Park on fire

Rock art over 20,000 years old, Ubirr sunsets looking out on Arnhem Land, a massive hike up and around Nouralangie Rock, waterfalls of glorious heights and size, beautiful birds and super crocs - all and more in Kakadu!

What a mesmerising place is this national park. And the calm that has come when I see the place up in flames. The dual management of this area by the traditional owners and national parks brings the age old technique of back burning. I appreciate the reasons for it but still have a heart jump when flames are flickering only meters from our camp. Maybe it was the story of a friend in Darwin that said he returned to find his tent burned to smithers after traveling with the guys doing the burning who said his stuff was fine. Regardless we had no such incident but instead loads of sights of night burning that looked like lava flowing down the hills. As most the sights in this park, photos don't do it justice.

After taking a private boat tour of Corroboree Billabong (organised by our Darwin hosts), we spent four days at Kakadu Lodge making day trips out to the various sites and hikes then one night at Jim Jim Falls and a last couple nights at Gunlom (Waterfall Creek).

Barrk Trail was a 12k hike up, and I mean UP the cliff face of Nouralangie Rock for a view of the sunrise we had to do again a couple days later just to appreciate it. Then on top you hike through a type of Lost City of rock formations with

stacks of massive boulders and multi colored layers before coming down the other side where a series of rock art ranged from the basic hand prints to the outright paranormal. From there we're only half way but powered through the lowland forest.

Sunset at Ubirr is a pilgrimage required for any Kakadu visit. We went twice just for good measure. We didn't get the 'hallelujah' setting that we hoped for but the view on top of the rock overlooking the floodlands and then Arnhem Land was magical!

I must confess I rolled my ankle on our second climb of Nouralangie Rock so our next stops of Jim Jim and Gunlom were slightly less active although still involved climbs to both falls, just slower.

A deep sigh but we did start to drive out of Kakadu and ran into road mates, Sally & Keith, so shared traveling stories before driving on. After the State of Origin Game 2, we're off to Gregory NP then Bungle Bungles and the Kimberleys!

Boys will be boys

Refueling the friendship tank with good times in Darwin. There was golf, fishing, crabbing, shed work and male bonding. Welcome to Darwin where Matt got a chance to catch up with childhood friend, Tom Rayner. And what a lovely stop it was!

Recently married to the beautiful Tiff, Tom and his wife work at Charles Darwin University where their field work is in Kakadu NP, our next stop. While the boys played, Tiff and I had some gossip time and worked in a massage each.

And with all the hard work by the boys, we ate very well! Chilli crab one night, red emperor and smoked mackerel another. We did also have a fair share of poker nights.

Equipped with our poker share and tips on Kakadu, we topped off our time in Darwin with dinner at the Sailing Club at sunset - it's a rough life!

Waterlogged in waterfalls

It's not a bad problem to have I realise but my ears are definitely in need of some drying out from so many swims in the waterfalls. Even without a proper wet season, Litchfield NP has water falling from its many falls.

We stayed the first night at Florence Falls (pic above) via the 4wd campground track and then moved over for two nights to Wangi Falls (pic to left but only half the falls) where the swimming hole is like a giant water hug but the mosquitos were pesky. Even with the nightly annoyance of bites, we could have swam here for ages! And Matt loved his cliff diving much to my grimacing each time.

The track to Sandy Creek was still closed so we spent days on asphalt, if not in water, and visiting the surrounds. The area also has a 'Lost City' to hike around and giant termite mounds! This region near Darwin is definitely more crowded than our past sites so we don't get to enjoy the complete solitude until the day trippers head home for the night.

But the other advantage of the popularity is a bit more on offer which we took advantage of a ranger talk on the area and an indigenous leader talk complete with a separate section on secret women's business (ie check out the pic of Wangi Falls above and the symbolic feminine representation...).

On to Darwin next to stay with a childhood friend of Matt's.

Crocs aren't ruining our party

Entered Northern Territories where so far the swimming holes are divine and croc free. But besides crocodile warnings, the main item of concern was to get to a camp with a tv for the State of Origin football game and alas Lorella Springs Wilderness Camp was the perfect spot.

Lorella was off the 4wd track from Boroloola to Mataranka

via Roper Bar and then on another 30km of track to get to the homestead. After more corrugation than you want in a day, we were just hoping this recommended sidetrack was going to be worth it. AMAZING it was! The grounds had a warm spring on site and each day we had a customised 4wd track drawn out to discover fresh spring water holes of our own.

As for the game - NSW won the first of the 3-part match so stay tuned for another 3 weeks when we take on Qld again. The homestead put on a spread for the match with campers bringing a contributory dish so we ate very well with the homestead. having its own cattle and barramundi from the rivers.

Next stop wasn't far with a hike on the way through the Western Lost City of sandstone spires. We stayed that night on the river's edge at Towns River where we could hear the fish jumping in the night (maybe from a bigger croc predator).

After an unimpressive dip at Mataranka Springs (way too commercial after our spoiled Lorella experience), we went through Katherine and ran into friends from earlier in the trip. Following Adrian and Lucy, we went to Edith Falls NP.

Oh, & how can I forget the rodeo?! Passed by that on the way to Litchfield National Park and what fun we had!

NT!

We made it to the Northern Territories! Crossing this border is a first for both of us so we're pretty exciting and deserved a quick blog update of its own.

A beautiful bush camp at the Robinson River crossing after I got to do my first real river

crossing - scary but very cool! After a river shower while watching for crocs, we (Matt) got to use his chainsaw and build our fire.

Dinner? Pizza made from the leftover (pic here from campfire dinner the night before) steak, pumpkin and capsicum on one then salami,

zucchini and onion on the other - yum! So glad we didn't lose the foldable oven in the diet.

Heading to Lorella Springs for a couple days so we can be assured tv access for State of Origin.

Oasis in the midst of desert

What an unbelievable relief to find Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill) National Park after long distances of dirt, dust and croc signs!

The turquoise water of the river with swimming hole begged us in to free the road's toil. And then the afternoon canoe up through the gorge and waterfalls - magical!

A 2m olive python swam up to saw hi on our paddle as well as a few fresh water crocs but they say they are harmless. I did get quite a fright though when the croc jumped in the water in a flap from us getting too close!

Nothing to the fright of Matt fetching water in a river crossing a few nights before in our bush camp on Burke Development Road between Chillagoe and Normanton! I stood guard with walking stick in hand ready to walk it to death! I did enjoy that bush shower though and had the best night's sleep in our solitude!

Amazingly I've enjoyed the dust and found differences in the scenery with shrub to tree and the wildlife is stunning - loads of immense wedgetail eagles, lanky brolgas and jabirus, stunning black cockatoos, and of course roos and cattle!

We'll head north tomorrow through Kingfisher Camp on the way to Mataranka via the 4wd track.