Travelling through the NT

Many people ask our family what their favourite places in Australia is, and all of us answer with “the Northern Territory!” We love new discoveries around the NT and this trip was to be no different.

After we left Darwin, we headed south and stopped at Douglas Hot Springs for the night. WOW! what an experience. The Douglas River meanders slowly through the bush, where it is joined by a hot thermal spring, where the water comes out of the ground at 60 degrees Celsius. The spring itself is a sacred aboriginal site, so access is restricted, but wandering up the river bed allows you to choose what temperature water you would like to swim in. At 60 deg, the water is scalding hot, but there are several pools further down that are cool enough to feel like a warm bath. At one point, the river waters meet the spring water, and we managed to lie on the river bed like stranded driftwood, our feet freezing cold and our chests warm and toasty. It was an unusual feeling. We are travelling with John and Lyn Hobbs again, our good friends from the Sunshine Coast, and they also enjoyed the hot springs and the quick visit to Butterfly Gorge.

I spent ten minutes fishing, before losing a lure on a submerged tree. I jumped in and swam around looking for it, but the dark shadows approaching me through slightly murky water downstream became a bit too freaky, and I gave up the hunt. As I got out of the water, a woman fishing on the bank asked me if I saw the large freshie that lives there?

At the Territory Wildlife Park we visited Ooloo Lagoon and the guide told us “If you ever find yourself in the area, visit Ooloo Crossing” the namesake of the parks display. As we approached the crossing, the full force of the Daly River became apparent. This river is huge! and in the wet season, it becomes absolutely ENORMOUS! The road crossing across the river would be adventure enough to stop most people – a steep sandy bank and a hard right turn into the fast flowing water, across the loose, rocky bottom to the other side and then fight your way up the steep sand bank to continue the journey. Just the thought of it was too much for us, so an attempt was always unlikely.

Our next stop was only 150km away, but we still managed to arrive after dark into Edith Falls. On our last venture to the falls, we only swam at the bottom and did not have time to complete the walking track to the top. This time, we were determined to investigate the rest of the area.

Early in the morning, we began the ascent to the top of Edith Falls to encounter one of the most picturesque swimming holes we have ever seen. Crystal clear water dancing across the rocks and falling off several small waterfalls, through deep clear and inviting pools before continuing their dance to the lower pools and waterfalls. It was stunning, and just a little bit cold! We stayed at Edith Falls for two nights and made several trips to the lower swimming hole as well, thoroughly enjoying ourselves and relaxing as best we could.

Rosa and Leisl were swimming near the edge of the main pool when a small snake decided to venture near the scary people and sun itself on the rocky step. We are still trying to work out who was more scared, the girls, or the snake, which took off because the noise level was too great for him. We also saw a water monitor swim past, and several large fish. Fresh water crocs are said to inhabit the swimming hole, but we didn’t see any during our time there.

I had arranged to visit a cattle station 250km from Katherine to complete some long awaited electrical work, so Gilnockie Station became our next destination. Although we planned for about one week on the station, there wasn’t much work to be done, and we only spent three days. The Armstrong’s are very nice people and looked after us well. John is a helicopter pilot, and watching him land the aircraft one afternoon gave us an appreciation of his skill level.

We all decided it was time to head for WA and Kununurra! Stopping for lunch in Timber Creek, we utilised a picnic table in front of the Wirib Caravan Park. Our prayer that day was for work, as we needed some income to continue the journey. During lunch, we had a visit from the Caravan Park groundsman, who was interested in John and Lyn’s motorhome. I rang all the local cattle station owners that I could find numbers for, and could not organise any work, anywhere. Then we set off to the Big Horse Creek Camping Area for the evening.

The next morning we returned to Timber Creek to investigate the hilltop lookout and the old Police Station museum. Both were very interesting, but neither paid well… So we decided we would head for Kununurra, there’s bound to be some work there.

We didn’t get far when Troopy objected and the temperature gauge went through the roof. Back to Timber Creek, and the only person we knew was the caravan park groundsman, Ron, so we called in to see if he knew someone that could assist us. As it turned out, 18 months of travelling many dirt roads had resulted in the cooling fins of the radiator being full of dust, mud and insects. After a quick flush courtesy of Ron and the garden hose, and we were ready to go again. Except, we figured that God had stopped us here for a reason, and we should stick around long enough to find out what it was. We booked into the caravan park for the night.

The next day, Ron informed us that he had found some people in town who needed electrical work, if we wanted to stick around for a while. When you consider we prayed for work at the picnic table right at the front of this caravan park, its seems our answer had been delivered.

We stayed in Timber Creek for one week, and Ron turned out to be an excellent host. He took us for a croc spotting tour (freshies) in the creek at the back of the caravan park, took me fishing on the Victoria River twice (to no avail), and organised some freight for John, so he could save about $5000 on his next Solomon Islands venture. John and I wired up some lights and power points for a local businessman and then completely wired up a four bedroom house, where the owner, Newton, had been waiting months for an electrician to return his phone calls.

We managed to set some traps and catch a few cherubim (fresh water prawns) in the local creek, and visit the Gregory Tree as well. The parks swimming pool was large enough for everyone, and being quite cold, not that popular – the kids loved it though, a welcome relief from slaving over their school books on hot days. Every night we watched kangaroos and cockatoos come to the creek to drink, as well as a myriad of other birds that inhabit the area.

On fathers day we ventured back to the Victoria River for some more fishing attempts. As we arrived at the river side, an enormous saltwater crocodile swam past the fishing spot. “Aaaahhh, kids…….how would you like to stay in the car, and play with your game consoles???” It kept them away from the waters edge, and safe from the 7 metre specimen. Still no fish!

In everyone’s life, this was a win-win situation. We received the much needed funding to continue, John was blessed for his Solomons Islands trip, Ron had some company for the week and made some new friends, and Newton got his house wired up. Even the fish got to live another day.

Timber Creek was an excellent diversion for us, but it was time to head west again, and get on the road to WA.

Territory Wildlife Park

When Mum went down to the Sunshine Coast for a MOPS conference, Dad took us to a few amazing places around Darwin. One such place was Territory Wildlife Park. I don’t know what I expected it to be like, but the park was more than what we imagined.
Most parks are zoos, with animals from all over the world. Like Dubbo Zoo: Giraffes, elephants, tigers and monkeys. But Territory Wildlife Park only had animals that live in the NT. It was amazing. A shuttle bus is provided for in the park, but you can walk. Leisl found a brochure in Katherine Information Centre called “Welcome To Darwin & The Top End” that had a very useful 10% discount coupon for the park. Leisl’s good at spotting things like that.
Firstly, we walked to the Nocturnal House. As it was dark for the animals’ natural habitat, we couldn’t take photos or videos. We also had to be very quiet so as to not disturb the animals. Barn owls, geckoes, fruit bats, sugar gliders, white-tailed rats, snakes, curlews, tawny-frogmouth owl, brush tailed possum and spiders were only some of the animals that occupied the Nocturnal house. We were blinking as we came back into the sunlight.
Our next stop was the Aquarium. There was so much aquatic life I could hardly name it all. One of the highlights was a 3m long crocodile. I was a bit nervous that there was only 2cm of glass between the croc and I! Some of the fish were: eel-tailed catfish, sleepy cod-fish, clownfish, false clownfish (black and white stripes), red-tailed squirrel fish, stonefish and lion-fish. There were very cute Australasian grebes, which look like tiny fluffy ducks. A baby sea-turtle was casually swimming against the wall among angel-fish. A sign informed us that the turtle wasn’t stressed swimming against the wall; in the wild, turtles know no boundaries. A moray eel was elegantly curving its back. Long-necked and Short-necked turtles were swimming among crocodiles. Looking at the water from behind the glass, we could see the surface and underwater quite well. On the top, it looked like a normal billabong, but underneath, you could see a few crocs lying about! The aquarium was one of my favourite places in the park.

Freshie	Long-Necked Turtle
Moray Eel	Beware: this croc is 3m long!!

We walked past the dingo enclosure to the Oolloo Sandbar. It had all the wildlife that live in the Oolloo River. There were barramundi, archerfish and freshwater stingrays swimming about. Some of the stingrays were very big, but the guide told us that the stingrays in captivity were all juveniles; they hadn’t caught an adult freshwater stingray yet. We watched as the guide dangled a fish in the water. Suddenly there was a great POP!! We were all wondering what it was when the guide said, “That’s the sound you want to hear when you’re fishing! It’s the barramundi, sucking the fish and all the surrounding water into its mouth.” We also were handed a few mealworms. The guide told us the archerfish would see the worms and squirt them. We were to drop the worms once they squirted it. Dad was thinking, “They’re only little fish, they won’t be able to squirt that distance.” He casually stuck his hand out of the fence. The next minute, WHACK! An archerfish had hit him squarely on the hand, and splashed some of his face too! The distance from the water to our hands hanging over the fence was about 1.5 m. But the fish in there were as big as the span of my hand. The archerfish have to have extremely good eyesight to see insects crawling on the logs above them, so they can shoot a stream of water to dislodge the insect into the water.

Archerfish shooting mealworms

We caught the shuttle bus to the Function Area, and we walked to the Flight Deck. Leisl and I took turns videoing as we saw birds of prey swoop and swarm and perform for us. The first bird was a black-breasted buzzard. It had a rather square tail, and an obvious white stripe one its wings. It has tough scales on its feet, and it eats insects, reptiles, rabbits and sometimes carrion. One of its tricks was cracking open a plastic egg with a rock. Some rainbow lorikeets flew out and started brawling. They were actually a sub-species of the rainbow lorikeet that only lives in the Top End. They nest in tree hollows. The second guide said that they love mangoes, and they’ll sit eating fallen mangoes all day. They get quite drunk when they eat too many fermented mangoes, and sort of stumble around like a drunk man. Some people think they’re sick or injured but they’re actually quite drunk. The next bird was a sulphur-crested cockatoo. They make great pets, and they’re about as intelligent as a three or four year old. They can live for around eighty years, so it’s like having a three or four year old in the house for eighty years. They eat seeds mostly. A brahminy kite flew out and showed us how well it could soar and swoop. It is brown with a white head and is an opportunistic feeder. They eat crabs, fish, little animals and often hang around towns, looking for food. A dingo also came out and snuffled around.

Rainbow Lorikeets feeding together	Black-Breasted Buzzard showing off the wingspan	Dingo - always food-focused
Hello Cocky!	Brahminy	Intelligent Egg Eater – Black-Breasted Buzzard

After the show, we went to an area outside the birds’ living area. They showed us a few different birds, that weren’t ready for performing yet. The first guide came out with a juvenile wedge-tailed eagle, who’d been kicked out of the nest as a baby and as a result can’t fly. Another bird they brought out was the peregrine falcon. It was eating a whole quail. As I’ve researched peregrine falcons in Year 5, it was very interesting to see it up close. I also enjoyed listening about the barn owl, the 3rd bird they brought out. They talked about how a barn owl uses triangle vision to see in the dark. First he has one eye lower than the other. Then two lines  come from the eyes and join to make a slight triangle. That way he can hear where something is from anywhere in relation to the noise. They then brought out a rufous owl; you were allowed to slip on a leather glove and hold it, for a gold coin donation. Another bird was the pacific baza. He was very vocal and made a continuous sound like ‘racka-racka-racka-racka!’. The handler wouldn’t let him go back to his aviary until he stopped flying away from her; he was a little skittish because of only being handled for a few weeks.

Wedge-Tailed Eagle	Peregrine Falcon
Rufous Owl	“THE EVIL EYE!”

After a quick bite to eat, we headed back to the Nocturnal house, where they were going to do a demonstration. We walked through the House again and then visited a man with a large snake crawling over his shoulders. She was a North-western Albino Carpet Python, with a yellow-white tiger pattern on her scales. She was aptly named Lady Gaga!! Us kids took turns to hold her as she slithered all around our shoulders and arms. The man was very informed and told us a lot of information about snakes like Lady Gaga. He said she didn’t particularly like people holding her, but she could put up with it. The guy draped her on a tree and she twisted around it naturally. Getting her on was fine, but getting her off was the difficulty as she curled around our arms like she did to tree branches. I was disgusted when the guy draped her on my shoulders.  It was even more uncomfortable when her cold body slightly restricted my throat.Enmity between women and snakes was in place at the Fall… and still is!
Our next stop was the Aviary. Most of the walk was suspended in the air so we could view birds in the canopy as well. It was divided into sections; Monsoon rainforest, bushland and so on. We stepped into a small covering and spotted a button on a sign. We pressed and a monsoon demonstration started. Misty rain poured down from the roof, lightning flashed (a strobe light) and the stereo boomed with the sound of thunder. It was a very good demonstration!
We saw many birds on the Aviary walk, and lots of turtles too. However, NT birds were the focus of this walk! The main aviary was enormous. There was the ambient noise of Pied Imperial Pigeons cooing. A number of turtles were swimming in the creek that flowed between the pandanus. I videoed a few different birds, some which were not included in these photos. I spotted a goanna in the water, though my reputation for spotting things is a little pitiful. We exited through the double-door.

Goanna	Varied Lorikeet	Channel-Billed Cuckoo
Budgerigar	Pied Imperial Pigeon	Bush Stone-Curlew

We then did the Monsoon Rainforest walk. Tall trees looming overhead and the green colours of lush plant life. Native nutmeg, ganophyllum, kapok, cycad, cluster fig, the Leichardt tree and syzygium are just some of the tree species in an NT monsoon rainforest. We managed to point out a few orb spiders, who’d strung their webs between trees, on the sides of bridges, between saplings 10m away. A few were found weaving a web very expertly just above the walkway. I’m sure this place would be packed with fruit bats in the Wet season!

Us kids taking a break	A rainforest creek	Orb Spider!!

The Billabong was the next place we took a look at. There was a female freshie brooding her eggs near the walk. Thankfully it was fenced off! Freshies can be aggressive when they’re brooding. There was many pelicans sitting on logs with branches jutting out of the water. Skirting the billabong was more pandanus and giant lily pads. Dad noticed a flow of water coming out of one point in the billabong bed. “Do you see how the water course is flowing away and then going back?” he said. Then we figured out it was a pipe! And the signs had said it was a natural billabong!
Next up was the Aquarium again. Leisl took a video of everything. It was mostly the same.
We then went to Goose Lagoon. It wasn’t as good as the Billabong, to my standards. I really like lilies and reeds. A few ducks were dunking under the water to eat whatever they could find.

Beautiful lilies	Goose Lagoon	Duck!

We headed back to the shuttle stop to go back to the Main Station. It was a while in the taking, so Dad and I walked through the Walk about Patch burning and how it can help the environment or harm it. When the shuttle bus did arrive we listened as the guide informed us of the different plants around the park, rattling off the Latin names like a University professor. We took a look at the emus, and I watched a woman sketching one. Emus aren’t my favourite animal; they can be a bit threatening.  
We had one last lap around the park, then decided to go home.

It had been an awesome day!!