Straya Unplugged

LEG 15 - BACK TO WA AND WYNDHAM
After 3 weeks in the Northern Territory, we headed back over the border to WA…a little melancholy about our return because we really loved the NT!

The first stop was the WA border checkpoint, which we breezed through after making sure all our fruit and vegetables were consumed in the days before crossing the border.

Next, we headed to the small town of Wyndham for 5 days at the Wyndham Caravan Park.

Wyndham is the most northern town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It was established in 1886 and was once a booming port town that serviced goldfields in the Kimberley. The port remains, but the original town near the port is mostly shut and the main town center is now further inland

We enjoyed our time in Wyndham and took time to just relax and explore the area. We were really impressed with the amenities at the caravan park. From the refreshing pool to the fully equipped camp kitchen, to the comfortable lounge areas and serve yourself honor snack bar, the owners really thought of everything! We also enjoyed the nature around the caravan park. There was a giant boab tree at the edge of the park, and bird watering stations around the park that brought in birds. We saw red winged parrots and Blue-winged kookaburras as well as different birds of prey around the park daily. When the water in the area starts to dry up, sightings of Goildian finches are common.

The town itself was very small, but had a decently stocked grocery store and a bakery where I got to try a crocodile pie! It also featured a giant croc statue that also apparently made a nice place for locals to sleep off a hangover after a night of partying!

Here are the highlights of our time in Wyndham:

Visiting the old port area. The old Port town area still exists with a few holdout residence, a museum, a jetty and a police station. But it mostly feels like a ghost town.

Celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary by taking a sea plane flight to see Lake Argyle and the Bungle Bungles. It made for a memorable day, (and its own blog reel)!

Took morning trips to the Parry Lagoons Nature Reserve and Marglu billabong. The area is recognized as a migratory route for birds as far away as Siberia, and includes a walkway and bird hide at the billabong. There was a lot of bird activity in and around the billabong.

Stumbled upon Telegraph Hill for great view of the area, a walk around the remains of the Wyndham Wireless Station and an encounter with a 1.5 meter snake. Paul almost stepped on it—- fortunately we learned later it was a black headed python and not poisonous!

A drive down the west end of The Gibb River Road past El Questro Station and to The Pentecost River Crossing where we watched caravans and utes navigate the crossing.

A stop at The Grotto. We considered going to the waterhole there — until we saw the crazy stairs you needed to take to get down there!

A visit to the Five Rivers Lookout to watch the sunset. Wyndham is surrounded by 5 rivers and the view from the lookout is beautiful at sunset. We had particularly beautiful clouds and light the night we visited!

LEG 14 - VICTORIA CROSSING AND GREGORY (JUDBARRA) NATIONAL PARK
We decided to break up our journey back to WA with a stop at Gregory National Park. Our original plan was to stay at Timber Creek, but a pit stop at Victoria River Crossing Roadhouse and Campground changed our mind! The views of the cliffs were stunning and we realized most of the walks were closer to there! We were so glad we did!

We found a great site to camp overlooking the ranges. So pretty to go to sleep and wake up to! The river flooded in February and the water was up to the top of the bar at the Roadhouse. The management worked really hard to put the place back together after the floods. You could see the trees ripped out along my the river banks and big crevices where water made new paths all over the landscape.

We also enjoyed watching the antics of a bowerbird who set up his bower near the roadhouse. He was busy collecting items and arranging his bower to attract a mate. It wasn’t breeding season yet, becauseut there were lots of girl bowerbirds stopping by to check out his masterpiece!

While at Gregory NP, we did the following:
The Escarpment Walk - A 3km loop walk with panoramic views of the Victoria River Valley and its picturesque escarpments. It was just down the road from our campground so made a great morning walk. A stone pathway and stairs took you high up into the cliffs for beautiful view across to the river and more cliff walls. We decided to just go halfway up as it was heating up.

Joe Creek Walk - This was one of our favorite hikes so far…and one of the most challenging! It was a 1.7
km loop hike up to the base of the cliffs through rocky paths and fallen rock. We were rewarded with an oasis of palms, endless views and ancient rock art. The valley was yellow with blooming wattle and Capoc trees.

Old Victoria Crossing - Just a few km from Joe Creek as the old low level crossing across the Victoria River. It operated as the only way to cross until the new bridge was built in 1970. It was a rough unpredictable path that would have been a challenge back in the day. It also showed the signs of the flooding with massive swaths of trees ripped bare off the landscape. We were told it was a good spot to fish for barramundi…but keep an eye out for crocs!

LEG 13 - KATHERINE AND NITMILUK
We left Kakadu and arrived in Katherine with 5 days to explore the surrounding areas, including the gorges at Nitmuluk and the hot springs an hour south in Mataranka. We also needed a few days to catch up, re-provision, and make more future travel plans.

We stayed at Manbulloo Station a few kilometers out of Katherine. A peaceful but busy caravan park near the river and full of friendly farm animals you could feed!

We were glad we scheduled time in Katherine and enjoyed our stay there. While in Katherine, we made many stops including:

😀Katherine Gorge (Nitmuluk) - There are 13 gorges making up Nitmuluk. The first three are accessible via a cruise and walks, but we just stuck to the walks and lookout to see the first gorge. It was a steep, nearly 300 step walk up to the lookout for a nice view of the river and gorge. There were also circuit walks around the area, but it was heating up and approaching midday, so we didn’t make the hike.

😄Katherine Historical Circuit- Includdd the old buildings in the area and a nice museum telling the stories of the telegraph line, a flying doctor, the story behind The Never Never book, Russian peanut farmers and much more.

☺️Mataranka and Bitter Springs - About an hour south of Katherine is the town of Mataranka. It is right on the road to go south to Uluru or East to Queensland so is a popular stop off point to stay and visit the hot springs. We heard good things about the hot springs, so made the trek there, even though our journey didn’t include going in that direction.

😊Mataranka Hot Springs is a thermal pool with perfect temperature and clear water. We enjoyed relaxing in the pool in the cool of the morning. We got there early, so it wasn’t too crowded but was getting busy as we left.

☺️Bitter Springs is another thermal spring in Mataranka, but is unique because instead of just soaking, it is actually a lazy river. You can float lazily down stream in the thermal pool from an entry point to an exit ladder further down the stream and repeat as many times as you desire! There are lily pads and pandanus palms lining the water and some the clearest water you can imagine! It was a bit crowded at the time we visited, but would be a very relaxing float early or late in the day! We enjoyed our day in Mataranka, and all included in the cost of an NT Park Pass!

😀Edith Falls - Also part of Nitmuluk. Includes a large water hole and hikes to a series of water holes and falls. The hike was a 2.6km loop with some challenging parts, but beautiful scenery and lookouts and a refreshing (very cold) dip at the upper pool if you desire. We enjoyed the hike and seeing this part of the Nitmuluk gorge system.

LEG 12 - KAKADU
Kakadu is another place that’s been on our list to visit for awhile. It was famously (or infamously) put on the map by the movie Crocodile Dundee 30 years ago, but has been inhabited continuously for more than 40,000 years.

The park covers an area of some 7,700 square miles (20,000 square km). It became a National Park in 1979 and was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981. The park is home to more than 1,600 plant species and some 10,000 different types of insects; there are also roughly 60 species of mammals, 280 species of birds, 120 species of reptiles, and 50 species of fish.

Coming off the wet season, it is a good time to visit, but filled with uncertainty about what is open due to seasonal burns and drying of the roads and clearing crocs. We heard mixed reports from those who had visited, but more sites continued to open.

We enjoyed our time in Kakadu, but were affected by some closures on the south end of the park, including Jim Jim Falls, one of the highlights of Kakadu. Our visit included:

A quick stop at Mamukaula wetlands on the way in. There are walks around the billabong and a bird hide to view birds and other wildlife.

Jabiru 🏕️⛽️ - We stayed at a caravan park there. The town was built as a regional center to support mining and tourism, but we saw what there was to see there in less than 30 minutes.

Alligator River🪶🐊 - River at the east end of the park and also dividing line for Arnhem Land. We took a cultural cruise on the river and learned about the traditions, tools, foods of the aboriginals that inhabit the area. The cruise also included a brief stop in Arnhem land to see a lookout and special waterhole. We saw many birds and crocodiles on the cruise as well.

Cahills Crossing - 🚛🐊 A low level water crossing at Alligator River that is an active crossing from Kakadu to Arnhem Land. In the dry season, crocodiles congregate here in large numbers to catch fish as the tide pushes over the road.

Ubirr 🪨🖌️- Aboriginal rock art gallery with the world’s longest historical record of any group of people. The rock faces at Ubirr have been continuously painted and repainted fo 20,000 years, but most paintings there were created about 2000 years ago. There is also a walk to the top of Ubirr Rock that provides a spectacular 360 degree view of the area.

Burrungkuy and Anabangbang ⛰️🌄🪶🖌️- A beautiful area with rock shelters, rock art galleries, lookouts and a beautiful billabong teeming with bird life.

LEG 11 - CORROBOREE BILLABONG
Seeing the wildlife in the billabongs and wetlands was high on our list of things to do in NT. The Corroboree Billabong is part of the Mary River Wetlands and has the largest concentration of saltwater crocodiles in the world as well as lots of birdlife. It was also on the road to Kakadu, making it a great place to book a sunset cruise with Corroboree Billabong Wetland Cruises.

On the way, we stopped in Humpty Doo for gas and groceries and a wonderful meat pie from the Humpty Doo Bakery, as well as visits to the Humpty Doo Hotel and the big Boxing Croc!

We had a stopover at the Corroboree Park Tavern and Caravan Park and used it as our base for the cruise. The departure for the cruise was 20 minutes from the caravan park and had a shuttle that picked up from there. It allowed us to keep the Ute hitched to the caravan for a quick and easy departure in the morning.

The sunset cruise was a wonderful 2-hour journey through the wetlands. We saw crocs of all sizes sunning themselves on the banks of the river, water birds of all shapes and sizes, including jabirus. There was a water buffalo lounging in the water and wallabies eating grass in the grasslands near the shores. The cruise paused at sunset by the mudflats to watch the theatrics of the birds in their end of day rituals silhouetting against the reds and oranges of a Kimberley sunset. It was a memorable introduction to the wetlands!

TRAVEL TRIVIA
Since I was a kid it has been customary to wave at oncoming cars in the bush. Not close to civilization… This is still a thing in Australia. Most people holidaying, many road train drivers and most car drivers have continued the pleasantries. There are a few notable exceptions young in a hurry speedsters, mine workers returning home rented camper vans and women drivers. Sorry to generalize but it appears that way.
There are a variety of waving styles to use.
The index finger lift from the top of the steering wheel with either hand. Two fingers lift, two finger peace sign. Four finger lift and the whole hand wave. On rare occasions two people wave. It’s nice on a long drive with few traveling the road to acknowledge fellow travelers at 200 to 250 km per hour (125 to 150 mph). I feel I’m wishing them well. It also keeps me alert.

Other pleasantries are our UHF radio. Road-train drivers, campers and many travelers use these to advise they are overtaking or to overtake when safe or advise of some other information.
LOVE IT. makes travel so much safer. We have a sticker on the back of our caravan UHF40 that’s the truckers channel.

LEG 10 - LITCHFIELD NATIONAL PARK
Litchfield NP was all about thermal springs, waterfalls and waterholes, and we enjoyed every minute of it! Litchfield is just an hour from Darwin. The park covers more than 1,500 km, but you can see some highlights via a day trip. But if you stay in or near the park, you can take a relaxed pace and see more waterholes, walk more trails and have more solitude.

We stayed at Zebra Stone, a bush camp just outside the park entrance that also mines and sells zebra stone. Zebra Stone is unique to the East Kimberley Region that was formed 500-600 million years ago. The stunning red and white striping and unique patterns make beautiful jewelry!

At Litchfield, we visited the following sites.
🐜Termite Mounds - An area with heaps of massive termite mounds created by Cathedral and Magnetic Termites. They make a crazy site in the landscape!

🐊Florence Falls - A double waterfall that cascades 10-15 metres into a swimming hole. It can be reached by a path is down 160 steps or via a walk through a shady monsoon forest. It is pretty, but very popular and gets crowded. The falls were closed for two days after we visited to get a 2 meter croc out of the swimming hole.

🪨Buley Rockholes - This was our favorite spot! It is upstream from Florence Falls and consists of a series of large and small rockholes and cascades. So fun trying out all the different rockholes! We even found some special “secret” ones on the 1.6 km walk from Buley Rockholes to Florence falls, including one with its own bubbling hot tub! We got there early and had some some Rockholes to ourselves before the crowds started showing up early in the morning.

🏞️Wangi Falls - Very pretty site with twin falls cascading from 84 meters above into a huge swimming hole. It just reopened after the wet season and word wasn’t out the first time we stopped, but it was busy the second day with tour buses. Luckily it got quiet again after 2pm and became a peaceful place to enjoy the view. The water is pretty chilly, but a great place to cool off after a hike.

🦇Tolmer Falls - Not accessible to swimming due to protected bat species, but a nice walk with lots of beautiful spots to take in the view.

LEG 9 - BERRY SPRINGS NATURE PARK
Berry Springs is a nature park about 40 minutes from Darwin. It is a free entry park, and has picnic areas and nature trails that make it perfect for a day trip. The big draw though is the thermal springs! There are three interconnected natural pools that start with a small water cascade of warm water. You can float along from pool to pool or just chill in your favorite one. We arrived early in the cool of the morning and admired the still water with steam rising over it and had the lower pool to ourselves before crowds arrived. Sitting in the warm bubbles of the cascade and floating from pond to pond was also relaxing. We also enjoyed watching Rainbow Bee Eaters as they swooped from branches and skimmed the water to catch insects at the water line. We also spotted a large water monitor sunning itself on the banks of the springs. It was a great day out!

LEG 8 - DARWIN
Darwin is a vibrant, multicultural city. It is rich in pearling, war and aboriginal history, and is Australia’ gateway to Asia.

We crossed the border into NT and after an overnight stay at a free camp outside Katherine, we arrived in Darwin. We planned on staying 3-4 days in to see the sights, visit the markets and reprovision — but, Bruce, our Ute had other ideas!

After a nice first evening at the Palmerston markets and a Saturday visiting the city centre of Darwin, we were getting ready to head out the next day and once again, warning lights started flashing and the battery was dead. It was a Sunday, and the next day was a holiday, so we knew we weren’t going to go anywhere for at least a few days. But after traveling so many remote places, we felt lucky that we were in Darwin and could truly get the problem resolved! After spending Sunday and Monday just hanging out and catching up, we called the Isuzu dealer first thing on Tuesday, and were able to get it in the next day…and as luck would have it, the service manager was also an auto electrician! In the end, a loose nut and a quirky Isuzu grounding point requirement were causing all the problems. And after some wiring repairs, we were in and out of service in a day and only a few hundred dollars out of pocket, and the problem was solved!

We ended up staying in Darwin for a week and enjoyed exploring the city, the night markets, the beaches (most not swimable due to crocs, but great shelling beaches), and learning more about the history. We also learned to love the vibe of the city and the great infrastructure and roads that far exceed the capacity required for a city of just under 150,000 people!

Our stops included:
1. Palmerston Night Markets - great market for Asian food and fresh produce!
2. City Centre shopping, aboriginal art gallery/shops and murals
3. The Waterfront and Stokes Wharf
4. The Marina and North Beaches
5. The Museum and Art Gallery of the NT— really nice, and Free!
6. Mindil Beach Markets and sunset spectacle
7. The nightly Kimberley Sunset sky colors! So beautiful, but hard to capture on film!

LEG 7 - KUNUNNURA
We breathed a sigh of relief when we rolled into Kununnura, thankful that Bruce, our Ute held out. We were able to get the car battery checked and everything tested well — which was good news because we found out that getting any kind of repairs in Kunnunurra would be nearly a month away!

We used our time in Kunnunurra to reset, catch up and plan the next part of our journey, but we also took the time to look around the area. Overall we enjoyed our time in Kunnunurra.

We stayed at the Agricultural Showgrounds, just on the edge of town. Nice people, nice facilities. We were warned to keep everything locked up there…and we are diligent about doing it. But on our last morning there, we had an early morning knock on our door from our neighbors who noticed our ute doors ajar and stuff strewn around it. We looked at the Ute, and yes, it was not how we had left it. We opened the ute and started checking for what was taken, fearing the worst. But after all was checked, we only lost 4 juice boxes and a bag of coins! It could have been so much worse! We think it was kids, and they must have gotten spooked and left quickly. We felt very lucky and that once again someone was watching over us!

Some of the sights we took in included:
1. Kununnura Diversion Dam
2. Celebrity Tree Park and the Lily Creek Lagoon/Lake Kununnura
3. Ivanhoe Crossing - no one crossing there right now!
4. Ivanhoe Cafe and their famous mango smoothies
4. Artlandish Aboriginal Art Gallery
5. Kelly’s K**b Lookout
6. Mirima National Park - so special we will add more info about it separately!

Leg 6 - A BUNGLE BY THE BUNGLE BUNGLES
After leaving The Gibb behind, we headed south to Highway 1 to see the sights on the “long road” to Kununnura. It’s about 200km longer than taking The Gibb — but has thousands fewer bumps! We had plans to spend three days on the road to Kununurra, with the planned highlight being time at The Bungle Bungles (Purnululu), a UNESCO world heritage site famous for its beehive-shaped towers with horizontal bands of color.

We planned on spending 3 days on the journey, to give us time to see the Bungle Bungles. Using WikiCamps, we had free camp stops plotted out along the way. Our first day went great, and we found an amazing place to stop for the night - Ngumban Cliff Rest Area. It sits high on a bluff with views forever and is a great place to watch the sunset. And as luck had it, sunset put on a show that night!

We headed out early the next day to get to our next free camp outside the gates of the Bungle Bungles. It is a popular spot used by caravanners to use as a base to visit the park. We read it was best to get there early to make sure you can find a spot and we only had a 3 hour drive to get there, so life was good!

When we were about 10km from the rest stop, we started getting warning lights on the Ute/truck, so we pulled over to investigate and turned off to see if the lights would reset (as is sometimes the case). But this time, the Ute was dead. After just hearing horror stories of the cost to tow a Ute and caravan in these remote areas, we both had a huge feeling of dread. We went through the car manual to check the warning lights, and talked about the decision to keep the car connected to the caravan overnight, and decided it must be a flat battery.

Fortunately we had a portable battery charger with us, and when we hooked up, it started right away. But we weren’t sure what the problem was, and fearing getting stranded or a big tow bill, we decided to push on to Kununnura where we could get the problem diagnosed. So in the end, we skipped the Bungle Bungles, with plans to visit on our return journey. Crisis averted, but a bucket list item missed for now!