The Big Heat and the Top End

Camel Riders on Cable Beach Broome

As we have travelled north so the temperatures have increased, until here near Darwin they are an uncomfortable 40 degrees during the day, and generally not dropping below around 28 degrees at night. Hence we tend to visit places morning and evening and travel during the middle of the day when the car's air-conditioning provides relief from the heat.

Deserted outback road

From Karijini National park we headed to Broome on the coast for a couple of day's relaxation and enjoyed lovely coastal scenery and visited the 100 year old outdoor cinema where the latest Hollywood blockbusters can be enjoyed under the stars.

Beautiful peaceful Windjana Gorge

Freshwater Crocodile

Having stocked up on food we headed north to the Kimberley which has some spectacular rugged sandstone scenery, with red vertical cliffs rising out of the plains and cascading waterfalls into deep cool plunge pools, many offering a chance to cool off.




The sandstone heights are frequently cut by deep narrow gorges which remain shaded and cool during the day. NW Australia is the home of the Boab tree - very similar to the Baobab of Africa with huge bloated trunks supporting a few short branches. The trees are just coming into leaf heralding the start of the wet season. Our first stop from Broome was Windjana Gorge where we enjoyed a spectacular thunderstorm overnight, followed by a glorious clear day when we walked through this peaceful gorge in an ancient Devonian barrier reef. The river through the gorge is inhabited by dozens of small (up to 3m long) freshwater crocodiles (freshies), which are claimed to be relatively harmless, unlike their bigger cousins the saltwater crocs (salties) which grow to 7m and can be very aggressive. Further along the same road is Tunnel creek - a natural river tunnel which winds 750m through the barrier reef which can be walked and waded through provided you have a good torch.

Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater

A detour took us to Wolfe Creek crater - the second largest meteorite crater in the world which is almost perfectly circular and rises out of a completely flat plain. It must have been a huge impact. 

Purnulu National Park is home to the Bungle Bungles, which provide some strange rock formations with banded black and red sandstone domes rising from the plain. The sandstone is fissured providing a number of canyons ranging from the intimate Echidna Canyon which in places is only 1m wide, to Cathedral canyon which opens to a wide amphitheatre with a dramatic overhang under a wet season waterfall.

The Bungle Bungles



Echidna Gorge

Cathedral Gorge

Pentecost River Crossing - Gibb River Road

North again is El Questro Park with a series of stunning swimming holes set in deep sandstone canyons and encompassing several large rivers including Pentecost River which the Gibb River road crosses in a 200m long ford. From Western Australia we have crossed into Northern territories and headed north to Darwin, a reasonably large city in the "Top End" which has an amazing number of WW2 airfields and defences, as well as being adjacent to the Litchfield and Kakadu National Parks.

Aboriginal Rock Art in Kakadu

Litchfield has some lovely walking trails through lush tropical valleys, while UNESCO listed Kakadu spans a wide range of habitats from coast, through swamp and floodplain to sandstone cliffs. Two excellent sites containing a lot of ancient Aboriginal rock art are set in the Park providing a glimpse of ancient Aboriginal culture, and the rock shelters they used for millennia.

 

One feaure of the NW is the number of birds of prey and the prolific and spectacular bird life in general, from the beautiful to the ugly.


The beautiful Comb Crested Jacana

Masked Lapwing

Having caught our breath in Darwin we are planning to head south through the centre to Alice Springs and Uluru.

Too hot for Kites

A friendly spider trying to eat a beetle

 

Driving hazard - 60m long road trains

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

G'Day Australia

Pastoral SW Australia

Arriving in Perth after 5 months in Indonesia came as a shock. Not only are the roads incredibly good, there is no litter, the supermarkets are loaded with western goods, with especially good meat, and wine, and the weather is cool - in fact at times cold. Spring is just arriving and the weather has just turned from cold and wet to more Spring like resulting in the spring flowers being at their best. While waiting for the container to arrive we hired a car and have spent a couple of weeks exploring the south west corner of Australia, which in places looks just like the UK - rolling green hills where sheep graze, with small woodlands, and further inland large areas of wheat and a very rural feel.

Kangaroos grazing

It is only when you look closely at the trees and realise they are mainly eucalypts of some sort, and when kangaroos hop across in front of you, or graze in the evening light in the fields that you realise this is Australia. The weather has been fantastic, warm sunny days and cool nights - we even had a frost! September is the beginning of the whale migration along the coast so we have spent several days walking the coastal areas along empty sandy beaches and through colourful coastal scrub keeping an eye out for the tell tale whale blow, or splash when one has breached.

Whales

Lookout Tree

We were fortunate to see one a couple of hundred metres off the headland where we were chatting to volunteers who perform an annual whale migration census. This SW corner of Australia was once covered in eucalyptus forest much of which has been cleared to plant wheat, but large areas have been kept in National Parks where some of the huge 400 year old trees can still be seen. We passed on the opportunity to climb 65 metres up metal spikes driven into a tree to reach a fire lookout, and instead walked round the valley of giants where particularly large trees are more abundant.

Tulips in Botanic Garden

A week ago we returned to Perth as the container arrived and we wanted to be on hand, however customs randomly selected our container for X-Ray so it was delayed on the wharf by 4 working days, and we have spent the time using the excellent public transport system to visit some of the sights in and around Perth and Freemantle, including the botanic gardens, which had fine displays of tulips and banksia trees in flower. Last Friday the container was eventually released and has been cleared by Customs, so we are now waiting for an appointment with Quarantine inspectors so we can unpack it and they can inspect for cleanliness - hopefully today or tomorrow. They frequently request additional cleaning before it is released and we can take it for its roadworthiness inspection. So we will likely have to spend another week in or around Perth.


 

Banksia Flower

SW Coast

Emu

Heading North in Australia

Stockyard Gully Tunnel

Our vehicle was eventually released to us after being held by customs for 10 days for a random check, and then after a 5 minute examination by the quarantine officer we were declared clear. The final pieces of the jigsaw were to get the car serviced and then tested by the Dept of Transport, who also OK'd it so we were then free to drive. Having provisioned ourselves we immediately set off north from Perth and have spent the last 10 days visiting many of their fabulous National Parks en route. We spent the first night in the van in nearly six weeks in Yanchep NP, 70kms N of Perth where we were entertained by a pair of male kangaroos fighting. From there we have visited Pinnacles NP, where remarkable limestone pillars have been left in a sandy desert, Leseur NP to see the Spring flowers, Stockyard Gully where we walked through a 250m long natural limestone tunnel, once used by herders to hold their cattle.


Natures Window Kalbarri NP

Following the Indian Coast Road has meant we have been able to cut off to the coast to camp and enjoy the long sandy coastline. As we progressed north sections of the coast have become rocky with some spectacular headlands and cliffs. We drove to the most westerly point of Mainland Australia at Steep Point crossing a couple of sand dunes en route, but were alos rewarded with visiting some fantastic blowholes in the cliffs  where we could hear the air being forced up from 100 ft below. When there is a real swell in the sea at high tide they discharge fountains of water, despite being 100ft above sea level.   

Heading N back into the Tropics

We have become very conscious of just how big Australia is, the roads are excellent with relatively little traffic, a real contrast to Indonesia, but the distances are huge. Communities are separated by 100's of kms so it is essential to keep a close eye on fuel levels, it may be 150kms to the next fuel station, even on a main road. The landscape also changes slowly with large areas of scrubland, and as we have travelled further north increasingly arid landscapes with sparse grass and small trees / shrubs. It is amazing that these areas are used for grazing with cattle and sheep straying over 10's of kms

Western Tip of Australia

One highlight was an evening whale watching trip from Exmouth where we were privileged to see around a dozen humpback whales, many with calves, displaying most of their antics, breaching, fin and tail slapping and beautiful tail fin dives. I was fantastic to be near to these huge and docile creatures. From a population of fewer than 1000 migrating along this coast in the early 1960's there are now around 30,000, with the population still growing.

Breaching humpback whale

The following day we were sitting in a beach car park about to have lunch when a group of 3 kangaroos decided to rest in the shade of our van, it was the only shade around, so we ate lunch while these inquisitive visitors watched or snoozed around 3 ft away. We have now travelled sround 200kms inland and spent the day in Karijini NP - a huge area of undulating scrubland cut by numerous deep and often narrow gorges. Trails wind down into the gorges where there are several tranquil pools ideal for swimming.
A fantastic country with lots to see and do, but also huge distances to cover.

Blowholes



Chilled Kangaroo

Canyons in Karijini NP

Walking a narrow canyon