Stopped in to Mataranka Thermal Springs. according to the sign,
The springs generate 30.5 million litres of water per day at an average temperature of 34 degrees Celsius. Pretty impressive, and you can stay here, good looking pub, and enjoy a swim. But you would need to get here early as the place fills up quickly.
Its amazing how much cooler it has been in Katherine compared to Darwin, but we might have been lucky! Busy town with plenty of tourists going through, stayed in Big 4 Katherine Caravan park good spot. Katherine Gorge is situated in Nitmiluk National Park, about 250 k south of Darwin. We stayed in town and drove out the 30 ks, on a good bitumen rd, so no problems getting there. The water system is massive, and comes together above Katherine so in any flood Katherine cops it. The gorge tour gives you a good look at the gorge, so well worth it. Cameras don't do these places justice, you have to see it for yourself.
If you look stand back and look at this rock, it resembles a crocodile head,
even I can see it! pretty clever.
The Katherine museum is worth a look, you can spend a few hours there reading the history of the region, Pastoralists, WW11 and flying doctor memorabilia and the recent floods.
I'm not sure who the biggest character was on this tour, Our kiwi bus driver Rohan with Wallaroo Tours, or Pat, owner and operator of The Great Ozzie Bite.
The tour is a day trip to Adelaide river to The Great Ozzie Bite, where you are taken on a short boat tour to view crocodiles in their natural habitat, this was well worth it, Pat understands crocodiles very well, and is quite passionate about them.
Pats a bit of a character, and you also get a bit of his philosophy on life on the boat, so very entertaining.
Pat had done most things in life, including being brought up with aboriginals, he had a great understanding, love and respect for them, that was refreshing.
You would hope that politicians listen more to people like Pat.
You get the impression that Pat could do pretty much anything, and commented that the only thing he hadn't had a go at was an Astronaut!
But you wouldn't want to underestimate Pat, he would be quite capable of a left hand seat in the space shuttle!
On returning from the croc part of the tour I asked Rohan, our bus driver, what Pats Surname was?
Rohan quickly quipped that his name was "Chappel", this immediately allowed him to bring up the Chappel underarm Cricket incident, back in 1981 I think?
I am sure Rohan would not have been born at the time, but that didn't stop him!!
Its a bit sad, but it would appear that this unfortunate incident is so entrenched in the psyche of the average Kiwi, it is now passed on in their childrens DNA!
But they are getting their revenge, you can't get on a tour up here without it being run or owned by a Kiwi, good luck to them.
From the Adelaide river you travel back toward Darwin and then out to Litchfield National Park.
The falls are worth a look, and water pristine, and the swimming holes great, but its a bit of a bus ride from one favorite swimming hole to the next, so you get over it, the park is pretty much about that, so unless you love swimming that part of the tour will be as boring as bat shit!
Sunset Fanny Bay Darwin
Without the outstanding effort of the bus driver I would have found this part of the tour a bit slow.
We pulled in at Bachelor on the way home, to buy some beer for those that didn't like champagne. great idea Rohan!
So finished the tour at sunset with Champagne and Prawns at Fanny Bay, just getting there with a few seconds to spare at sunset, great job Rohan!
I had to spend some time in the city, catching up with an oncologist, so between appointments had a wander around the Darwin Museum.
This is well worth a look, and on a hot day, great air conditioning with free entry, great spot to take the family.
The cyclone Tracy exhibition and the Aboriginal artifacts are incredible, you need a few hours, great spot.
B52 Cockpit, 8 throttles and 8 sets of engine gauges for 8 engines
no fly by wire stuff here!
The other part of history that's important to Darwin is its involvement in WW2.
Darwin was subjected to many raids by the Japanese, with many Australian deaths.
Something I was unaware of was that Post WW2, in the 1950s and 60s Darwin had a US squadron of B52 bombers that visited and refueled here, as part of US global defence.
There was always a B52 bomber airborne between Guam and Darwin, as a contingency against any possible soviet aggression in the Cold War Period.
Pretty interesting stuff!
Mans Greatest invention was supposed to be the wheel, but in this part of the world, from Karratha on, its air conditioning! thank god for the Lunagazers aircon!
Stayed at the Kimberley Land Caravan Park, fantastic spot right on Lake Kununurra, full of small fish, and an odd freshwater crocodile.
Had a dinner cruise on the lake, given that the boat was open with no fans, great look at the Lake Kununurra which is the diversion dam, the beer was excellent.
Lake Kununurra Cruise
The temperature while we were here was 37 degrees every day, humidity fluctuates between 60 and 80 %, The calendar says its the 2nd June, second day of winter!!!
Lake Kununurra Cruise
I don't know how they handle it in summer, reminds me of The Diary of a Pom.
The Ord Dam is massive with plenty of water, its classed as an inland sea.
Its hard to work out why the area hasn't been more successful as an irrigation area, Water is $6 a Megalitre and plenty of it, Southern high security water at market price in Goulburn Valley is probably closer to $600 Click Here for info.
So you would think there would be Southern farmers flocking here for the cheap water.
So there must be reasons why the area hasn't taken off, one is the heat, its bloody hot, so people would find it difficult to acclimatize.
The area is a long way from southern markets, so trucking distance and spoilage would be a big issue, and the lack of a deep sea port close by would make exports difficult.
TFS Corp Share Price
The main crop here is Indian Sandalwood, with 60% of the farming area planted to it.
All managed by TFS Corporation, we visited the visitors centre, so got the corporate rundown on how good it all is, share price looks pretty flat, but as it takes 15 years to grow, they are only just getting into the production phase, could be worth a small punt.
Apparently the biggest plantation of the species in the world, which is in high demand in see TFS corp video for further info.
Photo Courtesy Aviair
Kunannura is the a door to the Kimberly.
The best look is from the air, so took the tourist fight, a 2 hour flight over Lake Argyle, and he Bungle Bungles, with Aviair, good tour worth the money.
You leave just after daylight, and get back before it gets hot, so ride is nice and smooth before any thermal activity.
The distances here are vast, with many hundreds of Km between Cattle stations, the early settlers must have been resilient, even now the homesteads are a long way out, without helicopters and light aircraft, management would be impossible.
Boome is a tourist town, but well disguised, the development is well done, with the resorts hiding amongst the mangroves, so hasn't lost its open space feeling.
The airport is in the middle of town , but not a lot of commercial flights daily.
However if your in the coles carpark you will get a good look at the landing gear of a Qantas 737 occasionally.
The Beaches here are spectacular, well worth a look, there were people swimming, but there are signs warning of the usual, Sharks, Crocs and stingers, so we went fishing instead.
We dined in the pub at Cable beach, looking over the ocean at sunset, beautiful spot even for a cynic like me!
Cable Beach
There was a beach function being setup, we later came across that evening with the music blasting, and ran into Tod Johnston, who was singing there at the event.
Telethon on the beach at night
He was keen for a yarn, and filled us in on the town.
View from the Bar at Cable beach, everyone taking pictures
of the sunset while we enjoy a meal and drink at the pub.
Interesting fellow that has been in the entertainment industry for a long time.
We had been on the road for a while so our vehicles were in need of a service,
View South
Had great service from Broom Motors, the local Izuzu dealer who at short notice fitted us in,
They gave us a rundown of the town, fishing and eating spots,
The staff had a couple of Southerners that had relocated here after a short stay, pretty common, and why would you blame them, the weather here is pretty good.
They even shouted us a light beer when we picked up our vehicles, good blokes, highly recommend these fellows, if you need a bit of help mechanically.
The Girls went shopping so we went for a drive along the beach, looking for a fishing spot, but soon run into some pretty heavy sand, the ute started bogging down with nowhere to turn around, right in the middle of the nudist part of the beach.
This was completely by accident, and the sand was getting worse!
Butcho was now very busy driving as we looked like we had underestimated the beach.
I didn't want to walk the two kilometers back nude, so I instructed him to concentrate on the bloody driving and not worry about the scenery!
Don't tell him but the only nudist I saw was an aging male hippy that looked like he was left over from the sixties. Not Pretty!
Butchos skills got us through, saved a 2 Km walk.
So if your heading north on the beach, the sand is a bit soft, you need to leave your vehicle and clothes behind and walk instead!
This is a must do, even though you could fly to Bali twice for the same money!
Its a well run show, they pick you up at 5.30 am, and return you home at 5 pm in the evening, so a full adventure packed day.
You fly from Broom Airport straight to the falls and land on the sea near the platform in Talbot bay.
Here you have a full bacon and egg breakfast on the water, so very pleasant.
You have the option of a helicopter ride, and a swim with the sharks.I thought the helicopter ride was a bit more inviting than a swim with the sharks, but again we had a couple of keen intrepid swimmers so put them in.
You get a great look at the falls, and the highlights of Talbot bay, in a 900Hp speed boat, that's a bit of fun in itself.
After this you are picked up by the aircraft and flown over Buccaneer Archipelago, very picturesque, across to One Arm Pt, where you land on a dirt strip.
From here you are picked up by a 4 wheel drive and taken to Cape Leveque, for a great Barramundi lunch.
We then took the scenic route home on the bus, a pretty typical Kimberly dirt road, check out the video! all 95 Kms of it.
The tour is a bit over $800, and extra $100 for the helicopter ride, it seems a lot, but after the day everyone ranked the experience well worth the expense (swim with the sharks is free!)
After a hard slog in the Pilbara, and Pt Hedland, we thought it was time for a bit of a break,
and do some fishing. (sounding a bit too much like Russell Coight!)
So we looked for a place on the coast, stumbled across The 80 mile beach caravan park, what a Gem!
The park is on the beach half way between Pt Hedland and Broom, about 10k of dirt rd in off the main highway.
The tide here is about 6 meters, so goes out about 1.6 Km at low tide, the only time the fishing was any good was at high tide.
While we were here, you could go out at midday for a couple of hours or alternatively midnight, and spend the rest of the day relaxing.
There were plenty of fish being caught, but not by us, we were completely out fished by a 4 year old girl, with her family next to us on the beach, she even caught this small shark!
We went home empty handed, but a fantastic spot, you could easily spend a few days/weeks here.
Port Hedland isn't a pretty town, but plenty going on as far as Iron ore is concerned.
Stayed at the Pt Cooke Caravan Park, probably the best spot in the town, on the beach, nice cool breeze off the ocean.
We were lucky enough to park next to Outback Paddy, a travelling Irish musician, who's now been here for 30 years, so I guess hes one of us.
So a sort of Irish Slim Dusty, but not quite as tall!
So he was a bit of fun, a very interesting fellow, loves his new country Australia and the outback, writes and performs his songs around the country.
And and he got me, managed to get $20 out of me for one of his Cds.
Click here for a sample of Outback Paddy's easy listening music.
