Tranquility

DARWIN WATERFRONT Took a drive into town today to get some brochures from the Tourist Information office. Had a quick walk along the waterfront as will look properly later in the week as my Dad is arriving on Wednesday for nine days. The colour of the water is just so blue and there are lovely lush green walkways all along the front, there do not appear to be any absolute beachfront properties. Shame you can't swim due to the jellyfish and crocodiles. We have well and truly utilised all three pools here at the Big4 Freespirit caravan park.

At the top

DARWIN Had the weekend at Berry Springs just relaxing and on Monday drove here, a lovely short drive of about 30 km's, we are now set up for four weeks here. Really nice to be in one spot for that amount of time and putting up the annexe etc, have even got out a table to be able to cook outside. The days have been lovely hovering around 32 degrees and the nights 20 - 22. Last week they had a low of 16 and the locals were most shocked and having to buy heaters and blankets.

Since getting here we have had the vehicle serviced, got a couple of new tyres and doing shopping etc, will do sightseeing next week. Had a quick glimpse of the ocean yesterday, the colour was just lovely so really looking forward to exploring next week and being back into taking lot's of photos.

Litchfield National Park

FLORENCE FALLS Had a great few days staying just outside the park, only downside was no internet access or mobile coverage, really miss that, but a small price to pay. Visited some great sites. You walk down 135 stairs to the base of these falls and swim in the rockpool, deep and clear, it was just divine. Yesterday we had a great day 4 wheel driving, lot's of dust, even went through water 70cm's deep, strange seeing waves lapping the bonnet, but great fun, it was Paul's birthday, guess I will owe him a car wash!
BULEY CREEK this creek leads to the Florence falls and at one stage it cascades over several rock steps so lot's of people bathing.

TJAYNERA FALLS At the end of the 4 wheel drive track we walked 1.7kms to these falls, the rock pool here was just lovely, I was fortunate enough to have five minutes of being the only one in there. Look how clear the water is.

MAGNETIC TERMITES As the name suggests, they build their nests north/south and there was a whole area of them, they look like tombstones.

CATHEDRAL TERMITES this structure is close to 5 metres tall and around 50 years old, funny thing is all the termite nests survive fire and other animals etc take refuge in the gaps.
LOST CITY As you can imagine being the rock person that I am I was in heaven here. There are just large rock structures everywhere after driving in via a dirt track of 10.5 kms.

ADELAIDE RIVER WAR CEMETERY If you have ever been to the war cemetery at the River Kwai out of Bangkok, this was very similar and was as beautifully kept. It is where the victims of the bombing of Darwin on the 19th February 1942 are laid to rest. Adelaide River is north of Katherine.

Just Cruising

KATHERINE GORGE Yesterday it was just lovely having a cruise on the gorge, we went at 9am so very tranquil. It is hard to imagine that in the wet season the water is 6 to 8 metres higher. We visited the first three gorges and had to change boats at each gorge as the water is too low for the boats to go over the rocks. Even at this time of the year the water depth varies between 1 to 30 metres. Didn't see any freshwater crocodiles but there are some beaches that you cannot access as they are nesting there. There were quite a few canoes, we were a bit lazy and took the easy option. So nice with every day being 32 degrees - heaven!

Nitmiluk National Park

KATHERINE GORGE It sure has warmed up since we have arrived in Katherine, days around 32 and nights around 20, so nice not to have the heater on all night and be swimming in the pool. Today we visited the gorge and did a couple of the walks, tomorrow we are doing a boat trip through three of the gorges.

ROCK WALLABY'S at Mataranka, there were quite a few of them at the caravan park, this little joey looked like he had just left the pouch as was jumping around everywhere at a 100 miles an hour.

A Change of Scenery

MATARANKA SPRINGS What a pretty spot, it is like a tropical oasis with lot's of palms. The water in the swimming holes is around 34 degrees, just lovely. Down at the river we have seen our first crocodile warning signs, don't think we will be dipping our toes in. Since leaving Tennant Creek the days have really warmed up, so nice to have some summer clothes on and to pack away the winter jackets. After driving through arid land it is nice to have the green vegetation, lot's of termite nests, they look like headstones in a graveyard. Yesterday between Daly Waters and Mataranka there was a lot of road kill therefore lot's of eagles - the circle of life. DALY WATERS HOTEL Wednesday night we parked up at the caravan grounds at the side of the hotel. What a unique place, the pub dates back to 1930, it is 3 km's off the main highway but gets packed as really famous for all the 'stuff' on the walls etc and outside. They have a bbq dinner at night with entertainment. Both a little fuzzy yesterday morning. Quite away along the Stuart Highway there have been airfields and other stuff that was in use during the Second World War.

OUTSIDE THE PUB The graves are of people who didn't make a donation after taking photos.

ENTERTAINMENT Don't you just love the chickens on the hat.

Yes, more rocks!

DEVILS MARBLES Today we left Alice Springs and drove through to Tennant Creek, 509km's up the Stuart Highway. A nice easy drive, surprisingly the scenery does change along the way with varying vegetation but lots of termite nests. We stopped for lunch at Wycliffe Well the home of UFO's. Devils Marbles are granite rocks over 1700 million years old and in this one spot there are a lot of these outcrops just beside the highway.
This gives you bit of an idea of the size, the rock has a clean cut like it has been cut with a knife. Don't you just love the fly net - god bless the hundreds of them!
Thank goodness for gravity.

More rocks

STANDLEY CHASM Yes, more rocks, the Northern Territory sure does have a lot of them. You walk up the river bed to the chasm and feel like you could walk forever scrambling over the rocks, the shapes and heights are amazing.
STANDLEY CHASM being in the lower section at midday you get to see both sides of the narrow gap lit with sunlight.

SIMPSONS GAP This gap in the ranges is at the end of the river bed and today there was this small water hole. Further upstream on a very dry river bed there is a sign 'no swimming' , don't know how often you would get to swim there. The rocky walls are home to bush wallaby's.

RIVER BED - SIMPSONS GAP

SIMPSONS GAP - me with some of the rocks at the base of the ranges to give you an idea of the size of them.

Finke Gorge National Park

BIG BOY STUFF Had a great day at the National Park 150km from Alice Springs. Once you leave the bitumen it is about 20km's to the end of the gorge but due to the terrain it is 4 wheel drive only and that section takes at least an hour. Our first real 4 wheel drive pursuit - hat off to Paul for a job well done. CYCAD GORGE is part way along, high red sandstone walls and these cycad's and other vegetation. The gorge floor is all rock, looks like stamped concrete and of course red dirt.

PALM VALLEY At the end of the drive you walk up to the top of the gorge and are rewarded with this view of the river bed and the tall red cabbage palms that can grow up to 25 metres and are unique to this area.

KALARRANGA LOOKOUT On the way back out of the gorge we stopped and did this walk which gave us a view of the ampitheatre.

RIVERBED This gives you bit of an idea on how wide the river can be at times, against some of the trees debri is at least six foot high. Coming home we saw some brumbies and a camel, Paul spotted one kangaroo on one of the walks. We have been surprised at the lack of wildlife. Too cold for snakes so that is a consolation.

Watarrka National Park

On Tuesday we drove from Yulara (Ayers Rock/Ularu) through to Kings Canyon, it was overcast when we left and as we got closer to our destination the cloud started to break up, it was so nice to see some blue sky and have the warmth of the sun. That night we had a campfire, the sky was so clear and we have never seen so many stars. KINGS CANYON Wednesday we did the Kings Canyon Rim walk, it was fabulous, very steep to the top of the rim and then it was amazing 3 1/2 hour walk across the top with various rock formations and vegetation. Afterwards we did the tame walk along the canyon creek base.

GARDEN OF EDEN This is a valley within the canyon rim that has lush vegetation including cycads and gums, a real hidden paradise.

ROCK POOL at the top of the rim, in the far distance you can see the other side of the canyon. It is hard to believe that years ago this was an inland sea and that some of the rock formations were actually sand dunes. Today we have driven through to Alice Springs, going to be a busy weekend here as the Finkes desert race is on so lot's of motorbike and cars around.

Kata Tjuta National Park

THE OLGAS Again it is so hard to do justice to the area with photographs. The Olgas consist of 36 domes with the highest being 546 metres, 200 metres highter than Uluru which is 30 km's away.
There are a couple of walks there and you walk amongst the domes, it is unreal being totally surrounded by solid rock. Not a lot of vegetation in the gorges, some wattles and gum trees. We didn't see any wildlife only some birds.

Your arduous walk is rewarded when you come through one of the gorges and have this view in the Valley of Winds. The day was overcast with mist a lot of the time around the high peaks and then a brief ray of sunshine as we reached this spot. All up for the day we walked around 10 km's.

How's this for a rock?