Week Nine: Over the Border.

Lake Argyle

We have crossed the border and are now in the Northern Territory where the speed limit is 130km per hour, ID is required to purchase takeaway alcohol and the natural hazards include salt water crocodiles, box jellyfish, mosquitoes, snakes, melioidosis (a disease caused by soil based bacteria which has no vaccine) high temperatures, cyclones and storms. Firecrackers can be purchased legally and as today is Territory Day we are going to watch the fireworks tonight. Should be fun.

GK and friend at Mt Bundy Station

We are staying on Mt Bundy Station on the Adelaide River 112km south of Darwin. As a working station it comes with its own list of hazards and warnings. They include and I quote: - 

Noise and Parties…please be respectful of other guests, quiet time strictly 10.30pm, all loud music and voices off….or expect a visit from the 6ft 6in owner (CK. I wonder if he is good looking)

Swimming Pool… if you have noticed it is not fenced! Yes it is legal, we also have a river full of crocodiles! Strictly no dogs allowed in the pool. (CK. Eww. Thank God!)

SORRY: We have very little control of electricity, mozzies, ants, dust, flies, heat, rain, wind, other idiots or the sound of farm animals at night. (CK. Sounds fair)

Do not enter the paddocks unless you can cross them in 9 seconds because the Buffalo bulls, Regina the Pig and Murray the Braham bull can do it in 10 seconds! Keep safe behind the fence! Did you know the Indonesian Swamp Buffalo injure more people every year in the Top End than crocodiles…do not tease them. (CK. Thanks for the advice. You can count on me.)

We have entered another world! It is so laid back up here and we are looking forward to the next couple of weeks. As I said before – it should be fun.

Leaving Kununurra wasn’t without its dramas. Ms. Super Efficient, Excel spreadsheet queen (that would be moi) does sometimes make mistakes. I know, I know you don’t believe me but it has been known to happen. I stuffed up our booking in Kununurra and we should have checked out a day earlier. GK was having a leisurely breakfast of fig jam and toast on our ‘patio’ when a chap approached and asked if we leaving that morning. “No we have another day. We are leaving tomorrow,” he said. When I returned from the laundry where I had loaded our doona cover, pillowcases and another load of towels and bits and bobs he repeated the conversation. I was convinced I was right but on checking my spreadsheet I realized we should have pulled out the day before.

The lady from the office met me midway and I confessed my mistake. She explained that her hands were tied and we couldn’t stay on that site as it was on the waterfront and very popular. She could offer us another site around the corner. GK spat the dummy and said, “Let’s just pack up and go!”. I said that was impossible unless we wanted to trail our wet doona cover, towels and smalls behind the van. With much huffing and puffing we accepted her generous offer of another site and moved 50 metres around the corner. Our waterfront view was replaced with a site alongside the ablution block. 

Fellow caravanners will appreciate that ‘pack up day’ is always a hassle but doing it under sufferance is a real pain. We managed to do it in less than half an hour (including awning, bbq and clothes line – a mighty effort) with the only casualties being the coffee and sugar containers, which spilled their contents from one end of the caravan to the other. My fault again as I am ‘Inside Girl’ and GK is ‘Outside Boy’. It’s not often my points are lower than GK’s so some serious grovelling has been happening around the Cubby de Wheels MK II this week.  I wasn’t happy.

Ord River Dam

Despite pulling out a day ‘late’ we were happy to be on the road again and travelled the 70kms through the magnificent landscape of the Carr Boyd Ranges to Lake Argyle. It is Australia’s largest freshwater lake and has a surface area of over 1000 square kilometres and a shoreline stretching over 900 kilometres. It is truly breathtaking. Our photos don’t do it justice. Dame Mary Durack wrote “If one were to paint this country in its true colours, I doubt it would ever be believed. It would be said at least that the artist exaggerated greatly, for never have I seen such richness and variety of hue in these ranges.” She sums it up beautifully. The colours have to be seen to be believed. 

GK outside the Durack Homestead

We did a tour of the Durack family Argyle Downs Homestead, which was removed from its original site and rebuilt brick by brick on higher ground, as the original site is now 25 metres under water because they flooded the area when they dammed the Ord River. It is a magnificent old stone building built for local conditions with wide breezeways and verandahs. It is steeped in so much history. You really have to admire the pioneering Durack family who are the original kings in grass castles. The hardships they must have endured are unimaginable in such harsh rugged conditions while raising six kids without the mod cons that we have today. Unbelievable. 

We stayed overnight at a free camp at Mathison Rest Area. In the morning we were up bright and early despite the one and a half hour time change as we wanted to get to Edith Falls around ten o’clock as we had heard it is very popular. There is usually a queue of caravans lined up to get in but we were once again lucky to jag a site for two nights. After setting up camp we fell into the very welcoming plunge pool under one of the smaller waterfalls. It was heavenly.

 

CK cooling off at Edith Falls

Edith Falls is made up of a series of cascading waterfalls on the Edith River in the Nitmiluk National Park. We wanted to see all the attractions so the next morning we packed some fruit, water, sunscreen etc. and set off to tackle the challenging 2.6km steep rocky hilltop walk to see the upper falls and rock pools. Despite my bronchitis and GK’s dickie knees we puffed and panted and pushed on through the pain and were so glad we did. The views and the waterfalls are breathtaking. We swam in the rock pools and climbed up and over the rocks into the large upper pool and frolicked with all the young kids under the waterfall. We had a great time but had to face the walk back to the campsite in the heat of the day. Another swim in the plunge pool was just what the doctor ordered and then we flopped on the bed for the rest of the afternoon. We were exhausted but happy.

 

GK between rock pools at Edith Falls

GK at Adelaide River War Cemetery

On our way to Mt Bundy we visited the Adelaide River War Cemetery where service men and women who died in the bombing of Darwin in 1942 are buried. The manicured cemetery is immaculate and the gravesites are very well maintained. Moving among the headstones we couldn’t help but notice the young ages of the soldiers, sailors and airmen. Such a waste of precious lives. 

It is now Monday and we have had a slow start to the day as we did watch the fireworks and the subsequent fire in a nearby paddock. It was all hands on deck to put it out as the buffalo bulls, Regina the Pig and Murray the Braham bull were grazing nearby. It would have been one hell of a BBQ! We had a hamburger instead and stayed to listen to the band. It was great fun and we met up with two lovely couples from Adelaide who also enjoyed a glass of red or two. Consequently we have been dragging our feet this morning but have managed to drive 40kms up the track to Batchelor where we are going to spend three days exploring Litchfield National Park. More waterfalls, more rock pools, more hiking. Tell you all about it next week. Keep safe and lots of love.

Patsie the bower bird in her nest at Durack Homestead