A TASTE OF THE GIBB RIVER ROAD PART 1

This trip we had decided to do something a little different, leave the van at Kununurra  and hire a camper trailer so we could explore some of the more remote areas, in this instance a trip along the early stages of the Gibb River Road from the top end.

The Gibb River Road is an unsealed road of about 700 Km running from near Wyndham in the north to Derby at the southern end. It was originally constructed to take off thousands of cattle from the many large stations and transport them to  the meatworks at Wyndham at one end,  the export facility at Derby at the other end, or elsewhere.

Many off-road and semi off-road caravans make the 600 odd Km trip but our van is not suitable for that type of travel on the rough and very often corrugated road. 

Those with Hema maps of the Kimberley will, no doubt, remember the cover photograph of the Pentecost River crossing with the Cockburn range in the background. One of my aims on this trip was to get a shot of the Patrol (and me) at that crossing.

We had taken a day trip once before down part of the Gibb to El Questro and had been impressed by the views of the Cockburn Range, the rivers and the surrounding country. This trip we planned to stay at El Questro for a few nights, then move on to Home Valley Station a little further down the road for another few nights, and then go to Drysdale River Station.

We arrived in Kununurra a couple of days early and used the time to re-stock our food supplies and buy a few extras for the different type of camping that we would be undertaking. 

We have previously stayed at the Lakeside Caravan Park Kununurra and did so again, securing a very nice and quiet site on the lake. As usual, the bird life around the lake was prolific and I spent many hours chasing Kingfishers, Crimson Finches, Blue Winged Kookaburras  and many other birds around the place. One evening I was becoming annoyed at the constant woofing of a dog, to then realise it was a pair of Barking Owls having a chat!

It was slightly daunting to realise that we wouldn't have the home comforts that we are very used to in our caravan - no aircon, no lounge, no fans, no microwave, no  large fridge / freezer and, for Rob particularly, no shower and toilet.

I had set up the Patrol to support this extra trip, with the trusty Waeco fridge / freezer on its slide out, the dual battery system,  boxes for additional food etc, some tinned food just in case, a box containing  a  range of recovery gear, a box of tools and a number of  rechargeable camp lights, we were well prepared. I will be more than happy if I finish this trip without even opening the box with recovery gear.

We were due to pick up the camper trailer at 10 am and were there right on time. An inspection of the trailer found it was very sturdily put together and had, in fact been built precisely for the type of roads and tracks found around the Gibb River Road. It was dust proof, thanks to a clever method of sealing and was fitted with or contained absolutely everything we needed for the trip down to linen, cooking gear, items like a torch, batteries, matches, detergent and tea towels, table, chairs and whatever tools may be required.There is also a large dustproof storage area

It looks to be quite compact, but is very spacious when set up. This sized unit woul be ideal for a fanily with two or three kids. It weighs around 750Kg. Check out the maker ;

www.downundercampers.com.au

 

Hooked up and ready to go

A quick lesson on how to put the unit up, some time to pack our stuff away and we were on our way. It's highway from Kununurra to the Gibb River road turnoff (about 55 Km) and the Gibb is sealed through to the El Questro turnoff (about 33 Km) where it becomes a bit corrugated in parts with loose stones with a couple of creek crossings thrown in over the 16 or so Km.

We decided to take a private camp spot on the banks of the Pentecost River six or seven Km up from the El Questro township, far better that the general campground. It turned out to be a great choice.

Our private site was right on the river, isolated, well away from the track, quiet and very peaceful

You can see that the camper trailer, when set up, is quite spacious. The bed is in a raised section in the trailer, with storage underneath. There was another annexe that we could have used, but we were happy with the basic setup.

Down river

Up river, including a small swimming hole at top

Views of the bend in the Pentecost River from our campsite. We did not see a single person the entire time we were at the campsite.

The small "swimming hole" was an area where the river stones had been placed to dam  a section, creating a small hole about the size of a spa. There were no holes in the vicinity that would hide a crocodile.

It really was an idyllic spot, nice just sitting and reading, listening to the never-ending sounds of the river and the large numbers of birds. There were a few animal pads through the tall grasses and a couple of times we had a startled wallaby walk right into the camp, only to charge off noisily into the surrounding scrub.

Our dinner was accompanied by a small insect-eating bat that came swooping by at regular intervals feeding off the insects that were attracted to our light.

Sleep came easily and we slept very soundly until about 4am when we were woken by the chilling sounds of dingoes howling quite close by. I have no fear of dingoes, they're only dogs after all,  but Robyne was quite frightened at the time - I guess it's partly the dingoes bad press and partly the fact that it was a completely moonless night, also fear of the unknown.

I can imagine the consternation that would have been caused had this happened while  we were camping with our grandchildren (as we do every January). I can just imagine Annalise and Krystal, Amy-Rose and Lauren rushing in to their parent's bed after the first eerie howls, it would have been hilarious. I'd also hazard a guess that my daughters Donna and Leanne would be a bit nervous as well !

I went out the next morning to see where the dingoes had been and found their tracks on the dirt track about 80 metres from our camp.

Dingo tracks, a fairly large dingo at that!

We were to have a visit from one or more dingoes ever night we stayed there

At breakfast the next morning we discovered that something had been eating our fruit. My guess is that it was a possum.

After a leisurely breakfast we checked out the brochure provided by El Questro and decided to explore many of their attractions, but that's another story.

Part 2 coming soon.

Regards

TJ

We're Back From The Bush

We're back from our taste of the Gibb River Road.

We hired a camper trailer from Kununurra and travelled to El Questro, Home Valley Station and towards Drysdale River Station. 

Our account of that trip will have to wait while I catch up with the blogs I have fallen behind on.

My last blog  concerned Kakadu. 

After Kakadu we drove to Darwin for a few days and while there caught up with my nephew Marc and his family (hi folks).

We then returned to Katherine and I again caught up with old friend, Bureau of Meteorology star, sailing legend, flash shirt wearer and ace forecaster Kenn Batt. 

We whiled away a Saturday afternoon with lunch and a few drinks at the Katherine Club - a fine establishment.

Then it was time to hit the road again and head west towards WA, with first stop being Victoria River (NT) and the first sight of one of my favourite trees- the Boab.

Short and fat slim and tall and everywhere in between, all shapes and sizes are there.

Often looking more dead than alive, the Boab is equipped to survive extremely harsh conditions.

Boabs are not always round and squat, many are slimmer and upright, many have a distinctively Entish look (LOTR afficionados will understand !)

Known by the local indigenous people as "godawon", the Boab is plentiful. It may provide them with a source of water in its hollows, its leaves are made into bush medicine and the white powder within its pods are used as food.

The Victoria is a substantial river and the reason for the loaction of the roadhouse and attached caravan park is that they are situated near the old Victoria River crossing. It must have been quite a difficult crossing when the river is up, but we found it to be relatively easy to cross the day we visited.

The old Victoria River crossing. After bumping across , intrepid motorists are faced with about 50 metres of track before it just finishes with bush. A wasted crossing these days !!

Today's high level crossing

Blue Mountains residents may recognise the Shaws Darwin Express truck. They are often seen coming and going on the Great Western Highway











We decided to stay for two nights so we could make another attempt to shoot the Purple Crowned Fairy Wren, found in the cane grass thickets along the river. We have previously tried and failed. The area is a known crocodile habitat, so that rules out exploring along the riverbank. Additionally, snakes are quite prevalent and the lack of any clearly defined paths / tracks through the cane grass makes walking through there a bit hazardous. 

Just driving in through the cane grass is interesting, although this trip the track was a little wider than previously.

Part of the home of the Purple Crowned Fairy Wren taken through the windscreen. When the river floods, the wrens take to the surrounding trees and return to the cane grass when the river drops.

We were unsuccessful once again, here is a shot of one taken from a captive breeding programme.

As you can see, a personal shot of this magnificent wren would be worth the trouble - 

Oh well, maybe next time !

No reason for this pic, I just like it. Taken on the banks of the Victoria river

Another shot of the Victoria River, looks peaceful, but don't even think about a swim!!

Having toured the area extensively we left Victoria River and headed to Kununurra WA via Timber Creek, a run of around 350 Km.

Timber Creek does not have a great deal to recommend it, there's a roadhouse with fuel and normal roadhouse type food and a servo,  a few houses and little else.

The servo's diesel was about 10 cents a litre more than the roadhouse, glad I chose correctly.

The border inspection when crossing into WA is quite strict. Absolutely no fruit or vegetables may cross! We'd been through into WA a few times before so we knew what to expect and had eaten our fruit and veggies down until we had about tow apples to declare (and lose).

Once, a few years ago they even confiscated a fruit box that I had packed some books in.

The inspection people are unfailingly polite, but quite firm

Kununurra's principal claim to fame is, of course, Lake Argyle and the Ord River scheme. The dam impounds some 18 times the capacity of Sydney Harbour (or 18 Sydharbs) that equates to around 8 million 600 thousand acre feet of water. If it was ever to floodto its maximum it would impound the equivalent of 70 Sydharbs

As a complete layman in these matters it does seem to me that there is a huge amount of water available but not the amount of irrigation / food production one might expect. 

Kununurra also features one of the largest Boabs I have seen, giving me another chance to publish a large pic that coincidentally shows the Patrol and caravan  as well.

One of the largest and healthiest Boabs we have seen, on the Highway at Kununurra (No, it's not a trick shot, the tree is huge !)

A couple more pics;

Kununurra also has a population of Comb Crested Jacanas. I don't kow they get around with those long legs and huge feet.

 

The Crimson Finch is also prolific in the Kununurra area. Its range is confined to the top of Australia

 An Azure Kingfisher in the early morning light. He was just outside the caravan

I'll post this now and get busy on the next blog which will deal with our adventures in a hired camper trailer along part of the Gibb River Road.

Regards

TJ

KAKADU TWO

Kakadu is not just about crocodiles and birdlife, the scenery is unique and Kakadu also provides an insight into one of the world's oldest cultures and provides many fine examples of their art works.

We travelled from Cooinda towards  Jabiru, stopping to check out a number of National Parks campgrounds. These campgrounds were fine but as yet had no customers, probably something to do with the heat and humidity, my trusty Kestrel weather machine was showing 32 degrees and 70% humidity.


We were tempted by a sign to a lookout promising a view of the distant escarpment. The walk was 50 minutes return.... described as steep and rocky... it was hot... it was very humid..... but we did it anyway. 

Halfway up I considered giving it away but we persisted and were rewarded with a distant view of the escarpment and a place to recover before the perilous trip back down.

My view of the distant escarpment

The escarpment is, of course, best viewed from the air, and this shot is used to promote those trips.

Jim Jim Falls

Disappointingly, the 4wd track to Jim Jim Falls remained closed having sustained some damage during the wet. Oh well, there's always next time!

Jabiru has a strange feel. I really wonder what was to be gained by having an hotel in the shape of a crocodile, but it seems to be reasonably popular. The town itself has everything you may need but it is all a little hard to find and when we visited there was a marked lack of people, bit surreal really.

NOURLANGIE ROCK ART

We  were once again drawn to Nourlangie Rock, and the ancient rock art. What is accessible is but a fraction of the rock art in the area and many sites are restricted by the traditional owners as not suitable for general viewing by uninitiated people. Some sites are for women and some for men.

The galleries  available to the general public hold spectacular examples of works and access is reasonably easy with pathways and stairs . 

  
This is Nabulwinjbulwinj (Nar bull win bull win) a fierce spirit that kills and eats females after striking them with a yam.

This is Namargon, the lightning being. He is holding a lightning bolt. He makes thunder by hitting clouds with an axe.

This is Barrgin, the lightning  being's wife.

Family groups of men and women on their way to a ceremony

The main character is Namarndolg. He broke the strict marriage / skin laws with his sister.

Some of the galleries are very old and show signs of being painted over by subsequent generations - this is evidently a common practice. 

CHASING THE ELUSIVE BLACK NECKED STORK

During my two previous trips to the Northern Territory I have tried, unsuccessfully, to shoot a decent pic of a Jabiru. Often, when travelling through the country I had spotted a Jabiru, but by the time I had stopped the rig and walked back the Jabiru had flown or, if it was still present, it would fly away as soon as it caught sight of me.

Incidentally, a Jabiru is now described in my "Field Guide to Birds of Australia eighth edition 2010" as a "Black-necked Stork (formerly Jabiru)". 

Bit of a shame really, "Jabiru" had that nice Australian ring to it.

So, to the point of all this. I finally shot a Jabiru not far from Jabiru. This time I was able to get quite close and actually gain its attention so as to be able to have it move about for a better angle. 

Jabiru - the Black-Necked Stork

This is also significant in that I have now managed to get a shot of all of the major sized birds in Australia, the Bustard and the Brolga being the other two. Four if you count the emu !

OUCH !

One rather unwelcome part of being in the bush, especially in the tropics, is the proliferation of insects large and small. 

I do admit that my motivation for talking about ants here is the fact that I shot a half decent pic of some of the most aggressive members of the ant world - the green ant.

I was having a stroll around the Cooinda camping area and decided to sit on a log while I changed lenses in my camera.........wrong !!! It turns out I sat directly over the main street of some green ant metropolis.

Within milliseconds I was attacked by a number of green ants, although luckily I was only bitten a couple of times on the forearm, The pain is quite severe (for an ant bite). My method of dealing with bites such as these ( after brushing the ants off, of course) is to squeeze the bite to lessen the amount of venom / poison that has been injected. The bite was quite sore for a time but the pain gradually faded.

I recall seeing a story where an aboriginal fellow grabbed a green ant's nest and crushed it up to make some type of bush medicine. All the while he was being bitten by them. He was obviously made of sterner stuff than yours truly !

  Nasty little critters with quite a bite!

Well, this blog is actually a little behind. I am now in Kununurra Western Australia and tomorrow, 4th June we are leaving the caravan behind and hiring a camper trailer for a 9 day visit to parts of the iconic Gibb River Road.

My plan is to visit El Questro, Home Hill Station, Drysdale River Station and maybe Ellenbrae.It will be interesting to see how we cope without the home comforts of our caravan, although the Patrol carries a fridge / freezer and I have a ready supply of icy cold Crownies so it won't be all bad.

The next blog should be around 14th June.

Regards

TJ

KAKADU DO DO!

Kakadu is another must see in the Northern Territory. Don't take any notice of those who say Kaka-don't it's definitely Kakadu do do 

Whether you take a day coach  trip out of Darwin (it's a big day, but worth the effort) or spend a few days driving through, it's a fabulous place. You could drive yourself from Darwin and back in a day, but why rush?

Our latest Kakadu experience began when we turned off the Stuart Highway at Pine Creek and travelled through to Gagadju Lodge at Cooinda, on the Yellow Waters Billabong. 

Our timing this year was a little off. Our two previous trips up this way had been slightly later, about mid to late June, when the weather had cooled off a bit and the humidity was not quite as high, so we did suffer a little in the 33 degree 70+ % humidity, but one advantage was that the crowds were fewer. 

Access to the East Alligator River and the Yellow Waters Billabong was fairly restricted due to the fact that the water level was still fairly high and many 4wd tracks (like the track to Jim Jim Falls) are still closed. 

A number of National Parks campgrounds are open but we like the soft option, so we checked in at Gagadju Lodge caravan park - it's no contest really in the heat - nice showers, a bar and restaurant and a powered site so we can use our fans and aircon!

Gagaju also has motel and cabin accommodation and most local attractions are able to be reached in a standard car so it's easy access for all.

The principal attraction at the Yellow Waters Billabong is the regular boat cruises out onto the billabong, up and down the river and out onto the floodplain. We chose the 4.30 cruise .
At $90 a head it's a bit expensive but well worth it. We were offered a second cruise the next day for a further $25 a head and jumped at the chance, I guess the special offer is because business was a little slow early in the season.

The best way to show you some of the highlights of the Yellow Waters Billabong is to put together a gallery of some of the many photos.

KAKADU GALLERY 1 Yellow Waters Billabong

Everyone wants to see a crocodile in the wild and we were not disappointed. This 4 metre + male was making his way up a branch of the river. He was one of around a dozen crocs we saw.

It's not just about crocodiles, the bird life is prolific. This Pied Heron was quite unconcerned at the passage of the boat.

This Royal Spoonbill  seems to be a little too close for comfort and risks becoming lunch! 

This particular crocodile is a very light colour. According to our guide, this shows that he is a fairly new arrival in the upper river, having spent a long time in the salt water downstream 

A Comb-Crested Jacana / lily pad walker / Jesus Bird, so named because he often seems to be walking on water. This male is carrying his three chicks, probably feeling threatened by the boat. That's the chicks' legs hanging below his wing!

A mighty White Bellied Sea Eagle. There's clearly plenty to eat on the South Alligator River. 


Incidentally, there are, of course, no alligators in the river, named by the explorer Phillip Parker King the first English navigator to enter the Gulf of Carpentaria. He made a number of explorations of the area between 1818 and 1822 and named the South, West and East Alligator rivers after the crocodiles which he mistook for alligators as his journals note. "On our courses up and down the river, we encountered several very large alligators and some were noticed sleeping on the mud."

The South, West and East Alligator  are all separate rivers that flow into the Van Dieman Gulf.

I was surprised also to learn that the name Arnhem Land is not derived locally. In1623 Dutch East India Captain Willem Van Colster sailed into the Gulf of Carpentaria and named Cape Arnhem (just south east of Nhulunbuy)  after his ship, which itself was named after the City of Arnhem in the Netherlands.

A glance of an atlas of the Northern Territory coast and the adjacent Western Australia coast provide abundant examples of some of the early "discoverers" of our country - Van Dieman Gulf, The Joseph Bonaparte Gulf,  Joseph Bonaparte Archipelago, The Buccaneer Archipelago, Cape Leveque, the Lacipede Islands to name but a few.

Looks peaceful enough, but we had seen at least a dozen crocodiles by this time.

Sunset on the Yellow Waters Billabong floodplain

As we neared the end of our cruise this large male crocodile swam nonchalantly alongside the boat for some considerable time. His size was estimated at between three and four metres.

NEXT TIME, Kakadu 2. There's more to Kakadu than crocodiles and birds.

Regards

TJ