We are steadily making our way around Australia’s south, centre and west, and recently left Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory (NT). Next, we reached the ‘Top End’ of Australia. Our main stop there was the port city of Darwin, which was our first biggish city since leaving Adelaide over a month ago.
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| Darwin, NT |
Aboriginal people have lived in the Top End for over 65,000 years. Then in 1869, a permanent white settlement was founded by Lt. John Lort Stokes and called Palmerston. It was re-named Darwin, after Stokes friend Charles Darwin, in 1911. Darwin now, is a cosmopolitan city of around 110,300 people.
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| Cullen Bay marina, beaches, homes and gardens, Darwin, NT |
Our first look at this pretty city, was when we did a drive through to get an overview. Our drive took us through the top of the city to the very lovely Cullen Bay Marina. Leaving there we drove past several other beautiful beaches, some stunning homes, and lovely parklands.
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| Darwin Military Museum bunker, East Point, Darwin, NT |
Eventually we reached East Point and the Darwin Military Museum. Darwin is known for its strategic defence of Australia in WWII, and in many places throughout the city, you can still find gun emplacements, bunkers, oil storage tanks and other memorials about Darwin’s role in that war.
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| Darwin city, NT |
Leaving East Point, we found a motorcamp just south of Darwin and the next day, caught the local bus into the city. Interestingly, the buses are free of charge. The city is compact and very easy to walk around, and we spent the whole day there.
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| Top L-Parliament Hse, historic bldg, St Mary's Cathedral; Christ Church Cathedral |
On our walk we enjoyed seeing Parliament house, some architecturally interesting churches, several beautifully landscaped parks and gardens, and many galleries featuring Aboriginal art. Then we walked down to the harbour finding lots of eateries, so we enjoyed a fantastic seafood lunch of jewfish belly, tiger prawns and Gulf of Carpentaria bugs - delicious.
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| The huge swimming pool seen from our restaurant, Darwin, NT |
The harbour area is very lovely and includes a huge swimming pool with an artificial beach. There were a few people enjoying it as we went indoors for lunch, but after lunch we walked past and it was chocka in the 35-degree heat. Next, we walked to the other side of the harbour to Stokes Hill Wharf to visit the Royal Flying Doctor Service Tourist Facility.
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| Early aircraft of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, NT |
It was amazing. There is a display about the origins of this famous outback medical service, and some aeronautical memorabilia. There is also a virtual reality display that puts you right in the middle of the 19 February 1942 bombing of Darwin by the Japanese. It was so well done that you really felt you were there.
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| The rocky path to the Cascades, Litchfield NP, NT |
Darwin is as far north as we travelled so after several days there, we drove south, heading for Litchfield National Park. Litchfield is known for its many waterfalls, crystal clear swimming holes, walks, and historic places, and our first stop there was the Cascades waterfall. However, the walk to the falls was so rocky and slippery, and the temperature was in the high 30’s, so we didn’t reach the main falls.
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| Wangi Falls, Litchfield NP, NT |
Our next stop was Wangi Falls. An easier walk but now, in the dry season, the falls were modest. However, we couldn’t help thinking that they would be spectacular in the wet season. There’s a swimming hole at the base of the falls, but we resisted swimming there because of the signs saying that the pool had been checked for crocs, but we must still be ‘croc-wise’.
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| Florence Falls, Litchfield NP, NT |
We also visited Tolmer Falls where we saw a lovely waterfall cascading over two ridges down into Tolmer Creek. A bit further on we visited Florence Falls, which is a double waterfall that cascades into a swimming hole. It was almost 200 steps to get down to the swimming hole (meaning also 200 up again), so we gave it a miss!
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| Marg at a giant Cathedral Termite mound in Litchfield NP, NT |
Our final stop in Litchfield NP was to see the giant termite mounds. There are two types, the tallest are the Cathedral Termite mounds that can grow up to 7 or 8 metres high, and be as old at 100 years. They are considered one of the tallest non-human animal structures in the world.
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| A field of Magnetic Termite mounds, Litchfield NP, NT |
The second are the flattish mounds of the Magnetic Termite. These are built to align north to south (hence the name), and the termites that make them are found nowhere else on earth. The mounds stand about 2 metres tall and can also be up to 100 years old. Something like 1 million termites can be housed in one mound. They were amazing.
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| The Victoria Highway, NT |
After quite a full-on day through Litchfield National Park, we reached the wee township of Adelaide River (pop 159). After one night there, we turned west to drive to the border of Northern Territory and Western Australia. We were on the Victoria Highway, and it was a very long drive with no tourist sites and not much relief from the monotonous flat and straight road.
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| Bushfires still burning along the Victoria Highway, NT |
Except in the areas that had seen bushfires, where on several occasions small fires were still burning in the 38 C degree heat. We had very little food because there are stringent quarantine requirements regarding fresh fruit and veg at the NT/WA border. But we still had some fresh ginger, potatoes, onions and lemons. So, we cooked and mashed them all together, then added a tin of tuna and made tuna patties and froze them.
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| Bats at Timber Creek Camp, NT |
Our final stop in the NT was at a settlement called Timber Creek (pop 278). There was a very basic campground, a shop, pub and fuel. So we stayed in the camp there but were not thrilled with the crocs in their creek and smelly bats in their trees. However, we ate some of our tuna patties for dinner (yum), and prepared for a very early start the next morning.
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| The changing terrain as we head to Western Australia |
We had another very long drive the next day, but we noticed that the terrain was becoming rockier. Then as we reached the border, what we were seeing was the East Kimberley ranges. We got through the border ok, then kept driving west, but that part of the journey is in the next blog.
This post is the fifth in a series about our travels through Australia’s south, centre and west. The first post was about Adelaide and can be found here.