Katherine to Mt Isa

Katherine -  Mt Isa (9^th – 22^nd August)

Now to Mt Isa

Leaving Katherine took us a long time as we stopped at a market and remembered we hadn’t done the required dump. We stopped at the Highway Inn at Daly Waters before heading along the Carpentaria Highway. This proved to be quite narrow in places and we had to get right off the bitumen to allow the LONG Road Trains (FOUR trailers) to get past us. For those that haven’t experienced a road train, they are massively long trucks – mostly with three, but occasionally (usually fuel trucks) four trailers. When they are on the move, they don’t stop, and they can’t veer to the side because the load would get a sway up that would prove disastrous for all. Mid afternoon we decided to pull over into a wayside stop for the night. There were table & chairs, a fireplace and a watertank. When we arrived there were lots of finches and honeyeaters feeding from a container someone had left underneath the tap – great to watch. 

Goanna Creek Stop

Carpentaria Highway

Another couple pulled in not long after we set up and when we sat around the fire that night we were delighted to hear that we had done the right thing when we decided not to drive through the Reynolds River when we did the 4x4 drive in Litchfield. They had tried to cross it, got bogged, and spent an hour sitting in the water waiting for someone to help them out – the inside of their vehicle is now quite clean!

We continued on through Cape Crawford (nowhere near the coast) and on to Borroloola where we spent two nights. On the way to Borroloola we stopped at Caranbirini Conservation Area - another Lost City. We spent an hour or so wandering around the large rock formations.

Lost City formation

Lost City

Passageway through part of the Lost City

In Borroloola we spent some time in the Old Police Station (Museum) and found some great spots for camping down by the river (although there was too much sand on the track for us to take our van down there.

We also drove out to the coast (Bing Bong – yes that’s it’s name) to look at the loading docks for the mines in the area  - the tide was out, so we took a walk around the area (with Sonja carefully dipping her toe in the Gulf waters and David keeping an eye out for crocs)! 

Sonja dipping in the Gulf of Carpentaria at Bing Bong

We drove to King Ash Bay (27km dirt road) where the Borroloola Fishing Club has an extensive setup. There were lots of sites, both powered and unpowered, and lots of vans there. We had lunch here and spent some time checking out sites, including driving out to Batten Point where there were quite a few vans (this is the free camp area). If we were really keen fisher-folk, this would be a great spot to be, although when we were there, all the good riverside places had been taken.

When we left Borroloola we headed down the Tablelands Highway. The initial part of this was quite poor condition. Most of this Highway is single lane, with the occasional double lane section where you hope to meet the road trains (or any other on-coming vehicle). The first section was lots of ups and downs as well as a few kinks and twists in the road camber, making it a drive to keep you alert at all times. 

Tablelands Highway - single lane - needing lots of concentration

There was also quite a large amount of wandering cattle along the road. Fortunately, we were in reasonable spots when we did meet on-coming vehicles (a number of 4-trailer road trains) where we were able to get off the road and let them pass.

Our first night was at a roadside stop at Brunette Downs. There was a water tank and a barbeque pit, but more importantly, a track that took us well back off the highway. We settled down and, after a lot of fiddling with the fridge (the ignition switch to allow us to use it on gas doesn’t want to work properly – will have to try to get it fixed in Mt Isa, or we might not be able to do any more free camping or risk losing the fridge contents – might also reach the stage where we can just use the Engel as a fridge) we sat back and watched a glorious sunset.

Sunset at Brunette Downs

Our second night took us onto the main highway (Barkly Highway) heading towards Queensland. We stopped about 60km from the border at Avon Downs (water tank, barbeque pits and toilets) so that we would only have a short drive on the following day. We have learned that you need to get in early if you want to have a reasonable place at roadside stops as they prove to be very popular (mostly because they’re free).

Lots to see along the Tablelands Highway

Sometimes a bit difficult picking the Highway

Our stop officially sanctioned!

Our early stop proved to be fortuitous as it meant we avoided the masses of red mud that was being created by the water trucks on the roadworks near the border. All the vehicles coming in from Queensland pulled in to our stop and belted/dug off the thick layers of mud that had built up on cars and vans. When we went through in the morning, they hadn’t started with the watering, so we just had the dust to put up with – not that you could tell where any new dust had been added to either our car or van!

We spent three very pleasant nights camped beside a billabong just west of Camooweal. A very pleasant outlook as we watched Jabirus, Brolgas, Herons, Cormorants, Egrets, many varieties of ducks and other water birds as well as Kites, Crows, Mudlarks, Miners and others in the water just in front of our van site. We also had to deal with the afternoon rush from the cattle that came down to feed and drink along the billabong. Our only problem was the coolish wind that blew for the weekend (at one stage causing Sonja to don a long-sleeved top and trousers for the first time since Alice Springs)!

Our view at Camooweal - a wealth of birdlife all day

Daily afternoon visitors

Sunset WITH CLOUDS (unseen in the north for a LONG time)

Whilst at Camooweal we visited the Drover’s Camp. A tourist attraction set up to give information about droving and its influence in the area. This was quite a good effort (run by volunteers) and is the hub of community activities (population 310). We had lunch at the sausage sizzle and listened to the country and western singer after we had the 90-minute tour.

Arrived in Mt Isa (after dodging roadworks and bushfires) and managed to find an ignition switch for the fridge and David put it in – now up and running correctly, so we can free camp without any worries!

Roadworks with all the dust

A little close to the fires which had a  20+km front

It was great to be in the camp park – showers – clean hair – clothes washing!

Darwin to Kakadu

Darwin – Katherine (30^th July – 10^th August)

Updated map - includes return to Douglas Hot Springs and Katherine

As we were driving out of the caravan park we received a call from Garry and Jill, who thought they might give us a quick visit as they were leaving Darwin – it was a quick visit…in the BP service station at the front of where we were staying!

We were heading east and they were heading to a friend’s block out west. They had mentioned Corroboree Billabong as a place to stay, so we decided to give it a go. A short trip off the Highway brought us to a quiet little spot that had houseboats and tinnies for rent and also billabong cruises. We decided we would spend a couple of nights here (they had flush toilets!) and managed to get ourselves booked onto a lunchtime cruise the following day.

Sunrise at Corroboree Billabong

Our site at Corroboree Billabong

Breakfast time!

The ‘camp’ area is a large paddock beside the billabong where vans can place themselves anywhere (which we did, with some shade and also allowing enough access to the sunlight for us to charge the batteries on the van and the car using the solar panels – made good use of the new leads we’d had made in Darwin).

David tried his hand at fishing – no good – just watching a couple of estuarine crocodiles making their way along the billabong! There was a lot of birdlife in the area. We watched a pair of Jabirus just by our campsite as well as Whistling Kites, Egrets, Crows and David watched a White-bellied Eagle catch a fish.

After a pleasant (cool) night we caught the cruise along the billabong. The guide was very informative and we discovered a few facts about crocodiles we hadn’t known, as well as watching a cormorant eat his catch, lots of egrets, Jacanas, eagles, Jabirus and LOTS of crocodiles – mostly estuarine (salties) and a couple of Johnson (freshwater). Even lunch was good!

Estuarine Crocodile that lived on the opposite side of the billabong to us.

Lots of water lilies on the billabong

Kakadu

Our first stop in Kakadu was to get our National Parks Pass ($25 each) and then on to Merl Campground for the night before heading up to Cahills Crossing (the border crossing into Arnhem Land) and Ubirr to look at the art sites and watch the sunset along with a large number of others.

Artwork at Ubirr

Sunset progress at Ubirr

On our way out of the Merl campground we were stopped by a couple of German backpackers who had managed to reverse their hired van up onto a post where it had locked itself into the spare wheel that was housed underneath at the back. Sonja flagged down some other campers who were just heading out of the camp and together we managed to remove them from the post – David had managed to dig most of the post out and used his jack and jacks from the other vehicles to lift it as high as they could and then the muscle power of several men managed to have them on their way. David’s hydraulic jack decided it had done too much work and duly gave up the ghost (or at least, most of the fluid in it) – replaced in Katherine.

We spent two nights at Muirella Park from which we visited Nourlangie for more aboriginal artwork sites and did a day trip into Jim Jim Falls. It was another 4x4 experience getting into Jim Jim with lots of sand and a few water features to drive through. The walking track into the falls was difficult towards the end as there was a lot of scrambling over large, uneven rocks. Once in there was time for a swim in the cool water – just what was needed in the heat of the day. We had lunch and then watched a water monitor as it devoured a fish it had caught before diving back into the water where it swam underneath the water for quite some distance looking for more fish (plenty there). By the time we made it back to the car our swimming gear was well and truly dry and we were ready for another swim (with nowhere safe to do it)! 

Walking track into Jim Jim Falls

Sonja taking a plunge in the pool at Jim Jim

Water Monitor (with fish it was devouring still in its throat)

When we were here in 1986 my Dad had also driven us into Twin Falls (about another 10km of 4x4 driving) where Sonja and I floated in on airbeds with Claire (4 at the time). Now you would end up as a crocodile meal. To get to the falls now you have to travel over by boat and walk along a paved path. We didn’t go in this time as one of the river crossings was deep enough to require a snorkel on the vehicle.

Douglas Hot Springs (again)!

Deciding to move on from Kakadu, we couldn’t resist a trip back to Douglas Hot Springs where we spent another four nights…wallowing in the warmth of the hot water. Whilst here we also took a drive along the 4x4 track into Butterfly Falls. It was closed the last time we were here due to flooding back at Easter. This was well worth the trip in. The walking track leads to a lookout that then has a steep climb down to a large plunge pool with a waterfall entering on the far side. Sonja decided she had done enough climbing and so stayed at the top whilst David went down for a look and a swim. This involved swimming across to where the water was coming in and climbing up to a number of smaller pools above.

Buterfly Gorge

We also took a drive down to area called The Arches at Douglas Daly ‘Resort’. This is an area that is obviously volcanic in origin with water flowing through and around large rock formations. As the woman at the resort told us that they were about to remove the danger, crocodiles, no swimming signs, we ventured in (but not very far) for a very pleasant dip in the water. Parts of this river are also heated by thermal action.

The Arches at Douglas-Daly

Sunrise reflections at Douglas Hot Springs

Kangaroo at water crossing on our way out of Douglas Hot Springs

After four days we decided we had better move on. So, after a couple of wallowing sessions (before and after packing up) we headed down to Edith Falls. This is another large pool that is used by locals from Katherine (as well as all the tourists passing by) as a pleasant, ‘refreshing’ (ie, cold, compared to Douglas Hot Springs) place for a swim. We had our lunch and swim before heading back to Katherine.

Edith Falls

This time we stayed three nights near the Katherine Hot Springs and made some use of them – in between laundry washing (with our washing machine), battery charging and general tidy-up before we start the trek south and then east.