Northern Territory into Queensland

We left Litchfield National Park with smiles on faces, but with heavy hearts as we had fallen in love with the park. Once again we returned to Katherine for one night before heading south and then on towards the border. The Journey to Brisbane is 2,780km in total. Which would mean travelling south along the Stuart Highway, before turning left at The Three Ways  and heading east.
On the first day we briefly stopping in Mataranka to stretch our legs and then later that day we ducked into a famous outback pub in Daly Waters. This pub is a must visit!, the bar is covered in memorabilia from pervious patrons from all over the world. Many leave a token to be remembered by, which varies from the small i.e credit cards; i.d cards, passport photos, bank notes, to the large i.e. T-shirts and posters, to the bizarre like Bras, knickers and thongs (flip-flops). We drove for as long as we could before stopping at Renner Springs for the night.




Daly Water Pub


Bright eyed and bushy tailed the next morning, we continued onwards towards Tennant Creek where we decided it would be our final destination for that day. However shortly after we arrived we changed our minds and decided to keep on trucking after having lunch and heading back to the Three Ways junction and then East. Making as far as Barkly Homestead which is either the first or last pub in the Northern Territory depending on which way your travelling. Katrina couldn’t resist buying a stubbie holder as a little memento . The next day and 260km later we had crossed the border into Queensland and making our way to Mount Isa for the night. The town has a great visitors centre which includes a dinosaur exhibition, showcasing the fossils found in the local area.



We arrived in Winton with the intention of staying the night so we hook the trailer up the next morning and visit the dinosaur stampede centre and the dinosaur excavation site the next morning. 
Everything was going to plan and after a interesting visit to the dinosaur stampede centre disaster stuck. On our way back to the main road, while driving along an unsealed road, about 80kms from Winton. The turbo on our Patrol decided to pack up and die!!. With no means of communicating with anyone and no other vehicles; we were in a spot of bother!  Lucky, we managed to work out that by traveling slowly and keeping the rev’s low (therefore stopping the turbo from kicking in) The dirty moo was driveable. So like the film “Speed” but in reverse; we monitored the speedo and watch the exhaust in the side mirrors for signs of smoke, We slowly limped back to town, it took almost 2 hours to travel 80km’s at speeds between 30-40kph on a bumpy, dusty unseal road. Boring, doesn’t begin to describe how I, James felt. As most of you know,  I do tend to have a lead foot and not being able to travel faster than 40kph was killing me.
Once back to the caravan park and speaking to the owners who looked very bemused at seeing us again. We tried to find a mechanic to get the truck checked out, problem was everyone in town had closed shop for the afternoon and gone down the pub to watch the Melbourne Cup, typical!!! trust us to break down on the day that a horse race stops the nation.  We had no choice but to wait until the next morning and get in contact with RACV, eventually a slightly hangover mechanic made it over to the caravan park and confirmed our worse fears. The turbo in the Patrol had completely gone and needed to be replace with a new one.  Normally in the city or bigger towns that wouldn’t be to much of a problem. However being in Winton with a population of around of 900 and in the outback, meant the mechanic need to ring round for a new part.  Which we discovered later would need to come from Adelaide and flown to Rockhampton and then couriered to Winton. Basically, we were stuck in town for a minimum of 3 days waiting for the new part to arrive. That soon turned into 4,5,6 eventually 11 nights before the part arrived and was fitted to the car. During that time the people at RACV were kind enough to pay for our accommodation and let us stay in a cabin, which had an air conditioning unit(from the 70’s) and a TV with three channels (one of which was fuzzy). We soon discovered after day 3 that there isn’t much to do in Winton and we had pretty much done it all on day 2! We saw ‘Arno’s Wall’ a local artist or nut job depending on your taste.Who used various items to build his wall with; such as TV's, Videos, microwaves, old typewriters, lawnmowers, motorbikes etc..  Then we went to the visitor centre to see the story behind the Waltzing Matilda song (which was first performed in Winton and is famous for). After that we went to the musical fence and the truck museum. It doesn’t take much imagination to workout that by day 11 we were a little stir crazy and keen to get back on the road again.




Originally we planned to head for Townsville, but due to the delays in Winton we changed course and headed towards Brisbane, stopping at Longreach for the night so we could visit the Qantas Museum the next day. At the museum we got to see the history of Qantas and air travel in Australia, loads of old plans and memorabilia along with the more modern plans.

Then it was on to Roma, when we arrived it was late in the evening and it soon became apparent that everyone else had the same idea and there was no spaces at any of the normal campsites.  After speaking to some locals we found out the the Roma races were the next day and that’s way it was so busy and our best bet for accommodation would be the show grounds.  So we pulled in for the night and decided to sleep in the car and head off early.  Everyone around us however decide to arty all night and go to bed as we were leaving.  James was not impressed.  However a can of V and a coffee later he was back to his normal self.
We had to stop on the road for a few stray animals before carrying on our 6 hour journey to reach family in Birkdale, just south east of Brisbane.

We made it to family around lunch time and arrived to a well deserved cold beer (+ a few more) and happy faces.

Litchfield National Park

After saying our goodbyes to Darwin we headed off to the National Park to spend a few nights and explore the crystal clear swimming holes,stunning waterfalls, termite hills, sandstone outcrops, historic ruins and pleasant bushwalking trails.

We based ourselves at Wangi Falls, which we felt was central to all the other activities in the park. We found a spot to unhitched the trailer and decided to set up the tent later on, in the early evening as it would be cooler, actually to be honest, we were basically to lazy too set it up and used the heat as an excuse.  From Wangi Falls we headed to the Bamboo Creek Tin Mine, which was mined from 1905 to 1950’s on a small scale. It makes you wonder how they managed to survive! I can’t even go a day without the urge to check my Facebook page. Next stop was Walker Creek, for a much needed dip to cool ourselves off.  Whilst Katrina was dipping her legs into the creek she received a free pedicure from some small crayfish, BONUS! However when I tried to do the same I was pinched by a larger crayfish, causing me to hop on one foot and nearly fall head first into the creek, much to Katrina amusement!. The last stop for the day was the Cascades, we decided to do the longer walk to the top of the cascades not realising that we should of worn better footwear than thongs. As it was a very rough track, with little shade and walking in the midday sun; so it was a welcoming sight to see the Cascades and I literally sat  down in first pool of water we came across to cool off.  We swam in the many small pools as we made our way along the Cascades.  It was only on our return journey back to the car park that  I could feel something between my toes; biting! and when I looked closer I discovered it was a leech!!!  So with one hand on Katrina shoulder for balance, she begrudgingly tried to remove it. The little bastard didn’t want to let go without a fight and it  took a few tugs, it reminded me of a rubber band as it body stretched, it eventually gave up my toes and recoiled; it flew through the air landing between rocks next to a pool of water for the next unexpected tourist to find!.

 

Bamboo Creek Tin Mine

Walkers Creek

The Cascades

 

On our second day in the park we decided to get off the beaten track and see something that wasn’t full of tourists.  So we headed down the four wheel drive track to Tjaynera Falls (Sandy Creek). As we walked along the 1.7km track the sound of falling water grew louder but the boulders of the valley slowly revealed it’s secret hidden amongst the paperbark trees.   We were the only two people there and enjoyed a swim in the refreshing plunge pool below the falls, with the sound of the birds and the falls in the background. 

As we made our way back towards the main road we stopped off at the Blyth Homestead ruins which was built in 1929 by the Sergeant family, which was eventually abandoned in the 1960’s.  That afternoon we spent swimming in the Wangi falls where we had camped.

Tjaynera Falls

Blyth Homestead

Wangi Falls

 

On our last full day in the park we had to fit as much in as possible, so we set of early for the lost city, more off road driving for James, he wasn’t complaining!!.  The impressive sandstone blocks and pillars are reminiscent of the ruins of some lost civilisation.  From there we headed towards some of the more tourist parts of the park, Florence falls and then on to Buley Rockhole.  Luckily we got to Florence falls before they all arrived and managed to have a swim in the deep pool with only a few people there. Florence falls is a double waterfall amongst the monsoon rainforest.  When more people started arriving we left for the rock holes hoping to get there before they did, unfortunately there where more tour groups there already but we still had a dip in the series of small falls and rock holes.  Wanting a break from all the swimming and relaxation  we decided to go to Tolmer Falls, No swimming is allowed here due to it being a sacred area to the Aboriginal people.  It is also home to some rare colonies of bats.  Tolmer Falls is spectacular, it cascades over two very high escarpments into a distant plunge pool.

 

The Lost City

Florence Falls

Buley Rockhole

Tolmer Falls

 

After packing up the trailer we decided to have a final swim in Wangi Falls before heading off.  On our way out of the park we stopped at the Magnetic Termite Mounds.  The mounds stand up to two metres in height and are in a north-south orientation.  The means only the smallest surface area is exposed to the sun.  However it does make the area look like a big graveyard. Strangely enough just across the car park there was also cathedral mounds too. After this we stopped quickly at Batchelor to take pictures of a castle that James spotted on our way in to the National Park, then it was back to Katherine for us for the night.

Magnetic Termite Mounds

Batchelor

 

Next is our long journey into Queensland from the Northern Territory and possible our last blog