St George region to Brisbane

We left Tom’s property near St George on Saturday afternoon and headed to Oakey to stay with Therese and Bruce on their property. Oakey had minus 5 degrees the night before we arrived, so that was one excuse for the kids sleeping in the house, while Claire and Jim braved the camper trailer. During the day, Jim did some tractor driving while the kids got haircuts in town. Ned also helped paint Bruce’s new cattle crate for his truck.

Elsie helped keep the others amused in the car by games such as this on the way to Oakey

Bruce had some new babies at Oakey

We left Oakey after 3 nights and wound our way through the beautiful scenery of the sunshine coast hinterland. After a late lunch in Maleny we set up camp for the last time at Coolum Beach - a great spot for our last night in the camper trailer. The next morning we travelled north for a swim at Noosa which was about 10 times more beautiful than we remembered – the National Park up to the water’s edge, a deep blue cloudless sky and crystal clear water. We’ll definitely be back. (The kids say it’s much better than Cable Beach.)

Coolum Beach - we thought this was good, but Noosa was better!

Then with sadness (for Jim at least) we headed home that afternoon to slip back into “normal” life. Even before we crossed the Gateway Bridge Jim was trying to plan timings and locations for our next trip.

 PS - Jim lost his mobile phone somewhere between Darwin and Brisbane, so cannot receive any phone messages. Please use email or Claire's phone to contact Jim (e.g. for job offers, large monetary gifs, etc)

Thank you all for reading this blog – I hope you enjoyed it. Earlier on, I wasn’t sure how many people, if any, were reading it - so thanks for the positive feedback along the way. It was a trip of a life time that we will never forget.

The actual route we finally took - 17 300 km

Some relevant stats from the trip:

Distance travelled: 17 300 km

Fuel (diesel) used: just over 2600 litres

Time away: one day short of 12 weeks

Favourite place (family consensus) : Uluru – it’s VERY big

Favourite campsite: Lots, but our spot on the grassy shores of Lake Kununurra was pretty special

Highest fuel price: $2.13/litre at Yulara (Uluru)

Highest camping fee per night: $76 at Coolum Beach

Average fuel consumption: About 15 litres per 100 km (The fully loaded trailer was just under 1.5 tonnes)

No. of times bogged: 1 (nearly 2)

No. of flat tyres: none (due to being totally prepared with 2 spares and a puncture repair kit)

FAREWELL FOR NOW!!

Darwin to St George region

We had originally planned to come home slowly from Darwin, but decided to cover the ground quickly so we could make it back in time for Jim’s cousin’s (Brian) birthday party on his cattle/sheep property near St George on 28 July. This meant we needed to do some big km each day, leaving before dawn, so we booked some cabins for sleeping along the way to save packing up the camper trailer. We did about 2200 km on the first 2 days, staying in Tennant Creek first and making it to Winton by 8:30 pm on Wednesday.

The Mt Isa mine is virtually right in town

Despite doing 1150 km that day we still stopped in McKinlay for a drink at the pub made famous by Crocodile Dundee

We spent Thursday morning looking around Winton and played the musical fence (which works like a guitar), saw Arno’s Wall (built from rocks and heaps of old machines, typewriters, spare parts, etc) and explored the amazing Gregory Hotel (where Waltzing Matilda was supposedly first performed in 1895).

Elsie at Winton's junkyard band, next to the musical fence

Part of Arno's Wall, Winton

Jim would secretly still love to drive one of these

  We then headed to the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History where we learnt lots about dinosaurs and saw heaps of dinosaur fossils which were all found locally.

Bronte next to the small white femur of an ox, compared to the larger fossilised dinosaur femur

Ned with a life-sized dinosaur

Volunteers painstakingly chip away the dirt from the fossil

 We then headed down to Longreach for a really quick look around before making it to Barcaldine for the night where we were treated to some bush poetry and jokes by the campfire in the caravan park.

We left before dawn again to travel via Mitchell and St George to arrive at Brian’s property west of St George after dark, ready for the big party on the next day.

Kerosine tin hut at Morven - people lived in these diring the depression

Some of the party crowd at Brian's machinery shed

Lots of camp ovens were used to cook the party food

Inside Brian's shearing shed

Jim trying to be useful in the cattle yards at Bernie's

The kids had never seen branding and marking before

We then spent a few nights on Ross and Cheryl’s cotton farm south of St George, followed by a night on Tom’s property near Weengallon. It was really good to stay on the various farms and catch up with the rellies, while the kids also loved the all the channels on their Foxtel.

Elsie and Claire with Ross who was fertilising the ground in preparation for cotton planting

Ken was drenching the sheep on Tom's property

Checking out the sheep on Tom's property

The kids loved holding the new lambs

Kakadu to Darwin

After Gunlom we headed further north into Kakadu to stay 2 nights near Yellow Water wetlands. Here we did a ranger led walk on the boardwalk and saw a salt water crocodile cruise past. Wild pigs are still a big problem and fishing is allowed in the national park! We also visited another great cultural centre and the visitors’ information centre. We bought a boomerang and had fun trying it out.

Yellow Water wetland

Saltie cruising past the boardwalk at Yellow Water

Later that morning he was resting about 5 metres from the boardwalk

Next we headed up to Nourlangie Rock for another ranger guided tour and then set up camp further north at Merl Campground near Ubir Rock.

 

Art at Nourlangie Rock

 We were lucky to catch an aboriginal weaving demonstration/activity where we all tried to split pandanus leaves and weave a bracelet. We also learned about leaf preparation including the dyeing of leaves.

Raw pandanus leaves (right), cooked and dyed leaves (centre), kids weaving bracelets (left)

 That afternoon we enjoyed more ranger talks at Ubirr Rock looking at more art sites and the sunset over the wetlands. That night the mozzies were the worst we had ever experienced in our lives - they even buzzed around your head and tried to bite while you were showering.

One of many views from Ubirr

Monnie at Ubirr

Another view from Ubirr

Sunset at Ubirr

 We packed up early the next morning for a 2 hour cultural cruise up the South Alligator River with some aboriginal guides. We saw lots of crocodiles, learnt about some plants and their uses, and visited Arnhem land (briefly).

More crocs, South Alligator River

View from Arnhem Land

Monnie learning about spears in Arnhem Land

Spear throwing demo

Two faced Rock in Arnhem Land (ET on left side and Robo Cop on right)

Ned, Bronte and Elsie with red ochre face paints on the South Alligator

 That afternoon we headed towards Darwin, stopping at the Mamukala Wetlands (in Kakadu), followed by the Window on the Wetlands education centre near Humpty Doo – this was really good/interactive and one of the few attraction all holiday that held the kids attention for more than 20 minutes.

Mamukala Wetlands (from the bird hide)

We hit Darwin that afternoon to stay with Garry and Helen. Apart from the pleasure of staying with good friends, it was great to stay at a real house again where you can step out of the shower without getting your feet muddy.

In Darwin, we mainly relaxed around the house where all the kids from both families played well together. We did a few trips to town to look around and have dinner at the wharf. Garry and Jim did some fishing in Darwin harbour from a boat - unfortunately nothing decent was caught.

White-bellied Sea Eagle hung around the fishing boat in Darwin Harbour

Fitzroy Crossing to Kakadu

 Note - there was another blog update only 24 hours ago. We'd hate you to miss it! Am currently catching up due to technical problems. Sitting here in Kakadu at night sweating and being eaten by heaps of mossies!! - Ed (=Jim)

The next day was fairly uneventful and we made it to Halls Creek where we slept at great free-stay in a creek bed at Caroline Ponds, just outside town.

The girls climbed China Wall, outside Halls Creek

Our creek bed campsite at Caroline Pool

By staying near Halls Creek we were able to get to the Bungle Bungles by lunch time the next day. The road in was pretty slow taking 1 hour 40 mins for 50 km. Before heading off for an afternoon walk, Claire did some washing and noticed that the clothes line was full of female undies an socks – no contributions at all from the male members of the family, who were obviously economising on changing any clothes to help to reduce the washing workload.

Echidna Chasm, at Purnululu National Park (Bungle Bungles)

The Bungle Bungles were pretty special and well worth the visit. We walked a gorge in the north and the domes in the south, including part of the big Picaninny Gorge walk.

Ned and Elsie

 

We also had some good campfires at the campsite, but because they were communal fires, we had trouble with noise going on into the night next to our tent. Unfortunately the u-beaut mudflaps that we got custom made in Broome were only just hanging on by this stage and proved to be a total waste of money (and time).

On Tuesday we left the Bungles and made it to Kununurra that night to stay by the lake again and stock up on supplies.  Kununurra Diversion Dam (on the Ord River) The next day we explored Lake Argyle, including the original Durack Homestead, the dam wall and Ord River.  The original Durack Homestead (The Durack's started the cattle industry in the Kimberleys) We had intended to leave that afternoon, but when we saw the “infinity pool” at the Caravan Park we had to have a swim and stay the night.  Lake Argyle and the infinity pool - The best swimming pool with views you have ever seen! Lake Argyle  Jim discovered the original “Northern Safari” DVD (1955) in their shop, so bought it to watch in the tent that night.  Finally the warm weather had arrived and we started not needing our down doonas at night! We can’t believe how cold it has been at night for the last 2 months. Parts of the Gibb River Road had been having  2 degrees at night over the last few weeks. Ord River just below the Argyle Dam wall The next morning we also watched a video on the making of the Argyle Dam before heading off into Keep River National Park just over the NT border. We only went half way in but saw some spectacular scenery. Cockatoo Billabong, Keep River Keep River National park Keep River National Park  Rather than staying the night, we then made a dash east and made it to Victoria River Roadhouse by sunset. This is a big river through some dry and spectacular country. Jim rose early the next morning to walk up the nearby escarpments. Victoria River Gum blossom at Victoria River  We then went to Katherine as quick as we could to stock up again (and replace our mobile internet stick) so we could make it into Kakadu that night. We figured that a small rush now will give us an extra day in Kakadu where the kids can swim. It would also allow us to stay in the one spot and relax for Jim’s birthday on the Saturday. Our first 2 nights were at Gunlom in southern Kakadu where you can swim at the bottom of a water fall and also climb 1 km to the top to swim in rock pools – pretty much like a natural “infinity pool”. The most amazing water hole at the top of the water fall at Gunlom - a great way to spend Jim's birthday Elsie and Monnie at swimming pools at top of water fall Kids at swimming pools at top of water fall Elsie and Monnie at swimming pools at top of water fall The bottom of water fall at Gunlom, complete with friendly freshwater croc that didn't bother any of us swimmers