Litchfield National Park

Florence Falls

On the way to Darwin we visited Litchfield National Park to see one of the benefits of a big wet season they get up here. Falls, falls and more falls to see and no two falls were the same. There was so much crystal clear, croc free water to enjoy and cool us down. We had a wonderful time doing a lot of the walks around this park and swimming every hole we could to cool down.
Buley rock holes was a great swimming spot, although very popular we managed to find a not too crowded spot to swim. We did the walk from Buley to Florence Falls and saw some more swimming holes on the way. Then we arrived at the top of Florence falls, it is a massive drop and spectacular to see, we swam in one of the more secluded swimming holes above the falls.



Crowd at Buley Rock Hole



But we found a spot to swim















Having seen a ranger we asked him about the Sandy Creek 4wd track and lucky for us it was just opened that afternoon so we were the second tourist vehicle to travel to Sandy Creek and camp for the season. It was a top little campground and the falls were the most spectacular in the park in our opinion. The walk along the creek to the falls was beautiful featuring many nice cascades and swimming holes to try out.

Sandy Creek Falls

Our camp at Sandy Creek

The girls enjoyed climbing up, around and thru the rock formations of the lost city. And also discovering Blyth Homestead and learning about the way of life for the Blyth family with their 12 children and the hardship they endured during the years they mined for tin in this area. There was another larger old tin mine in the park which showed the girls more about how the tin was mined and processed. They collected their pieces of tin from the ground to bring home.
 

The lost city



Blyth Homestead



Old tin mine

 
Another walk we did was the cascades walk which was magic, nice and cool walking along the crystal clear creek to the falls. Above the falls were cascades and swimming holes to enjoy. We spent a few hours here swimming and the girls both enjoyed jumping off the falls into the deep hole below. Kate surprised us when she started doing summersaults.


Jumping at the cascades waterfall



Kate's summersault action



 



We have seen so many wonderful places in Litchfield now it was time to head to the big city of Darwin. On the way we found a field of termite mounds to camp by and were joined by Roxford and Allie who are a couple who we met on a walk at Lawn Hill and were lucky enough to see them again before we entered Litchfield. We enjoyed their company for the night and Allie spoilt the girls.



Camping at the termite mounds



It was Sunday morning and we were keen to go to the Mindal Beach markets in Darwin so we packed up camp relatively early. Driving past Berry Springs on the way, we could not resist stopping for a swim. It was a great surprise when we felt the springs and they were warm, an early morning bath!!! Darrin, Roxford and the girls enjoyed snorkelling and finding all sorts of treasure in the springs.

Berry Springs





Hot Springs - Mataranka



Whats this grey stuff???

After weeks of enduring dusty roads our troopy, camper and boat featured a layer of red dust, but it also had character about it. Driving along the bitumen was certainly a different experience. Shortly after we hit Mataranka amoungst all the other sparkling clean rig where we really stood out amoungst the crowd. First stop was the 9.30am barramundi feeding at Territory Manor  where the girls really enjoyed watching the big Barra swimming and both the girls were lucky enough to be picked from the crowd to feed the Barra. We learnt some interesting facts about Barra here; they do not like a sudden drop in temperature, if it is a sudden drop they can die. That explained why we saw dead Barra floating in the Little Bynoe River, there had been a cold snap in that area before we arrived.

Emma feeding the Barra

Morning Tea at Territory Manor

Because we were back in civilisation, we thought we we buy some morning tea at the territory manor cafe. The girls had sarsparella spiders (icecream and sarsparella) and we had fresh scones, jam and cream, yummo.

Feeding the donkeys at territory manor

Mataranka hot springs

Time to hit the hot springs for a dip, Mataranka Hot Springs are more of a commercialized area where they have concreted the edge and built steps to get into the crystal clear hot spring. The temperature was warm and we spent a couple of hours soaking all the dirt from our pores and chatting to fellow tourist.

Bitter springs

Bitter springs are the other hot springs in Mataranka and they  have been left as a  more natural pool and have a nice flow to them so we rode the current from the top to the bottom of the swimming area. The water here is unbelievably clear which makes a great spot for snorkelling.

We did manage to find a tap we could connect our hose to and spent an hour just washing the troopy and camper.  We got rid of all the red dirt from the surface, we will attempt of all hidden crevices another day. It was sooo nice to unzip the camper cover without getting red dirt all over your hands and clothes.

Very muddy and worn bearings

Driving along the bitumen also meant we could hear the troopy wheels making noises, so I think it was time for some tender loving care.  After taking our troopy over thousands of kilometres of dirt and many many many creek crossings, there had to be some maintenance done.  Darrin checked the bearings on the car and found that they were in desperate need of changing.  













We are in the NT

We made it to the Northern Territory, we crossed the border on Sunday 26th June. A bit behind in the blog sorry everyone, there is no service across the gulf so we were disconnected from the rest of the world for a few weeks.
Our first NT camp was at the gorgeous Calvert River crossing. Driving along the dusty road, one of the many river crossings were the Calvert River, we got out to have a look and could see along the bank and nice grassy area so we found the track and set up camp on the grass. A great spot to dust off and explore for a few days. We did a bit of fishing along the banks here and exporing further down river and found some beautiful gorge looking country. Lots of shallow rapids to have a swim and Kate spotted a couple of snakes curled up on the rocks. There have been soo many snakes around on this trip, so we are on the lookout all the time. We did a bit of Bourke and Wills treking and found a nice spring for a dip.


Calvert River Camp




Exploring the Calvert River




Washing hair day




Fishing the Calvert

 From here we travelled past Borroloola then took the Ryans Bend Road to get to Nathan River Road. We travelled thru the Limmen National Park which had some awesome spots to visit. We went for a walk thru the amazing lost city, which the girls really enjoyed. The rock formations were amazing and the view of the surrounding escarpments amazing.

Ready for the walk thru the lost city



Fishing fun at Butterfly springs



Next spot was Butterfly Springs, where thousands and thousands of butterflies live. They rest on the gorge walls that surround the waterfall and swimming hole. We spent a wonderful afternoon here swimming and fishing. There were so many little perch in this swimming hole that everytime the girls cast their lure they hooked a little fish, a top fishing spot. We did keep one good size black bream for dinner.

 Towns River camp was another spot we set up camp for a few days. We had just finished setting up camp and saw a camper coming across the crossing and saw it was Glen, Bridget, Blake and Celia. The kids were all happy to see each other so they stopped to camp with us for the night. Of course we used the boat here and had some more luck with the fishing here as there were some nice rock bars with some Barra hiding. Darrin got the catch of the day with a 60cm barra for keeping. At night we would be sitting around the campfire and could hear the boof of the Barra, Darrin and Emma checked the crossing out near camp and could see lots of small Barra and Cherabin (freshwater prawns).



Kate, Blake, Emma and Celia



One of the freshies in towns river



One of Emmas catch



Catch of the day




A frog wanting to have a ride



Ahhhh fresh swimmable water is bliss



We are really enjoying the Savannah Way. So many people avoid travelling the Savannah Way because of the road conditions, but this year we have struck it lucky and the roads are in great condition, for up here anyway. There is so much to discover and explore and so much fun to be had. And everyone keeps telling us that there are no Barra being caught because of the cooler winter, but we have managed to land a few big ones and had some fun with some smaller ones.

Driving along one day we found this swimming hole on the side of the road. The water comes from a natural spring, someone has built a little swimming hole for all to enjoy some croc free swimming.

Roper Bar crossing

Our next destination is Roper Bar. The Roper river is famous for its Barramundi, its a great river to fish because it has so many great snags. Last time we visited Roper Bar you could not cross the river without a permit into the aboriginal land. However this time there were no permits required so we went for a drive across and visited the small aboriginal community of Urapunga. As we drove in there was a family at the airstrip flying kites. We stopped to say hello and ended up spending quite a few hours there with them, the girls had an absolute ball playing with the kids. They were all so friendly and welcoming.



Anna-Maree, Kate, Emma, Lara



The next day we spent the day out in the boat. We had fun fishing so many different snags. Found lots of lures to add to our collection and did manage to catch a few Barra, long Tom and Archer fish. Unfortunately no sizes to write home about, but a great day in the boat.

Up close and personal with a freshie

Roper River

We did it! We crossed the Gulf, after hundreds of kilometers of dust, many river crossings and unforgetable adventures.

 



What is this black hard stuff????



The Savannah Way - QLD section

The Savannah Way



Little Bynoe River camp

 Our next journey is the Savannah Way which is the name trek we are taking to cross the Gulf of Carpenteria from QLD to NT. The Savannah Way starts from the outskirts of the Atherton tablelands and finishes at Mataranka NT. The night before we started this journey we camped the night at a freebie spot called Rocky creek, as we drove in thru the 30 odd caravans we jokingly said there has to be a camper trailer amoungst here somewhere and would you believe up the back we found one and as we got closer we discovered it was the Malpas family - that was very exciting, the girls were practically climbing out the window as the car was still moving to get to them. Even though it had only been a few nights since we said goodbye, it felt like a few weeks and it was great to catch up with with them for the night. That night it was so cool that we lashed out and bought the girls some doonas. But I dare not complain as conditions back home are freezing - everyone we meet reminds us or informs us of the temperature in Canberra so we are feeling extremely lucky.  It was bitumen road from the tablelands to Normaton, we found some great spots to stop and look at. We really enjoyed Croydon, an old gold mining town. We learnt about the history of gold mining and the way of life back then, it was great walking through the old buildings and looking at the old machinery.
We got to see the Gulflander train at Normaton and it was in mint condition, obvously well looked after.

Darrin got the catch of the day

Finally we were back on the dirt and got to see some more exciting and beautiful country. Bulldust was the first feature we did discover, so fine it was not long before our car and camper were covered. But it did not make its way into the camper, so a dust free kitchen and bed was always nice. We stopped at Little Bynoe River for a few nights and put the boat in, the catch of this place was a 100cm barra caught by Darrin, it was excitment all round. We took photos and released him back in the water as we already had a few feeds of barra in the fridge.  We had a fantastic few days here camped on the sand fishing and relaxing. 




Our Leichardt falls camp

 

Our next camp was Leichardt falls, here we camped with full view of these spectacular falls on flat rock and sand. A few of our neighbours for the night ended up being the crew from Weipa we had met on the Coleman River and also a family we had met in Bowen (Glen, Bridget, Blake and Celia).  The kids all had fun exploring and playing together. We managed to find a swimming spot away from crocs which kept the girls very happy.



Laundry with a view.





 

 

Croc free swimming is always a bonus find out here.



After leaving Leichardt falls we travelled a short distance to Gregorgy Downs. Along the way we were lucky to spot some Emu's and fantastic birdlife. As this is all cattle country there are always cows to be seen. However, this time they looked really interesting; they were in huge numbers lazing around the dams, I just hope the dams last the dry for them. A small dam for such a large number of cattle does not seem enough. We stopped on the Gregory River for lunch and found John and Roylene camped there, so of course we decided to stay the night to catch up on where we had all been since our Telegraph track adventure. We enjoyed the refreshing crystal clear waters of the Gregory River, it was quite fast flowing so rubber duckie came out for a ride. A nice night around the fire.



Gregory river camp





Riding the flow of Gregory River



Emma got the fire going

Lawn Hill National Park, how can I describe this beautiful place? An oasis in the middle of a desert. The gorge is truely amazing red cliffs with a pandanus lined creek and a few waterfalls thrown in just to add extra beauty. We did a spectacular walk to Indarri falls then back along the top of the gorge. The views of the gorge rim were amazing and well worth the walk. We even managed to see a freshwater croc lazing on a log.

Indarri falls



Indarri falls lookout



Lawn Hill Gorge and the ranges



Doomadgee store

 I just wanted to show you what a typical store looks like in these remote aboriginal communities, this is the store in Doomadgee, it was Sunday when we passed thru so it was closed but I can imagine it was like a department store which sold most things the community needed. Notice no marketing or fancy shop windows, just a plain old metal shed.

Our next destination is the Northern Territory. Looking forward to finding more nice waterways to camp by and hopefully some more fish.

 

To Northern Territory