Category: YouTube – @colinspain1078

16. Great Life lapping Australia 2024

Port Hedland Twilight tour

Fortunately, there were just the four on the twilight tour of the land side of the port. The trains laden with iron ore come in to Port Hedland each hour with 2 “rakes”. A rake is made up of two locomotives and 132 cars each containing 120-130 tonnes of ore. Most trains have 2 rakes or 264 cars and are almost 3km long. It can take half an hour to walk from one end to the other. BHP mining and processing hubs are connected by more than 1000km of rail infrastructure. From Mt Newman to Port Hedland is 426 kilometers. The operations of the mining and railway is controlled or monitored from Perth using solar power.

Dampier Salt

Amongst all this iron ore and other metals are large salt pans where salt is processed from Indian Ocean waters. The sodium concentration in the waters nearby makes good free raw materials for Dampier Salt Mines with major shareholders Rio Tinto. Fortesque owns and operates eight purpose-built 260,000 tonne capacity Ore Carriers to move the salt. Current production is 3.2 million tonnes per year.

A little poem I found on a Starlink page -Hope you enjoy it!

Karen and Bill, in their caravan so grand,

$250k worth, they’d proudly demand.

But when it came to Starlink, their frugality showed,

For an extra $20, they’d rather hit the road.

Through the Outback they traveled, so rugged and free,

But Wi-Fi was sketchy, as you’d surely agree.

Karen would mutter, “Our budget’s so tight,”

Bill’d grumble, “A hotspot? It’s just not right.”

From Sydney to Perth, their adventure was grand,

Yet, without decent signal, they’d just wave their hand.

They’d stop by a town and beg for a free fix,

While their $250k caravan stayed in the mix.

They saw kangaroos, koalas, and more,

But buffering screens left them feeling quite sore.

So next time you hear of a couple in strife,

Remember Karen and Bill and their Wi-Fi life!

Interesting though. There’s truth in that. Its interesting that much wealth is ploughed into vans and cars to tow them but the owners complain about caravan parks charging $35 a night, just for a patch of grass, while they drink 2 bottles of wine every night.

Port Hedland port tour

The movie below is our port tour of Port Hedland. I hope you gain something from the movie, there is so much happening at the port each day. The tour is organized by the Seafarers organization. They are interested in helping those who work on ships for months on end. The crew can go there knowing they have friends on shore who help make their lives just a little easier to bare. The crew can “click and have delivered” food and goods from the seafarers store. We saw a delivery to one crew on our port tour.

We drove out of Port Hedland feeling we had learned a lot about Australia that can only be learned by being there. Seeing all the industrial support given to export this nations rich mineral wealth so that Australians can enjoy the good life that this country makes available to its population made us feel humbled. Over 50% of the mineral exports reach back to every person in their wages or grants to their locality. Gina Rinehart has painted some of her trains pink and gives the profits of those trains to breast cancer research. I applaud innovators who provide freely for us to benefit.

Point Samson

We found the little township of Point Samson on our way to Karratha and decided to stay a couple of nights. Talking to a mother of two kids at the pool, she said how her husband works the mines as an engineer and she homeschools the kids. They change campgrounds each few weeks. That’s the way they have chosen to bring their kids up. Evidence of her work was shown when her daughter commented on Lyn’s pretty bathers. Wow! from an 8 year old.

Many of you know, Lyn still runs our travel agency, Grey Nomads Travel and Cruise. You can see her hard at work in her office making an Azamara Cruise booking. (Anyone jealous of her office?)

Karratha and Dampier

The mining industry is spread well in the Pilbara area of West Australia. We travelled on in to Karratha to find a modern looking town but, like Port Hedland, covered with a thin layer of red dust. The weather forecast is for rain in the next couple of days so we wonder if we will see a clean washed town soon.

Our first duty after lunch is to the visitors center. We had good words about the lady there and they came true. She guided us to the things we could do and visit while here. The first in the agenda was to go to Hearson’s Cove for the month’s “Stairway to the moon”. Many places along the West Australia coast have this every month the best known is Broome.

Dampier

Dampier certainly is a red dust village. We tried to find the shopping center and could only find a tiny IGA and a shocking pub for lunch (the tortillas were great tho). However, Dampier is more known for being another iron ore despatch port, not as busy as Port Hedland. The “north-west shelf” gas project is BIG with some massive infrastructure at the processing plant where the gas is treated before being shipped for energy sources in many countries in Asia.

This is the beach we watched the moon rise from.

15. Great Life lapping Australia 2024

More of 80 Mile Beach

We had not expected to extend our stay here to a week, but we were finding the beach suited our style. There has been constant sunshine and high temperatures. Each evening, we chose to drive a kilometer down the beach and walk in the setting sun. The west turns on a good show all along the coast and many sunsets get noticed by all those camping on beach side camps. One of our neighbours turned out to be New Zealanders. They were doing all the desert roads of Australia in a 4WD truck with accommodation built into the tray of the truck.

A guy from Perth has provided a few nights of Australian country songs and ballads, many of which, he has written. His guitar solos have been very well performed; fast and furious. Of course, he was name dropping as he introduced some of the music.

It is unusual at this time of year, but the skies seemed ready to drop some sort of storm on us, so we got away by 7:15am on the day we departed. Firstly, 9km of red dust corrugated road to the Great Northern Highway intersection where we checked tyre pressure. We had reduced tyre pressure on the Suzuki to drive the beach.

Purdoo Road House

Arriving at Purdoo Road House, we found a great little shop where Lyn became mesmerised in a thong attached to a stick to be used to smash insignificant flies who had strayed in her direction. The fuel despatch was all done by the customer unlike any fuel depot in more civilised locations. I asked the shops keeper “what brings you to Purdoo?” Both he and his wife sniggered in response. They were from Indonesia and Australians just don’t like to work in “out of the way places” in Australia’s outback. A guy parked beside us, had a starlink receiver attached to his roof rack.

Port Hedland

After setting up at our site for Port Hedland, we headed to the information centre to make bookings for the seasonal active tours that are offered. The twilight Industry Tour and the Harbour Tours are popular and very informative. When they are done, we will know so much more about the world’s busiest bulk export port.

Across the road is “The Kiwi Shop”. Being a New Zealander, I had to check it out. Open the door, and you could hear a kiwi accented conversation happening. And there it was, a fridge full of LnP. Gotta get some. And some Hokey Pokey ice cream, some of that too. And Griffins chocolate biscuits. I felt back home again; and I had migrated to Australia 62 years ago – without the need of a passport. There was also product for Tongans and Fijians too. They come to Port Hedland as FIFO (fly in fly out) employees at the port and the mines.

But what “took the cake” was the Telstra Pay Phone box in the Main Street; space but “no can talk”.

14. Great Life lapping Australia 2024

Cable Beach.

As we have moved our mindset from touring West Australia to experiencing West Australia, we are intending to stay 3 or 4 nights at each chosen location, many of them will be beaches. Lyn loves to sit by ocean waters to enjoy sunshine, her reason for the skin color change. Cable beach in Broome is well known for the sunset camel ride. We didn’t experience the camels but filmed them in 2013.

Broome is a very busy town as many travelers restock supplies to do the Gibb River drive around the Kimberleys or further north or on their way south.

Barn Hill

Not far down the Great Northern Highway from Broome is this interesting farm that cares for many campers heading north or south. The 9 kilometers of private road is not the type I would like to drive to get home each day. But that is forgotten when you experience Barn Hill for a few days. Something like flying to London in economy class is forgotten in a few hours.

The grounds are made of the same red dirt you drive to Barn Hill on; powdery cosmetic dust. The clumps of rock and dirt and shale on the coast put there by nature reminds me, in a way, of the Sacred Valley in Peru but without a plan to build a city. Commonly referred to by regulars to Barn Hill as “the lost cities”, the colors change with both the time of day and the angle of the sunlight. If you’re driving the Great Northern Highway and go past the inconspicuous turn off, go back and experience the unique landscape of Barn Hill.

Everything at Barn Hill is done differently. Even the ablution block has been built of corrugated iron. As the property only has campers in the dry season, there is no roofing on the toilets and showers; just the stars in the sky to provide privacy. There is a lawn bowls club and green. Each morning starts with the smell of freshly baked bread created at the onsite bakery. Pizza and take-away lasagna are available on order some nights. Why not drive the red dirt to experience the charm of this “camp on a cliff”.

Flying a drone has become a hobby that brings a lot of satisfaction to me. After having made many travel movies by shooting from a movie camera on a tripod all around the world while taking groups of clients on a “trip of a lifetime”, moving into drone photography has brought many a “wouldn’t I get some great shots” feeling to me, if I had a drone in the sky! But not to be. I’ve settled now with the attitude “gotta get the drone up, there’s some great photos up there”. Driving along the highways on this lap of Australia, it’s happened a few times. Enjoy!

Most flights, I do not have a plan of what to shoot. The plan develops when I see what’s in the camera. Something like “right spot, right time” intuition. Sometimes it’s “let’s try this maneuver” and out comes “Wow! That’s nice”. At Barn Hill, that’s just what happened. The incoming surf was making lace on the beach, and I was awestruck at what nature freely provides for us to capture and share. It’s there now to enjoy. I’ve watched the movie many times since completing it and yes, there is a few “could be better” spots to improve on. But I’m happy to include it in my YouTube library now.

80 Mile Beach

Moving from Barn Hill to 80 Miles Beach started with the 9 km of red dirt and finished with another 9 km of red dirt but with many more corregations. Arriving here is a relief. The camp has over 200 sites and quite a bit of grassed area. You can also drive the beach in a 4wd.

13. Great Life lapping Australia 2024

Kununurra NT

A common occurrence on our trips is to meet up with friends in out of the way places. Today was no exception as we noticed that a travel agent roommate of Lyn’s was coming to Kununurra while we were in town. We met up with “Betty” at the Wild Mango Cafe. (Yes, their Mango smoothie becomes a favourite of Lyn’s)

You will wonder why a photo of a pump and one of legs under the motor home. Before we left for the Wild Mango, we thought we’d empty out of Darwin water by doing the washing. Problem became that our water pump burnt out. Thanks to some wonderful angels next to us, at the cost of a slab of coke, we are able to continue but with a slightly different way of using our tank water.

While in this town, there’s much to see and do. It was time for a two hour flight over Lake Argyle and beyond to the Bungle Bungles. Lyn is an experienced small plane flyer but gets nervous leading up to, and during a flight. Her saviour is travel sickness tablets and the exit door on our arrival.

From altitude, Lake Argyle is an expansive lake in the middle of a drought location in northern West Australia. However, the wet season (average 800mm) changes the landscape considerably with so much water in just a few short weeks. Back in the 1970’s, the Australian government decided to harness this water to do three things: one, to use the water for a hydro power station to supply electricity to the towns around Kununurra, two, to supply those towns potable drinking water, three, to create an extensive region of irrigated farmland for fruit and vegetable crops, and large scale agriculture products like cotton. After some failures along the way, the authorities are still not sure what’s best to do.

Beyond Lake Argyle is the Bungle bungles. This region was “found” by accident when a movie making company were looking for a somewhat different location for their movie – they landed on what has become a national treasure. We were on a fixed wing single engine aircraft known as a “caravan in the sky”. I’d advise a helicopter flight from the Warmun Roadhouse would be so much more enjoyable as you can get down into the valleys to experience the effect of layers of rock that make the bungles what they are.

The Bungle Bungles

The Argyle Mine

We managed to get away from Kununurra by 7:30am. Another long day of travel in the outback of WA is very hot – it reached 44 degrees today, but no rain and beautiful blue skies. Ahead of us we came up to a caravan that had a yellow number plate with the text “Happy Wife – Happy Life”. Now that must be Earlene and Rod’s van as that was her motto given in her wedding speech.

We had a late warning from our son that his eldest son was to be baptised in the afternoon in Kew, so we hurried on to our rest area at Mary Pool Campground, a quiet spot beside a dried up river during the dry season. After setting up and getting the starlink set, we managed to watch, in the middle of nowhere, our grandson’s baptism; how great is that.

Leaving early in the morning again, we found a breakfast stop a couple of hours down the highway. Would you believe there we found an Electric Car charging station – no, there was no diesel generator supplying power, but two rows of solar panels nearby, at last. I’m not sure many cars will reach the spot too often as it was around 500km from Broome. Lyn also had some work to do and was able to use the picnic table shade to keep cool.

We had heard that Fitzroy Crossing was open after the floods destroyed the bridge a couple of wet seasons ago. The new bridge is there to stay for a long time and the road works nearby indicate that a large ‘nomadic’ campground is being created. We stopped on the side of the highway to put the drone up for some overhead shots of the landscape.

We had a diversion this afternoon. In selecting our night rest area, we read that the Ellendale Station Lagoon was a short 6 km drive beyond the Ellendale Rest Area. We called into the rest area to find a number of appropriate spots; it was good. But the remarks on the Station Lagoon wiki camps info said there were friendly cows at the lagoon and we thought “what better way to spend a night than with friendly cows?” Through the farm gate we drove, yes, lots of cows but no other campers. I was walking ahead while Lyn drove following me. I was looking for a spot which enabled us to move out quietly in the morning. Found a spot, so we drove into the area. But with the car and motor home jack knifing we just couldn’t get past some shrubs. (You can’t reverse the motor home with a car in tow, it won’t happen) I thought I had brought a pruning saw just in case. But where was it? After searching all the obvious storage bins, we had to resort to the small tomahawk axe. Chop, chop, chop, for 20 minutes, we finally made enough room to complete the Uturn. Fortunately, we were not other campers entertainment for the afternoon. And back to the rest area for the night. (Sorry, we didn’t take any photos of our ordeal – you would be laughing more than we did)

After another very hot night, we moved on towards Derby. Our breakfast stop today was at a very interesting giant boab tree. Large and leaf bare, it still provides filtered shade to a degree, to passers-by on their great adventure across Australia. Apparently, this giant boab has something so special about it that you have to give credits when whatever is written about it. On delving into the details that are mentioned, I find that there is nothing peculiar about this tree listed, other than to mention the credits. (Oh dear! I hope I haven’t contravened any said copyright.)

The Kimberley area is a kind of separated wonder of West Australia; it feels like you are in a different world – there is very little dense vegetation even though you are in the tropics. There’s an extension of the red dirt that west Australia is made of; a rusty red dust that infiltrates every nook and cranny in your caravan or motor home. Our motor home has an exhaust fan in the step well that sucks out the air to prevent the red dust coming into the living quarters. It works hard and is very effective.

After long stretches of road, some over 15km straight, we come to Derby town. Derby is famous for enormous tide variations with up to 12 meters being common. We took a quick drive out to the jetty and wharf to watch the rushing tide for the day.

Flight to Horizontal Falls

We have an early pickup transfer to the Derby Airport where our seaplane is waiting for us. There is a 40 minute flight to enjoy on the way to Horizontal Falls. The view is great and sparse. Being the dry season, the wide rivers are dry, waiting for the coming of the rains in November/December. Our pilot gives us some great vision of the horizontal falls from above before landing and transferring us to the jet boat which takes us through the first falls and stops short of going through the second; we are not allowed through due to a bad accident a few years ago. That venture doesn’t happen anymore.

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After the exhilarating pass-throughs, and a morning tea, our guide for the day takes us on another venture to see a few crocodiles on the shore of an island. Apparently, a whale beached itself and crocodiles have been eating it for food. There is also a cage to take a swim on the pontoon, and blind sharks have been attracted to the cage to be fed and viewed by the staff and visitors.

What’s he got in his mouth?
Kimberley Rose

The flight back to Derby was another exhilarating experience from above. Below was a colour display of the ocean; truly memorable and a highlight of our lap of Australia so far.

Derby Town

Broome is a very popular mecca for West Australian residents; a bit like Cairns for Eastern Australian residents. Lots of 4WDs pulling large caravans fill the campgrounds replenishing supplies before hitting the “real” roads of the Kimberley region. Our campground has a pool which is popular at the end of yet another hot day of driving.

Friday we had a few shops to visit and a quick tour of the town. We checked out the famous Cable Beach and noticed many 4WDs along the beach. That vision made our minds up to pick up an awning from Mitre 10 for the Suzuki to wear the rest of this lap. We intend to “beach-hop” all the way down the West Australian coast and around to Esperance (that’s nearly 4,000 km. This makes our ‘equipment’ fit and ready now.

The next post will probably start on a beach. lol

12. Great Life lapping Australia 2024

Leaving Darwin

I try to have something to talk about when setting up my weekly posts. The problem with last week was there was nothing to talk about that hadn’t been mentioned before. I’m sure you were happy to find something else to be interested in after the exciting Paris Olympics closing ceremony (we didn’t watch either the opening or closing ceremonies).

How good is this? We washed the outside of the motor home and the Suzuki before departing Lee Point for Katherine and West Australia. The inside of the motor home looked like it was ready to sell. Lee Point has been a good place to stay with our own en suite and an almost constant sea breeze throughout the day and night, making it pleasant in the Darwin climate at this time of year.

Driving in Australia can be very hot. We expect our journey in the next week or two to take us through temperatures in the low to mid 40 Degrees Celsius. With that in mind, our driving needs to start soon after sunrise and be done by mid-day. Once we turn right at Katherine, the traffic becomes sparse as we venture and find our first camp spot beside the highway. There are a few stops along the way for long distance travellers and we find one called Limestone stopover. There are over 20 rigs parked around ‘the red dust bowl’ of a camping spot.

Second Day on the road towards West Australia

The second day on this part of our adventure, starts with long straight stretches of open highway, the speed limit in the Northern Territory is 130kph, but the configuration of our rig means we have to keep around 100kph; kind of boring at times with concentration required to make sure you hear the beeps of the speedo indicating “Over the 100kph limit”. The countryside changes along the way and we feel we are entering a new zone of foliage. The Victoria River is coming up and we take a longish stop to enjoy the change of atmosphere with the river winding its way to the ocean somewhere.

Victoria River and beyond

It seemed that the Victoria River region and campsite would be a good one to take time out, for 2 or 3 days; but we can’t, as we have made bookings in Kununurra for a river cruise. We found an appropriate spot at Saddle Creek Rest Area. The starlink came out so Lyn had a good internet connection to do her work. How good is that? Working at a very remote location and doing a booking for a client to visit Europe in six months time; very much a mobile travel agent – and a Grey Nomad at that.

On into Kununurra

Meals can be an interruption to Lyns lifestyle; adjusting involved itineraries from remote locations, taking pics, enjoying the driving or the scenery as it goes by. Lyn would be the first to say that I never put pressure with the topic “when are we getting a meal?” I consider myself to just be and ’emergency cook’. Lyn does very well despite the high temperatures when the gas cooker is on the go, in 35 degree heat.

The day we arrived into Kununurra was Lyns birthday, so after set up, it was down to the local shop “Pink Rocks” shop to choose a gift. I hope you think it’s cute too. How different, a boab tree pendant!

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Ord River Cruise

The following day it was my birthday, so Lyn organised a six -hour cruise on the Ord River. It turned into a ‘birthday I shall not forget’. We had just boarded the little boat (with two V-8 out board motors) and I stood up and side stepped into the aisle, to take a picture. The worst thing was I took a step backwards into ’empty’ space and down I went. I ended up with a bruise in my left butt cheek and a few broken ribs on the right side. Breathing is always difficult with broken ribs so “careful, careful” is the way to go. That put a ‘dent’ in the day but thankfully another older guy got down and helped me up while Lyn called “what are you doing down there?”.

The Ord River is the water that comes over the spillway of Lake Argyle, one big lake indeed. We flew over it a couple of days later and on to the bungle bungles. It is very impressive.

There was a wealth of wildlife that live along the river banks and in the trees. We notice the ‘freshie crocodiles’ which are a little less aggressive than their relatives, the ‘salty’. We stopped and watched a’kite’ bird sitting on its nest in the high branches, and a ‘darter’ looking into the sky to impress others she was a branch in a tree while warming her eggs. We also stopped to view a colony of fruit bats and learn that a lot of their natural work is cross pollination of plants to breed more of the same kind.

Over 300 of the 760 species listed in the Australian Atlas of Birds can be found in the Kimberley, which includes birds of prey. The Lake Kununurra wetlands and Ord River are a haven for birds and easy to explore. (JJJ Tours)

Kununurra is an interesting town. It was built because of the work done on Lake Argyle to set up a large agricultural region; there is high rainfall during the wet season which may as well benefit the agricultural industry in Australia. They have tried cotton at first but the sprays caused a lot of problems. Interesting, we met up with a couple in Queensland who were agronomists and they have ‘invented’ a way to enable the cotton industry to flourish using a system using treated seed to eliminate pests and unwanted disease in the cotton harvest.

Next week, we will be travelling towards Broome.

11. Great Life lapping Australia 2024

Darwin out and about

George Brown Darwin Botanical Gardens

Tropical flowers are always a draw card to garden lovers. The botanical gardens in Darwin certainly have some beautiful blooms this last week. Amazingly, even the photos app on my phone knows the names of the peculiar ones – what a benefit. There’s a few different areas to enjoy with the tropical orchids not flowering en masse at present. Since we visited last year, an interesting sculpture has been created with a crocodile featured devouring a few unfortunate fish; nature owns its own way of survival.

Amherstia
Gardenia carinata

Museum and Art Gallery of NT

Not being a museum chaser, I was impressed with the layout and displays in the Art Gallery. Lots of extensive illustrations of how things have happened in the Northern Territory over the decades past. The section on the Cyclone Tracey disaster that hit Darwin on Christmas Day in 1974, was well displayed and explained. Darwin certainly got hit quickly and at phi-nominal force and speed. (Well worth a visit if you haven’t been to Darwin.)

Cullen Bay

This little bay appears to be the rich people’s Mecca in Darwin. Classy yachts and water edge homes are well cared for. We arrived in time to see the one and only lock in the NT helping a yacht into the upper level marina.

There is a lock keeping in bay, all the posh yachts at a marina.

Views around East Point

Mindil Beach Sunset Market

I must admit to visiting the market three times this trip to Darwin. The last visit, I was hoping to pick up a very colourful shirt for a friend turning 80 soon. The second visit to the market seemed to have better shirts – this time most were not so good, so no present going his way – for now. I had a foot and leg massage and Lyn had a neck, arms and back massage. Dinner was the “food in your hand as you walk” with the meal ending with cream and churros.

Darwin Military Museum

This war museum has managed to keep its grandest gun in good but not working order. It still stands in the same location it fired bombs to the Japanese airforce, as they attacked in 1942. Other weapons and memorabilia are well displayed too. I spent a long time reading the accounts of the Jews at the time of Hitlers nasty form of power. I left a penned comment “may there never be another leader again of any country, to be so greedy and inhumane”.

A few signs around the war museums for your information.

10. Great Life lapping Australia 2024

Darwin Northern Territory

We’ve decided to separate in Darwin for a rest and to do all the touristy things in our own time. There is much to see and Lyn and I saw most of it last year and just have a few spots to add to tick off our list. We enquired about going over to Tiwi Islands and having a day of island culture and entertainment but at $490 per person, we shied away from that idea. Lee Point is a campground to the north of the city about 15-20 minutes drive. We have learned that the campground was constructed after cyclone Tracy. The builders and trades workmen lived here for two years while the massive rebuild took place.

Each site has an en suite for the ‘tenants’.

We benefit from a sea breeze for much of the day and evening. The breeze takes away that clammy, humidity feeling. Because one in our group is waiting for a medical procedure to be done at Darwin Hospital, we will be staying here for who knows how long.

Last year we chose a favorite restaurant; the Cool Spot at Fannie Bay. The reason? Fabulous rocky road ice cream. I guess you agree we have made an excellent choice. When in Darwin, don’t leave without trying one; you’ll be surprised. (I’m not getting paid to make this promotion)

While in Darwin last year, we had heard about the Darwin Waterfront and thought it was just the jetty where the Royal Flying Doctor Museum, and the bombing of Darwin exhibition is. One day this week, we ventured further and discovered a beach and water playground. Around the perimeter were many eating places, too many to choose from really. I guess the late evenings have seen numerous rowdy parties there. Above the restaurants are holiday accommodation units and motels.

Royal Air Flying Doctor Museum and Darwin Bombing memorial display

Lyn and I had visited this spot last year but it still impresses us to experience again. The bombing in 1942 was catastrophic as was the cyclone in 1974. The good work the Flying Doctor does, is worth another look and donation.

To represent the experience of the bombing of Darwin

There are a bunch of underground tunnels just under the city itself. You gain entry through a small opening near the Darwin waterfront buildings. These tunnels were built to house oil and other fuels as a storage facility instead of the large above ground tanks we see at oil refineries today. The walls of the tunnel we toured, tell of the history of the building and problems associated with having such a large storage facility that if penetrated during war, would destroy the port of Darwin. I’m not a person who always remember facts and figures associated with museums and exhibits, so I suggest you make the time to visit the tunnels when next in Darwin. Ex servicemen are treated with a discount on entry.

Hopefully, the next post will have more exciting locations to review, but we’ll wait and see.

9. Great Life lapping Australia 2024

Yellow Water Cruise – Kakadu

To take this cruise, you need to buy tickets and check in at Cooinda Lodge where you are taken to the mooring site for your departure to an ever changing landscape of the Yellow Water billabong. If you’re in Kakadu National Park, it is a “must-do” evening cruise finishing off with another brilliant Northern Territory sunset. Yes, you can do a sunrise or “during the day” cruise, but the end of the day is the most popular one that you will enjoy. What are the guides looking for? Well, crocodiles would be the guides first “look for” on his list during our cruise; from the departure point, we headed straight across the billabong to a lazing crocodile taking in the afternoon sun; big and handsome, some would say.

The birdlife is exceptional with many whistling ducks and egrets wandering around the banks of the billabong, scattering as we make our way closer to their breeding grounds. One standout bird in this area is the Jabiru; skinny pinkish legs with long toes, he roams the “kingdom”, as if it were his.

The cruise wanders around the billabong and leaves the area where the brilliant sunset is best seen until last point of “take a look at this”; what brilliance the sky presents each and every evening in the Northern Territory!

Cahill Crossing – Kakadu

We had a previous notification that Cahill Crossing isn’t just for cars and trucks to cross the East Alligator River; salt water alligators also use the crossing to get upstream to catch fish for dinner lunch and tomorrows breakfast. The tide comes up stream and floods over the low concrete bridge enabling access for the alligators. This has become a popular tourist destination for tourists to view crocodiles in the wild as you can see from some of the videos. I was particularly taken in with the guy “surfing” up stream on the “tidal wave”. We stayed at a camp nearby for two nights which enabled us to see two episodes of the naturally occurring event. Add it to your bucket list; all included in the Kakadu NP pass.

Hey! Surfer Joe!

Corroboree Billabong Mary River National Park

Further towards Darwin and on the west side of the Kakadu National Park is the Mary River. This area is well known as a “wetlands” National Park with plenty of billabong birds and wildlife. It too has a large number of crocodiles to view their lifestyle and “activity” during the daylight. We took the evening 5pm – 6:30pm cruise, said to be the better cruise because it too includes vantage points for great sunset photos. There is also a sunrise cruise.

Yes, the first stop was to view a crocodile on the billabong bank waiting for something to consume. And the whistling ducks were close by. A prominent bird in this region is the Jabiru also. A nest high up in the trees revealed a Jabiru caring for its eggs, or young. There were many of these “kingly looking” creatures which make a fabulous display as they leap and fly into the sky for finding another searching pad for fresh fish and other water creatures. The video of three pelicans in synchronized movement was a surprise.

Our guide spotted a water buffalo in the distance bathing in the sludgy waters. On our appearance, the bull buffalo thought it a good spectacle to “get out of the bath” and head for greener pastures. Thanks Billy!

Darwin Black Night Air Display

For our time in Darwin, we have decided to take a rest from each other and do “our own thing”. Lyn and I have chosen a camp north of Darwin near the shore where we get a continual light breeze to keep the temperature at a bearable level.

However, on Thursday evenings the Mindil Market is a market all visitors to Darwin have to visit. So find our way to the market during the daylight was ok, but our return back would take a lot longer. We knew the crowd would be enormous as the 2024 RAAF Pitch Black exercise was to present a 90 minute flyover exercise over the Mindil Beach. This was made up of over 4,400 military personnel and over 140 aircraft from 20 participating nations. The exercise involves air, sea, and land contingents and is held each two years. Another for your bucket list in 2026. Really really good.

The beach was wall to wall people viewing military aircraft and “show-off” movements just close to the beach. The event was held up twice while people tried swimming and another sent up his drone. A definite no no at an event like this. Silly duffas.

8. Great Life lapping Australia 2024

Mataranka – Bitter Springs

The town of Mataranka Springs is rather small and only has the basics in shopping and commercial activity. The “supermarket” only has bread available a few days a week. Eggs for a meal are a rare event. We stayed at Bitter Springs, just 3 or 4 km away.

You do not have to make a site booking here; it’s first arrival gets the next available site. So around 8:30am, campers start arriving at the reception to commence living a Bitter Springs lifestyle. Fortunately, we were able to site side-by-side, three across. The springs are an easy 1km stroll away. They are warm and you hop in the river and float down on a “floatie” to a “get out” point and take a short walk back to the starting point for another lap or two.

Unfortunately, I must have had some bad food or nasty water and was sidelined for two days with nothing going down and everything coming up. Even the charcoal tablets were not wanted. All good now but with a looser belt.

Katherine

Katherine is a very busy town, with the gorge close by to the east, and the highways heading north to Darwin and Kakadu, south to Adelaide and Queensland and west to the Kimberlys and Perth. The supermarket is full on flat out as it is the only one to feed the thousands of tourists that drive through each day in the busy season. Fuel stations are used by all tourists to top up the fuel, for you never know when the next road house will be supplying fuel.

Some friends we met again last year, were on a mission to catch us and spend a day with us before they headed out west to Broome. Their departure from Wollongong was a month after we moved on from the Gold Coast. They caught up just as we were departing Mataranka for Katherine.

Katherine Gorge Cruise

The gorge cruise is always a bright spot to visit on a clear blue sky day, and we did just that. It is a well known “bucket list” item in the Northern Territory and offers a number of relaxing cruises at various times of the day. The rock walls offer varying colors that at different times of the day. We chose the 10:00 am cruise.

The commentary used phrases like “5.3 billion years“. It’s hard to imagine how anyone could accurately say how old a rock is or when major things happened to the region’s geography. Nothing has been written down; in fact there were no pencils and books in those days.

Look closely at Mr Crocodile

Kakadu National Park

We have entered Kakadu from the south where the roads are much, much better than the roads in many country states to the south. We found a bush camp and stayed the night with millions of stars looking down on us, proving a spectacle one will always remember. In a short period of time, you can count 15-20 satellites orbiting the earth.

Next post, we’ll have completed the Yellow River cruise and then into Darwin.

7. Great Life lapping Australia 2024

Outback night skies never disappoint.

Camooweal Billabong

I have tried to find detail of the regular residents of the Billabong but all I got was a “quack quack”. In other words, nothing. Not even a signboard to say what types or brands of water birds come here. Do any migrate to here or just pass through on to some other breeding region? Can’t tell you. Wikipedia didn’t enlighten my mind either.

So to do better than the “signboards” just come and experience the wonder of the activities of the birdlife in this out of the way billabong in outback western Queensland.

There is strong talk amongst the human grey nomads that this billabong is being closed. The decision to close the sites for camping is to protect cultural heritage and was made following discussions held between Mount Isa City Council and local landowners.

However, it is still open to short stay Grey Nomads. This lagoon is really owned by the many varieties of birds that inhabit the billabong and make it a busy natural place to live. They make the culture of Camooweal Billabong real and full of life. They are an exhibition of how we too should get along in the places we call home. Thank you birds and nature.

I said earlier that night skies in the outback never disappoint. I wrote that before I got out of bed for today’s sunrise. I guess we have to “endure” lots more of these stunning expanses of morning and evening colour, during our time in the outback.

The Northern Territory

Barkly and Frewena Rest area

The last we saw of Queensland is Police stopping traffic to do searches of the vehicles. Don’t know why, but they were very active around the vehicles they had stopped.

For those Hawkes supporters- Barkly Homestead.
No sign of any customers at three ways NT.
A sleep over takes on a new meaning when you’re driving hundreds of kilometers in a day.

Daly Waters is a well known town located around the goings on of an old country pub. Yes, everything is old and mostly broken, left to rust and never to be moved; aircraft, buses, trucks, cars windmills, and anything else that doesn’t need to be used again. The owner runs around on his quad bike making sure all is happening to his plan. He is a big guy and on the back of his quad bike, he has installed a sign “wide load”. He owns 3 or 4 other camps/pubs of similar value and “mission” in the Northern Territory. The meals provided are high quality. He has entertainment each afternoon and evening. The staff are the most helpful and courteous group of young people you could want to employ. They love what they do and so does the owner. If you are in the area, plan a two day stay to enable you to take in the “different” way people live in the NT. We stayed just a few hours including lunch, but I wish we could have stayed longer for that “Daly” experience. The restaurant and shop is very different to other roadhouses.

A Jeff and Sheri Easter song for pub afternoon entertainment.

Just a few hundred kilometers north from Daly Waters is Mataranka. We have set up camp there for the weekend. More next post.