted. It probably could be a bit more efficient and allow you to stop and start ... read more