Day 13,14 Farm Stay

After commencing our trip in the hot and dry north our final destination is the decidedly cool and moist town of Woolbrook in the New England region of NSW. A farm stay with family members delivers wonderful home cooked meals, the spinning of yarns, reminiscing, beautiful scenery, an hour or two of unskilled farm labouring and a chance to relax for a couple of days.

A visit to Woolbrook is like stepping into another era. Once a bustling town with shops, garages, churches, a brick works, railway station and so much hope. Today the village is a collection of quaint houses, a well used School of Arts hall, a public school, a new bridge, a free camping area by the picturesque river, a church which meets once a month and a strong sense of community. If Sydney prices are getting to much for you a nice three bedroom house in the village, set on half an acre is on sale for a mere $130,000. Five minutes away is a railway station that has a daily service to Sydney, twenty minutes away is the small but very lively town of Walcha and the big smoke, the towns of Armidale and Tamworth, are a little under an hour away.

Our hosts are the highlight. Shiena’s practical sensibilities, green thumb, sheep whispering skills and ability to cook, bake and sew make her a veritable agricultural powerhouse.  David’s ability to turn one man’s trash into another man’s mini milking shed, plus his ability to turn feral goats into domestic pets, makes an escape to the country look very appealing.

To top it off, a visit to a very talented local handyman and general mechanical genius sees a couple of Matilda’s maintenance problems fixed in under ten minutes.

Tomorrow we complete our return from the Never Never. After fourteen days on the road and a distance of over 5000km we are thankful to be heading home with Matilda still in tow.

Day 12 Entering the home state

The 200 km back road from Mitchell to St George is narrow but delivers us safely through irrigated farmlands to the town of St George. A family from our church hailed from this town and we had always imagined it to be somewhere in remote outback Queensland. In fact, it’s not really remote, compared to where we have come from, and is very civilised and surprisingly quaint. The bridge over the river doubles as the dam wall, providing water for irrigated cotton, wheat, grapes and much more.  A feature of St George is the stunning bauhinia trees, which are covered with pink, lilac and white flowers and line the streets on both sides. The people are friendly, the petrol is cheap but the wind is chilly.

From St George it is only about 100km to the rather unimpressive NSW border town of Mungindi, where the petrol is more expensive, the people less friendly and the wind still chilly.

Our day ends in the lovely town of Inverell where the petrol is cheaper again, the river picturesque, the Chinese restaurant unchanged since the gold rush era and the wind even more chilly. Walking along the river at dusk the feel is more European than outback. There are signs describing the wildlife that inhabits the river. Fortunately, our croc days are now behind us and we scour the river intently for any signs of a platypus.

Our journey south has reached its penultimate destination and all is good – except, did we mention that it is rather chilly.

Day 11 Martin Luther's cure for depression

Martin Luther, the famous sixteenth century German Reformer, once outlined his cure for depression, ‘noble acts and warm baths’.

Our first stop today is 100kms out of Longreach at the little town of Barcaldine, home of a very noble act. In 1891 a group of striking shearers met under a ghost gum in front of the railway station. The organisation that was formed on that day became the Australia Labor Party. The tree known as the Tree of Knowledge was living up until 2006 when it was poisoned with roundup by Andrew Bolt… only joking… by some unknown rascals. Now the original tree trunk and some of its remaining branches is surrounded by a grand wooden memorial sculpture. The accompanying plaque states that this famous meeting ‘spearheaded the many reforms which were to result in a vastly improved way of life for Australians generally’.

The next 500kms saw us passing through some very dry countryside, but also some lovely little towns, including Tambo, which boasts the prettiest library we have ever seen. We also had a glimpse of the ‘Outer Barcoo, where the churches are few’, a river made famous by Banjo Paterson, which is today completely dry. Sadly, along the A2 we passed more road kill than we have ever seen in almost forty years of driving. Cows, emus, lizards and thousands of kangaroos littered the sides of the roads. So sad.

Our day ended at the town of Mitchell on the banks of a flowing river, the first river we have seen containing water for almost 3000kms. Following Martin’s advice we immediately had a warm bath, or to be more precise, a swim at the Great Artesian Basin Spa fed from the Great Artesian Basin. The recently renovated public pool and spa featured a 38 degree natural spa which greeted us with warmth and relaxation and left us feeling rejuvenated.

No depression here, especially after dinner of porterhouse steak with veggies and rice cooked in the caravan park’s camp kitchen. A feast,for less than $10.  

Day 10 Unsung heros

If you tried to mark the centre Queensland on a map you would probably land on Longreach. Similarly if you drew a line on a map from Rockhampton to Alice Springs, at the mid point, you would also find Longreach. While thinking about maps, if you labelled the Tropic of Capricorn on a map, it would also go through Longreach. Longreach is further from Brisbane, than Brisbane is from Sydney. It is a remote town literally in the centre of the outback, with a population of only 3000 people and can’t even support a Woolworths supermarket, yet Longreach boasts two very impressive tourist attractions.

The Stockman’s Hall of Fame is a tribute to the unsung hero’s who opened up the vast areas of inland Australia. The exhibits focus on social history telling the stories of individual people and the lives they led in these remote parts. Drovers who travelled for years moving stock from place to place, Aboriginal Australians who excelled as stockmen, pioneering women who did much more than keep house and even adventurous clergymen are celebrated in a museum with words, pictures, videos and interactive displays. After two or three hours at this remarkable museum we had only just scratched the surface. Sadly we missed the Outback Stockman’s Show as it isn’t held on a Monday.

Just across the road is another national treasure, the Qantas Founder’s Museum. Having just driven the very long distance from Darwin to Longreach we appreciated the need for a Queensland and Northern Territory Air Service. The museum celebrates the three young men who, upon returning from air service in WW1, scraped together enough capital to buy a plane or two. From those very humble beginnings grew an airline company and The Flying Kangaroo became the national icon that it is today. As we walked through the original 1920’s corrugated iron shed we could hear the roar of planes taking off. It was not a museum sound effect, but the real thing, as the runway of the Longreach Airport is right next door. To cap it off the museum has the only 747 Jumbo Jet on display in the world… Qantas, of course. Amazing!

Australian’s today often think we are doing it tough. A visit to Longreach is a tribute to those who have pioneered our country, both indigenous and European. Maybe we should stop whinging, work a little harder and remember the real unsung heros, who against extraordinary odds carved modern Australia out of the scrub. 

  

Day 9. Mean lean cows.

After the long straight roads we have travelled in the last few days, this morning we were surprised by the windy road through the rocky mineral rich hills, south of Mt Isa. Soon, however, we reached the open farmland and it became apparent the devastation caused by four years of drought. For hundreds of kilometres we passed empty parched paddocks, withered trees, mini dust storms and isolated groups of sad lean cows. All were the visible signs of a region weary from drought.

Having said that we were amused at a road sign warning of the dangers of stray cattle. The sign actually looked like a cow eating a car, these poor cows in western Queensland must be really hungry.

Yet, despite the obvious desperate state of the region, we were impressed by the proud history and the sense of hope that the people seem to have. In Cloncurry they commemorate the Presbyterian Minister John Flynn who believed there was a better way to provide medical support to the local area and went on to set up the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

In Winton we were surprised to read that Lyndon B. Johnson (who became the 36th US President) had survived an air crash near the town in 1942, and had recuperated at the North Gregory Hotel. It was in this same hotel that Waltzing Matilda was first performed in 1895. Banjo Patterson and Christina Mcpherson had written it in nearby in Dagworth. Winton was also the venue of the first board meeting of Qantas held in 1921. Finally, this same small town, now describes itself as the Dinosaur Capital of Australia following a range of remarkable fossil discoveries.

By mid afternoon we arrived in Longreach and set up Matilda after her long drive down, the appropriately named, Matilda Highway. While enjoying a cup of tea we were surprised when our little van started to rock and shake. Around us tents were flapping furiously and canvas was tearing. It was over in less than a minute and we realised a willy willy of swirling dust had hit us and was making its way though the campground. It was but a tiny reminder of the harsh realities faced by those trying to survive in Outback Queensland.

Day 8 Chilling @ The Isa

Back in the sixties and early seventies we used to do a subject at school called Social Studies. In those days there was this (now outdated) idea that it was important to teach kids a whole lot of facts about Australia, in the hope that one day they might find them useful. Homework included learning  the names of the rivers in NSW or locating the kauri forests in WA on a map or labelling the major industries in Queensland. Today as we drive into Mt Isa our Effective Social Studies textbook comes to life. Mt Isa is Queensland’s most important mining town and one of the most productive single mines in the world, producing lead, silver, cooper and zinc.

Approaching town, Glencoe’s huge Mt Isa Mine, is on our right. The impressive 274m chimney stack is the visual centrepiece of a huge open cut and underground mine. Mining is rarely pretty, but its hard not to be impressed with the size of this mine. The original town of Mt Isa is located directly across the street from the mine, the newer part  is just across the Leichhardt River. The river is dammed upstream to provide the town’s water supply so most of the time the river is as dry as the Todd (in Alice Springs).

After a week in remote NT we are excited by the prospect of replenishing our dwindling food supplies. After a quick drive around the town and the mine we turn up to the local Woolies at 5.01pm on a Saturday afternoon to face a devastating reality, we are in Queensland and Woolies and Coles close at 5.00pm and won’t reopen until Monday. Fortunately, a local corner store sells us some sausages, frozen vegies, microwave rice and a chocolate Bavarian pie. Once again we are eating like kings.

Tonight the temperature will drop to 13 degrees, so we really are…chilling @ ‘The Isa’.

Day 7 Leaving the tropical north

Today’s 830km road trip began at 8am at Mataranka.

Our first stop was the Daly Waters Pub. The iconic hotel, is the oldest in the NT and was recently featured in the Australian movie, The Last Cab to Darwin. Without spoiling the plot, the movie tells of a road trip from Broken Hill to Darwin undertaken by a cab driver, played by Michael Caton. The story has a serious message about life, death and what really counts. It is genuinely funny and very Australian.

The Daly Waters Pub, even at 10am, is a classic. Business cards, photos, licences, photographs and memorabilia of all description cover every flat space, including the bar. Hats, number plates, road signs, flags, singlets, navy rank slides and much, much more mean that this place is something of a museum with contributions from the many who have travelled the Stuart Highway over the years. Outside, the beer garden is also filled with quintessential Aussie kitsch. In the movie, the cabbie is assisted by an attractive, young, English barmaid. Sure enough, behind the bar today is a charming young Pom, no doubt backpacking her way around Australia.

Just short of Tennant Creek we arrive at the Three Ways Roadhouse where we do a 90 degree wheelover (navy speak for lefthand turn). From there to the Queensland border is 400kms of nothing. Nothing…except for the expansive Barkly Tableland and the Barkly Homestead (a roadhouse and campground). We enjoy utilising a drive-through caravan site with power pole, tap and a square metre of astro turf. Strangely, it reminds us of how we used to drive up beside the speaker pole at the drive-in movies, when we were teenagers. It’s a pleasant 28 degrees with a cool breeze blowing, so we are very happy to bunker down in Matilda for a delicious meal of chicken mornay and vegetables cooked on our ancient butane stove.

Sometimes a road trip is hard to beat!

Day 6 A road less travelled

There are many reasons to travel. The main purpose of this trip is to make our way home to Sydney. The second is to explore a bit more of this great country, especially the NT. The third is to catch up with some very dear friends on the way.

Today we make a 400km return trip (260km on a single lane bitumen road and 140km on dirt) to visit John and Jenna Armstrong and their family who work as volunteers in the remote community of Ngukurr. Ngukurr is a predominantly indigenous community with a population of about a thousand people and is located about 100kms from the coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria.

We are surprised at the diversity and beauty of the Roper River region. Driving across the Roper Bar at this time of the year, though the water is only inches deep, is still exhilarating. The scenery is stunningly beautiful. If it wasn’t for the crocs this would be a picture perfect swimming hole.

It is always a great joy to catch up with friends. John and Jenna have created a wonderful home for their growing family. You can buy a gourmet meal in all sorts of fancy places, but there are few things more enjoyable than breaking home cooked bread (and cake) with friends of long standing.

A highlight of the day is a visit to the Ngukurr Arts Centre. A painting of a group of magpie geese in a billabong begs us to take it home. We buy the painting and are delighted to meet the artist, Karen Rogers. We enjoy chatting with her about her love of country, family and art. 

Our day ends back at Mataranka Homestead with a live open air concert. A whip cracking concert, no less! 

Day 5 The Never Never

The phrase the ‘Never Never’ was popularised in recent history by a successful TV tourist campaign for the Northern Territory featuring Daryl Somers warning that ‘You’ll never never know, if you never, never go’.

‘We of the Never Never’ was the title of a memoir written early in the 20th century by Jeanie Gunn. It tells the story of how she, as a refined young lady from Melbourne, followed her new husband to a remote station near Mataranka. In the 1980s a movie was made about the book and its legacy has provided Mataraka with a legend on which to build a thriving tourist industry. Well, thriving by remote NT standards. It includes three dry and dusty caravan parks without a blade of grass in sight, two service stations, a small grocery store, the old replica homestead, which was the location of the movie and a park with several statues of people resembling the movie’s lead characters.

Mataranka’s other popular, and more natural tourist attractions are the thermal springs. One thermal spring is close to the Mataranka Homestead Resort (interpret resort rather loosely) and is a natural spring of warm ground water, which was utilised by some enterprising WW2 soldiers to create an enticing swimming hole. The water is warm, crystal clear and rather pleasant.

Eleven kilometres away is another thermal spring known as Bitter Springs. This entirely natural spring meanders for about 300 metres. The order of the day is to get in at one end and float down with the current as far as you can go and then get out and walk back and do it all again. The water temperature is about 34 degrees slightly lower than the outside temperature of 36. We obviously missed the tourist memo to bring a pool noodle and as the water is a couple of metres deep it meant we had to tread water as the current washed us down stream. It was a wonderful experience and after the third time we were rather weary.

Mataranka remains the home of the Never Never and is certainly very, very worth a visit.

Day 4. A Caravan?

If you know us well, you are probably a bit surprised that we are returning from Darwin to Sydney towing a caravan. Yes it is true, and as we have not attempted any form of camping for over three decades there needs to be an explanation.

Last year we spent a couple of days in Kakadu and paid $300 a night for what was in the end, a very ordinary hotel. We then paid $45 each for a dinner, which left us hungry and wishing we could a cook our own meal. As a result we thought we might look for a cheap second hand van so that we could explore the Top End more economically. After a bit of a search we eventually found and adopted Matilda, a 1984 Jayco Finch pop top caravan. Her previous owner, Sharon, was delighted that her much travelled Matilda, now had a new family.  Sadly the Navy cut short our time to continue explore the NT, so instead we are following a great Navy tradition and towing the van home.

Matilda is no ‘looker’, that is, she is not pretty. ‘Retro’ might be a kind description, but ‘weather beaten’ might be closer to the truth. However, she is solid, has a great new fridge and electrics and the interior is surprisingly spacious and comfortable.

Despite Matilda’s previous travel experience we are not prepared to take any unnecessary risks with her, so today we decide to drop her off at the beginning of a 4WD track and make a slight detour to Maguk – a pristine swimming hole close to the Kakadu escarpment. Lunch was a pre-prepared ham and cheese sandwich (served chilled, from Matilda’s fridge) and eaten just down the road at the beautiful Bukbuklok lookout.

Tonight we booked into a powered site at Mataranka Homestead and paid a mere $26 for the night. We enjoyed a meal of fresh salad, savoury rice and lamb cutlets for a total cost of less than $10. We are far from proficient at this grey nomad stuff, but we are sold on another form of low cost, independent travel. 

Day 3 The Hot Dry

According to western science there are two seasons in the Top End, the wet and the dry. According to the indigenous people of northern Australia, there are six seasons and each is heralded by changes to the flora, fauna and of course the weather. This season is known as Gurrung (hot, dry) – which is exactly what today has been, low humidity and 38 degrees.

Too hot for a long walk, but in the early morning we brave two short ones. The first is a 2km return walk to Mardugal Billabong a beautiful, still, picturesque, reflective and croc infested waterway. We enjoy the peace and solitude beside an expanse of water that is mirror-like and teeming with wildlife. We pass through a forest of paperbarks, which is peppered with colourful and fast moving native butterflies. The second track is a 2km loop track through the woodland scrub, which is so typical of Kakadu. This walk is much dryer and hotter than the billabong walk, but the wallabies entertain us as they bound away at lightning speed when they hear us coming.

The day ends with a river cruise on one of Kakadu’s most famous waterways, the Yellow Water Billabong, which flows into the South Alligator River. We bake in the late afternoon sun but as the afternoon cools we watch the wildlife stir after the fierce heat of the day. Ducks, fish, sea eagles, kites, cormorants, jabiru, brolgas, pelicans, kingfishers, wild cattle, water buffalo, brumbies and of course… crocs, which are so close to the boat you can smell them. So at odds with the beauty of the giant lotus lilies which line the banks of the river.

As the evening approaches the sky is filled with thousands of magpie geese flying in formation to return to their nightly roosts. As the sun sets we are treated to a radiant light show befitting another unique day in the hot, dry Top End.

Day 2 Kakadu revisited

The NT News rarely prints an edition without a croc story, so in keeping with that tradition, today’s blog does include a croc adventure, but before that, some background on Kakadu.

Last year we visited the northern region of Kakadu (Jabiru and Ubirr) and didn’t see the southern region around Yellow Water. Today we start the day with a six kilometre bush walk along the Mary River before making the journey to Cooinda, via Jabiru.

If you’re ever in need of a simple lunch while in Kakadu, the place to visit is the Jabiru Bakery. We buy a delicious sundried tomato pullapart and enjoy lunch with the birdlife at a picturesque park adjoining Jabiru’s impressive lake.

Just another 50kms from Jabiru is Gagudju Lodge and Caravan Park, Cooinda. This is truly an oasis in the scrub. Tiled bathrooms, a huge pool, a large bistro/bar and a shady powered site make for very happy campers.

But you are probably wondering about that croc story. Late in the day we wander down to Yellow Water Billabong, home of Kakadu’s well-known river cruises. After we checked out the options for tomorrow’s cruise, we walk 1.5 km along a raised metal boardwalk. It follows a creek, which at this stage of the dry season, is only a few metres wide.

On three separate occasions we spot significantly large saltwater crocodiles skulking in the reeds and water lilies in shallow water less than fifteen metres from where we are standing. That distinctive saltwater croc snout and scary ridge back looks fierce at a distance, but up this close it’s rather menacing. We are in no real danger, but worry about a family of ducks within striking range of a hungry croc.

We are reminded that swimming in the top end is best done in what the Beverly Hillbillies called a ‘Ce-ment pond’.   

Day 1. Not the top of the food chain

By the time our much loved unit at Myilly Point is cleaned and has passed the rental inspection (praise God) we are on the road just after midday. Our first stop is the Mary River Wilderness Park, ninety minutes south east of Darwin and on the road to Kakadu.

Mary River is a glorious Top End wilderness. With shady trees and greenish grass thanks to large amounts of bore water, camping at Mary River is far from primitive. Even at the end of the dry season, the river flows with more water than you might ever see in the Murray. Rivers are easily accessible in the NT. Boating and fishing are the main attractions, however, bush walking is more our style. Swimming and indeed getting within five metres of the riverbank is certainly off limits, as the Top Ends crocs are much more than a Darwin tourist attraction.

In the NT the advertised message is to be ‘croc wise’. To stay away from the banks of a river like Mary, to wear Polaroid sunglasses, to refrain from cleaning up your catch too close to the river and to be constantly mindful that people are not the top of the food chain.

Crocs are amazing creatures- huge, ancient, powerful and smart.  While a tasty magpie goose, a small dog or a crunchy turtle are their usual fare, humans, it seems, are increasingly on their menu.  

Thankfully tonight, in Matilda, we are 60cms off the ground, 500 metres from the river and feeling quite secure…we hope!

Posting Out

We came to Darwin because the Navy thought it would be a good idea.

And it was!

Darwin has been a genuine surprise.

HMAS Coonawarra and Patrol Boat Head Quarters…in the finest traditions of the RAN.

Darwin, a large country town with city services and aspirations. 

Scenery, worthy of inclusion in a million postcards.

Friendly, laid back people. 

Weather that is (mostly) amazing.

NT politics that makes Ryde Council (no offence Jerome) look honest, sensible, organised and professional.

Great markets.

Darwin’s 97seven, a budget radio station with a big heart.

The last frontier.

So blessed to have lived at Myilly Point enjoying sunrise across the city and sunset across Mindil Beach (and every day and night in between).  

And of course the NT News- we’ll miss the daily croc story.

We are leaving Darwin because the Navy has another adventure in store.

Now, home to Sydney, with a little time to explore along the way.

And a new addition to the family

Matilda- a 1984 Jayco Finch, home for the next couple of weeks.

So a new blog….

Walzing Matilda, as we return from the Never Never.