22nd September – Elsey National Park, Mataranka, NT

 

Have felt the smooth weirdness today of the wheels on bitumen. The first bitumen we have seen since visiting it briefly in Cooktown and before that leaving it way back on the east coast just north of Cape Tribulation.

 

Gee….we have covered some rough roads not least of all the long arid stretches of the Gulf and its spectacular bulldust corridors. (Parts of the road that suddenly become sand as the hard surface breaks down.) The car has worked hard across this top end, but is still ploughing on. Although our GPS, video camera, tailgate and car seats have all become innocent victims of the never ending dust.

 

The day after we left Lorella Springs Station we made a bush camp by the Roper River just shy of Roper Bar. It was a dry isolated road but as the track followed the river it offered some rare chances for shade along its banks. Crocodiles are prevelant in the eastern sections of the Roper River but our camp, although right near the bank, was a good three metres above the water line. We set up camp and afterwards collapsed into our chairs in the shade of the trees.

 

At dusk the toads came out of the wood work. Dirty great Cane Toads, of every size and shape came hopping up from the banks of the river, with their care free, care less attitude. There was a bit of carnage that night as we did our bit for the aussie environment. Whacking them here and there, sending them back to where they came from where we could. It was all in the national interest of course.

 

After heading to bed that night, we were soon reminded of just how close we actually were to the river. Although high above the bank, we could hear crocodiles moving around, swimming and doing whatever it is that they do at night. The sound was disconcerting, especially as we were surrounded by reeds that rustled every time even the tiniest cane toad stumbled through it.

 

Huge, Giant Fruit Bats, dropped their bits and pieces down upon us from the trees throughout the night, and their wings thumped as they flew from the branches.

 

It was a long night as we pondered the likelihood of a croc climbing the bank. We looked down upon our children at ground level, from high up on our camper's double bed and thought 'I guess it's pretty unlikely'. As you guessed there wasn't much sleeping done that night.

 

We packed up the next day and set out for a different camp. We failed to find a good roadside camp past Roper Bar, so we pushed through to Mataranka where we are due to meet my parents on Wednesday anyway.

 

This morning we saw a goanna swimming in the Roper River. I didn't even know they liked to swim.

 

The croc free swimming of the western end of the Roper River led us to Elsey National Park, just outside Mataranka, where we are camped a few hundred metres from the water. It is a very quiet and pleasant campsite, easy to spend a few days. We will sit and wait for the imminent arrival of grandma and pa and make use of the great swimming…. goannas and all!

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20th September – Lorella Springs Station, NT

 

 I don't think you ever quite get used to the sight of a giant, green tree frog in the toilet, but over the last few weeks it has sure become a common sight. Sometimes, if you're really lucky you get one under the rim and one swimming in the bottom, both clinging on for dear life to the porcelain when you flush. Of course I don't want to see them flushed, but over time I have learnt two things. One, they certainly don't want to be turfed out into the 40 degree day and two, they are perfectly adapted to suction themselves to the walls of toilet bowls. Strange things animals will do out here to survive.

 

After leaving Karumba we passed through the pretty much nothingness town of Normanton where you can have a beer at the pub at 8am but can't buy takeaway anything till 12pm. So much for a big resupply! We left town with only half the goods we really needed and headed into the isolation of the Gulf towards Lawnhill National Park.

 

Lawnhill is a National Park renowned for its gorgeous waterholes and gorge as well as the 'Riversleigh' section that houses millions of year old fossils. We visited both, and to be honest were a little disappointed after hearing so much about the place. But it was lovely to have croc free swimming and we got to cruise the waters of Lawnhill Gorge with our inflatable dinghy. Swimming with the fish under the shade of palms was beautiful.

 

After leaving Lawnhill we went north again taking the back roads up to Barraloola. We crossed over the border into the Northern Territory after nearly three months exploring Queensland. The township of Booraloola was a disgrace to say the least but like all outback towns you take what you can get and move on. In our case it was some frozen bread, milk and a bin to dump our oil in from a scheduled oil change. Here they didn't sell takeaway beer till  2.30pm, so again we left town without valuable supplies, but this time we had no backups.

 

As we drove north we crossed into the newly formed Limmen National Park that houses a huge stretch of natural springs. Many of these springs also feed billabongs on the 960,000 acre cattle station, Lorella Springs. After hearing a good word about this place from another couple, we took the 30km deviation off the main track to visit it. Well…we thought we had landed in heaven.

 

It is a working cattle station but has a beautiful camp with green grass and huge eucalyptus trees and best of all, croc free swimming in a thermal pool. The place is run by a funny little bush character named Daryl (that Max managed to do an under counter deal with for two 36 can blocks of XXXX GOLD) and was occupied by only three other groups of campers. Fred…the talkative, yarn spinner from 4WD Action magazine, out there to do a magazine story. Rick…the bizarre metrosexual that drove out there in a Suzuki Swift only to fish from his sea kayak in croc infested waters, rifle across his knees. The most placid, girlie spoken man that I had met in a long time, but he did dangerous stuff neither of us would dream of. The last mob were a couple that had driven up from Alexander in Victoria on a THREE week holiday….Go figure??? Anyway god knows what they thought of us but it was a wonderful few days of good company, good conversation and a great environment.

 

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September 12th 2008 - Karumba, Qld

"Ey Karumba" .... that's all we could pretty much say as we pulled into the little known seaside town of Karumba, 70km out of Normanton, on the Gulf of Carpentaria. We were greeted with bright blue waters and blinding white beaches, a tiny fishing village, supported by a thriving fish and prawning industry. The large port on the Norman River serves not only as a fishing port but as an export hub for live cattle. (I guess all those millions of Brahma cattle we've been seeing have got to go somewhere.)
 
The Gulf is a beautiful sight and it is here in these relatively shallow protected waters that the fishing is said to be the absolute best in Australia. We are surrounded by not only fishing enthusists, but people obsessed by fishing. At the crack of dawn they are out in tinnies, charters and whatever vehicle they can find, and at the turn of the tide they return with bags and bucket loads of fish. There is a fish cleaning area near camp and by midday fishermen and woman are cutting and cleaning, filleting their catches ready for the pan. To be honest I don't know what they do with all they catch. It seems to be far too much for anyone person to eat day after day.
 
Getting over to the Gulf from Cooktown was an adventure. There were many a moment when we asked ourselves how we managed to find such isolated places, but it paid off as we got to see some wonderful cattle stations. As there are no direct roads to the gulf from the Cape most people go down the coast to Mareeba and across the Savannah Way through Georgetown etc. However we decided to shoot south across country from Laura (on the Cape York Road) to meet up with the Burke Developmental Road that crosses the base of the Cape York Peninsula from east to west. A slower more isolated path, but full of birdlife and rich cattle grazing country. We managed to dodge a few steers and not add to the excessivly high wallaby road toll.
 
The days here are gorgeous, and we are blessed with spectacular sunsets that put on a show over the water. When we get tired of this place we will head south west towards Normanton and more of the Gulf country. It's a sight to behold.
 
I guess all my loitering around the fish cleaning area finally paid off as it looks like we are having fish tonight! (Told you they couldn't eat them all themselves....hee, hee)

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September 6th 2008 - Cooktown, Qld

Back where the hills are undulating and the tracks are maintained. We are tonight in the relative comfort of a motel in Cooktown..... we hit the big smoke! After a few weeks in the desert like conditions of the Cape we have come to rinse the dust and grubbiness off one set of clothes at least. We have things to do and see, so we took the opportunity skip the camper setup for at least one night.
 
Cooktown is another town that has jumped out and surprised us with its natural beauty and unpretentious attitude. We spent time at Weipa on the far north, western side of Cape York and really loved it. It is a lovely sheltered spot and for a mining town we were extremely surprised. Thanks to a few new friends and some senstaional weather, we now call Weipa one of our favorite places.
 
The kids are going along great, and seem to revel in the whole new place, new friends experience. We will spend a few days here before backtracking slightly and heading west towards Normanton and the Gulf.

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