Crossing Australia's Prehistoric Sea

From Daly Waters Friday morning we headed further south. Just before Tenant Creek, in the "town" of "Threeways" we turned east on the Barkly Highway/National Route 66 to head across the Barkly Tablelands. The terrain here, you might guess, was flat flat flat, golden-green grasslands as far as the eye can see. Cattle are about the only sights, sometimes in great numbers, along with the enormous brown Wedge-tailed Eagles feeding on roadkill roos and wallabies.

We made it across the Northern Territory and back into Queensland, and had to say goodbye to the 130 kph speed limits. Just across the border we stopped for the night in Camooweal, a tiny town on the Georgina River. According to one of our guidebooks, and corroborated by signage, there is a free camping area off the highway, down by the river. There are rubbish bins but no other services, and campsites are in a gravelly area with scrubby brush, not very tent-friendly. Because of that and the wind, we opt to sleep in the back of the car, and wrap up our suitcases and gear in the tarp outside.

We had enough daylight left to do a little exploring, but the river under the highway overpass didn't provide much in the way of sights other than a few water birds. There were just a couple of caravans near us, but we didn't see any people come out of them. We turned our attention to making dinner on the wood-burning camp stove. The windy conditions gave Shawn a chance to experiment with thermal mass windbreaks (a pile of rocks.) We had toasted turkish bread cheese and sausage sandwiches before crawling into our cozy bed.

I wasn't as crabby as I look here

Shawn's rock oven

 In the morning, we learned something new about the '96 Camry: if the doors are locked, you must unlock them with the key fob thingy even if you are inside the car, or the alarm will go off. Next time we will leave the keys in an easily accessible place!  So much for getting out to pee discreetly.

After tea and cereal we get back on the road heading east. Mount Isa is within 200 km, so a good place to take a break. Conveniently, the Riversleigh Fossil Center, the one sight in town we were most interested in, is adjacent to the Visitor Center. For a tiny center in a small outback town, the fossil and diorama displays are well done and interesting. The Riversleigh fossil fields, in the area where the Gulf of Carpenteria once spread far inland, are some of the richest fossil deposits in the world, with unusual marine fossils.

We pushed onward, to spend Saturday night in a caravan park in Richmond. We camped on the grass, enjoyed a nice kitchen and showers, and got a bag of free mandarins. We shared the kitchen area with a nice couple for a while at dinner. I made what I now call "chickpea puttanesca", which is chickpeas, tomatoes, tuna and olives, and surprisingly tasty. In the morning we visit another fossil center, Kronosaurus Korner, which features Kronosaurus queenslandicus, and the best preserved marine vertebrate fossil in Australia, of a short-necked pliosaur. The specimens were discovered by a local cattle station owner, as many were in this area. The fossil center is impressive, and we spent an enjoyable morning learning here.

I find the pattern of the flipper bones interesting

Still immature enough to find fossil poo funny

Shawn and the Richmond Pliosaur

After the museum, we drive east and make it as far as the coastal town of Townsville. Shawn is looking forward to some diving on the reef, so we plan to stay a few days. Our campsite at the Walkabout Palms is nice, right next to the kitchen and on grass. We set up the big tent, a welcome change from sleeping int he car. There is a Woolworth's at a shopping center nearby, so we pick up groceries, and talk with a friendly guy, Gordon, while making our Kanga Bangas for dinner.

Home for a couple days

Kangaroo sausages!

In the morning we will head into Townsville and find out about the possibilities for reef trips!

To the Top, then Back Down

The drive up from Katherine to Darwin was long and hot. More termite mounds and road trains, as well as lots of signs for WWII historical sites. By the time arrived in the city of Darwin-- and it is a city, unlike the little towns we'd been visiting since Port Augusta-- we were both a little hot and cranky.

Big termite mound

We figured out how to pay for parking near enough to the visitor center, though it wasn't very intuitive. The attractions there seemed to be mostly centered around War (the area played a role in WWII) and Fishing. These are not particular interests of ours, and we were also disinclined to spend money on a hotel and dinner out at this point in the trip. Which seemed to be the only way to stay in Darwin proper. We just weren't getting a great vibe in the city, so we decided to drive back out to the outskirts where there were some caravan parks, and then head back south in the morning.

We managed to find the Free Spirit Holiday Park, which thankfully had a small but pretty dark-blue-tiled saltwater pool. Despite my cruddy mood, we had a blast playing in the water, doing handstands and generally goofing off. We laughed ourselves silly, had showers and a decent night of sleep.


Thursday morning we packed up and headed back south on the A87. Oliver had recommended Kakadu National Park, which is just south and east of Darwin, but it was just too hot (for me) to contemplate more hiking. There are not many towns on this road, so planning how far to go before dark is somewhat simplified. We decided to stop in a tiny town called Daly Waters, which is a ways south of Katherine. I had picked up brochures on both camping options, and we were able to find our first choice, the Daly Waters Historic Pub, fairly easily. 


There is not much to "town"-- it's really literally in the middle of nowhere. Campground bookings were handled in the bar. We were asked if we also wanted to book for dinner-- they had two seatings for a steak and/or barramundi grill dinner. Since there were no other real options, and supplies were low, we decided to partake. We paid up front and had about an hour and a half until dinner.


The camping area was a little reminiscent of the cattle station at Curtin Springs (near Uluru) but a bit nicer. We set up our tent near a couple of trees, on one end of the tent area. As usual, there were few other tent campers. The info we had said there was a pool, so we changed and went off in search of it. We had to walk through the bar area to get there-- it was attached to the bar, and you could order drinks there. We were the only ones to swim, though a couple of people we passed seemed to think it was a good idea. The pool wasn't the prettiest one we'd seen but we enjoyed it.

cool tables

The real treat though was dinner. There was a large dining room, decorated with shoes and hats and clothing and car licence plates and other random detrius. The tables were made from palettes and wheel rims and the place had a kind of old west feel. Plus there was Coopers Pale and a decent cider on tap (for Shawn) so we were content. The place filled up, which amazed us since it was a Thursday night in the middle of nowhere! There were mostly tourists, older people, but some locals as well. Our name was called from the grill area when our "beef and reef" was ready, and we then got to go over to a buffet table for sides, bread, etc. Every single thing looked delicious, and was. 

The atmosphere was festive when the first entertainment act, an outback cowboy singer, came on. He was good and we finished our dinner and stayed for quite a while and listened. We gave up our table as people started coming in for the second seating, and watched the show from the side for a while. We ended up talking with a young couple from Germany who had also just gotten married, and left their jobs for an extended trip around Australia. Like us, but in their 20's instead of their 40's. (We found out later that they were camped near us, also travelling in a station wagon. Funny.)


It was a very enjoyable evening, and a pleasant surprise. I laughed when I saw a sign on the wall: "The Daly Waters Pub: The only Pub where the bouncers throw you back in!"

Enjoyed the show

Gorgeous Gorges

It was a long, hot drive from Devil's Marbles up the A87 to Katherine on Monday. More road trains and termite mounds, though the mounds changed in color from the red of the Red Center, to a more grayish tan putty color. Some of them were just huge, they looked like giant sand castles. It was hard to get a decent pic flying by in the car at 130 kph.

We pulled into Katherine and followed the yellow and blue "i" signs, as had become the norm. The information centers were usually quite informative! We found some brochures, and decided on the Shady Lane Tourist Park, mostly because it had a pool. It was also on the way to Katherine Gorge/Nititmiluk National Park, where we planned to hike on Tuesday. Across the street from the information center was a shopping center complete with a Woolworth's (one of the main grocery store chains in Australia) so we got stocked with food and supplies and headed to the campground.

Shawn read some about the activities possible on the Katherine River and was very excited about a possible 2-day canoe trip where we could see all of the gorges. (There are about 8 of them I think.) The more I thought about this possibility, the more apprehensive I became. It just did not sound like the best idea for my first ever canoe trip.

The caravan park was lovely, and a little different from the ones we had recently stayed at in the red center. Sites were small and absolutely crammed with tropical plants. The amenities, including laundry, were the cleanest and nicest we'd ever seen. It was hot and we'd been driving a long time, so the most important amenity to us at the moment was the pool! We were the only ones in it, and it was so nice. After cooling off, we cooked a dinner of sausages and lentils with couscous, and did laundry. We slept like babies, had a nice breakfast of eggs and sausage. Shawn had taken a lovely hot shower before bed, and I was so looking forward to mine in the morning.  Imagine my disappointment when I could not get the water temp even to lukewarm in the morning-- one of the drawbacks of solar showers? Ugh.

Once we got to the park, we learned that there would be no canoeing on the Katherine River for another couple of weeks. It seems they like to give the crocodiles their space...sounds like a good idea to me!

We parked near the Visitor Center, and blocked the sun as best we could using my sarong and one of the sleeping pads, in order to keep the car from cooking too much while we were out. There were many different hikes through a whole bunch of gorges. We chose one that could be accessed from where we were; it would be about 8km including return. The track led us on an increasingly steep climb through rocks and tropical vegetation, until we were standing at the top of the cliffs above the first gorge. It was a stunning and amazing view after a challenging climb in the heat. We drank a lot of water, and filled our bottles at every water stop we found.

rocks and palms on the way up

Shawn always has to go closer to the edge than I like to.

We had a a granola bar and dried apricots while enjoying the view from the top. There were two paths down; one led to the river bank, and the other brought us back to the path we came in on. We decided to do both of them. The path to the river was a steep rocky descent, with climbing chains at several points. The trail was a little hard to follow sometimes, but it led to some beautiful sights. There was a sheltered waterfall before the riverbank, where swimming was safe. Shawn took a dip, while I stayed on the rocks and watched the fish check out my toes in the water.

It's a longer way down than it looks here

This is what passes for a "trail" here

Down by the river: no crocs visible, but I'm not about to stick my toes in!

The trail wound back around to the main trail that had brought us in to the gorge. It was very hot on the return, and I had to move quickly to try to get out of the sun. There were only tiny bits of shade on the path now, unlike when we came up. By the time we got back to the car I was well and truly cooked.

We drove on over to the park campground, which was very nice. There was a camp kitchen and older bathroom/shower complex, and a very nice pool. We took advantage of this as soon as the tent was up. There was a large group of young and rowdy teenagers setting up camp in one of the areas set aside for large group camping. They were chaperoned, but quite boisterous. They swarmed on the pool area just as we were getting out. Excellent timing!

In addition to some near-feral kids, there were other residents of the campground including an enormous colony of fruit bats, or "flying foxes." They squawked and squabbled and were quite a presence up in the trees near the shower building. The area smelled almost skunky or musky, and their berry-stained poop was obvious on the sidewalks in the area. They were fascinating to watch though.

See where the name "flying fox" comes from.

Kangaroo or wallaby?

Company for dinner

I had learned my lesson about solar showers, and did not wait until morning to take a shower...though it was hot enough I wouldn't have minded a cool one. We had a lovely dinner of finger foods, cheese, crackers, veggies, etc. and a nice bottle of white wine. Unfortunately, between the kids (who did quiet down at 10 pm), the girls camping nearby (who kept talking and drinking well into the small hours) and the bats who never shut up all night, I didn't get the best night of sleep. Good thing there was a kettle in the camp kitchen for a nice cuppa tea in the morning! Onward towards Darwin!

Tropic of Capricorn

A day later than planned, we left Alice Springs. It was the first place we'd stayed more than a day since leaving Purple Pear, and once again, we met and felt like we got to know some wonderful people.

The farther north we drove, the hotter it got. The AC in the old Camry did not work well, so we just had windows down. It was impossible to get out of the sun on the open desert highway. We crossed the Tropic of Capricorn soon after leaving Alice. There is a marker along the road indicating this.

Hard to get a good pic of the termite mounds

We drove and drove under the desert, now tropical, sun, passing road trains and termite mounds in the red desert under the blue blue sky. The next point of interest was Wycliffe Well, the self-proclaimed "UFO Capital of Australia." The "town" consists of a roadhouse and Holiday Park...with a hilarious UFO/Alien theme. We stopped for gas and a potty break, as pretty much everyone probably does, since there's not much in the way of services in either direction.

 A relatively short distance up the road is our destination for the night, Devil's Marbles. It's a collection of, guess what, more red rocks, strewn over several kilometers. There's a state park campground with rough camping for under $5 a night.

There are only a few other campers here when we arrive in late afternoon, but a steady stream pulls in after us. We picked a site that had a little grass on the gravel, parked, and headed out to explore among the rocks and goof around a bit. 

Balance

Resident dingo

Sisyphus impression

Between a rock and a hard place

Thomas and Claudia, imagine running into you here!

                          


We watched the camping area fill up as we climbed over the rocks. By the time we got back down to set up our tent, it was quite full. Thomas and Claudia were not staying the night, so we wished them safe travels.

The ground was quite hard and we were unable to drive in a single tent stake. It was pretty windy, so Shawn rigged up a way to tie down the tent rain fly using the car wheels and some string. It looked pretty good, but as it turned out, the wind just whipped the tent around all night. I found it impossible to sleep, so I got up and sat in the car. I couldn't put the seat back very far, and I think I slept a couple times for about 20 minutes each. Shawn joined me in the car after a couple hours.

Being awake more or less all night did afford us a chance to see the stars, in probably the brightest, horizon-to-horizon display I have ever seen. The stars in Australia had already been amazing; one can see the milky way on an unremarkable evening, but this was out in the middle of nowhere, no light pollution or even trees to interfere, and on a crystal clear night. (Despite the beautiful sights of the night, I was still pretty grumpy in the morning.) The rocks were beautiful in the morning sun, but we were too bleary-eyed to enjoy them much. Time to hit the road, northward!

Tying the tent down; at least it didn't blow away

View almost identical to the cover of our atlas/guidebook.

Permablitz and Olivier's Place

Saturday morning was showers, breakfast and breaking camp. We packed the car and makeshift cooler carefully, anticipating a couple of days of driving and rough camping ahead. (If a messy house drives you nuts, imagine living out of a car for a few weeks! It really needs to stay organized.) We visited a bit with Thomas and Claudia at breakfast-- they were also heading north to Darwin, but a bit behind our anticipated schedule. We kind of wished for more time to hang out with them-- he seemed like he could be a bit much, but she was utterly charming. Maybe I am just a Bavari-ophile? ;)

The place were Olivier is living was just up the road. He came down and let us into the locked gate, and we drove up to the house. The compound is actually a defunct tourist attraction, having once been a bird sanctuary and sculpture garden featuring the work of William Ricketts. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Ricketts ) The estate, called Pitchi Richi, that has definitely seen better days, is on Australia's register of historic places. Olivier is living there, though the house is barely what most people would consider 'livable.' He gives us a bit of a tour, and some history of the place, as well as talking some about his plans for developing some permaculture projects on the site.

House and artifacts

Ricketts sculptures all over, disintegrating

Sanctuary relics

Ringneck parrots, unaware it's not a bird sanctuary anymore

We headed over to the permablitz site, a compound that was actually just next door, and over the fence from our site at G'Day Mate. It is the home of Steve Patman, a smiling bear of a man, and his petite partner, Trish. Their backyard was an amazing amalgamation of garden beds and fish ponds, as well as various potted greenery, sculptures and other aesthetic or useful objects. They had been away for 5 months, and had returned to a wildly overgrown yard two weeks previously. Who would have guessed that that would be the result, in the middle of the desert.

Their system involved Aquaponics, where the water from the fish ponds was circulated through the garden beds, which feeds the plants on the fish waste and cleans and aerates the water, which then returns to the fish. They had raised beds in bathtubs filled with gravel, and grew a big variety of things. Our first task was to weed one of the raised beds that had been clogged with vines and creeping cover. We removed the cover carefully, as it would be used elsewhere as much as possible. Olivier and I worked on one end of the bed, while Shawn took on the task of disentangling, cleaning up and trellising the other half of the bed that had become an enormous mass of tomato vines.

Olivier and the weeds

Ponds along the back veranda

Cleaned up front of the bed, tomato jungle behind

pots and things

Once the weeds were removed, I planted more tomatoes and peppers in the newly open space. I really liked working in the gravel medium, and in the raised beds. We showed up earlier than most, but people trickled in as the day went on. The whole backyard garden had a very nice vibe. I thinned some calendula in another bed, helped Shawn with the tomato jungle, and raked the paths.  Steve brought out cappuccino, expertly prepared to everyone's individual specifications. After WWOOFing for our meals for so many weeks, it was fun to be treated so well for such easy work. I almost felt a little guilty.


We were having such an enjoyable time, we decided to stay another night in Alice, and head north in the morning, though we didn't exactly know where we would be spending the night. Steve and Trish live the Do-it-yourself ethic; in addition to growing much of their own food (fruit, veggies and fish), they are both massage therapists. Until recently, they also ran their own shop, Alice Bodyworks, featuring their own homemade soaps. They closed the shop in order to take the long holiday that had left the garden in need of attention,but were planning to set up a booth at markets in the area. To that end, Steve fired up his latest toy, a commercial deep fryer, and spiral potato slicer, to make a late lunch for the crew. Shawn and I ended up taking over potato production for quite a spell in the afternoon. They were tasty and fun.

Spiral taters waiting for the fryer

The place was several acres, and consisted of various outbuildings and areas. There were chickens, a food forest featuring citrus and olives, and several caravans scattered around. There was a nice area for a fire, and a big metal wood fired pizza oven. It was to be pizzas and a fire for dinner. The conversation was lively, and the pizzas were delicious. We ended up staying upstairs at Olivier's place, setting up our big double sleeping bag on a nice Persian rug in a big empty room.

After a good night's sleep and tea in the morning made in Ollie's makeshift kitchen, we again hit the road, heading north, warm with the glow of friendships, new and newer.

West of Alice

Thursday morning, after a nice breakfast (and pre-cooking some of the more perishable food we had got when we thought we were staying put for a couple of days), we packed up and headed out to the West McDonnell Range, west of Alice Springs. (There is also an East McDonnell Range, logically located east of Alice. There is a natural "gap" in the mountains, right on the edge of town.)

Our first destination is the Standley Chasm, located on private property. There is a relatively short hike into the actual chasm, with several side trails leading up into the rocks and cliffs that make up the more 'gentle' slopes of the canyon sides before the actual cliff faces. It's recommended to arrive at the chasm between 12:15 and 12:30, in order to see it when the sun comes in. We are there a bit earlier than that,but it is still gorgeous.

Shawn takes the hard way

End of the Chasm

 We took one of the side trails on our way out of the chasm. It was gorgeous, but steep going. I was struggling a bit with the precariousness of the rocky climb, so I took a break while Shawn went up a bit higher on his own.

I don't need to go up any higher, thanks.

Love these gum trees

When we returned to the carpark, we pulled a few things out of the cooler and set up our table and chairs in the shade for a little lunch. We had avocado and Vegemite (well, I did) on rye crackers, and some of the best yogurt I have ever had in my life.

Better than ice cream

Helpful reminder

Then we hit the road west again, to do more hiking at Orniston Gorge, and and possibly camp there for the night. We arrived at the "rough" camping area around 3 pm, and it was not so rough as the guide book had led us to believe. There were flush toilets and cooking burners and a kiosk with ice cream and resident managers even. We decided to hike the gorge before setting up camp, so we'd have enough daylight to make it back. 


There was a somewhat ominous-sounding sign posted at the trailhead, warning that it "may" be necessary to "SWIM" or "scramble over steep rocks" towards the end of the trail. Though I didn't like the sound of "swim" at ALL, I fixated on "may" and off we went. This trail had some steep moments, especially along the first half. I loved the parts with railings, much more than the parts without.

Climbing and more climbing

Named the "Ghost Gum" walk for these beautiful trees

 The first half of the walk is mostly climbing. Near the highest point is a lookout deck, suspended out over the edge into the gorge. The trail then descends down into the bottom, and the second half is a lot of bouldering along the riverbed/bank. We really enjoyed this hike, and it wasn't until the very end, and after the sun had gone behind the mountains, that we came across a point where we realized that we would either have to scramble over the side of a cliff, or get wet. It wasn't clear where other hikers had crossed, but there did seem to be a point in the river where a line of rocks was visible in the murky water. I had a bit of anxiety come out at this point, which Shawn did his best to calm. He went first, and used his trekking poles on either side of the narrow and, it turns out, slippery rock crossing. I took off my shoes and he passed the poles over to me. I made it across without falling, and the water wasn't even over my knees. Not sure what I was so anxious about!

Lookout

View from above

Bouldering! 

Exciting geology (or so I am told)

 We got back to the camping area and ran into one of the resident managers. She was very nice and we talked with her quite a while. She and her husband were retired were from Victoria. They had been vacationing in the north in the winter for years, before deciding to work winters taking care of the park.

Though the sites were non-powered, there were a fair number of caravans and camper vans. As usual we were the rare tent. I cooked dinner with leftover chicken sausages, veggies and garbanzo beans, after being helped to light the burner by a scruffy-looking but very kind fellow who was also cooking. He gave us some matches, which was one thing we did not have. (Shawn had a very cool flint, but it wasn't the best for lighting these types of burners.) We had a lovely evening, the camp was lively but not loud. At one point a dingo trotted through the middle, and it looked to me like he was trying to blend in as a dog. He noticed that the back hatch of the car was open, and the way he eyeballed it made me get up and close it. He skittered a few feet away when I stepped towards him, but otherwise didn't seem too afraid, or too aggressive. It was too dark to get a decent picture though.

After my anxiety and then relief during the gorge hike, we decided to do it again in the morning, only start at the end and go the opposite way. So after breakfast we broke camp and headed back to the trail. We climbed the cliff this time instead of crossing the water. It didn't look nearly as frightening in the morning light, but it was still a bit hairy.

Shawn goes first

Ghost Gum in morning sunlight

Lookout again

Hi, my name is Shawn and I like rocks.

The rest of the hike was wonderful, and I felt much calmer about the steep trails. It was nice to go somewhere that was somewhat familiar, even though the different lighting and direction did change the look of things more than I expected. 


After our hike we headed back towards Alice Springs. We spent the afternoon at the Alice Springs Desert Park, which was pretty and interesting. They had the different types of desert biology, with recorded guide discussions of the various points. The place included animals as well, some were ones that were rare or would only be seen at night. The nocturnal house was actually pretty dark, so some of the critters were pretty hard to see, but it was cool. A highlight was the afternoon bird show. There was an outdoor amphitheater, and a bird guy put some trained desert birds through an amazing performance. The show included an owl, a falcon and a kite, and a couple of hilarious galahs. 

Galahs!

Look at those eyes!

 After the desert park, we headed back to the G'Day Mate Tourist Park, and got a site near where we had camped before. We decided to go back to Annie's for dinner, and managed to find the place ourselves. Shawn called Oliver and he met us there after work, and we had another great evening eating drinking and talking. Oliver shared stories form when he had raised a pair of baby fruit bats, from a wildlife rehab. The way he described their behavior was hilarious. We made plans to meet the following morning at his place, which was near the caravan park as well as being next door to the site of the Permablitz. Our plan was to do some gardening in the morning and head north in the afternoon.