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.