Sunday, August 1, 2010

Kunnururra to Darwin

Kunnunurra was a town that we booked into for a few days as we wanted to check out  Lake Argyle on the Ord River Dam.....Also Mick had to do the usual and visit the local hard-ware store, so while standing at the counter at the hard-ware store, Mick heard a voice call " Baggy "across the shop and it was Dan Gleeson from Wagstaff, so of coarse the boys had a few drinks to swap stories as Dan and Nora were staying at the same van park...It really is a small world, we had no idea they were in Kunnunurra . Leaving Kunnunurra it was not  far till we crossed over the W.A. border to N.T.....and of coarse that meant no more Kimberleys...      
     
  Putting a few more hundreds of kls behind as again, we arrived at Katherine and set up in the van park  as the Katherine Gorge was another port of call for us , we wern't disappointed  as the boat trip and the walk  to the gorge was one of beauty.....We also had to have a swim in  the Katherine hot pools  ..... Leaving Katherine,  our next day of travel was only 40kls to Edith Falls and also a wonderful place to stop over in the Nitmiluk National Park where we stayed a couple of nights and enjoyed a night of a wildlife ranger explaining to us how the park is run as a joint management ship between the traditional owners and the N.T.  Parks....Very informative......Next night we stayed at a place called Pussy Cat  Flats., its a local race coarse come golf coarse and now a caravan park ,its one way to try and get some money together for the club. ...They open the bar at 4pm each day so of coarse it was a little social gathering for the travellers.....Exercise that afternoon and again the following morning was 3 laps around the race trace...Even took a photo of us all in the starting stalls....                
      Douglas hot springs was another stop-over and you could not put your foot in the water at one area as the temperature was nearly at scalding point....We needed to go further up stream to have it cool enough to sit in....  From this point we were very close to Litchfield National Park where we booked in for 2 nights ........Plenty of waterholes and waterfalls to explore and swim in...Plenty of walks but once again  the days were very hot...Had the snorkles out for Wangi Falls and were informed after the swim that the National Parks and wildlife had shot a croc only 3 days earlier, they had tried to trap him/her and was unsuccessful...(GREAT)                   
    Finally have arrived in Darwin.....I am not sure what to say about this town/city yet as it is a little early to make a judgement but i will say the weather has been extremly hot and may-be that's the reason that i could be in a hurry to move on...When the weather man says 33degrees you know that you are looking at 36plus when you walk in to your hot caravan....Whats going on?     its suppose to be winter in the top end....Anyway we went to the Mingle Beach markets last night and were quite amuzed to see everyone coming to the markets with there deck chairs, then just as the sun was setting, everyone  crowded onto  the beach to see the sun go down with there take away dinner from the food outlets......As soon as the sun set back everyone came  up from the beach to the markets.....The Darwin Museum was worth a visit and there is a whole floor on cyclone Tracey which i found very emotional.....Plus the story of Sweetheart the crocodile....I must make a mention  the noise from the airport....The park we are in is very close to the airport--domestic,international and RAAF.......I have been told that they all share,also the Americans are in town and the boys are doing some big exercise..... Can you imagine the F1 11 's and F18's  flying over head   many times through out the day and evening...The whole town vibrates with this booming noise, we are going to watch the runway tomorrow and see if we can catch them take off...Its quite exciting but deafening...   Would hate to have been in London in the war as we think we are in a war zone now.....We still have many places that we want to visit and when we do leave Darwin we are going to go through Kakadu.....Have been told many stories about the area and most of it is Kaka-don't,   but  ---we need to form our own opinion on that issue.....                      
               Love to all for this time        THE BAGGYS

                              

Ivanhoe Crossing at Kununurra

Beautiful Boab Tree at Kununurra

Lake Argyle on the Ord River

You'll never never know if you never never  go...Northern Territory
Katherine Gorge walk

Katherine Gorge

Katherine hot springs

Just loved this place

Boys having fun at Edith Falls

Chasing the locals at Pussy Cat Flats

Nature at work at Pussy Cat Flats race coarse

Beautiful Litchfield National Park

Wangi Falls - Litchfield National Park

Berry Springs


 
"Sweetheart "--known around Darwin for biting out-board motors off boats.
Sadly she drowned while they were trying to re-locate her to a croc farm.
She is at the Darwin Museum.

1 comment:

  1. Looks fantastic guys....wish we were there
    Brad & Trish

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