30 May 2012

30th May 2012 – Darwin

We are now in Darwin, having arrived a week ago and into blazing heat and body sapping humidity. It was amusing to see that the locals were finding the weather to be somewhat cold! So cold that some chose to slip on a pullover.
Mataranka was great fun with two very different style thermal springs, both of which we sampled. Mataranka pool is somewhat like a swimming pool as it is all concrete lined and kept at depth by a small dam. Bitter Springs is quite different as it is simply a section of a small river that flows significantly faster than that at ‘Mataranka’. The flow is such that it is very difficult to swim against the current, so the most enjoyable solution is to just go with the flow of the constant 34 degree water, and exit about 100+ metres downstream.
Mataranka Pool

Bitter Springs (note the crystal clear water)
While lazing around in Mataranka pool, we had a real fun moment when a 60+ cm snake entered the water, swam across and over the shoulder of a young woman, pushed through her hair and continued on to the other side. It then found itself unable to get up the side, so it swam along the edge until it got to the steps where it stopped to rest. I imagine that inwardly the snake took time to revel in the confusion and consternation that it had created – not only was it there, but it commanded the exit path. Eventually it re-entered the water and swam off upstream and into the foliage of a water palm.
We also took the opportunity to see the barra man (went along twice). This guy feeds huge barramundi twice each day, and then catches one by hand – I might try this idea as rods and reels don’t seem to work for me! All the fish that the guy uses have been caught along the Roper River, and then taken back to his large freshwater billabong. Barramundi must return to the sea in order to breed, but they also need to undertake a really kinky little bit of nature – they are all born as males, and then must return to the sea when they are somewhere over about 80cm so that they can transform into females. From this it becomes apparent that the fish used in the hand feeding show are destined to remain as boys forever.
This method saves a lot on rods, reels, bait etc

I had been looking forward to seeing Litchfield Park for so long, that by the time we arrived I became a wee bit disappointed. Yes, the waterfalls were some of the best we’ve seen, and the views were  quite memorable, but it wasn’t so overwhelmingly magnificent as I had mentally built it up to be. A number of books state that it is even better than Kakadu. For us it didn’t match the hype, although it was quite good and would be rated as awesome if you were a bit younger than us, and into bush walking etc. And, we had zero phone or internet coverage.
Tolmer Falls.

Florence Falls - The young & fit can walk down and swim right under these.
Wangi Falls - the real jewel in Litchfield
Buley Waterholes - mini rapids and pools

It couldn’t have been too bad as we stayed for 4 nights before heading north to Darwin. Along the way we stopped at a rest stop for lunch and found a breathtaking 5th Wheeler caravan. Self built as a ‘one off’ by the owner, it was based on a M.A.N brand truck, with the trailer (also self built) hitched via a 5th wheel. Can weigh up to 24 tonnes, it carries 1200 litres of fresh water, 5kw of generator power, 8 x solar panels, plus 360 litres of grey water. All this allows him to stay bush camped for 14 days without worry – and enjoying all the comforts of home.
How to travel 1st class
Darwin! What a city. The first thing that struck us was the intense aqua blue of the water. Water appears to dominate every aspect of Darwin life, and lifestyle, and views. Whenever you drive somewhere, it is inevitable that you will see a continual stream of vehicles towing or carrying boats.
The concept of ‘distance’ was highlighted to us a few days ago when we were at Harvey Norman. The store didn’t have in stock the item that we were after, so the obvious question was asked: “Where are the other Hardly Normals in Darwin?” “We are the only one” came the reply – “There is another one in Alice (Springs)” said he as an afterthought. Yeah, right, 1500km away is the only other Harvey Norman in the Northern Territory. This distance thing was repeated today when we discovered that there is only a single K-Mart, plus a single Big W  in the entire NT!
We spent a glorious evening at Mindil Markets which are one of the city’s iconic institutions, and so they should be – held every Thursday and Sunday evening it attracts a crowd that is astonishing. While a lot of the stalls sell clothing, hats, trinkets, and leather goods, there is also more food stalls than any other similar event anywhere in Australia- or the World. Since it is at Darwin, and this place has the most diverse Asian population of any Ozzie city, it should be no shock to find that these food stalls reflect that fact. We ended up going for some curries, and found that they were exactly as advertised: really hot, and full of great flavour.
Sunset at the Markets.
My artistic streak just needs to pop out every now and then.
Earlier in the day we went to the Crocosauris Cove which is right in the centre of the city – yep, right in the middle of the shopping precinct, they have over a hundred crocs plus Australia’s largest collection of Ozzie snakes. Strangely the thing that caught our eye wasn’t either croc or snake, but a fish. The huge size of the barramundi, and their speed at taking food was very impressive, but was completely overshadowed by the quite small archer fish who ‘shoots’ his food with a squirt of water. The young lady doing the feeding used long tweezers to hold out a maggot and the fish, laying a good metre below and with deadly accuracy, knocked the maggot into the water where it was gulped down. It was too quick to photograph, despite a number of attempts.
A very rare albino python (about 8 feet long)
A very bad bloke - taipan, World's deadliest snake.

Black-Headed python.

A goanna and me having a chat. 

Guess what this is - a sawfish against the glass wall of the aquarium - I reckon I've seen blokes that look like this.

Yesterday we drove out to the Adelaide River where we did an absolutely superb crocodile boat trip. The crocs were enticed to swim over to the boat and then jump for their morsel of buffalo meat, but not before doing a few jumps and snaps. All this within less than a metre or two of us as we stood (cringed?) at the edge of the boat.



I believe that the Aussie Ballet is trying to sign up this girl.

We have previously been confronted by our own ignorance about just how much war time action took place on Australian soil – Darwin has vigorously reinforced that lack of knowledge. Darwin was bombed 64 times! I’m sure most folk if asked would guess something less than 5. Further to this, the number of aircraft used in each attack against us was quite astonishing. A visit to the WW2 “Defence of Darwin Military Museum” opened our eyes to the range and depth of the attacks, together with the horrendous damage inflicted.
Finally I have found the ideal fishing spot -
Taken at Aquascene wherewild fish come in for a free feed each high tide

We move off to Kakadu on Sunday, where we’ll stay for 5 nights. I’m not sure what the internet access will be like, so it may be a while (or maybe not) before we’re back on line.

18 May 2012

18 May 2012 – Mt Isa to Mataranka

We spent a few days at Mt Isa catching up with friends whom we met last year (they got us out of a big problem). Would you believe that a man could live in South East Queensland for over 40 years and only once ever travel out of the northern state? Or that someone could reach that age never having travelled on a train, or a plane? Our friends have managed this, and yet remain one of the most well balanced and likeable couples imaginable. And, they own a Harley, so our three little travel mates (Harry, Nash, and Millie), plus Chook got to ride a Harley.

We did all the touristy things last year, so for this visit we just caught up with our friends plus did some cleaning and maintenance.
As we left the Isa, we entered into an interesting phase of the trip – firstly, we travelled 400 km across the Barkly Tablelands where we ‘free camped’ for the night. Out here, where it's 45 km to the nearest civilisation, it is really dark (make that really really really dark). Normally when in caravan parks you have mains electricity and thus even when the lights are turned off some light remains within the van ie; clock, microwave clock, radio screen. When the van is without mains power, after you turn off the battery power you need to walk around with your eyes closed so that you can see more!
Sunset at Wonorah Bore

Night at Wonorah Bore

The next day we did 300km to stay at Banka Banka Station. This property also operates a somewhat basic campground where water, but not power is supplied. Then we did yet another 250km to a caravan parking spot behind a roadhouse, and finally another 220km to Mataranka and a proper formal caravan park.
Banka Banka Station - about 75 km north of 3 Ways.
That is 1168 km without unhitching the van. But more importantly, the only towns (I think that’s what they may be called) we came across were Camooweal (189km from Mt Isa) which has a population of less than 200, and then the Aboriginal settlement of Elliott on the Stuart Highway. Every other named location, is simply a roadhouse selling fuel and cafe style food. Most have a simple camping area behind them.
Just before we got to Camooweal, we had to stop at some road works. The vehicle in front of us was a road train with 4 trailers. As we started off, he was quite slow in accelerating and I started up a radio chat with him. During the 9 km that it took him to get up to full speed, he told us that he normally only hauls three trailers, but had special approval on this job to have 4 so that he could carry 145 tonnes – think about that, 145 tonnes on a truck. A standard ‘B-Double’ has a max weight of 62 tonnes!
After crossing the Barkly, we stopped for fuel at Three Ways roadhouse. As we were leaving we spotted a road train driver ‘assembling’ his rig. First he hitched up the first trailer which is just like popping on a box trailer. The next bit is a little tricky because he needed to reverse the, now semi trailer onto what would become the second trailer – once that was in place it became really tricky because he had to reverse what was a 2 trailer road train back onto the third trailer. I’m pretty good at ‘turn left to go right’ reversing of a single trailer, but the go right to go left to go right bit for the 2nd one would beat me. But then he had to ‘go left to go right to go left to go right to go to bloody hell’ for the last one.
Somewhere on the road between Banka Banka and Dunmarra we came across 6 or 7 dead cattle. It was quite obvious that they were road kill, and had only died the night before. We weren’t able to stop, but we couldn’t see any bits of vehicle or metal lying around, and certainly no disabled truck. From this we can only surmise that a road train had run into a wandering herd and wiped them out – I wonder if he stopped?  Or given his weight if he even noticed?!?  We also came across a 6 or 7 foot Olive Python who was just slippin’ across the road. Unfortunately we couldn’t stop so no photo.
We stopped at the Daly Waters Pub as we did the last leg to Mataranka – well, ya just gotta, doncha?  This is one of Australia’s iconic outback pubs, with even more paraphernalia pinned to the ceiling and walls than most other iconic pubs. The pub is quite famous for the Barra & Beef meal they serve, together with the crowd that they pull each night – and all this while being so far from anywhere, that you need to go through nowhere via somewhere just to get there. The bloke across the road who flogs souvenirs reckons that he used to live in Wheelabarraback, just near Dijabringabeeralong, and over the hill from Crakatinnie.
Outside

Inside
Over the road

Okay, that’s all for this post – I’ve gotta get an early night, so we can have an early morning dip in the Thermal Pool, then duck up to watch the morning hand feeding of the Barramundi.  


14th May 2012 – Barcaldine, Winton, Boulia, Mt Isa.

Sorry for the delay in publishing this post, but there isn't any internet access for over 1000 km once you leave Mt Isa.

Most family bathrooms can easily be compared to a battlefield where each user fights to control the space, and in doing so uses whatever ammunition comes to hand. It seems that females need to stow far more ammo and as any man may attest, this ammunition is quite devastating in its capacity to render them (the man) totally helpless. A quick survey among caravan husbands indicates that if they can conquer and hold 5% to 10% of available bathroom space they consider themselves a success. Those who hold more than 15%  are held to be heroes among their peers.
So it is within the ensuite of our van, I am allocated one small cupboard. Whenever this minute or miniscule allotment is raised, I am told that in reality all the other stuff is there just so that she will look good for me and that I should be grateful. I think that I have not only lost the battle but the entire war.....
As we traipse around the country we find that many country towns have a special place in the nation’s history. Barcaldine occupies a place that is as great as any; perhaps even greater than most.
In 1890-91 there was a major industrial dispute between graziers and shearers. The shearers went on strike and as the dispute developed, they gathered under a specific eucalyptus tree outside Barcaldine railway station. From this the Australian Labor Party was formed.
This tree, soon named ‘The Tree of Knowledge’, survived for 115 years before being poisoned by some $%#@&*.  From this heinous act an amazing monument has risen in the form of an artistic tree.

As it wasAs it is

All the towns, villages, and properties (stations) use artesian bore water from depths varying up to 3000 metres.  It arrives at the surface under great pressure and at temperatures up to 99 degrees! Yep, the bore at an outer station is almost boiling at the bore head. At Blackall town bore it arrives 58 deg, and at Winton 83 deg.  It is then allowed to settle or cool in large tanks prior to reticulating it around town.  This process doesn’t improve the smell (sulphur) nor the taste.
Clearly the local men have found an alternative means to satisfy their thirst. Blackall’s 100 people share 3 pubs, Winton’s 980 good folk have 4 pubs!! And, Barcaldine wins with 1600 people and 5 pubs – until recently it had 6, and but a few years ago it had 7.


5 pubs within a football field length of the main street -

We were lucky enough to spend the Mayday weekend in Barcaldine (Barky). A community BBQ and foodfest on the first night was accompanied by a “Rev Fest” where ‘enhanced’ cars mostly of the 1970s (or earlier) paraded and then parked for inspection. Nostalgia ran rampant in many minds.



Earlier in the day, the local Rugby League comp featured the Barcaldine Sand Goannas against the Augathella Meat Ants – Barky won. Up here, the teams have far more innovative names than those in the big cities.
Monday was May day and the town had a street parade where I’m sure that the entire population, plus enough visitors to ensure that all motels, hotels, and caravan parks were full, turned out to watch. What a show of community spirit and effort it was. Every kid in town got into the show, including a mum who had converted a pram (with cardboard and imagination) into a simple parade float.
 One very proud kid
One very big float

As a finale’ we donned our best outfits and attended the local races. We were not too sure what the dress code would be for such an occasion, so Shirl wore shoes rather than thongs, and I decided to go for my dressy black thongs and a shirt with all the buttons done up.
The race card showed 11 races, so a very busy day was planned. When we got there we discovered a buzz around the arena that “More Faster’s” track record may be under threat. This proved an accurate tip as in winning the Grand Final, Patches O’Halleran smashed the old record.   
 Note the unusual jockey style - grab the goat's tail and pull like mad.
Patches O'Halleran wins.
By the Tuesday we knew that we had to move on – the hectic social life can only go on for so long before the body cries ‘enough!’.
In 1895 a young bloke by the name of Andrew Barton (Banjo) Patterson was visiting his sweetheart at the Dagworth station near Winton, when he heard a rendition of an old Scottish refrain. He was quite taken by the melody, and a few days later when he heard a story of sheep thief he put quill to parchment (I think I may have exaggerated that last bit).
Thus Waltzing Matilda was born. 
The following week when the family were visiting Winton and staying at the North Gregory Hotel, Banjo was asked to sing the new song. Thus this pub was where the first public performance of Waltzing Matilda.
Whilst the pub still exists in name, the original building plus the later 2 were each consumed by flames. The current incarnation has another important piece of history. After the previous building burnt in 1946, the rubble remained as an eyesore until the town people lobbied the local council to do something – eventually the council themselves built the pub and thus became the first council in Australia to own and operate an hotel. Please note the change in my narrative from “Pub” to “Hotel” – a government council couldn’t own a simple grog shop, it had to be much further up the tower of elegance and so it was. It was sold into private hands in the late 80s after 32 years of council ownership, and while the elegance may be little tarnished, it remains a fine hotel.

Nash, visiting the North Gregory

Winton also lays claim to one of the most unique musical instruments in the World. I know, that’s a very big boast, but where else has a musical fence. It really works. Each strand of the fence is tensioned differently and when a stick is used to hit or stroke the wires, music erupts forth. The percussion section is crafted from a range of  ........... well, junk.
And the BEAT GOES ON!


I think this is the String section?

Winton Picture Theatre - Doesn't do any daytime screenings.

 Note the 'Trailers' behind - The first passenger road train?
We spotted this at the local truck museum, and wondered about trading in the Landcruiser.

After two nights at Winton, we headed off to Boulia via the 360 km single sealed lane road. For those that don’t know about these roads, there is but a single 3 metre wide strip of bitumen and when another vehicle approaches, the most manoeuvrable pulls over onto the dirt verge. Everyone yields to road trains!

One of the more scenic pieces on the Boulia Rd (its only 3 metres wide)
To overtake another vehicle they have slightly wider sections every so often - - - mostly more ‘so’, than ‘often’.


We paused for lunch at Middleton where the pub to people ratio is 1 pub to 3 people.

Middleton Pub - cultural hub of Middleton

As you sit and sip your drink, you may look over at the local livestock centre
Boulia is; well it just is. Population 220, 1 pub, 1 butcher, 1 fuel outlet, 2 shops, and a nice caravan park. Because of the isolation there is almost zero light after sunset thus the sky is simply magnificent. We have never seen, nor even imagined there could be so many stars, or that they could be so clear.
Since we left Miles some 1800 km ago, we think (because we have lost count a few times) that we have passed well over 1000 dead kangaroos plus a number of pigs. Many are in the process of being torn apart by crows and/or birds of prey. Interesting that most birds fly away as you approach, but crows have a wonderful arrogance in that they wait until the last moment and then just walk the minimum number of steps needed to allow the car through. This held true until on the road to Mt Isa where we came across a flock? Of eagles busily ripping apart a carcass. Some flew lazily off, but one had the effrontery to stare us down until we had stopped. Once we had taken his photo, he calmly spread his wings, flapped twice and majestically lifted upwards.

Rack off! - this is my road.

We are now in Mt Isa and leave on Tuesday for the Barkly Tableland and places northward.

13 May 2012

5th May 2012 – Charleville, Tambo, Blackall.

There is something about our older outback towns that simply grabs your heart and mind. Charleville does just that.  The shopping precinct is nothing special; that 3500 people have such basic retail opportunities is surprising.  More so that only a few of the buildings are worth a second look, and yet the town just has a zing and appeal.

Hotel Coronas - A fine pub, and Charleville's most impressive building

Just which way did you say I should go?
It doesn’t matter which route you choose to get there, you need to traverse many kilometres of scrub with little visual excitement.
Typical sunset @ Charleville - so common it becomes boring.

While this may be seen as good reasons to avoid the town, there is one giant reason not only to drop in if you’re in the area, but to take enormous detours to go there.  The Charleville Cosmos centre is an amazing facility that both explains (in really simple but informative steps) the structure of the universe and then offers the chance to look at it through the wonder of powerful telescopes.
We were totally gobsmacked by what we were able to see – that little star is really a cluster of small stars, and the moon does really have many craters. As a finale’ we were able to see something that must rate as a lifetime memorable moment: Saturn, in all its glory. The rings of Saturn were crystal clear as were the shadows cast by the rings upon the planet.

Cosmos Entry area (sorry, cameras not allowed inside)

After 3 nights, we pushed north to Blackall, and while stopped for lunch at Tambo we went for a walk. This little walk resulted in us adopting a new travelling companion (at a price). Ever since we have been travelling we have been accompanied by “Harry”, a teddy bear that came into Shirl’s life 8 years ago while at Harrods of London. When leaving Brisbane a week ago, I discovered that we had picked up a ‘hitch-hicker’:  Lady Millicent Cholmondeley, who goes by the name of Millie now shares our journey. Our new Tambo Teddy (Nash) simply jumped off the shelf and into Shirl’s arms – that’s her story!
Harry on the left, Nash (Harry's new friend), Milly on Harry's knee
Two nights at Blackall enlightened us to their famous son Jackie Howe the shearer.  Way back when sheep were shorn with hand shears, Jackie managed to relieve 321 sheep of their wool within 7 hours and 40 minutes (1 minute, 26 sec each). The week before he had shorn 1437 sheep in 44 hours & 30 minutes (standard working week) – this works out at just under 1 min 52 secs each. The daily record was not broken for 58 years, and then only with machinery shears. While in Blackall we also took the chance to visit Australia’s last steam driven Wool Scour – I bet that confuses you!  This ‘factory’ was used to wash the wool prior to sale. The depth and vigour of the manual labour needed to keep this monster of mechanical marvel running is mind-boggling. Even keeping the wood fired steam engine in fuel produced mind numbing thoughts – it consumed 15 ton of Gidgee wood per day, and that had to be cut with an axe (no chainsaws back then!). The wood was so hard that an axe needed to be resharpened every hour – to save time the axemen started work with 10 axes already prepared.

Jackie Howe's Grave.
Noting the volumes of dirty wool that were processed, plus the smell of the animal fat used as machinery lubricant, the smell must have been unbearable.

Many towns in Australia lay claims to be the home of the “Black Stump” – that place that defines here, and there, and beyond the black stump. Blackall has one of the better claims given that it has some form of official imprimatur. When Blackall was being formally established, an old tree stump was used as an official survey marker to define just what the boundaries of local towns, shires, and free land were. The original has long rotted away so the locals have replaced it with a petrified log from the local area.
Nash, sitting on the Black Stump


Road between Charleville & Tambo


Road between Tambo & Blackall

Arrived at Barcaldine 5th May.