Our Travels

No rush today, the gorge cruise was booked for 11 am, so we stayed in bed to nearly 7:30. It helps now that the sun is not rising until nearly 7:00 am. Then it was bacon and eggs for breakfast and we headed down to the boat ramp for the cruise.

Katherine Gorge

The gorge system here consists of 13 gorges of which they have tour boats in 3. Katherine Gorge is the second gorge in the tour, the cliffs were quite spectacular and there was still plenty of water flowing in the river. The wet season water marks gives you some idea of the vast amounts of water that flow through the gorges.

At the end of each gorge there was a set of rapids that the boat could not traverse so there was a short walk to the next gorge where you boarded another boat. The question of course was asked “How do you get the boats into the gorges in the first place”. In the wet season as the water level rises and the water completely covers the rapids the boats are brought back to the main boat ramp, just before the wet season finished they use a large power boat to tow the tour boats back up to their moorings in the gorges. This power boat is also used for charters in the wet season for those thrill seekers who want to get wet as they power upstream against the raging river flows.

Katherine Gorge

Katherine Gorge was also our first experience of fruit bats, they have a resident colony of close to 30,000 and they all roost in the trees along the river, fortunately its quite a distance from the camp grounds because the noise is continuous even when they are supposed to be sleeping.

There is barely a branch free to hang out on

It was still pretty warm when we arrived back at camp and there was a very attractive pool at the campground, mind you it took a couple of hours to get Jacky out of the book she was reading but we finally got in the water around 5:30. We were just getting out and about to head back to cook some tea when some guy picks up a guitar and starts singing in a voice very similar to John Williamson. So we hung around a little longer and as it got dark the idea of cooking tea receded as the smells from the poolside kiosk wafted over the pool. They were selling scotch fillet steaks with salad for $28, it didn’t take long for Jacky to twist my arm and tea was ordered. Mind you the backpacker cooking the steaks didn’t seem to understand medium-rare, we had to keep the fork in them to keep them on the plate.

The pool at Katherine Gorge Campgrounds (its a hard life)

Never the less it was a great evening by the pool listening to a lot of classic aussie songs. We were chatting to a couple next to us who were from Broome, he was a retired professional photographer and after a while I managed to invite myself over to their camp for a lesson in Photoshop and some professional evaluation of my photos.

From Gregory National Park we packed up and headed to Katherine, along the way we stopped at the old crossing over the Victoria River, this was the main crossing until the current bridge was built in 1971.

The old Victoria River Crossing

Victoria River

We arrived in Katherine, did a little shopping and headed out to the camp ground at the Gorge. The camp ground was quite nice, bush setting with all the amenities, flushing toilets, hot & cold showers, pool, restaurant, etc

After breakfast we went exploring. First stop was the Bullita Stockyards and Homestead. There was a letter as part of the display at the Homestead detailing the miraculous survival of a woman during a flood in the 1977. She spent most of the day and the night clinging to the branches of a dead tree with only her head above water for most of that time.

Bulllita Station Homestead

The kitchen in the Bullita Station Homestead

One of the biggest Boab Trees we have seen so far

From there we drove out to Limestone Gorge. The campsite here was closed and looked like they were unlikely to open it any time soon. The track was closed about 2km from the campsite but there were a couple of things to see along the track. At one spot there were two natural dam walls in the creek. They are called Tufa Dams and are caused by a build-up of calcite on tree roots which gradually dam up the creek. The creek contains that much soluble limestone or calcite that all the river rocks are covered and joined together.

Tufu (calcite) dam wall

On the way out there we saw a dingo but unlike the others we have seen this one was a very dark brown. Back to camp for lunch and then relaxing for the afternoon.

Another day of travelling. We say goodbye to WA and are now venturing into new unknown territory (Northern Territory). Our plan was to camp in the Gregory National Park, this park is broken up into a number of sections. One campground, Big Horse Creek was just off the highway but being so close to the highway and it was after 4pm the chances of a spot were remote. Still we had a look and sure enough it was full and there were bollards around all the camping areas. There are quite a few overnight rest areas along the highway and people start stopping at them from 1 pm onwards. One that we stopped at for lunch around 1:10 had 5 caravans set up for the night.

We thought we would stop at Timber Creek for some bread but we had passed through it almost before we realised we were there – it’s a really small place.

It was our intention to camp at the Bullita campgrounds in Gregory National Park which is about 50 kms off the highway down a gravel road with quite a few creek crossings – some dry and some not. I knew that would be enough deterrent to keep the caravans and RVs out and was looking forward to perhaps having the campgrounds to ourselves. The road wasn’t too bad but we had to go reasonably slow with some of the crossings and gullies, so it was beginning to get dark when we got to the campgrounds. Even this campground had bollards but we were able to find a spot that we could put up the camper trailer alongside the bollard without blocking the access road. By the time we were set up it was fully dark and there were certainly far more people in here that I had expected.

Sunset Cruise
Today we went in to Kununurra for the morning and checked out the old Ivanhoe Crossing and had lunch at Swim Beach which is basically a picnic spot on Lake Kununurra, the original irrigation dam.

Ivanhoe Crossing – the old way into Kununurra

Then, with Jacky harassing me about the time, we headed back to Lake Argyle for the Sunset Cruise. She wanted to make certain we didn’t miss the 2:15 pm departure.

Sunset Cruise – Lake Argyle

There is no concept of how large this lake is until you get out on it. After about an hour of cruising the guide pulls down a map and shows us how far we have travelled, not even a tenth of the length of the lake.

Swimming in Lake Argyle

The highlight of the cruise is the swim out in the middle as the sun goes down. After seeing the crocodiles on some of the banks, one being about 3 metres long, and learning that the population of freshwater crocodiles in Lake Argyle has grown from 30,000 to over 130,000 in 10 years and with a plentiful food supply some have grown to 4 metres, Jacky declined to have a swim. Swimming in that much fresh water was quite amazing, the water was warmer than the infinity pool at the caravan park.

Sunset on Lake Argyle

Keep River NP, Zebra Rock

Today we decided to venture in to new territory (NT). Just over the border is the only mine in Australia for Zebra rock. It is a husband and wife show where they dig the rock with an excavator and sort the pieces. Some pieces with small bands are suitable for jewellery other larger pieces are cut into all sorts of shapes including some very impressive made to order table tops.

Zebra Rock

We had heard stories about how strict the quarantine people were coming into WA so we had left all our fresh food at the caravan park and just brought what we would eat for lunch. We forgot about the 4 kg of potatoes and some onions in the vegie box in the car. I think it was the WA plates and the fact that we had receipts to prove that we had been in Kununurra the day before that we did not lose them.

Back at Argyle we headed for the famous infinity pool. Jacky had used it the day before but this was the first opportunity I had. It is truly an amazing view from the pool looking over the steep red hills as they go straight down into the blue water of Lake Argyle. We stayed there and watched the sun go down and just soaked up the atmosphere.

Infinity Pool – Lake Argyle Caravan Park

Infinity Pool – Lake Argyle Caravan Park

Infinity Pool – Lake Argyle Caravan Park

Barra Fishing

I was told the pickup would be at the Kununurra Visitor Centre at 6:00 am. With an hour’s drive to Kununurra I had to set the alarm for 4:30 am. Pretty darn early wake up call for a holiday. I arrived in town only to find the pickup was 6:30, half an hour of sleep wasted. We were in the water by 7:30, cruised about 7 kms downstream to a mud bank, passing numerous saltwater crocodiles on the way. where we set about catching live bait with a throw net. There were 3 clients plus the tour guide in the boat. The guide was catching baitfish with a throw net, one person was asked to hold the bucket and the other two were asked to keep watch for crocodiles.

Collecting live bait on the Ord River

With sufficient live bait in the bucket we headed for the first spot. They use overhead bait casting reels for barra fishing and none of us had used one before. So the guide gives us a demonstration, he put on a live bait, demonstrates the casting technique, lands the bait near a submerged log and bang, he hooks a good sized barra which was promptly returned to the water. About 5 mins later one of the other guys hooks on to a good size barra, after about a 5 min struggle it’s in the boat and measures 73 cms. Good size however it’s early in the day and it’s pretty hot so he decides to return it to the water. I managed to hook up but 30 secs later it spat the hook out and disappeared

Barra fishing on the Ord River

The action died off so we moved to another spot but 4 hrs later and many good snags later all we had to show was several hook ups, no barra landed and numerous cat fish. In the last hour we moved back upstream and trolled lures behind the boat past a group of sunken trees and within the first 5 mins the guy who threw the barra back in the morning had another legal size barra in the boat. As luck would have it, I was on the side of the boat furthest from the trees and the barra were not venturing out that far. Finally with the boat turned around and trolling next to the trees I got a hit, but from the start it did not feel particularly big. I did land it and sure enough it was 53 cm, just 2 cms short. After 6hrs on the water it was back to camp with nothing and facing the prospect of baked beans on toast as I had confidently told Jacky not to lift any meat out of the freezer because I was bringing home fish for tea. Instead we had fish and chips at the Lake Argyle Café

There was one last piece of entertainment at the boat ramp, within 5 mins of trying up the boat a “saltie” poked his nose out of the water. It turns out that he is a regular and is waiting for a feed of fish frames once the fish filleting is finished. The guide takes the frame down near the water and waves it around, the croc hauls himself out of the water and snatches the fish frame out of the air.

Tripod the 3 legged crocodile

Feeding Tripod

This particular croc was about 4 mtrs and had the nickname of “Tripod”, there are 2 other regular crocs in the area of the boat ramp and one of them is about 5.5 mtrs and about 2 seasons ago it took a dislike to this particular croc and chased him around the boat ramp, finally managed to grab the leg of this croc and simply tore it off. Surprisingly the croc survived but he is pretty wary of the larger croc.

In the morning we checked out the Ord River Dam. Considering the amount of water in Lake Argyle (20x the volume of Sydney Harbour) I was expecting a massive structure but it is only 300 metres across, 300 metres thick at the base and 96 metres tall. It just happens to span a narrow section of the Ord River gorge and the massive amount of water is held back.

Ord River Dam

It was estimated to take 7 years to fill but it filled in 2 wet seasons. They estimate that should the dam wall be removed it would take 5 years for the lake to empty.

Intake tower for the Hydro Electric power station

The rest of the day was spent in Kununurra; we called in at the visitors centre to see if there were any spots available on the Barramundi fishing tour. There was one spot left on the full day tour for Saturday, we also found out that there was a concert on the Sat night with John Williamson, Eskimo Joe, the Waifs and a few others, fortunately there were no tickets left so I didn’t have to make a choice.

Pentecost crossing
Time to pack up again and head into Kununurra. We were looking forward to crossing the Pentecost River. I was trying to convince Jacky that she should walk across with the video camera so she could film me as I drove across but I was getting nowhere. There was a remote possibility of there being crocodiles near the crossing. So I thought maybe I could drive across, leave her on the bank, turn around, drive back and then across again just for the camera but as we left Home Valley it soon became quite obvious that just getting to the crossing would be a mission, having the time to double back would not be possible. 200 – 300 cyclists and their support vehicles were on the move, we joined the convoy about half way along. It was slow going, about 20 km/hr and there were limited opportunities to overtake. The dust was incredible, Jacky & I struggled to understand why you would want to ride a push bike on a rough dusty road with the temperature in the mid-thirties. Every time a vehicle passed, even slowly, the dust clouds covered the cyclists.

Traffic Jam at the Pentecost River

Finally we arrived at the Pentecost crossing, it was like peak hour traffic as they allowed a group of cyclists to cross, then support vehicles, then more cyclists. It took nearly half an hour before it was our turn and on the other side there was no space to stop and take photos so we just had to keep going. The cyclists were spending the night at El Questro station and it was only as we approached the station turn off that the number of cyclists started to thin out.
We had been having a little trouble with the Waeco fridge in the trailer, it was stopping and starting and the temperature was slowly rising, so the first stop in Kununurra was to get the trailer batteries checked. Sure enough one had failed, but even with that replaced the fridge would still not run properly so they put me on to the local refrigeration mechanic who happens to be the local Waeco dealer. He was able to lend us a fridge while he checked ours out. Fortunately it appeared that it was only the lower voltage that was upsetting the circuitry and there was no fault with the fridge.
By this time it was nearly 3 o’clock so we decided to leave our shopping to Fri and we headed out to Lake Argyle Caravan Park to set up camp. I was having some reservations about camping 70kms out of town but the location is spectacular, though I was a little disappointed that there was no mobile coverage.

Lake Argyle

With all the spectacular hills around Lake Argyle all it would take is one antenna and Telstra would have coverage for 100kms.

Fishing the Pentecost

High tide at the Pentecost River

Today was spent hanging around the camp site on the Pentecost River, I had some ideas of exploring some of the walk trails on the station but it was pretty hot and Jacky was well into the current book she was reading so she was quite content to stay at camp. The Pentecost had about a 2-3 metre tidal drop so I thought I’d get the fishing gear out and throw out a lure on the rising tide. After an hour of nothing I ran into some local lads and they said that they had their best results as the tide was going out. Back to camp for lunch and a couple of hours of reading. Later in the afternoon I was down at the river with Jacky’s warnings ringing in my ears “don’t go too close to the edge”. I managed to hook some small unidentified fish that I cut up for bait but even with fresh bait I still had no luck. Some of the locals were using throw nets to catch live bait, these guys apparently caught 2 barra last night and I did see them hook another one today but it spat the hooks at them and went on to survive another day.

Pentecost River at low tide

As we had been driving along the Gibb River Rd we had heard reports of a fairly large bike ride. At Ellenbrae Station there was no camping available due to the cyclists and their support crew staying there that night. They were due to arrive at Home Valley today and we were expecting to be swamped at the river camp but it was not too bad, they must have been able to accommodate most of them at the homestead.