I know what you think, another National Park but Nitmiluk NP, that is dissected by the Katherine River and Katherine gorges (13 in all, has been a fantastic experience. Nitmiluk NP is on Jawoyn land, handed back in the 1989 to the First Nations people that together with the NT government, created a NP to share with all people. Very nicely done.
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Lichfield NP is approx 130km from Darwin so locals as well as visitors use this great NP. The positive is that the park has great accessibility and facilities to the walks and sights. I guess the negative is lots of people, but as we always get up early we were not bothered.
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So we are back in Northern Territory (and getting used to losing 1.5 hours).
On 19/07/2021 before we headed off to Timber Creek on Highway 1, we managed to get our spare tyre fixed (no mean feat as all tyre fitters are flat out (no pun intended!) at this time of year). FYI: Highway 1 is the ring road around Australia and the longest in the world.
Timber Creek is a roadhouse with a lovely shady grassy caravan park behind it. The creek has a colony of flying foxes (big bats…..yuk…) and a resident fresh water croc (who seemed oblivious to us photographing him/her). A very pleasant overnighter.
On 20/07/2021 we continued along Highway 1 to Katherine (to get 4 new tyres 😄). There are lots of caravan parks but again we have chosen well (Katherine Holiday Park). After setup we went into town to the visitors centre to get a list of things to do. In the evening we ate at the caravan park restaurant. Not our best meal out unfortunately (and of course, expensive…., getting a tad fed up of the prices up here).
On 21/07/2021 we went for a walk along Katherine River and it’s crossings. In the afternoon we watched the Tom Curtin Outback Experience. Great family entertainment with a huge variety of animals (horses, dogs, donkeys, fowl, water buffalo to name but a few). They had demonstrations of horse breaking and dog training along with a cowboy singing whilst riding and standing on a horse.
On 23/07/2021 we drove out to Cutta Cutta (aboriginal for Caves) Caves. I took along a lightweight fleece as I usually find it cold in caves. Not these ones! There is no air flow because there is only one entrance. Not only were they warm but the further we went in, the humidity went up as there is water at the end (which is not open to the public). Very unpleasant. But interesting formations all the same. We didn’t get to see any bats as they stay at the end away from our light. We did, however, get to see a Banded Tree Snake (poisonous but not known to harm….we were told!).
On 24/07/2021 we start travelling towards Lichfield National Park (NP) and the 13th degree of latitude which will be the most northerly point of our trip. When we arrive in Lichfield NP we will have been through the 43rd degree to the 13th degree of latitude which is 3,300km as the crow flies (although we have actually travelled approx 33,000km between these latitudes).
We have absolutely loved our 3 months in Western Australia (WA).
A few facts:
Due to the interruption to our 2019 plan we missed travelling the Nullabor Plain and visiting the SW corner. So before we departed in March 2021, we flew to Perth and toured the area including Freemantle, Rottnest Island and Margaret River.
In picture form here are our favourite places we visited whilst touring in the caravan:
What a surprise Kununurra and surrounds has been. We picked a great caravan park (CP) on the edge of town at the foot of the Mirima National Park (NP). One great feature of Kununurra is that due to the dams, water is never an issue. In fact we’ve been encouraged to wash our car and van to water the grass at the CP which has been fantastic for us to get rid of the red dirt from the last month in the Kimberley.
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We arrived in Wyndham on 03/07/2021 for a 5 night stay. Wyndham Caravan Park (CP) is a lovely haven: beautiful trees, beautiful grass and little dust. Yippee! And the weather is just perfect: blue skies, no humidity, little breeze, warm days (30) and cool evenings(15).
Wyndham is a very nice small town. Some facts about Wyndham: the most northerly town in WA, daily tides rise and fall up to 8.3m and one of the hottest places in Australia with an average maximum daily temperature of 36c.
We spent the 5 days visiting the various local attractions.
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El Questro Station / Resort is a destination at the end of the Gibb River Road (GRR) east of the Pentecost River (the river flooding closes the road in the wet season) and the end of the gravel (yippee!). It offers all types of accomodation/camping, walking tracks, 4WD tracks, lookouts and Croc free swimming holes. It has recently been taken over by an Australian company who are improving its battered reputation. Yes it is over priced but the facilities are good. And to be honest everything in the Kimberley is expensive. We really have enjoyed our rest here after the GRR.
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We have endured the Gibb River Road (GRR). We felt the start and end had the best sights which are accessible without having to endure the 700km of corrugations. Really pleased with how the van coped with only one puncture.
The GRR was opened to service the large cattle stations in the Kimberley and through tourism is now the access to many national parks (NP) and stations in the region from Derby to Kununurra. It is still a truly remote part of the world.
The road is mainly gravel but is gradually being tarred to allow access all year around. In the wet season the road is inaccessible in places due to flooding and destruction of the road. It has a reputation for destroying tyres (more later) and caravans but as long as you deflate tyres, drive to the conditions and keep an eye out for washaways and large stones it’s just rough (and takes lots of concentration).
We stayed at: Windjara Gorge NP, Mount Hart Wilderness Lodge, Manning Gorge NP, Drysdale River Station, Ellenbrae Station.
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Derby is in the west Kimberley region of Western Australia near the amazing Horizontal Falls. Amazing is an understatement! Due to the tidal range (11 metre), volume of water in a connected lake and only one narrow water access point, the tide rushes through the channel to create a ‘horizontal’ waterfall.
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Half way up the Dampier Peninsular from Broome is Banana Well getaway with access to Beagle Bay Creek via a bush track with a tidal range of 10mtr, crocs and bull dust everywhere.
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