Not Before Time

Friday, October 24

Finally saying a reluctant goodbye to the Kimberley area, we headed back to Katherine. On the way up to Darwin we had spent a couple of days in Katherine but we didn’t do any of the Gorge tours, so this time we were planning on doing the breakfast tour down the gorge.

The Katherine Gorge is 30kms from town, and we’d already decided to stay at the caravan park there due to it’s proximity to the gorge. The park is a nice relaxed bush park, but they have added a great pool since we checked it out on our way north last year – so half an hour after setting up the van we were in the water.

There are lots of birds and wildlife in the area and they are obviously used to people, they come around scrounging for food.

The gorges and the surrounding landscape are of great cultural and ceremonial significance to the local Jawoyn people, who are the traditional owners and custodians of Nitmiluk National Park, and they jointly manage the park with the Parks and Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory. In Jawoyn, Nitmiluk means place of the cicada “dreaming”.

Katherine Gorge is a series of 13 gorges, created 23 million years ago as water poured along tiny cracks in the earth. The National Park is full of Aboriginal rock art with paintings representing the spiritual dreaming of the Jawoyn people.

During the dry season the gorges become separated by natural dam walls as the water level falls, and you have to park your boat and walk to the next gorge where you get in another boat. However, during the wet season the gorges are interconnected, with the above mentioned dam walls being at least 8 metres under water, and then the boats can cruise from one gorge to another up to the 5th gorge. The tour we went on took in the first 2 gorges and lasted for nearly 3 hours.

Another way of travelling the river is by canoe which is very popular, and during the wet when the water’s high you can canoe right up to the 13th gorge. There are freshwater crocodiles in the gorges, but generally they are shy, or you might see them sunning themselves on the banks (we didn’t see any at all). It’s the start of the wet season there right now which means it’s crocodile nesting season, so all the beaches have signs on them to keep out. There are a couple of photos below showing the beaches, and if you look at the dimples (hollows) in the sand, this is where the crocodiles lay their eggs. It’s very rare to find Saltwater crocs in the gorge – it’s the wrong habitat for them and it’s closely monitored all the time.

I’ve run out of superlatives for this place, it’s just breathtakingly beautiful – so I’ll just put a few photos up for you to look at.

Wednesday, October 22

When we left Kununurra, we went to Lake Argyle for a couple of nights. The caravan park there is the original village built for the workers and their families during the dam construction which took over 3 years, as work could only happen during the dry season. It has been used as a caravan park pretty much since then but over the years has been let go a bit. This was apparently due to the government only leasing the property on a 12 month lease, so of course no one put any money back in to the park. Unfortunately this led at one point as the park being rated as probably the worst caravan park in Australia! The new managers, after some lengthy negotiations with government departments, have a 20 year lease with an option for another 20 and they are doing some major work including a new motel and some new cabins. There is also a tavern (normally opened only during the high season) and a bar. We really enjoyed our couple of nights there. I didn’t take many photos of the park for some reason – but it’s a nice little park, and lovely and quiet. This is probably because the dam is a dead end and there’s only one road in and out so not much traffic goes out there at night. Here’s the one photo I took.

The first day there we went for a drive and checked out the dam wall and the Ord River side of the dam. There is a lovely picnic ground on the Ord River side of the dam – unfortunately, like most of the waterways up north, you can’t swim in the river – crocodiles! Here’s a few photos of the dam (including one with the dam wall specs for those who like the technical stuff). It’s amazing that one little dam gave all this water to the area.

The following day we did a sunset cruise on the lake which was well worth doing (about 3 and a half hours). First up we watched a really interesting video of the dam construction (started in the dry season, 1969) and then we got picked up by Greg from Lake Argyle Cruises (highly recommend this company – Greg is a really good tour guide who knows the history and the area really well).

We had previously done a flight over the lake and that gave us a good indication of the size of it, but being on the water was incredible, in some areas all you could see was water, it’s so huge. We spent the first hour or so checking out the scenery and the local fauna (rock wallabies and various birds such as magpie geese and darter birds and of course, the freshwater crocodiles. The crocs generally stay around the edges of the lake where their food is located and the water is warmer). While we were there the water was about 27 degrees.

We also fed the fish in the lake – mainly catfish (silver gobbler) and the really funny archer fish – if you hold out a bit of bread say, they spit a jet of water at the food – you get a surprise and drop the food, and they get to eat it – they are surprisingly accurate with their spit! Unfortunately it was really hard getting a photo of the fish, probably because of the reflections on the water. We then moved on to another area where Greg stopped the boat and asked if we wanted to go for a swim. After a brief hesitation, (umm, thinking crocs here!) I thought what the hell, and jumped in. I think David was in before Greg had finished asking the question! The water was just great and about 30 metres deep. It was really nice swimming in something that wasn’t salty or chloriney! This was only a brief stop, just to get a taste of the water, so to speak.

About half way into the tour, Greg took us to another area to watch the sunset, which, like most of the sunsets up north, are really spectacular. The added bonus was you got to do it while in the water drinking beer or champagne and eating biccies and dip!

For anyone going to the Kimberley region, don’t miss going to Lake Argyle and taking one of the cruises.

We had a visitor today – he spent most of the day in the tree outside the van

Of course with him being there, lots of other people came by to look and take his photo too. A day full of conversations!

By the way, have we shown you shots of our current backyard??

Sunday October 19, 2008

Today we went to El Questro Wilderness Park. El Questro used to be a working cattle station, and it still is, but it is now also a wilderness park offering a variety of activities from hiking through to helicopter fishing. There’s a range of accommodation ranging from camp sites (in certain areas) right up to the exclusive homestead stay.

El Questro became a wilderness park in 1992 with the opening of Emma Gorge Resort, and over the years other areas were opened up. The park is currently leased by Voyages.

A park permit is available, currently costing $15 per person, which allows access to most areas of the park for a period of 1 week.

We went first to Zebedee Springs as it is only opened to the public until 12 noon when it is opened only to tour groups. This is a gorgeous series of thermal springs which is very popular with the locals. We were happy to spend an hour or so here.

After our lovely dip in the springs we headed to the Station township which is flagged as the hub of El Questro Wilderness Park. This is also where you can start helicopter tours and heli fishing, hire a tinny to cruise down the river or start some short or long walks. We were too lazy to walk, so we went for a drive down to the jetty. From here you can just see the entrance to Chamberlain Gorge. The only way in to the gorge is by boat. We were the only people around, although we did pass a lot of horses and a couple of donkeys on the way there – it was really lovely and quiet. Unfortunately you can’t swim in the river here – crocodiles again!

I’d made up some roast lamb sandwiches to take with us and we decided this place was a great spot for lunch and the fish in the river liked the crumbs from the bread. Here’s a couple more shots, just cause it’s so lovely

After lunch we headed to Tier Gorge, and David got to take the truck through some reasonable sized puddles – it would be really awesome here during the wet, but I imagine some of the roads would be closed then.

Part of the wilderness park is the Cockburn Range which is made up of Cockburn Sandstone and massive Quartz Sandstone. The strata of the range is mainly horizontal as they were laid down 1800 million years ago.

It was really hot so the first place we went to at Tier Gorge was the waterhole, and swimming is ok there. Once again we were lucky, we were the only people there. This time I got in the water too – the water was really clear and there were heaps of little fish swimming all over us. It took me a few minutes to get used to that! It’s a lovely swimming hole and the water was really cool and refreshing – oh, and easy to get to, which isn’t always the case up here.

Just as we decided to move on, two other cars arrived. Good timing!

Just down the road a bit there’s a big stand of boab trees – have I mentioned that I love these trees? I’ve been taking so many photos of them. I think they have lots of character, some are tall and elegant, others short and dumpy, and then there are twins, and even triplets. I find it’s easy to imagine them as cartoon people. Well, maybe that’s just me, but here’s a couple of photos –

There is also a huge outcrop of sandstone nearby called Matteo Rock which has Aboriginal Rock Art on it, but there is a sign saying that El Questro can’t give permission to access the site due to an ongoing Land Rights issue.

Most people who have been reading this blog know that I really like cows, and there are lots of cattle wandering all over the wilderness park, of which I’ve taken numerous photos but I won’t bore you with them. Usually they are in fairly large groups, but this poor fella was all on his own – I think he’s really cute (and very curious).

We only had the day to spend here which is a shame as there is so much more to see than what we saw. Most of the roads at El Questro are dirt roads and 4WD is really recommended, so if you’re up this way and have a 4WD we’d really recommend spending at least a day here, more if you can.

My birthday today (and of course my twin sister’s too – happy birthday Rosemary!) We didn’t do much, mainly bummed around in the park, and spent a lot of time in the pool. However, as is the norm for us when it’s our birthday or anniversary, we wanted somewhere nice to go for dinner, and we found it in a new restaurant which opened up a couple of months ago in Kununurra called The Pump House and we can highly recommend it. We actually found it by accident one morning and they were just opening so we went in for a coffee.

The Pump House was integral functioning part of the Ord River Irrigation Scheme in 1962, and the owners Thomas and Dominique Brieg have redesigned into a restaurant, and it looks great. Located right on Lake Kununurra, the Pump House is great for breakfast, lunch or dinner, and there is also something going on in the lake to look at. If you’re in Kununurra and looking for somewhere good to eat, or to have coffee and cake, then this is well worth a visit. They open at 9am Tuesday to Friday, and 7am Saturday and Sunday for breakfast.

Another good place to eat in Kununurra is the Hotel Kununurra – their food is really good. We had the best steak sandwich there we’ve had for a long time.