Northern Territory Holiday - Part 2 - Kakadu Dreams

We had to get up pretty early on Tuesday morning, so that we could get our gear sorted. We had decided to take what we couldn’t take on the tour to the Central Hotel, where we were staying once we returned. One of the bags was very heavy and although it wasn’t all that far (a few blocks), it was going to be pretty tedious for us to carry it all there. Luckily, just outside the hostel was a shopping trolley! I had breakfast while Darryl delivered our bags using the trolley.

Quite a few people had assembled outside Kakadu Dreams, as they had a few tours leaving that morning.

We first headed out to the jumping croc cruise, passing a few waterholes on the way. First up was a close-up encounter with a friendly olive python. It was a great photo opportunity, especially for those who had never touched a snake before, but as time was short, I didn’t partake (for those of you who don’t know, this was definitely not due to any squeamishness in my part – I used to keep snakes and lizards before I was married, so it really was due to the shortness of time).

It was quite funny as we headed down to the cruise – the jetty led to a really nice looking, double-story boat, and I thought ‘wow’ – but then we walked right through that one to a much smaller boat moored on the side of it! It really didn’t matter, that boat was sufficient in size and it meant we were much closer to the beasties! The cruise itself was really interesting. The crew made sure that the crocs really worked for their meat, and made them jump quite a few times before letting them take the snack.

They obviously know the sound of the motor of the boat, as

they headed straight for it as we cruised past. Some of them had lost limbs by diving under boats in the past, and hitting the propellers. When a sea eagle was spotted sitting in some trees on the bank, it was also fed.

This was pretty amazing, with the eagle taking the food in mid flight. There were also black and brown kites which were fed by throwing the food into the air for them to catch. The one thing is that there is a lot of driving between the various attractions in this part of the world, and when Paul stopped at Aurora Kakadu Resort for us to have a swim in their beautiful rock swimming pool, it was much appreciated by everyone.

Rock art seems to be plentiful in Kakadu, although there are many sites which are not open to the public.

The art at Angbangbang – Nourlangie Rock was quite spectacular. The red ochre seems to last the longest, as it binds with the sandstone chemically, and so the oldest paintings tend to be what looks like quite primitive shapes in red – of course one can only imagine what other ornate patterns decorated the top of those shapes with the other ochres of white and yellow, and black charcoal.

Fairly near Nourlangie, was Nawulardja Lookout. We parked and climbed up the very interesting rock formations until we were able to take in the spectacular view. More driving brought us to Ikoymarrwa Lookout just in time for sunset. The rocks at the cutting were a rich red colour, and other tours also turned up. Everyone, except the drivers and myself climbed up to the top of the cutting to watch, and we had a bit of a scary moment when some people from another tour nearly walked right off the edge!
After the sunset was over, it was back in the troopie and off to the campground at Kambolgie Creek, where we set up our tents (only the inside mosquito screen part of them – so no tent-fly) and set about cooking dinner over the campfire. It sure tasted great! Most of us were pretty knackered , and after a few drinks everyone headed off to bed. In the middle of the night, Darryl and I both heard what sounded like someone at another campsite trying to imitate the sound of a dingo.

First stop on Wednesday was a hike into Motor Car Falls, where Darryl and Andreas entertained us all with their attempts at climbing the rocks to dive into the waterhole. Although it was quite a large pool, there was plenty of room for us and the other groups who were there. On the hike back, there was also a lovely, but small, pool to swim in, with a fern-covered dripping wall towering over it. I am not completely sure, but somewhere in this area I think I lost my sarong.

Gunlom Falls flows into a huge pool, which was full of fish, and fantastic for swimming. I saw my first long-tom in the clear deep waters here. I made my way around the edge of the pool to near where the waterfall was, but others in the group swam straight across. Darryl climbed the rocks again, and up on a sloping rock found lots of little frogs. In the afternoon, the group climbed up a path to the right of the escarpment to further pools and waterfalls, with the plan of having a beer and watching the sunset, but I wasn’t feeling the best, so stayed at the lower pool, and managed to have a nap. Unfortunately, I woke up with a headache, which soon developed into a full-blown migraine. I couldn’t even look at dinner, and spent much of the evening away from the others, caught between the desire to throw-up and the knowledge that it was cause me much more pain. After dinner, Darryl walked me down to the creek, and we lay on the concrete crossing watching the stars. I felt a little better and so we turned in for the night.

Warradjan Cultural Centre was very well set up, with lots of displays and explanations of their meaning. It was requested that we didn’t take photographs inside, but I took one of the rock at the front which had an explanation of the seasons in the Northern Territory.

Yellow Waters Billabong has a renowned reputation for the birdlife there. I must admit I was slightly disappointed with it. We didn’t go on a cruise, where I would expect that you would see a lot more, especially if it was at dawn or dusk, but walked along the boardwalk out over the swampy areas. Even a shag drying his wings didn’t seem too bothered. The closest encounter was with a ibis which rested for a few moments on the boardwalk handrail as we were heading back.

Lunch was beside a crossing of the Alligator River. The water sure looked inviting, but Paul warned us even about going too close to the edge. The quiet seclusion was destroyed by a helicopter circling and then landing nearby.

To sate our desire for a swim, Paul too us to Berry Springs. He tantalised us with “this will exceed all your expectations”…and I must admit it was fantastic. The top pool had beautiful clear water, with plenty of fish. There was a small (low but wide) waterfall of warmer water entering a stream of cooler water. It was possible to get behind the waterfall, and a fantastic massage by standing below it with the tepid water pounding on your shoulders and back. But this was just the beginning. It was possible to make your way down the creek to the next big pool. At this pool there were two entry points for swimmers. All entry points were done really well, with steps, ladders and hand-rails. This pool was quite deep and long. I amazed myself by swimming almost the whole length of it. Then there was more shallowish creek to traverse. Down this section, the pandanus fronds hung close and low over the water, so we had to be careful not to get scratched. This wasn’t so easy, as the water was reasonably shallow and so flowing quite fast, and pulling you through. This opened into another huge, deep pool, where, on one bank the Pandanus stems were through the water, so it was possible to use them for support. Paul was right – this was fantastic! After getting thoroughly relaxed, it was time to head off, and the beautiful afternoon was spoiled slightly by our return to the Troopie to find that it had a flat tyre. Once this was changed, we were on our way back to Darwin.

We stopped at Fannie Bay to watch the sunset (although it was no-where near as spectacular as when we had seen it with Judy).

Being Thursday evening, the markets were on at Mindle Beach, and most of us wanted to have a look. Paul dropped us off, and headed back to town with Darryl who wasn’t that interested (and had to take the bags back to town). These markets are famous, and I have honestly never seen markets so huge, busy, varied…..just amazing! We decided to split up, and meet back in an hour. Initially, I thought that would be plenty of time, but with all the people everywhere, it was almost impossible to actually move. I bought a new sarong – a beautiful blue silk-painted one for only $20. It was at one of the first places I checked out, but I still looked at other stalls and didn’t get it until I returned at the end of the hour. One other experience that I wanted, was to try eating crocodile, and a stall called ‘Road Kill’ was able to provide me with a skewer kebab of crocodile and I also tried possum. The crocodile was nice, and much as I had imagined, a bit similar to chicken in texture and closer to fish in taste, but very mild. The possum was like lamb in texture and similar to chicken in taste, but a bit stronger. Back where we had all decided to meet, I was intrigued by an Asian artist who was creating his paintings using spray cans, and seemed almost to be working in a trance…or maybe it was a drugged state…..
 

A maxi-taxi dropped us all off at our destinations. We were booked into the quite flashy Central Hotel, and Darryl had already shifted our bags into our room. Despite how enjoyable the last few days had been, it was wonderful to be pampered and have a lovely hot shower! We had all arranged to meet up at the Vic Pub on the mall for dinner….encouraged by the fact that Paul had vouchers for a free meal each. The pub soon filled up, and we were suitably entertained by the ensuing drinking, and other competitions. Some of our group took part, and even won prizes. Darryl and I headed off reasonably early, leaving the others to enjoy the evening.

Inside the Troopie

Northern Territory Holiday - Part 1 - Darwin

Sunday 3 JuneOur flight to Brisbane arrived at 7.30am. On our plane was Lenny (from work) and his family. My original plan had been to spend the day at State Library doing family history research, but unfortunately, the whole Cultural Centre Complex was closed for fail-over power testing! Wow, what bad luck! The only day in the whole year! So, we decided to spend the day just mooching around the city. It was lovely to just spend some time wandering around the city, with no time pressures…..

We took the air-train into town, and firstly went down to wander through the Riverside Markets. Darryl had ridden his bike through last year, but this time got to see things he hadn’t seen before. We took some photos of buildings and sculptures and then headed up through the Queen Street Mall…which seemed a little quiet (although it was pretty early in the morning). I decided that I wanted breakfast at Cerebos Café on George Street, so that was the destination, and Darryl joined me in a delicious meal. As we were going back to town, I thought we might check up on the new location for Brisbane City Library. The new building looks very garish, but I must admit that the interior is well set up. 

I headed for the internet computer while Darryl checked out some books about Darwin and Kakadu. We were

only allowed half an hour on the net, so then I was able to go and do some research on Ancestry.com on the census records. Wow! I found some great stuff. Next we headed over to Southbank to see another lot of markets. These were lifestyle markets and had lots of interesting stalls. We then headed for Roma Street Gardens, but on the way saw that there was a steam train on the State platform. ‘The Baby Blue’ was built in 1952 and it seems that once a month there are trips held. I am still wondering if this was the steam train I saw run through Central Station last year….. We were hoping to catch up with Shane, but he hadn’t got the SMS messages and we ended up heading back to the airport to wait for our plane which left just after 9pm.

Our first major stop was the Northern Territory Parliament Building. This is quite a modern-looking impressive building. It was possible to do a tour of the inside, but was subject to a security scanner, which caused Darryl a little consternation when his pocket knife was detected and had to be confiscated for the duration of our tour! He realised too late that he had it on him. 
We then wandered down to the harbour precinct, checking out the Governor’s House, the

WWII Oil Storage Tunnels (although, we didn’t do the tour of these), and the Administrator’s Office (which was the old Court House and Police Station) – this was a lovely stone building.

We were intrigued by the Christ Church Cathedral – the remains from Cyclone Tracey in 1974 were incorporated into a new building. A walk through the park took us past the City Council buildings and a huge historic Banyan tree. We had a bit of fun at the Information Centre, when I happened to mention that we were booked on a ‘Kakadu Dreams’ tour. He asked if we had booked it ourselves or it had been booked for us.

When I said we booked it ourselves he seemed concerned and told us to wait while he raced off. I started to think that there was something quite wrong, when he returned with a glossy pamphlet featuring a big group of young people. It turns out that he was concerned both for us and 

for the tour company – due to our age! He said that often older people booked the tour (as it was pretty cheap), not realising that it was rough camping, travelling in the back of a troop carrier, and that the ‘young’ people partied late into the night! We gave him a bit of ‘stick’ about us not being prejudiced! We then headed straight out to buy wine for the evening festivities!

Next stop was the old Darwin Telegraph Station – this was Lyons Cottage, B.A.T. house, which had been built in 1925. In an amazing bit of luck for us, it was the annual reunion of the retired PMG officers and they were offering us the opportunity to send a telegram via the old telegraph system, using morse code via Adelaide. Darryl sent one to Eileen and George and I sent mine to my parents. The telegrams were received in Adelaide and then sent in the mail.

Along the bay was the Cenotaph and war memorial in a lovely park. One path led down to a beach, and while there we got chatting to a couple from Adelaide, who were travelling in their Hilux around Australia. We saw a very curious bird along the path – which turned out to be a

Red-footed scrub fowl. Although these seem to exist around the tropical coast down to Ingham, neither Darryl nor I have ever seen them before.

After 5pm, Judy, Darryl’s second cousin, picked us up and took us to Mindil Beach to watch the absolutely brilliant sunset, and we then ate at the nearby motor-boat club. Judy’s children were there, and her husband, George, turned up later. It was really lovely to meet them. Eventually we headed back to YHA and slept soundly.

Northern Territory - June 2007

Darryl and I travel to the Northern Territory in June 2007 - click on the photo to see the whole photobook. For the best effect look at it fullscreen.

Flagstaff Road at Isla Gorge National Park

At the southern end of the Dawson Range, Isla Gorge National Park protects spectacular sandstone scenery in the central highlands. Here, among a complex maze of gorges, sandstone outcrops and striking rock formations change colour throughout the day. Scenic Isla Gorge is fairly broad and contains Gorge Creek, a tributary of the Dawson River. Flagstaff Hill has the remains of an old hand-paved road constructed in 1864 to transport wool from Roma to Rockhampton.

Dawson Backroads Explorer Trip

CQ 4x4 intrepid explorers lined up beside the old Tropic of Capricorn line.

On the weekend of 14/15 April, CQ Offroad club took a trip from Rockhampton to Upper Ulam, Mt Morgan, Lake Victoria, Goovigen, Rannes, Baralaba, Moura, Theodore, Flagstaff Road (Isla Gorge NP), Thangool and Mt Scoria.

Thursday 12 April 2007 - Gladstone

We had a great Easter! On Friday Darryl and I drove down to Gladstone, with Marc following in his car. We had a nice lunch with George & Eileen, and Darryl's brother, Kerry. They had not seen Marc for some time, so were really pleased to catch up with him, and we spent the afternoon chatting. Marc headed home, and Eileen and George came out with us to the Gladstone Harbour Festival. They found seats while Darryl & I checked out the stalls and side-show alley - stopping for a while to watch the snake show.

At 7pm the night entertainment started...and we watch the children's show, and a Reggae band, before the highlight of the night with the Buddy Holly Tribute Show. I was initially a bit sceptical...but I must say that we all really enjoyed the show. A big highlight of the night was seeing Anthea out with a friend. I cannot explain how fantastic it was to see her out without Kerry & Elizabeth! She looked fantastic and it is amazing to think that she will be 21 this year. She has such a great attitude at present, and is really looking forward to her next operation so that she will be able to walk again.

On Saturday morning, I thought that it might be interesting to check out the Kiteboarding championships which were being held at Tannum Sands. They were a bit slow getting started, as the wind wasn't quite right, but once they were up and going it was spectacular. Lots of them got out on the water, and we could not believe it that they didn't get their kites entangled. One of the guys, was really good, and jumped high in the air doing lots of stunts with his board. This is a link to the webpage with some great photos.

After that excitement, we had lunch with George & Eileen, and headed over to Kerry & Elizabeth's. Anthea was helping Elizabeth prepare for a dinner for friends that night. We stayed for a while and then returned to Agnes Street for Darryl to help George with a little project.

Sunday was a quiet day, and then on Monday Darryl & I went for a drive to Byfield to take some photos of the mountains, and also to go to a nursery up that way to get plants for the front garden. Darryl planted them in the afternoon, and they look great.

Yesterday I had a flex day and went out to the Central Qld University library to do a little genealogical research and give Gordon an orientation on where everything lives.

Heeland Coo

This is a wee video of a Heeland Coo (Highland Cow - Bos taurus) taken in the Scottish Highlands 1 Oct 2000.

Monday 2 April 2007 - Melbourne

I flew into Melbourne late Sunday morning, and after dumping my gear at the motel, decided to go the Melbourne Zoo. I got on a bus and then the train at Box Hill station. Eventually I asked someone if they knew where I had to get off, and discovered that I had to go right into the city then catch a different line. I was quite tempted to abandon my plan and just wander around the city, as I was getting pretty hungry and I was wondering if I would have enough time to fully enjoy the zoo.

I am not sure why, but I made a split second decision and then ended up on the right train, but had no idea where to get off. I asked a lady sitting next to me - but she didn't know. So, I thought I would see how things went - it is all an adventure, after all - and when I looked at the stations it occurred to me that Park Royal was a sign I had seen near to where the taxi driver had pointed out the zoo. As we neared the station, I saw the zoo entrance. My next big chore was to try and get something to eat, and I really was disappointed as I went into the 'shop' and all that was available - for me - was hot chips..it wasn't until I was sitting down that I noticed another food outlet nearby!

Well..at least I had something in my stomach and was then able to head out and explore the area. The lions were magnificent..and I was lucky enough to pass by just as they were about to be fed. They had been penned into a small cage while the keeper went around and threw slabs of meat up in trees and across toys. They paced impatiently but were eventually allowed back into the run, and I got some great film of them 'chasing' their prey. The reptile and frog collection was excellent, and of course the apes were fantastic. Some gibbons just couldn't sit still..I wonder if they have ADD? I had to photograph the giraffes as there is a photo of me there when I was about 18months old. It was a very nice afternoon, and I quite enjoyed myself. On the way home I had to wait at Box Hill station for an hour for the bus, so I decided to go and find somewhere to eat. I wandered into Noodle Kingdom. It was a very strange experience as I was the only non-Asian there. I chose Spicy Deepfried Squid which was delicious and the waiter offered me a fork - which I declined. Interestingly, thermos flasks of jasmine tea were provided on the tables, much like we would have bottles of water....

On Monday my HP course started. The place I am staying at is only 8 minutes walk away, which is handy. The course has one other person from Qld Health and 2 guys from the University of SA. The trainer is from Sydney, so no-one is from Melbourne! It is great to be learning about the application. On Monday night I went to a workshop, being held by the 'Australian Institute of Genealogical Studies', on Irish Family History Research. Their library is located at Blackburn, only about a 3.5km walk from where I am staying. Even though I don't have any Irish ancestors on my side, Darryl does, and it was a very informative workshop in any case. On Tuesday night, it was the AIGS library night, so I walked down again, and did some research. They have quite a good collection of Scottish records, so I spent a bit of time on those, and also tried to un-fathom the mystery of John William Ireland and Ann Peters - who indicated that at some stage they were from Victoria. Unfortunately, there is still no joy with them, but I have some sources to follow up once I return home.

Wednesday night was one to stay at home. The motel unit had a spa and it was the first time for me to 'have a go'. On Thursday morning I decided to treat myself for my birthday and went down to the restaurant at the motel for breakfast. I had a cheese, mushroom and bacon omelette and a cup of coffee (the same as I had the previous two mornings), but this time is cost me $20! For lunch our class went to TaiPan chinese restaurant (purportedly the best Chinese restaurant in Australia!) and had Yum Cha! It was fantastic! Apart from all the other tasty treats I had pork & jellyfish, and a really nice green tea jelly for dessert - just yummy! And - the cost was only $20 each. Friday was exciting as it was the day to go home. I arrived back after 8pm and was pretty exhausted.

Saturday saw the final day of the Beginner's Genealogy Course. Helen and I have been presenting this over 4 weeks and I feel that it was very successful. We were each presented with a beautiful fruit basket. Then on Sunday we had a sausage sizzle at Bunnings to raise funds for the association.

Today I was back at work, and back to my substantive position. We can only be away from our substantive position for 12 months before we are asked to make a choice - relinquish the substantive position, or give up the secondment - I chose to go back to my substantive position.