Thursday May 31

As unbelievable as it seems, our week in Darwin is almost over and a wonderful week it has been!  Unlike our last visit, when we concentrated very much on the ‘natural’ environment, this time we have enjoyed much more of the social, culinary and artistic life of Darwin and spent time exploring the ‘built’ environment.  Having said this however, the somewhat odd caravan park in which we have stayed has provided large, grassed sites under beautiful big old trees, which are full of all sorts of birds which we can hear but rarely see.  There are some which shriek at random times during the night and although I don’t like my chances of success, I will ask about their identity at the office.

We have managed to visit a wonderful range of galleries and seen some absolutely superb Aboriginal art.  Unfortunately we haven’t yet had the phone call from Tattersalls informing us of the big win which would enable the purchase of some of these treasures!

Another interesting experience came with our, in retrospect, very foolish excursion to the Casuarina Shopping Centre to do a bit of shopping.  The place was full of screaming teenage girls besotted by some young man called Reece someting or other, who was making a special appearance and our lack of knowledge of the centre meant we had to make our way through this throng several times as we tried to complete our purchases - was only our well-honed persistence that saw us complete the job.  Small children and oldies such as us were not entirely sure that this was a wise way to be spending our time!

After an excursion into the city in the morning, Murray and I checked out the Parap Market on Saturday on the strength of what we had heard about the range of fabulous food on offer and we were not disappointed – enjoyed a fantastic laksa.  It brought home the ethnic diversity of Darwin.

Sunday was designated as the day we would get the barra and chips from the ‘best fish and chip shop in Darwin’ for lunch and eat them on the wharf.  They weren’t quite as good as last time, but still something which has to be done.   We did feel we had done some work to deserve such a treat as we had at least taken a bit of exercise by walking through the rainforest and community gardens sections of the Darwin Botanic Gardens. 

We were then sufficiently good tourists to visit ‘Crocosaurus Cove’ to see some very large crocodiles, impressively large Barramundi, fascinating Fresh Water Saw Fish and a fantastic display of reptiles.  Even though it did seem somewhat bizarre to be looking at such creatures in the middle of Darwin, we did learn a lot.

 Sunday night was spent at the Deckchair Cinema, also down by the wharf.  Reclining in deck chairs under the stars and indulging in home-made mango ice cream whilst enjoying a film is pretty hard to beat!

On Monday evening we went to East Point Reserve and watched the sun set across Fannie Bay.  The clouds meant the colours weren’t quite as impressive as they might have been, but it was still pretty good.  We were very jealous of the tour group supping champagne nearby!

On Tuesday we spent the morning exploring Parliament House and the Supreme Court.  The Parliament, built in 1994, is described in the Lonely Planet as ‘garish’, but we found it anything but as it seems to us that it ‘fits’ the place, the climate and the geography very well.  The interior makes beautiful use of native timbers such as Sassafras and polished stone from both the NT and SA.  The coffee in the little café is pretty good too!  The NT Library is also in the Parliament building and it is excellent.

Across the way the Supreme Court building has a superb display of Aboriginal art work – paintings and magnificent memorial poles, a huge floor mosaic based on a painting called ‘Milky Way Dreaming’ by Yiwarra Jukurrpa and a large rug using a painting by an Aboriginal artist, Tim Leura Tjapaltjarri, which was the subject of the first case which found that such art work is the intellectual property of the artist and cannot therefore be used without permission.   Fascinating to see the origins of some of th\ese landmark rulings.  Are you impressed Kate?

Government House, which was built in stages from 1870 and is in close proximity to the Parliament and court, is a beautiful building and its ‘whiteness’ stands out against the blue sky and tropical greenery with aplomb.  Looking across the gate made it easy to imagine the white-suited colonial administrators and their ladies strolling around the gardens.

Wednesday saw Ian and Sue and Murray and myself make the trek to the Darwin railway station to see The Ghan depart.  It certainly was an impressive sight and couldn’t help but get one’s imagination racing - more plans!!!!!

 From here we went back to East Point Reserve, where much evidence of Darwin’s wartime history survives.   We visited the Military Museum and reading survivors’ accounts of the Japanese bombing of the harbour and city and sitting through the re-creation of the bombing created a very real understanding of the huge devastation and loss of life.   I must confess to a real lack of knowledge of this aspect of WWII – 64 air raids over almost two years.

Today was spent catching up on the last few things we wanted to do before leaving Darwin.  We also needed to finalise the purchase of a couple of lovely pieces of art work for Kate and Derek – when we arrived in Darwin we had no idea that we were about to embark on a short but interesting career as art brokers! 

Next stop was Myilly Point Heritage Precinct to have a look at four heritage-listed homes which are wonderful examples of early European tropical architecture.  The louvered walls in each of the houses were amazing and custom-designed to allow for maximum air flow in the wet.

We then had lunch with Emma, who is the daughter of some friends from Balnarring and is also a friend of Kate’s.  Was fascinating to hear about the work she and her partner Blake are doing here in Darwin.

After lunch we made a quick trip to the wharf to buy some of the prawns we had heard a bloke at Cullen Bay Marina talking about – Murray couldn’t possibly pass up the opportunity to buy 3kg of fresh prawns for $30!  From here we got back on track and visited the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory.  Saw some more stunning indigenous art work and the extremely interesting Cyclone Tracey exhibition.

Mindil Beach Sunset Market was the perfect final event for our visit – a wander through the stalls, tea on the grass and more sunset photos.  From there it was back to the van to sort out a few IT issues and start packing things away ready for our departure tomorrow morning.  Our next internet access and blog post will probably be from Kununurra, WA so stand by . . .

Sunday May 27

Here we are safely in Darwin with reliable internet access, so time to update the blog.  I will resist the temptation to go on about the temperature of 29 and how beautiful it is to sit outside, especially after what we have been hearing about last Friday’s rain ‘event’.

Our plan to leave Alice and spend the night camped at Karlu Karlu (Devils Marbles) last Monday worked admirably, although we were astounded how many others were already in residence when we arrived at about 2pm.  Karlu Karlu is truly impressive – haphazard piles of huge spherical boulders scattered by the Rainbow Serpent over a large area and predictably, we ended up with many, many photos.   Here are a couple of the afternoon ones:

Now for a couple of sunset photos . . .

And now for sunrise . . .

On Tuesday we travelled to Banka Banka Station via Tennant Creek.  Again, we arrived at about 2pm, which allowed for plenty of time to relax and explore.  Banka Banka is about 154,000 hectares and was purchased by the Indigenous Land Corporation in 2010 from the Kidman mob.  It will be re-established as a cattle station and become a training facility for young aboriginal people, in the same way as Home Valley on the Gibb River Road (we will be visiting here also).  We had a great walk up to the lookout (see below) and then challenged ourselves (well, one of us anyway!) by walking along the very rocky ridge track to a set of waterholes.

 Wednesday was a longer journey and we spent the night at the Daly River Pub.  Again, lots of people in the park and we succumbed to temptation and had the first of what we hope will be many, wild caught barramundi meals.  Yum, yum, yum!!!!!

Thursday’s destination was Katherine and we decided to stay out at Nitmiluk rather than in town.  Huge changes in the campground since we were last here in 2007 – not surprising really!  One very impressive change was the addition of a large and very pleasant pool and as the day’s temperature had been around 30, a dip after walks was very welcome.  We didn’t do any of the gorge trips as we had all done it on previous visits – just enjoyed the surroundings.  Had visits from Blue-faced Honeyeaters, Great Bowerbirds and Agile Wallabies looking for hand-outs, but we did the right thing and ignored them.  The Woolybutt Trees are flowering at the moment and the bright orange flowers are just glorious.

 Friday’s trip into Darwin was a bit over 200 kilometres, but the road is good and there was very little traffic so it was quite pleasant.  The vegetation became more and more tropical as we travelled further north and the magnetic and cathedral termite mounds which had started appearing a couple of days before became quite a lot larger.  Arrived in Darwin in the early afternoon and set ourselves up in a caravan park at Lee Point, north of the city. 

Went in for a bit of a look around the wharf area before foolishly going into the Casuarina Shopping Centre to get a few bits and pieces.  The place was jam-packed with screaming teenage girls as Reece Mastin was making a special appearance (we had to check to find out who this person was!).  We fled to the quiet of the caravan park, which brings me back to the joy of sitting outside in the warmth.  Will save the account of our Darwin visit until later in the week, when I can do it all at once before we return to Katherine.

Sunday May 20

We have managed to make it into the Northern Territory since our last post and are currently in Alice Springs, enjoying lovely day-time temperatures of 25, although the nights are a different matter altogether!  But, to get back to where we last finished . . .

On Tuesday we departed Roxby Downs and left the bitumen behind as we went north along the Borefield Road, which was in pretty good shape as a good part of it runs through the BHP Olympic Dam Mining Lease.  This is a huge area and all the way along there was evidence of preparatory work for the until-recently intended expansion of the mine.  As you can see, as we travelled further north on this road, the terrain became very flat and vegetation was much more sparse.

The Borefield Road ends where it meets the Oodnadatta Track and here we turned left and headed north-west. 

We did not travel much further before taking a coffee break at a roadside stop overlooking Lake Eyre South and amazing it was too – water in every direction! 

A short distance from here is Mound Springs at Wabma Kadarbu Conservation Park, a fascinating area where artesian water makes it up to the surface, causing mounds to form like islands in the arid landscape.  Over time, they become extinct and leave the mound as a permanent feature.  Blanche Springs sits atop such a mound and is surrounded by vivid green vegetation – quite a sight.

Next destination – nearby Coward Springs, where we camped for the night.  This fantastic spot in what was a stop on the Old Ghan Railway, is now an oasis created by its owners, with a ‘natural spa’ and a wetlands which is the result of the water flowing from the spring. 

Great facilities too – showers with water warmed by a donkey heater and beautiful old trees.  

Many wetland birds also enjoy the ‘facilities’ and we were lucky to see a pair of Brolgas, along with many gorgeous little Zebra Finches.

The old engine driver’s cottage sits beautifully amongst the protected vegetation and now houses a fascinating ‘museum’.

Wednesday was spent travelling from Coward Springs to Oodnadatta and although the track was in pretty good condition, as we went we kept discovering damage that flying stones were doing to the plastic water fittings under the van!  Stopped at Warrina Siding, with its very ruined Old Ghan railway cottage and discovered that an expedition of 21 men and 48 camels (or the other way around!) left from here in the 1890s and successfully made it to the Murchison River area of WA.  And we will think we are clever getting there in a 4WD and caravan!

By Oodmadatta we were down to one water tank and there was an interesting film of red dust inside the van.  Never mind – sitting in our chairs after dark at our out-of-town roadside stop and contemplating the enormity of a night sky with what seemed like an endless horizon and countless stars restored a sense of what is important.  I did think of you Jill!!!!!

Thursday was our last day on the Oodnadatta Track and for the sake of our water tanks it was probably just as well!  By the time we stopped for morning coffee the fittings for our other tank had also been hit and we were completely out of water.  Thank goodness for jerry cans!  Once again, the vegetation and terrain we travelled through was enormously varied – well vegetated and green one minute and then gibber plains or clay pans the next, with the odd ruin or huge old railway bridge thrown in for good measure. The red dust was ever-present and we took turns in leading so we could share it around fairly.  Ian and Sue's Hilux and van are in this dust cloud somewhere!

Lunchtime saw us emerge at Marla – back on to the bitumen and much more relaxing travel for the drivers.  After fuelling, we made it to the SA/NT border, where we took advantage of yet another roadside stop, along with many other old nomads.

Off early on Friday for the 280km to Alice Springs and a lovely journey it was too – we had forgotten how beautiful some of the scenery along here is.   Red rock ridges and hills with many beautiful casuarina and lots of mulga, all set against that amazing blue sky.  Once we had set ourselves up in the caravan park in Alice and consulted plumber Tim, Murray was off to Reece to purchase the necessary fittings to remedy our lack of water, whilst I made a start on some serious de-dusting of the van.  In the evening we wandered down to Heavitree Gap to enjoy the gorgeous little Rock Wallabies.  A couple took a particular fancy to Murray – one can only assume that it had something to do with the bag of food he had!

Yesterday we finished the chores and then did some sightseeing around the town before meeting Sue and Ian and some friends of theirs for lunch at the Olive Pink Botanical Gardens.  We were enjoying lazing around a bit and as we have all been to Alice in the recent past, we didn’t feel the need to be rushing around too much.  Enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine in the evening to celebrate Murray’s birthday – a lovely way to finish off the day.

So now I have arrived back at where I started – Sunday.  A bit more maintenance and a visit to the Araluen Cultural Precinct took care of  today and tonight we took in the sunset from Anzac Hill.  Tomorrow we will make our way up the Stuart Highway to the Devils Marbles and enjoy the sunset and sunrise there, so more about that next time . . .

Monday May 14

Since last Thursday night we have made some progress north!  As predicted, we left the lovely Adelaide Hills on Friday morning and following Maarten's excellent directions made it safely through Adelaide and on to the road to Port Wakefield and beyond.

Thought we should have a look at the historic towns of the Copper Triangle on Spencer Gulf on our way, so had a walk around Moonta, which has some absolutely beautiful old buildings and just to prove a point, here is Moonta Town Hall:

Arrived at Mt Remarkable National Park, which is just south of Port Augusta, later in the afternoon and managed to commandeer the same camp site we had when here with Jill and Andrew last year.  Sue and Ian, our travelling companions who had come from Mornington via a different route, joined us and we toasted the beginning of our adventure with a bottle of champagne very thoughtfully presented to us before our departure by Gordon and Pat.  Be assured dear friends that it was much appreciated and enjoyed!

Mt Remarkable is a beautiful park.  Part of the southern Flinders Ranges, it has all the rugged beauty of that area and some astoundingly huge River Red Gums.  This amazing one was just near our campsite and we are certain that Jill and Andrew will be thrilled to see that it is still going strong.

Murray is very proud of having completed the Hidden Gorge walk this visit - 18 kilometres of quite challenging walking along Mambray Creek, up the bluff and down the other side.  "The knee" held up very well - thank goodness, this early in the trip!

Today we travelled to Roxby Downs, where we are camped tonight.  Tomorrow we will make the relatively short journey to Coward Springs on the Oodnadatta Track.  From there it will be along the Track to Marla, which will take a couple of days, before rejoining the Stuart Highway and making for Alice Springs.  Hopefully the lovely weather we have enjoyed will continue - at the risk of making our Melbourne friends sad, the sky is now blue and endless and although the nights are a bit chilly, we are becoming very excited at the propect of what is ahead!

Thursday May 10

This is it - the official beginning of our 'Off to the West' blog!

We set off from home Monday midday and spent the first night just out of Horsham. 

Ready to go! (thanks to Gordon for photo)

Tuesday saw us heading for Willunga, a gorgeous little village just south of McLaren Vale, where we caught up with an old London friend, Rex and his wife Maureen.  Given that this is such an important wine area, it was fitting that we got to camp at the home of Rex's cousin Graham and
his wife Judy, in the midst of their shiraz vines.  Graham kindly shared a bottle of his 2009 vintage once we were all set up and a beautiful drop it was too!  Can see that this trip is going to be very hard work.

On Wednesday we travelled all the way to the Coromandel Valley in the Adelaide Hills to the home of Maarten and Evelyn - more London friends.  Denise and Bart (yes . . . yet more London friends!) came over for tea, so we have had a wonderful time seeing old mates. Today we caught the train into Adelaide and wandered around the Central Market and tomorrow morning it will be off to Mt Remarkable National Park, just south of Port Augusta, where we will meet Sue and Ian.