SEGMENT 9
Tuesday, May 16. At 3 months, we were roughly halfway through our trip
and had put almost 12,500 miles (20,000km) on our odometer. Having left
the Red Centre behind, we pushed on north on the Stuart Highway towards
the more tropical areas of the Northern Territory. The dry bushland was
slowly replaced with light forests; days and nights got warmer; and the
flies handed over their role of annoying spoilers to hords of mosquitos.
A quick detour took us past Devil's Marbles, huge boulders almost perfectly
round which were created by erosion. In the middle of the bush, Magdalena
received an original haircut (pic01); Australian water somehow continually
caused her long hair to tangle helplessly, which must have happened to
pretty much every other woman around as all women's hairdressers were
always booked out for days....
In Katherine, we found out that the Central Arnhem Road to Gove Peninsula
in the Aboriginal-owned Arnhem Land was closed due to floods at least
until June, if not July. This was quite a disappointment as we had applied
for a permit to visit this stunningly beautiful area steeped in ancient
history, rarely ever visited by tourists. Also, Nitmiluk National Park
(Katherine Gorge) was also closed as they were still busy "crocodile-spotting",
an interesting concept where national park officials search the waters
for dangerous saltwater crocodiles. Usually, this gorge only has a few
harmless "freshies" but due to the exceptionally long and rainy
wet this year, some "salties" made it across natural barriers
into the gorge thanks to elevated water levels. Noone could tell us how
long this activity would last, so we continued north and spent a wonderfully
relaxing day at marvelous Umbrawarra Gorge (pic02), where we had a fabulous
pool amongst red cliffs all to ourselves. The next goal was Butterfly
Gorge, accessible only by 4WD according to the less than helpful lady
at the Katherine Visitor Center - and closed, as we found out after traveling
a detour of 20 miles (32kms) to the park. This was the second time we
had been given wrong information at a Visitor Center, where staff generally
seemed to be poorly or mis-informed. On the way here, we had found two
service stations marked on our map closed - one didn't even have pumps
anymore, the other couldn't afford to buy more gas (petrol) according
to the friendly young backpacker from Germany behind the counter. While
we were chatting with this fellow, a helicopter from the Fire Department
landed, the pilot came in to buy a cold coke, and left again. Apparently,
the department ran control flights along the areas that they were currently
burning to prevent wildfires (no kidding), and pilots visited the roadhouse
frequently.
Our first destination in the
Top End was Litchfield Park, which is sometimes overlooked by tourists
in their rush to reach Kakadu National Park. Litchfield offers phenomenal
waterfalls and plunge pools in a vibrant rainforest environment and is
also known for the huge termite mounts (pic03). Due to the recent cyclones,
some of the roads and attractions were still inaccessible, and the most
popular pool was closed to swimming because a few salties had been spotted
in the water.... This area is also appreciated by dozens of flying foxes
who relax in the trees (pic04). We ran into Steve, a four-wheeler from
Brisbane who knew our truck from www.ausjeepoffroad.com, an Australian-wide
4x4 forum, and made plans to hook up again in Darwin. When we reached
Darwin, with over 50,000 inhabitants the only larger city in the Northern
Territory, we took advantage of the urban amenities and relaxed for a
couple of days. One night, we had a major rain storm, a late visitor from
the Wet, and the unbearable humidity preceding the downpour gave us an
idea of what conditions are like during monsoon season.
Kakadu is one of Australia's
most famous national parks, and here's why (data from Let's Go and National
Park literature): it is home to 64 mammal, 100 reptile, 200 ant, and 1000
fly species (we were particularly excited about the latter), as well as
one-third of all bird species found in Australia. Its extensive rock art
galleries are up to 50,000 years old and are among the oldest in the world
(pic05). The park name derives from Gagudju, one of the Aboriginal languages
spoken here in the past. When Europeans arrived in Australia, there were
about 200 distinct Aboriginal languages, very different from each other
and complex in grammar and vocabulary. Today about 100 are still spoken
to some extent. Most Aborigines know 2-3 languages so they can communicate
with neighboring tribes, with English being their 3rd or 4th language.
We spent 4 days in this diverse area and enjoyed vast wetlands, intriguing
rock paintings, clear plunge pools, impressive waterfalls, and topped
it all off with a wetland cruise where we observed saltwater crocodiles
(pic06) in their natural habitat. To see a salty hunt fish helps understand
why you're not supposed to swim with them! Many fascinating birds call
this area their home; among them the inventive kingfisher which divebombs
termite mounts in the trees to create a hole for a protected nest - a
very dangerous endeavour since the termite mounts are hard as rock and
several kingfishers have been found with a broken bill or spine.
As we passed through Katherine
the second time, we learned that Nitmiluk NP had been opened to hikers,
though canoe trips were still prohibited due to crocodile presence. We
walked up to one of the lookouts and enjoyed the impressive vista - this
gorge would indeed be phenomenal to explore on the water!
Now we ventured onto the rough
Savannah Way, which connects Cairns on the east coast with Broome in the
west. It was a beautiful drive on an adventurous four-wheel track with
deep, crocodile-infested river crossings (pic07) and many wash-outs. At
one water-crossing, we found a hesitant Australian couple who was waiting
for other vehicles to test the water. After they had wrapped a tarp across
the front of the vehicle since they didn't have a snorkel, they gave it
a go following our advice and made it through alright. We continued through
lovely bushland and flower-dotted wetlands until we reached the savannah
of Queensland.
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