Overnight stops (in date order): Fitzroy Crossing (x2); Windjana Gorge National Park; King Leopold Range Conservation Park; Manning Gorge; Drysdale Crossing; Mitchell River National Park (x2); Drysdale Crossing; Kununurra (x4); Dunham River; Purnululu National Park (x3); Halls Creek (x3); Wolfe Creek Crater National Park; Tanami Road – Western Australia/ Northern Territory Border; Tanami Road – Renehan’s Bore; Tanami Road – Tilmouth Crossing; Alice Springs (x5); West McDonnell National Park – Ellery Creek Big Hole; West McDonnell National Park – Redbank Gorge; Finke Gorge National Park – Palm Valley; Alice Springs; Kings Canyon (x2); Uluru/Ayers Rock (x3); Alice Springs (x2); Devils Marbles; Newcastle Waters; Mataranka hot springs; Katherine Gorge National Park (x2); Douglas Hot Springs; Darwin (x4); South Alligator River (Kakadu National Park); Ubirr (Kakadu National Park); Cooinda (Kakadu National Park); Mataranka hot springs (x2); Cox River (60km south of Roper Bar); Lorella Springs (x2) Carpentaria Highway – 30km east of Borroloola; Carpentaria Highway – Tiranna Roadhouse; Normanton; Croydon; Undara National Park (x2).
From Broome, we headed east into the Kimberley; a region that is only accessible by road during the dry season. 1300 km of the drive was on unsealed roads or four-wheel drive tracks.
The Kimberley region, which is three-times the size of England, is an ancient reef system exposed when sea levels fell which has then been weathered and eroded over many millions of years.
The result is a dramatic landscape of caves, tunnels and river gorges which include: Geike Gorge,
Windjana Gorge,
The Lennard River Gorge,
Bell Gorge,
Manning Gorge
and Tunnel Creek.
The highlight of the Kimberley are perhaps the Mitchell Plateau and Falls area in the remote north; reached by a very rough 90 km track followed by a longish walk (although more sensible tourists fly in by helicopter!),
Although at this time of the year most of the region is dry and very dusty, rivers and pools left over from the wet season create green oases and good places to swim;
if you are certain about the absence of crocodiles.
The water monitors are nothing to worry about.
The boab is the signature tree of the Kimberley
and even in the dry season, there is still colour.
Although the Kimberley is one of the last parts of Australia to be explored and mapped by Europeans, it is thought to be the first area to have been settled by aboriginal people moving south from what is now Indonesia. There are still many indigenous people living in remote communities that are closed to non-aboriginals. The region is full of signs of earlier settlement including rock paintings; some of which are believed to be more than 30,000 years old.
The Gibb River Road through the Kimberley ends at Kununurra and here we rested for four days; fixing some bits that had been shaken off the truck by the corrugated tracks. Our next stop was three days in the Purnululu National Park where is the Bungle Bungle – a range of sandstone hills.
Many millions of years of wind and rain have weathered the hills into extraordinary shapes, most famously the ‘beehive domes’,
and carved spectacular chasms and gorges.
The Bungle Bungle can only be fully appreciated from the air; ideally by helicopter.
The colour of the rocks is affected by the changing light
and sunsets are beautiful.
There were flowers
but the only animal we saw was a cow with five legs!
Halls Creek is not the greatest tourist destination but we were forced to spend more time there than planned because the town was out of diesel.
The ATMs were also out of cash and, most seriously, it is effectively a dry town whose laws allow only the sale of half-strength beer. However, the break gave time for Mick, the local welder, to reattach parts of the vehicle that had been shaken off by the corrugated roads of the Kimberley before we tackled the Tanami Road; an 1100km, unsealed,very dusty short-cut, across the desert of the same name, south-east to Alice Springs.
En-route, we stopped for a night at the Wolfe Creek meteor crater
and visited two remote communities (Wirrimanu and Yuendumu) which are home to groups of aboriginal artists.
We also saw flocks of parrots (Galahs)
and a solitary camel.
We rested for some time at Alice Springs
where we bought a painting (by Kudditji Kngwarreye, an aboriginal artist who took up painting late in life)
and spent a day at the races.
We took three days to drive the loop through the West McDonnell ranges; ancient hills
eroded to form dramatic gorges, canyons and chasms.
At the rock hole at Ormiston Gorge
we watched a wild dingo watching the fish.
We thought he had no chance.
but eventually, and to our amazement, he was rewarded for his persistence!
On our way back to Alice we stopped at Hermannsburg where there is a Lutheran Mission established in the late nineteenth century to evangelise to and educate the local aborigines.
The Mission’s best known pupil was Albert Namatjira, the most famous aboriginal painter,
who in 1957 became the first of his people to be granted Australian citizenship and who earned enough from his work to build a modest house on the outskirts of Hermannsburg.
We made a second (1300km) loop, south-west of Alice, taking in Kings Canyon
and a certain, photogenic Australian icon.
We were lucky to be at Uluru/Ayers Rock on one of the few days when the ‘climb’ was open.
I also walked a couple of tracks at nearby Kata Tjuta (aka the Olgas).
After returning once again to Alice, we were ready to escape the cold of the ‘red centre’ (night-time temperatures were regularly below zero) and start the 1500km drive, north up the Stuart Highway to Darwin. Our stops on the way included the ‘Devils Marbles’,
Katherine Gorge National Park
and hot springs both at Mataranka
and at the Douglas River.
Having been virtually destroyed by Cyclone Tracy in 1974, Darwin is a modern town set on the shores of the Timor Sea.
Kakadu, which stretches east of Darwin to the borders of the remote Arnhem Land, is one of the largest national parks in the world.
Large areas of the park flood in the wet season, and even in the dry there are many rivers, billabongs and flooded plains
that teem with fish, birds
and salt-water crocodiles.
The region has been home to Aboriginal people for at least the last 30,000 years;
proven by the fact that some of the paintings are of animals long extinct in mainland Australia (in this case the Thlyacine or ‘Tasmanian Tiger’).
From Kakadu we headed south again to Katherine, spent two more nights at the Mataranka Hot Springs and then followed the Savannah Way; an ‘adventure drive’ that crosses the north of the country, from Broome on the west to Cairns on the east coast. Much of this is unsealed road considered suitable for four-wheel drive vehicles. This is big termite country!
We found yet more hot springs at the Lorella homestead, a wilderness camp south of Roper Bar,
camped by a billabong,
crossed the border into Quuensland,
visited the penultimate camp-site of a doomed expedition of early exploration,
walked into the lava tubes at Undara National Park
and saw the occasional animal;
finally reaching the east coast (again) at Cairns.
Responses
Simon McIlroy says: Absolutely superb photos of the gorges and other rock formations. The ‘beehives’ are fascinating. A geologists paradise. What a trip you are having! Trust you are both well.
Andrée Gagné says: Bonjour à vous deux. Paul, continue à nous raconter votre voyage en photos car c’est magnifique. Les oiseaux, les animaux et les paysages sont à couper le souffle. Bravo! et continue à nous éblouir. Now, try to understand what I wrote to you in french? … Andrée et Stéphane xx
Simon Mcilroy says: More fabulous pictures. Thank you for keeping us up to speed. Hope you are gathering a portfolio of parrot and camel stories! Have you heard the one about …….. Thanks again and we look forward to the next despatch.
Paul Faithfull says: The journey keeps getting better. I’m running out of superlatives.Take care of yourselves because this trip could take a very long time, Paul Faithfull xx
Sian Goddard says: Fantastic colours of rocks, vegetation, birds and sunsets.. Love the aboriginal painting you bought also – would not look amiss in the summer exhibition. Hope the truck is holding together.
Simon McIlroy says: What a trip you are having. More lovely pictures- great ones of Uluru You must be near to Walkabout Creek by now. Safe journey onwards and thanks for sharing your experiences with us. I have a nice picture of Weymouth to show you next year!