Project Pajero
Where are we now!
Day 29-32 24-28 September 2009
Before leaving Darwin, Tony who is a Twitcher (bird watcher in case you were wondering) spoke to another Twitcher in the caravan park and he suggested they visit Fogg Dam on the road to Kakadu not far off the Arnhem Hwy as there were “hundreds” of birds there. Well, they must have migrated, Tony was very disappointed in the lack of bird life at Fogg Dam but amused by the sign that said no walking across the Dam due to the presence of a saltwater crocodile. So they drove the Pajero across hoping to spot the Croc. This could be a real test for the Bridgestone Tyres which up to now were performing faultlessly. Sadly, no croc either, so with no crocs and no birds they left Fogg Dam.
Next stop was the Territory Wildlife Park with an entry fee of $20 each, they spent 3 hours here and voted it well worth the money. Lots of crocs to be seen along with turtles and other animals and birds of the Top End. Carol commented that a good feature of the Park was the ability to hop on a small train that ran around the grounds, this helped in the heat of the fast approaching build up season.
They then headed off to the Berry Springs Nature Park for lunch beside the creek, there is a picnic area here with safe swimming. This had eaten into their day quite a bit so they continued straight into Litchfield National Park and to the camping ground at Wangi Falls where they arrived at 5pm. Fortunately, not stopping at the Magnetic termite mounds on the way otherwise they would have missed out on getting a camp site. Yes, its still busy in Litchfield at this time of year and there are only a limited number of camping sites. Carol suggested that anyone with a large caravan in tow might find the sites too small at Wangi Falls. Cost for the night was a reasonable $6.60 per person, this provided toilets and hot showers along with a kiosk. The best part was it was only a 200 metre walk along a formed track to the swimming hole below Wangi Falls.
The following day they had a lot to see and do, starting early with a drive out to the Lost City to view the unusual rock formations, then to Florence Falls where 4 bus loads of Victorian senior year school kids made the swimming hole very busy and noisy. Tony commented on the small car parks at most of the Litchfield sites and said it would be a nightmare in the peak of the season, signs indicating that the area was full, come back another day, need to be considered by those on the wallaby.
Then they visited the beautiful champagne like pools of Buley Rockhole, also crowded and then headed down to Tolmer Falls where swimming is not permitted as it is a breeding site for the Orange Horseshow Bat! OK, so what is that?
T&C certainly had a good look around Litchfield, as they also visited Sandy Creek Falls and the historic Blyth Homestead.
On leaving Litchfield they had time to stop off at the impressive Magnetic Termite mounds and even visited the historic railway where they missed seeing the new Ghan pass through just 15 minutes earlier. Apparently it is was early (would never happen in NSW)! From here they followed the old Stuart Hwy and spotted a sign to Robin Falls, well, it sounded good so they set off in search for the Falls. They found a few people camped along the creek, but no sign of the Falls, so they asked some campers. “Been here for a week mate, walked up there for an hour, and still can’t find the Falls, mate” So if anyone knows where Robin Falls have gone to please advise our grey nomads.
Meanwhile down at Douglas Hot Springs, which they did find, the water was hot! Like 60 Degrees where it initially emerges in the spring, too hot for safe swimming. Fortunately the water flows down the creek and cools as it goes providing some excellent bathing locations. There is camping here for $4.50 per person. From here they continued south stopping off at the Fenton Air field, which is now an air plane graveyard. Built in WW11 it was bombed by the Japanese and the remains of the fighter planes known as Liberators are still found around the airfield. T &C camped overnight back at Edith Falls and enjoyed a swim in this stunning location.
On Sunday whilst we shivered in blustery winds in Sydney and snow fell on the Blue Mtns our grey nomads were motoring across the Top End in 30+ heat to Timber Creek to the Argyle Lake where they camped in a powered site for $30 for the night. Just west of Timber Creek they found a big new bridge across the Victoria river, called the Bradshaw Bridge, but there was no entry to this bridge, it gave access to Defence land and no public access was allowed, has anyone else heard of this before?
On Monday 28 Sept, they drove into Kununurra and camped beside the lake in the beautiful Kimberley Land Caravan Park under the shade of large Boab trees. Now they are truly in the Kimberley. Looking over the Lake which they just took a walk around they are contemplating the sign that said be aware of a 3 metre fresh water croc and the fact that people are camped just 10 metres from the water’s edge. At least they are 50 metres away and in their caravan! They are now deciding which Ord River Cruise to take, arrrhhh to be retired!
Update for Day 26 -28 Sept 21-23
Leaving Jabiru in the hot top end weather Tony & Carol drove out to Border Store and down to Cahill's crossing where mad fishermen use themselves as bait to try to catch a crocodile. Anyway, that's what it appears is going on. If you want to see BIG lizards, just visit the East Alligator River at the Border Store, you won't be disappointed. They took the energetic walk to the top of Ubirr Rock, avoiding the human crush that occurs at sunset when hundreds of tourists descend on the rocky outcrop to witness the view that Paul Hogan made famous (no - not of Linda almost being eaten by a Croc - did anyone really notice the Croc?). A midday visit may not provide the beautiful sunset reflections in the wetlands below Ubirr Rock but it does mean you have the place virtually to your self and it can be a far more spiritual experience. The waters have receded considerably in the wetlands, it is after all the end of the dry season.
After this little piece of paradise it was back on the road with the van in tow as they headed along the Arnhem Hwy, stopping off at the car park under the bridge over the West Alligator River to view more dinosaurs in the river. Being so late in the season means they have most tourist locations to themselves but it also sadly means that a lot of the attractions are not at their best. A good example of this was Windows on the Wetlands. This great glassed viewing platform over looks a large wetland area which normally teems with bird life, T&C had it to themselves during their visit, sadly the wetlands were dry and the birds had flown the coop too!
I was also disappointed that they chose not to take the nearby Adelaide River Jumping Crocodile Cruise, they decided they had seen plenty of crocs by now. But the awe inspiring sight of an 18 foot croc standing up on its tail in the water to be fed off the top deck of the cruise boat is definitely one to behold.
The nomadic nomads wandered into Darwin and spent the next couple of days here sampling its best. Their caravan park out at Lee Point north of Darwin is on a point of green mangrove coast that juts into the Timor Sea, bordered by Fannie Bay and Buffalo Creek. I warned them about camping in an area that had ocean on both sides of them and suggested that the crocs had learnt to walk over land in search of food. But Carol allayed my fears by advising that there were no crocs here, the box jelly fish had fixed that!
Fortunately their $20 per night powered site was also served by a swimming pool, you could see it on the google map via the SPOT tracker, so they spent a lot of time relaxing in the warm waters of the pool.
They had two days in Darwin, one to chase up some parts for the Foxwing awning which took an unexpected back flip when a strong gust of wind caught it at Rainbow Valley as they were packing it away, thanks to Michael at Rhino Rack for arranging delivery of the hinge to Darwin. They also wanted to get the Pajero checked over to see if they could establish why its fuel economy was so poor. The second day was for sightseeing around Darwin.
Carol declared that she liked Darwin, but it just needed to be moved a few thousand kilometres to the south to avoid the oppressive heat. Temps were averaging 32 degrees through the day cooling down to 22 overnight but fortunately the humidity had not yet kicked in and was only around 80%!
They visited the Botanic Gardens, the foreshore at Bicentennial Park with its back drop of CBD high rise buildings, the wharf area and even an air museum strangely near the airport. Watching them via SPOT I found the Hidden Valley motor racing complex which was not far out of town at all. Always wondered where it was, the marvels of Google maps!
Unfortunately, the Ultra Tune man could find nothing amiss with the tuning of the Pajero and suggested it was the load they were carrying that was giving them such poor fuel consumption. T&C were a little taken aback when they dropped the Pajero off only to be told they did not have a courtesy car to run them back to their caravan 5 k's away, so they walked back! Yes in all that heat and humidity!
5 hours later after calling to see if the Pajero was ready to collect (Ultra Tune did say they would call when it was, but didn't) Tony (being a keen jogger, he prefers to call it running) decided to run back the 5 k's to collect the Pajero. Yes it was now midday in Darwin! Not many people run at midday in Darwin and I think the Ultra Tune guy thought this old codger had been out in the sun too long when he jogged into the workshop sweat running off him like the fountain in Hyde park! But he still took $130 off him for the privilege.
So they liked Darwin but would prefer to see it in the south where it is cooler and car workshops treat their customers like real people. Next stop is Litchfield, I think they should like this spot, great waterfalls, swimming holes and no crocs!
Day 23-25 18-20 September 2009
Well, the nomadic nomads have hit Kakadu, still no entry fee to this park, perhaps they should drop the $25 per person fee at Uluru also, might make people feel less ripped off when they find the Ayres Rock climb closed. Anyway, all the reports out of T&C on Kakadu are good. They headed into Gumlon Falls with the caravan where they found excellent camping for $10 pppn which included hot showers and flushing toilets and even a kiosk with basic supplies.
I was intrigued to watch their progress with SPOT, as they climbed to the top f the falls and took a swim in one of the many pools above the falls. Then it appeared they even took SPOT for a swim at the base of the falls. Don't worry about the crocs at Gumlon it is one of the few places with none of these dinosaurs of the past.
After their relaxing time at Gumlon they headed across to another camp ground near Cooinda called Miurella Park, similar fees and services. They made this their base camp for two nights and explored Sandy Billabong where the German tourist was taken by a croc a few years ago. They climbed Nourlangie Rock to view the wonderful art sites and visited more billabongs with odd names like Anbangbang. They walked the Yellow Waters boardwalk over the wetlands and spotted a large saltwater crocodile stalking some ducks, thank goodness crocs can't fly (that's what the ducks said as they took off - come to think of it, I'm rather glad crocs can't fly too!).
On Sunday they took the drive to Jim Jim falls, good road up to the camping area then followed by 8 k's of 4WD only track, Project Pajero came into its own here. They met a young guy from Hobart who was using a packet of Tim Tams to bribe his lift to the falls and back from fellow 4wdrivers. This was a unique idea especially given the hot temperatures being experienced in the Top End.
At Jim Jim falls there was no water coming over the waterfall this late in the season but they were able to have a swim under the craggy cliff. Driving another 10 k's to Twin Falls through a 400mm deep creek crossing on the way. From the car park it is a 200 metre walk to the river where there is a boat moored. The boat then took them to within 150 metres of the falls. Here they left the boat and followed a rocky trail and floating boardwalk over the water. Interestingly, due to the hot weather and the inability to swim in these waters due to the presence of crocs the Parks people have installed cold showers along the way to cool down the visitors. This boardwalk and trail leads to a beautiful sandy beach in front of the plunge pool at the base of Twin falls, but no swimming here due to crocs that are seen in the waterhole. Walking back to the boat pier there is a two way radio to call up the boat if its not there, the cost is just $12.50 pp both ways on the boat, the trip takes about 7 minutes.
So T&C have had a good time in Kakadu, they are heading into Jabiru on Monday morning (21/9) then out to Ubirr rock and Cahills Crossing.
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