Unexpectedly I was given a month off at the end of August as my host family’s grandparents were flying in from England for some much needed R&R. I was given the option to either stay and continue working or fly somewhere in Australia for a month- hard decision there. I looked at hostels for a while and working for accommodation in Noosa or Agnes Water and just have a month of surfing somewhere a bit warmer. Then I received an email from my good friend Janice and her weekly update on her adventures in Australia. She had just gotten to Cairns and her brother who had road tripped with her was leaving. It was perfect timing as she was up for some company and I was up for an adventure. With less than a week before I left, I booked a ticket and flew out on the 2nd of September. Janice met me at the airport around 5 pm and we drove to downtown Cairns and walked around the water front and checked things out. We then headed to one of the friend’s place in Cairns for the night where Janice had stayed the night before.
At 7:30 Wednesday morning September 3rd our adventure started. Our first task was crossing over the tablelands which Janice had warned me about the night before. Curvy roads up and down for an hour or so. We decided to enjoy it as we knew there would be a lot of flat open land on our trip. We headed into a small town called Yungaburra for breakfast and ate at the Whistle Cafe. We continued on and stopped at some hot springs for a few hours with 6 different pools. We tried them all other than the hottest and coldest pools. We ate lunch there: canned tuna, crackers, and carrots from the van. We soaked a bit more before showering off and heading on our way. Our next stop was Undara National Park where we enjoyed some free tea in a beautiful covered area surrounded by old train cars with tables and chairs inside. We took a quick hike out to a bluff outlook and enjoyed the view. We then headed back on our single lane cow filled road killing only one bird on the way. Our camp for the night was in the massive town of Georgetown which had a free community pool we didn’t use, a police station in a house, and a few closed gas stations. At the end of the town was a pull off with one bathroom, a shower, and covered picnic table and we had it all to ourselves. We made dinner which was a chicken and rice dish we cooked on a gas burner. Not too shabby. We chilled for a bit reading books by light of a magnetic flashlight on our overhang and went to bed.
We woke up before 7 the next morning to the sounds of construction vehicles and road trains passing us by. We headed over to the town’s pool to have a quick morning swim but on arrival found out we had to get a token before entering from the gas station. Instead of driving the two minutes I hopped the fence and let Janice in. We were the only ones there even though it opened at 6 and had a refreshing swim. 10 minutes into our swim a white truck pulled up and a man came in with a uniform on. We were preparing ourselves to be kicked out when he pulled out a container to test the water. We made small talk and then hopped in the showers. Another family came up who was traveling through and we said hi before getting gas and heading down the road. Later Janice told me the man at the counter said to her “Wait I know what you’re going to ask me- for a token for the pool.” Janice sheepishly said no she just needed to pay for gas and he said “Jumped the fence did you?”
We drove to Concury where we stopped by an information center to get a few more maps and then I took a turn at driving. I haven’t driven a manual much but we were in the middle of nowhere with straight roads and no traffic so I gave it a go- not too bad once I got up to speed and stayed that way for the next few hours. As we were coming up to Normonton there was a T in the road and we had to go left but I wasn’t close to stopping so we just looked both ways and kept on. We pulled off and got lunch at a little café, filled up with fuel, and left. Janice drove again for a while and we decided to take a dirt side road through some cattle stations that cut an hour or so off our time. Cattle were even more free roaming than usual in groups of 50 at the largest. We saw kangaroos lying in the shade of little trees and soo many cows roaming around. Only 1 of the hundreds of cows along the side of the road decided to take a jog across as we were getting close. After a bit we switched and I drove for a while. We saw a group of maybe ten cows running in the other direction on the road so we had fun beeping the horn and driving by them. Eventually we got to the town of Gregory Downs and talked to the man at a small general store who told us about a cool camping spot by the water at the other end of town. We fueled up and checked it out. It was an awesome spot! We drove in and there were campers parked along a river with trees scattered around. The water was safe to swim in and had a bit of a current so you could float along. We pulled up opposite the water and started up dinner which was a coconut curry stew with potatoes, squash, and rice. I looked after it as Janice had a quick float down the river and we then dug in. We chatted with a few of the campers about the National Park we would be going to the next day. Then we washed our dishes in the river and got ready for bed.
Monday morning we packed up- filled up our water jugs in town and headed to Adel’s Grove. This stretch of road was gravel and like a washboard. We were going slow for a while until we met a couple of trucks who were flying and seemed fine so we did too and it was much better. We saw a mother Emu run across the road and then six of her chicks followed- all about a foot tall with stripes running down their backs. We made it to Adel’s Grove which was just another guide camp with one store and information center – free tea, coffee, and Milo so no complaining on our end! Janice had service too which was crazy since it was one of the smallest “towns” yet. No such luck for me ever since Cairns -which in the end was been pretty nice! The road to Lawn Hill National Park was very corrugated again and the worst so far. We made it to the park- found a camping spot and headed to the water hole. It looked pretty nice but also seemed like the perfect habitat for crocs so we wandered a bit further. We saw a couple signs and one of the trails you could see fresh water crocs basking in the sun farther up the river. This section was closed off as there wasn’t enough water running through it but the same body of water as the main waterhole was connected to. We asked a couple who was walking by and they said yes that’s where everyone goes and they were there for an hour yesterday. We still were a bit uneasy so we talked to a ranger who was about to take a group of people on a boat tour. He said yes it was safe and yes there are crocs but not around the waterhole and they are freshwater which means they are more scared of us then anything. We went back to the stairs to the waterhole and took a bit before Janice went in for a 10 sec quick swim. She got out and I did the same after some hesitation. We made it out alive and started the hike over to the waterfalls. We hiked for about 900km and arrived at the Indarri waterfalls- it was gorgeous! Red rock, palm trees, and multiple waterfalls. We jumped in and had a couple of swims with some sun bathing and lunch breaks of tuna and crackers. We hiked to the lookout and then made our way back to camp. It was pretty hot and our side door was still not opening so we pulled out some chairs and sat in the shade. After a bit I went for a short swim and talked to an older man who was sitting on the step. He had just came from Camawheel which was where we wanted to go on off roads because it cut off over 1000ks. We heard from a lady the night before that there were tons of pot holes and river crossings….but she had never been on it. This guy said there were only a few river crossings and they weren’t bad because it was so dry- the road was a bit corrugated but not dusty. We put faith in him as he HAD just driven it.
After a while we made dinner- lentil veggie stew and cous cous. Our neighbors Chris and Colette came back as we were finishing up and Janice went to ask them for a Phillips screwdriver as our side door was out of order. We had talked to them a few times before and they were the couple to tell us it was okay to swim in the waterhole. Chris was super helpful and came over to look at it and then went to get some tools and WD-40 to help. We ended up having to take off the side paneling of the door and first unlock the back part of the door and then the front. It took a bit of time and when it was finished it had been dark for a while. He said he would look at it again in the morning and we washed up our dishes and went inside to read.
Tuesday morning started slowly and Chris came as our hot water was heating up and fixed our door. We still couldn’t open it from the outside but at least it was working again! We had pancakes for breakfast and then soaked our shirts before heading to the Upper Gorge Trail which eventually lead back to the waterfalls. We went for a swim relaxed a bit and swam right before we left. We hiked up a quick lookout on the way back to camp before making Carbonara for lunch in the shade. For the rest of the afternoon we chilled out reading books in the shade until Chris came over and said he and Colette were about to go for a swim and we should join them. We all headed over and Janice and I shared a floatie that they borrowed us. We chatted with them for a while and had some good laughs. We then headed back for a shower before making dinner- curry again. We cleaned up and read again before it was lights out.
Wednesday morning we woke up had some oatmeal and packed away everything. We said goodbye to Chris and Colette and hit the road. Another couple we had talked to was about to leave and ended up passing us a few minutes down the road. This was perfect because we soon came to our first river crossing. The man was super helpful and told us to put the van in 1st and drive at a constant speed. He had walked through it and said it would be fine so we followed and made it through. On the other side the van struggled a bit and gave off some smoke but it soon cleared and off we went. We were following the same car and saw they had stopped at the next river crossing. This one was paved with water running over it a little more than a foot deep but in the middle where the current was it was a lot deeper. The man was going first and he drove towards the side of the current and fishtailed a bit passing it but made it out. He recommended us not to go and we felt the same. We turned around and after a while met Chris and Colette. We gave them the run down said good luck and headed back towards Adel’s Grove. We fueled up in Gregory Downs and headed in some more dirt roads. I drove after a while and an hour or two later about 20 minutes after we were on the sealed road we pulled over because our back door sounded like it had popped open- it wasn’t opening or closing same as our side door again. We couldn’t do much and continued on. Five minutes later we saw tire bits flying. We pulled over and looked at the remains of our back tire. We needed to get to our spare tire under the car and had to crawl through the front to get the tools. Our bolt to release our tire was right inside our back door which we couldn’t open. One car passed us without stopping about 5 minutes after we had pulled over. A few more minutes went by before two guys- father and son pulled over. They helped us get the car jacked up and then Janice went to the back to start loosening the bolt to drop the spare. It was hotter than Hades in there and she and I switched- meanwhile we were able to open the back door and things started moving faster. The tire got on and we rigged our back door with a ratchet to keep it closed. Poor Jellybean- Janice’s nickname for the beast was falling apart. The guys told us in Mt Isla there was a tire shop so that was our next stop. We made it and were able to get the back tires replaced right away. Janice and I were both starving as it was past 4 and we hadn’t had lunch yet. We went to The Coffee Club and both ordered the bacon burgers which were soo good! After we went to Kmart and Coles to get some fresh fruit and pick up a few odds and ends. It was dark by the time we came out and we went in search of a place to park. We checked out a few parks but they looked a bit sketch so we parked in Mc Donald’s for the night. It was definitely louder than any night we had thus far and sleep didn’t come as easy. I woke up around 1:30am to hear an intoxicated man try to walk through the drive thru and attempt to order a hamburger but couldn’t quite make the word out in his state. Pink Panther all over again – “ I wooood like to buy a ahmabugah”. He walked around for a while talking nonsense and I made it back to sleep.
Thursday morning we woke up and had tea in Maccas before checking out the pool which wasn’t open until Saturday so we hit the road. We ended up driving over 10&1/2 hours and covered almost 900kms. We stopped at a small campground for $5 showers where they had two camels and a few other random animals. We saw donkeys just up the road from them as well. We ended the night just past Elliot at a rest stop with about 10 other vehicles/campers. Lentil stew was on the menu as our carrots had spoiled and our squash was about to. We ate dinner and then tried to fall asleep with all the flies on our hottest night yet. I ended up putting in earplugs as the road trains sounded like planes taking off as they passed us.
Friday morning we woke to the sunrise at 6:30 and had breakfast before hitting the road. We decided Jellybean- our van- was like an overweight person chugging along but not able to withstand the dirt roads we had taken her on. All the 4WD trucks were like young fit men and the road trains were a combo of The Rock and Bolt – lots of time on our hands. Our first stop was Bitter Springs in Mataranka. It was a gorgeous natural hot springs and enough current to make it a lazy river. I had found a pool noodle in the bin in Gregory Town so we put it to good use. The water was so clear and turquoise at the floor of the river. We floated down a few times and had lunch before heading to the thermal pools on the other side of town.
Elsey National Park was beautiful: a narrow walkway lead through a forest of palm trees to a large thermal pool at perfect temp. This one was cemented in but still had running water through it along with rocks and natural life. On our way down we passed a lady about 50 years old who gave us a heads up that there were some hunks down there and we should pick up the pace. The “hunks” were a group of guys from London she was teasing later for not talking to us. We had a pretty good laugh. We swam for a while before having an ice cream break and heading out again. It got a bit crowded so we headed to the showers, grabbed and other ice cream, and hit the road. We made it into Kathrine and went to a park to make dinner. There were a bunch of Aboriginals hanging around and two came to talk to us as we were making dinner. After we cleaned up we headed back to town and spent the very hot night at Maccas.
Saturday morning we headed to the Katherine Gorge – Nitmiluk National Park. We booked an 11am ferry ride to the Southern Rockhole and started our hike in the heat of the day. We walked up and down rocky gorges to two lookouts and through a butterfly gorge before making it to the only swimming spot other than the pool. That hike was exhausting – it was soo hot and hardly any shade. We met a man in the butterfly gorge leaving the swimming spot and there were two guys and a girl down already- that was all we saw for the couple hours we were there. We swam for a while up the gorge and found a rock to dive off of. I later shared with Janice that it reminded me of The Shallows – a movie where a surfer gets stranded on a rock with sharks circling– only for us it was thankfully imaginary crocs. We came back and had lunch before swimming again and hiking some of the rock up the gorge. When we returned to our site two crows had went through our things and ate some of our food. We saved most of it and cleaned up before starting our hike back towards camp- catching the sunset at a lookout on the way back. We had hiked about 11.6 kms at two of the hottest parts of the day and were wrecked. We made a quick dinner, went for a swim in the pool, showered, and passed out.
Sunday morning we woke up and made pancakes for breakfast. We spent the whole morning by the pool relaxing and then headed to an Aboriginal art gallery in town. We looked at all the art and talked to the owner before heading on to check out the hot springs. These we were the least impressed by as there were signs that salties and freshies were common to the area. It seemed dirtier and the vibe was a bit off so we decided against it. We then went to Maccas and looked up jobs we could potentially pick up in Darwin. We found a couple and then drove to a rest stop for dinner. After dinner it was almost getting dark and soo warm with no breeze so we decided to go to the nearest town for showers or at least a breeze. We have been warned a lot about driving at night bc of the Roos and cows so we drove slow and were fine. We found a pull off across from a gas station and parked for the night.
Monday morning we headed to Litchfield National Park. The park is known for lots of swimming holes and waterfalls a short distance from the parking lots. We first went to Florence Falls which was beautiful! The coldest water yet and we loved it. Then we went to Bluey Rockholes and sat in different pools of water with mini waterfalls. We also checked out a pull off for Termite Mounds which are everywhere up here and are generally taller than a person. We went to Wangi Falls which was my favourite. Two waterfalls fell into a large swimming hole that had deep areas and shallow areas. We swam around a while before heading back to Bluey again. A few minutes after we arrived a van full of guys and a few girls came down who livened things up. There was a lot of jumping off rocks into the pools and we met a bunch of them – even a few from Sydney. We left at about the same time and headed to Berry Springs.
Berry Springs was natural again and was along a river. The lower pool had a powerful waterfall we enjoyed before we went to the main swimming hole. We swam for a little before noticing a swing some guys were jumping with. Janice and I each tried it before getting showers and heading to Darwin. We went to Monsoons for dinner and had pizza and a burger- so good! We camped at the park for the night.
Tuesday morning we did a few errands- tried to fix the back door which now closes all the way but we can’t open it. Then I got a trim and Janice and I picked up brunch in the mall. We headed to the waterfront to the city’s wave pool and entered for $7. We spent a few hours there before hearing a band start up in the park near us. We bought some ice cream and went to enjoy. The band was a US Naval band and they were sooo good! We listened to them until their last song and then went for a swim at the beach. We came back to the wave pool for a bit then checked out the beach once more before going off to catch the sunset. It was beautiful and we then headed to a hostel for the night. We needed laundry done and they offered it for free and AC as well. We put some loads on and then I made some soup as I had missed the free pizza night. I met a pretty unique guy as I was hearing my soup up.
He was in the kitchen cooking a steak with a massive knife. He carried it on his hip and as we ate dinner he told me some of his story. He originally is from England and was living in Surfers in Australia as a personal trainer when his niece passed away at 25 from Lukemia after fighting it for a year. He also had some nephews or cousins with Autism. He decided to walk around Australia raising money for Lukemia and Autism. He has already made it to Darwin from Surfers and plans on hugging the coast all the way around. He has a Facebook page called Hawk’s Big Walk and is planning on writing a book at the end. He carries about 10 days worth of food – tins for emergencies and kills his own food on the way- eating snake-from using his whip to behead them, Roos, and any other thing that moves except croc. If he is low on water he puts a sign on his 50 kilo pack and generally someone passing by helps him out. He started his trip 3 months without any working out to compare to someone with cancer and compared his pack to the burden of cancer patients carry.
He recently made a post saying that he had gotten lost hiking through sand dunes in the Kimberley’s (I think) and crawled 9ks until someone came upon him and helped him. His hike is on hold for the time being until his health is better. This section of his hike – the Kimberley’s – is a tough section of WA which supposedly put Bear Grylls off of hiking around Australia.
We talked for a while longer until our laundry finished and we packed up our things for our next section of our trip into Kakadu National Park. We were in a room with 4 other guys and I got the privilege of sleeping above the guy that snored so I didn’t get much sleep.
Wednesday morning we packed up and headed to meet Tim- one of the friends Janice had met earlier on her travels. We fit everything into his 4wd and picked up some groceries before heading to Kakadu. We first stopped at the Gunlom waterhole and went for a hesitant swim as there were saltie and Freshie croc warnings all over. There was a couple sunbathing on the beach and no one was in the water so we went in a line across as Hawk from the hostel had given us some tips. He said whenever crossing a river you don’t want to be the third. The first person crossing will make them curious, the second will verify something is definitely there, and the third is a goner. We just stood for a bit and then swam to the waterfall all in a line saying “I don’t want to be the third!!”. After a good swim and having a few more people come out we hiked up to the top of the waterfall. At the top there are 3 different pools to swim in- one being the infinity pool. It was a perfect day for it- sunny with enough clouds to make some awesome reflections. We were the only ones there and explored the rocks and pools before heading back down and driving to our campsite. We set up and had dinner- Janice and I slept in the tent on top of the car and Tim in his swag. There were wild donkeys nearby we heard throughout the night and these birds who sounded like someone screaming. Then in the morning a few crows visited us- pecking at the remnants of our burned rice.
Thursday morning we had breakfast, packed up the truck, and went exploring. We checked out some more falls at the Maguk Plunge Pool and Tim climbed up the rock face to the pools above. On the way to our campsite we stopped at a billabong before checking in to the campground. We made lunch and went for a good cool swim. At 5 we headed to the Crocodile Hotel to listen to a ranger give a talk about crocs. His name was Christian and he was very interesting. We learned many of the places we have swam in had crocs- freshies but still. He told us about the biggest crocs caught – over 8 meters long and that crocs can turn off a chamber in their heart if they are hurt or exhausted and live for a long time in one place but snap out of it in a second. We learned how rangers catch a croc, how awesome a crocs memory is, and how far they can travel. After the talk we had a steak dinner and went in the pool. We then played pool with a couple of guys before the pool area closed and it was time for some sleep.
Friday morning we had breakfast and went on a ranger walk/talk also led by Christian about artifacts, the aboriginal culture, and art. It was through the Nourlangie Region. We walked up to the Gunwarddehwardde Lookout and learned that most boomerangs were not built to come back to you but made with one side shorter. They were made as a weapon and the sides super sharp to hit predators and break bones. The boomerangs commonly seen were used to scare birds into nets- keeping them low to the water and then being caught in nets. They were supposed to resemble falcons that hover and swoop down. After the walk we went back to camp for a swim and lunch before heading out to a river crossing known for having crocs (Cahills Crossing – Ubirr). We parked and saw about 5 in the water that wanted us to see them. It was raining and we crossed the river twice just for fun before heading back and having dinner. We played some Rook after and had a swim and a game of pool before bed.
Saturday we had a relaxing morning in the pool before heading back to Cahills Crossing to check out the crocs. It was now high tide and they were swarming. 3 guys in a boat were fishing with them swimming around. Probably 20 crocs were visible in the water and more below the surface. A lot of trucks were going through the river crossing and the crocs were crossing the road as well. They were catching fish and fighting a bit if one got too close. It was interesting to watch from a distance. A ranger was there as well- maybe always was at high tide. He said they had to drag about 5 cars out of the river last year- probably the worst place to slide off a river crossing- straight into the crocs. After a bit we continued on to Ubirr to check out some more Aboriginal art rock sites. There was an awesome lookout over the Nadab floodplain. We headed back to the car and started the drive back to Darwin.
Aussie Words/Sayings
Brumbies -mustangs/wild horse
Eskie-cooler
To have a dingos breakfast is to have a drink of water and a look around.
Do you know why crocs circle around you in the water? To scare the sh*t out of you so you taste better. (Two of Chris’s jokes)
Bomb- cannonball
No dramas-no worries
Birds-girls
Cruising-chilling
Devo-devastated
Tip-dump
Servo-gas station
Chook – chicken
Whinge – complain
the nomadic nanny 