Litchfield - 24 to 27 September 2009

We arrived in Batchelor on the 24th September and stayed at the Batchelor Caravillage. They feed the parrots each evening.

Batchelor was initially an experimental farm. The farm was named for the South Australian Politician Egerton Lee Batchelor, although given its history it could well have been a reflection of the marital state of the many thousands who have called it home over the years.

An airport was developed in 1933 and due to the outbreak of World War II it was extended in 1941 to enable B-17's to land. From December 1941 it played an important role as the base for General MacArthur's bombing force and thousands of men were stationed here.

Uranium was discovered in 1949. Batchelor then became the service town for the Rum Jungle Uranium Mine. The miners stayed in town and were bussed to the mine.

Of the many stories about the naming of Rum Jungle the best and most likely concerns the bullock team carrying the rum rations for the construction workers on the Overland Telegraph in 1870. Why all the rum was shipped in one lot is a mystery, but not surprisingly it got bogged in the East Finiss River, and the only solution was to lighten the load. The bullockies drank the rum, having one of the better binges in history and leaving the name Rum Jungle behind them.

The mine is inactive now and the pit has become a lake.

Nowadays Batchelor is the entry point for the Litchfield National Park. Litchfield is on the escarpment and has a lot of waterfalls.

We visited Florence waterfall and plunge pool, Buley Rockhole, Tolmer Falls and Wangi Falls

We swam at Wangi Falls plunge pool and walked the rain forest canopy walk.

We can highly recommend the Butterfly Farm Restaurant in Batchelor which has excellent fresh, well cooked local food. A lot is grown on the premises.

We dined there a number of times.

We visited the Termite mounds. [We are not keen on termites as they ate some of our house once, although it did enable us to do some remodeling so it wasn't totally bad]

After listening to the Ranger, a complete enthusiast, we felt much more positively disposed towards them. There are many different species of which about 400 reside in the Top End of Australia. They clean up debris, animal and vegetable depending on the termite, bringing the nutrients into the mound. When their mounds are no longer occupied and fall down they contribute to the ecosystem by liberating these nutrients into the soil. As tropical soils are nutrient poor this is a very positive benefit.

Tree pipe termites make hollow branches which can be used as homes by other animals and as didgeridoos.

Magnetic Termites orient their mounds on a North South axis to keep the mound at an even temperature. Their mounds look like tombstones.

We also visited the lost city. This kind of rock formation occurs as the Sandstone fractures at right angles. As it erodes it give the impression of walls remaining.

We visited Blyth Homestead built in 1929 as an outstation of Stapleton Station, owned by the Sargent Family. This is a typical pioneering homestead or camp of the era. There once were many houses like this but for obvious reasons not many remain. We think it shows how tough it was for the early settlers in this area and the difficult conditions they worked in.

Douglas Daly Nature Park - 22 & 23 September 2009

We left Kakadu reluctantly and drove down the Kakadu Highway to Pine Creek an old gold Mining town, lunching at a roadside stop and then on to the Douglas Daly Nature Park.

 
This is another exceptionally beautiful camping park, on the banks of the Daly River, and almost empty of travellers.

We had dinner at the bar and met another visitor, a great grandson of Stanley Kidman, who established the Kidman Pastoral empire. He talked in detail of the provisions Kidman had made to keep the empire family owned, which it still is.

This park has many great swimming venues.

  

We drifted down Butterfly Gorge on the good ship rubber tyre which saved us scrambling a kilometre straight up and down. Unfortunately we only have this glimpse of the gorge as our camera is not waterproof and the good ship rubber tyre is not all that stable. We had fun though tipping each other off. The gorge was stunning. Tricia is happy in water anywhere ( almost).

Douglas Hot springs, part of which is a sacred site flows at between 50C and 60C, even hotter than Dalhousie Springs, and again the rubber tyre is put to use.

Above the camp ground on the Daly Esplanade were the Twin Pools, the Thermal Pool and The Arches. Near the Arches is a sandy beach and people swim up giving them a natural water slide down. As the sandstone erodes the country is returning to ocean floor.

Amazingly, given their location all these areas are free of salt water crocodiles, so swimming is encouraged.

This was also the home of the Fenton Airbase extensively used by both Americans and Australians during WW2.

 

The road in to Butterfly gorge had a great patch of "bulldust" - a part of the road where the soil turns into a fine dust like talcum powder and as a consequence the road develops huge ruts and holes, some which can be hidden by the dust.  These can be a real hazard on outback roads, and are another reason for the snorkel on the Landcruiser, as normally air for the engine is taken in from under the front mud guards.  As can be seen from this photo the dust is all pervasive.

Kakadu - 8 to 21 September 2009

We drove from Darwin to Kakadu National Park stopping for morning tea at the Old Bark Hut.

The name Kakadu comes from an aboriginal flood plain language called Gagudju. We camped at Kakadu Lodge, Jabiru in the North of Kakadu.

The flood plains are extremely beautiful.

The Aurora park at Kakadu has great facilities, including the best pool of any caravan park [or luxury hotel] we have stayed in. We enjoyed swimming in it at the beginning and end of each day.

        

   

We visited Ubirr which is a Rock Art Gallery and a popular place to watch the sunset.

The rock art functioned as a school for the children, a kitchen and a message board, telling what was available and how to eat it plus the news of the day.

The drawing of the white man [hands in pocket] records contact.

Some of the drawings of ships in the park are so accurate they can be used to identify the actual ship that passed through the Arafura sea over the last centuries.

We flew over Kakadu and Arnhem Land as only about 1% can be seen by road.

Arnhem Land was named by Matthew Flinders after the Dutch ship Arnhem [named after the Dutch town of Arnhem] which visited in 1623.

        

 

The first white men introduced themselves as Hollanders and the indigenous name for whites is still Ballander a corruption of this word.

We had coffee and cakes cooked by a French Pastry chef at the Border Store which is on the Border between Arnhem land and Kakadu.

It shows that no matter how remote you are you can sometimes find a French chef making great mille feulle.

 

 

 

We went on the Guluyambi Cruise up the East Alligator river and saw a lot of [more than twenty] crocodiles. Their population is booming at the moment.

The three Alligator Rivers were named by Phillip Parker King who explored the region in 1820 after travelling in South America. He mistook Crocodiles for Alligators, hence the East, West and South Alligator Rivers. He was not very imaginative either.

The following day we went on the Magela Cultural and Heritage tour to Arnhem Land. Arnhem Land is aboriginal owned and one needs a permit, in this case obtained by the tour company.

We were very fortunate in our aboriginal guide Gary Djorlomon, who gave us an excellent tour. We were privileged to hear his many stories.

We climbed Injalak Hill, visited Injalak Arts Centre and took a boat cruise on Injuku Billabong where we saw teeming wildlife.

The next day we went on a tour of the Ranger Uranium Mine. The trade off for having this mine was the creation of Kakadu National Park. Mining towns are comfortable, they have good water, supermarkets and made roads.

 

 

 

 

We attended the annual Mahbilil Festival at Jabiru. Mahbilil is the name of the afternoon breeze which comes at this time of year. All the locals from around the area come together at the festival which was a combination of corroboree and school fair, including spear throwing and didgeridoo competitions.

We took the Yellow Water Cruise out of Cooinda.

We also visited the Bowali Visitors Center, the Warradjan Aboriginal Culture Centre, Nourlangie Rock, the Mamukala Billabong and Gunlom Falls.

  

The amount of wildlife we saw was astonishing.