We are now 4 weeks into our trip and have really settled into the caravan life. We’ve departed Litchfield and on the way to Darwin we have a slight detour out to the coast. This is where we pick it up.
Day 28 (12 August) – Berry Springs
On the way to our next stop, Dundee Beach, we took a slight detour to Berry Springs, best known for Berry Springs Nature Park. The park is centred around a natural spring-fed pool with the clearest water, perfect for swimming. We had a dip, floated down the current (slowly) and had an ice cream produced by a local mango farm (which we found out the hard way is not open to the public).
We got into Dundee beach around 2:30, and on checking in, the receptionist, as she was explaining the area with the map, said “There’s the caravan park here, the tavern across the road, a 4WD track that is now closed to the public by the landowner, and then residential over here where we all live. That’s Dundee Beach”. Oh and don’t go on the beach due to crocodiles, a locals dog was taken 2 weeks ago. And so began 2 easy days of catching up and resting.
Day 29 – Dundee Beach
We had nothing to do and no agenda. We spent the day at the caravan reading, resting and swimming at the resort pool. For dinner we ate at the tavern and watched another magnificent NT sunset over the water.
Day 30 – Territory Wildlife Park
We passed through Berry Springs again but this time we stopped at the Territory Wildlife Park, a small zoo that has many species that find their home in the NT. We took the park train to get around the various sections of the park that included nocturnal animals, reptiles, water animals and birds. The highlight of the park was unanimously the “Flight Deck” bird show which showcased many birds including a wedge tailed eagle, an emu, lorikeets and a stork. But it was the black breasted buzzard that stole the show by using a rock in its break to break into an emu egg.
We made it to our campsite in Howard springs, unhitched and headed straight into Darwin for the Mindil Beach Sunset Markets, a Darwin institution. We wandered the stalls and ordered some dinner from the many food trucks and watched the sunset over the beach with thousands of others. Weirdly, once the sun dipped below the horizon the crowd let out a polite golf clap as if to say “well done, God, you did it again”.
Day 31 – Darwin
We have been pleasantly surprised by Darwin. As Australia’s smallest and most remote capital city, I had pretty low expectations but as it is situated on the coast, it is quite beautiful and we found more than enough to keep us busy for a few days – though I do use the term fairly loosely.
But we did have some jobs to do. This morning I had to have the car in at a mechanic to have a rego check done on it. We all got up early and got it there at 8 and we had breakfast nearby. We had no idea when throughout the day it would be done but thankfully, by 9:30 it was done and after sitting down for a coffee I express posted the document home for mum to hopefully register it at a Service Centre (spoiler alert, it was a success).
After that we headed to the Waterfront precinct and had a look in the WWII tunnels that were built to store oil underground after the above ground storage facilities were bombed. After this we setup camp at the Beach Club at the Drawin Waterfront Lagoon, which is a sandy, shallow beach, great for little swimmers, and 100% croc free. Me, Brooklyn, and Aubrey also had a go on the inflatable aqua park and all three of us had an absolute ball. Otherwise, for the adults it was mostly sitting on deck chairs with a couple of cheeky cold ones while the kids played in the water. And we did this all afternoon.
Day 32 – Darwin
Matt and I started the day with Parkrun, now our second on the trip and Matt’s second of all time. Matt hit another PB and I was consistent with my Katherine Parkrun time, which I was happy with considering the lack of training I am doing. We chose Nightcliff Parkrun, which is a suburb to the east of the CBD, and the course followed the coastline around as the sun rose, it was absolutely stunning. We headed back for breakfast to get ready for our Adelaide River Jumping Crocodile Cruise.
The croc cruise was such as fun experience. They find a croc (there are 60 wild crocs they visit on the cruises, all of which have names), dangle some meat on a stick in front of it and the croc jumps up to get it. It works like clockwork. On the way back in the guide threw some feed into the water and dozen of whistling kites, the birds we’ve been seeing circle overhead for the last few weeks, came fighting for food. It was an absolute spectacle to see them all circling darting this way and that.
On the way back to Darwin we stopped at the “World Famous” Humpty Doo Hotel. We have seen some pretty classic outback pubs in our time and this one, honestly, although it does have a reputation, doesn’t feel as classic as many others. Food was good though and the beers cold and that was the important thing.
The day was heating up so we headed straight back to the CBD to the wave lagoon, which is right next to the sandy lagoon we were at yesterday, but is a man made pool that makes waves, just like the type at Wet’n’Wild. The kids (and the dads) had an absolute blast.
Dinner was served at the Trailer Boat Club of Darwin, a club just out of the CBD on the water that had a perfect spot to watch the sun go down. They also had a playground and the kids played for 2 and half hours while the adults just chatted. It was perfect.
Day 33 – Darwin
A quieter day today. After a takeaway coffee from a gorgeous cafe in the suburb of Parap, we headed to the Darwin Art Gallery and Museum. Not a huge museum, but a free museum, which is the best kind with kids because you never know how long they’ll last. The museum had interesting displays on Cyclone Tracy of 1974, some Aboriginal art, some stuffed native NT animals, and a large section out the back with a bunch of rando boats that the museum has collected over time. It was the perfect size because after an hour we’d seen enough and seen it all.
One interesting exhibit was Sweetheart the crocodile. In the 1970s this 5 metre crocodile would terrorise local fisherman in a nearby river. They thought they’d try and catch it and move it to a farm, but unfortunately they were absolute amateurs and accidentally drowned the thing. Whoopsie.
Nearby is the Darwin Botanic Garden. We had lunch at the cafe there, the kids had a play on the playground and Brooklyn and I went wandering, looking for a few things he wanted to explore: the Dinosaur trail, the Dragon Courtyard, and Crocodile statue. The girls were not interested in walking in the heat so they stayed at the playground.
After that it was a big grocery shop because tomorrow we head into Kakadu for 6 days.
Day 34 – Jobs
This was a jobs and travel day. We’ve been having some trouble with the handle on the back of the ute canopy not opening from the outside. For 2 weeks if ever we’ve wanted to open the tray, say, to slide he fridge out, I’ve had to climb/reach in through the side windows and unlatch it there. So we had it booked in to ARB for them to look at it. While we waited we killed time at a nearby shopping centre. I needed to go into Optus, the kids needed shoes, I needed a haircut. I had a work meeting for an hour by phone which helped pass time and the other 4 saw a movie while I did my things. The car was ready by 1pm and we picked it up, then picked up the van from Howard springs and made it to Kakadu Lodge caravan park by 5 for happy hour.
This is a great caravan park. Big and spacious. A good pool. Happy hour every day (even if it wasn’t that good). And it is so big they think they’ll never be booked out so you just rock up.
Day 35 – Kakadu
Kakadu is epic. It’s so different to Litchfield. It feels bigger. It is bigger. More rugged. More mountainy because it sits around the Arnham Land Plateau. Our first day we based ourselves in Jabiru in the eastern reach of the national park. This was so we could do an easy day trip out to the border of Arnhem land. The major thing here is Ubirr rock art. A trail led us along to several different galleries where the locals have been telling stories through painted rock art for thousands of years.
We visited a lookout that overlooks Cahill’s Crossing, which is a river crossing that you must take if you are headed into Arnhem Land. It is also a notoriously busy spot for saltwater crocodiles so when the tide is high and you need to cross you don’t get out of your vehicle for any reason. It was great fund watching the crocs slink around quietly in the water from above.
And then we got to get up close and personal with these same crocs as we boarded a cruise that took us down there. It was very cool (harrowing for some) to be so close to these creatures. The cruise also took us down the river to view the wilflife and learn a little about how the Traditional Owners would live off the land and hunt.
Day 36 – Cooinda
We moved from Jabiru to Cooinda, which is more central and on the southern part of Kakadu. On the way stopped at the Burrungkuy section, which had a few small bits to do. The first was another short walk up to a lookout with more rock art. Some was very clear and vivid. This is a beautiful section of the park with some huge canyons on display that we were walking amongst.
Nearby was Anbangbang Billabong, a wetland with lots of Birdlife (mostly cockatoos, some geese and maybe some ducks). It also has crocodiles in it, a fact I was reminded of by Kynie when Aubrey and I approached the water’s edge to take some photos. We were not being crocwise.
The afternoon was an absolute highlight. We took a 2 hour boat cruise on Yellow Water Creek and South Alligator River. It started at 4:30 and ended just after sunset (which was 6:45). We saw without doubt the most wildlife I’ve ever seen concentrated in one spot including
- Jakarna bird, which might be my favourite, as it can walk on the lilly pads.
- White bellied sea eagle we (saw one catch a fish then go eat it)
- Radja shelducks
- Heron
- Jabiru
- Kingfisher
- Egrets
- Data (bird), drying is wings on the bank
- Pelicans
- Buffaloes in the distance
- Pheasant hanging on bamboo
- Magpie geese up close and in formation
- Purple swamp hen
A lot of the billabong was bordered by water Lillies. The lilypads stand up to get more sunlight.
We saw several crocodiles but having seen plenty already I tended to be more interested in the birds that I hadn’t seen. Some were sunbaking, some were swimming, some descended into the water line a submarine, and one looked like it was stalking prey through the waterlilies.
Day 37 – Maguk Falls
This was a single activity day with a later morning start as we desperately needed to do washing and a 45 minute drive to Maguk Falls, the last 10 of which were on dirt. It was a 1km walk, the last 300m of which was a fair bit of rock scrambling, which is challenging for little legs so the walk took about 40 minutes. But wow what a view. You’ve got cliffs on either side, a waterfall at the opposite end, and a large plunge pool perfect for swimming, so long as you don’t mind “very low” croc risk.
On returning to the campsite we had a swim, partook in the bar’s happy hour, are dinner, ready to do it all again tomorrow.
Day 38 – Jim Jim Falls
This was another waterfall day, an hour and 15 in the car but this time an hour of it was on dirt, including probably 35 minutes on a well graded gravel road on which we were doing around 80 km/h, and then 20 much slower minutes on a 4WD track that led to the trailhead.
The walking track was much tougher going than yesterday. It was only 1km but more than half of that was rock scrambling over boulders. Kinda fun for someone with large, reasonably strong and athletic legs like mine, but slow going for a 5 year old not accustomed to this mode of travel. That said. All 3 did so incredibly well, albeit slow. There was actually more complaining from the adults in our party than the kids.
Incredibly, once we got to the falls (or rather, it was more a trickle this deep into the dry season) there was a small sandy beach. The pool by the beach was quite shallow, we swam over to some rocks that seemed to separate it from the large plunge pool directly under the falls. We climbed over these rocks, and for some reason I swam probably a hundred metres each way over to the base of the escarpment where the waterfall was landing. The water was materially colder, as it did not get as much sun and was deeper. We had lunch on the sand and made our way, slowly, back.
After getting back it was swim time again and happy hour time at the pool before fully packing up the van for an early morning start tomorrow.
Day 38 – Gunlom Falls
We were up early and left Cooinda by 7:30. It was an hour and 40 minute drive to get there and we also were going to unhitch the van and let the tyres down because we had been advised the road in to Gunlom – after only being reopened after 6 years last month – was pretty rough. Thankfully there was a ranger station near the turn off and that was a perfect spot to leave the vans for half a day.
It was 40 minutes on a pretty corrugated road but we were still able to do 70-80km/h for a lot of it. The walk was much easier than yesterday: 650m of track and 200 metres up. Mostly stairs.
At the top was a beautiful view over the edge of the waterfall from several cascading rockpools. It was stunning. Matt and I climbed up to the next level and found an even more beautiful pool that was fed through a narrow gorge. We even found a pretty good jump rock into the pool at maybe 3 metres height.
After we started coming down we noticed a lot more people up there. Obviously we started something that gave others permission to go beyond the marked trail. We had lunch at the bottom: our traditional ham salad wraps, but supplies were getting thin by this time. Tomorrow we’ll top up back in Katherine but for now we headed to Pine Creek again, this time staying at the Lazy Lizard, where we had dinner last time, and it was a fairly big upgrade from Pussycat Flats Racecourse, where we stayed last time we passed through Pine Creek. It was hot so we were glad to have a swim in the pool, plug in to power to pump the air con, and have a pub meal cooked for us.
Day 39 – Mataranka
In the morning, I took myself on a running tour of Pine Creek. I ran out to the Stuart Highway and back through a park filled with monuments memorialising the tin mining history of the town. A lot of old machinery has been setup here with explanatory signs.
An hour away is Katherine, which we now feel reasonably well acquainted with where we did a big grocery shop, got some lunch and powered on to Mataranka another hour away, arriving in the early afternoon.
We setup camp at Little Roper Stock camp again and then headed back out to Bitter Springs, a 10 minute drive away. Bitter Springs is a natural thermal pool that flows into the Roper River. Because of this there is a gentle current that takes you from one end to the other. And because of the sandy bottom the water is extremely clear. We tooks noodles and a pool ring and the kids especially had an absolute ball floating down several times to the point we had to drag them away.
Day 40 – Mataranka to Threeways
In the morning we enjoyed Johnny Cakes for breakfast again before commencing 2 days of travelling towards Alice Springs. But we still had a few things to entertain us on the way. The first one was still in Mataranka, and is one of 2 draw cards to the town, that being Mataranka Springs (the other being Bitter Springs). These ones are situated on the same river as Bitter Springs, but the swimming hole itself was a little more man made. This one had walls and felt like it might have been dammed because it didn’t have a current like Bitter Springs did. It was still nice and warm though, and was super clear, and it had a beautiful blue colour.
An hour down the road is Larrimah. Home of the Larrimah Hotel and not much else. But the pub was a bit quirky and was a decent photo stop, as for some reason, they have a large pink panther statue.
Another quirky outback pub is Daly Waters Pub. This is a well known pub by outback travellers and that was obvious as we approached. It was caravan central. The pub is full of character and old timey charm, and has memorabilia left behind by hundreds or thousands of people over the years: mainly bras, but also shoes, and licenses. This was our lunch stop and they did a good feed.
While still an hour or two from our intended stop for the night, while overtaking a road train I gave it a bit of power to get round and the Ranger started yelling at me, citing a “powertrain fault” and throttled me back to 25km/h. Spooked, we pulled over to the nearest dirt patch and investigated. Luckily, Matt had a data scanner and was able to clear the fault code from the system which got me back up and running and into Threeways without further drama (but stay tuned, as the drama continued in the second leg of the drive).
Threeways is the Roadhouse we stayed stopped in at on our way to Katherine from Lawn Hill. It is not real special but it had power we could use to cool the van down as it was a 36 degree day, and was a good half way point.
The adventure continues!
