Half-lap Day 62: Ord River -> Fitzroy Crossing

Caitlin had an extremely restless night and was up a couple of times, then LiAM woke up feeling really cold so I got up and redistributed blankets and closed the windows. It was cool to see the milky way on the other side of the sky as it had been when we went to bed, it really showed how much the earth rotates throughout the night.

Millie was up early and snuggled up outside in a blanket. It was 17 degrees which feels so cold to us! I was chilly but ok in my summer pyjamas. We had breakfast and started to get ready to move on. Millie and I went for a walk to the toilets and then down to the river, meeting some dogs on the way (one of them licked her all over her face). Caitlin had a bit of a sleep in, and woke feeling not a lot better than when she’d gone to bed. She had a banana for breakfast then curled up in a chair until I packed the chairs, then she curled up in her seat in the car. We saw several more cows wandering around the campsite, including some younger ones.

We were all packed and ready to leave by just after 9.30. Heading along the highway we had more varied terrain throughout the day. More rocky hills, escarpments on either side (at the same time or separately), and at times, wide, flat plains with no hills at all. Some areas had no grass, just sparse trees, others had lots of greenish grass and only the occasional tree. We saw new trees too, some tall, thin, feathery ones, and shorter trees with lots of branches – it looked like there’d been fire through here not too long ago, as a lot of those trees had no leaves, or if they did, the leaves were fluffy looking, and all over the branches, like new post-fire growth. The termite mounds were different here too, more like large boulders than tall structures.

We stopped in Halls Creek for petrol (getting straight to the petrol pump, once we’d navigated past the very long line for the diesel pump). I was glad we hadn’t attempted to stay in town, it didn’t look like a place I wanted to linger, although the visitors centre and a couple of the buildings around there looked quite lovely.

We stopped for lunch at Ngumbie Cliffs rest area, which was recommended to us by our neighbours last night. This rest area was perched on the top of some rocky cliffs, with views in every direction – back the way we came across the top of this escarpment, or across the plains at the bottom of the cliffs. They weren’t very high, but quite pretty, and there was valley just below the rest area with ghost gums and lots of greenery, we could see where the water would flow in the wet before it spread out across the plain.

We ate some lunch and had a bit of a play, and were there for about an hour and a half. We could have stayed the night – lots of people were already setting up – but there was no shade at all (unless we camped right up against the day use picnic tables) and there were still a few hours of daylight left, so we moved on. I would have liked to free camp again, but Caitlin was very keen to stay somewhere with a shower. Millie also wanted a shower, and a pool too if possible. We reached Fitzroy Crossing just after 3.30, so figured we might as well stay in a caravan park here (the next free camp, with toilets (and no shower) was another 80km or so down the road and that would be taking us too close to sunset). Two of the 3 parks in town had terrible reviews, and didn’t have pools, so we decided to stay at the fancier caravan park. It cost more than I wanted to pay for a one night stop in a small town ($49 – although we also get a 5% discount at the local IGA) but it was worth it to make sure Caitlin was comfortable and for me to be less worried about being robbed. (The other 2 parks had lots of reports of burglaries, and they were both over $40 a night anyway).

We checked in and set up in the large unpowered camping area, in the shade, and hopefully with shade in the morning as well. (The map we got here helpfully showed where sunrise and sunset would be). We wandered over to the pool – Tony took the kids first and I met them there a bit later, and found Caitlin sitting on a step in the deep end, shivering uncontrollably. I helped her get out and we wrapped her in towels, then I had a quick swim to cool down and played with Millie for a few minutes, then took the girls back over to have a nice warm shower. LiAM got out as well, and managed to get his clothes and have his shower before I’d finished organizing towels and clothes for the 3 of us girls. The showers were fantastic, and helped Caitlin warm up a little.

Tony was watching the Collingwood v Carlton game on his phone (Collingwood won, hooray!), and I started to get dinner ready. We had leftovers, and instant mashed potato, and bacon (and Millie had cereal as well). Caitlin had barely eaten all day, or much the day before either, and I made her a plate of food and suggested she try to eat what she could – suddenly she realised she was starving and ate quite a bit of her dinner. She’d stopped shivering by now and started to feel quite a bit better. Her thumb is still hurting but the swelling and bruising is continuing to go down.

LiAM didn’t feel well after dinner and had another shower to help himself feel better. He came back and went straight to bed. The girls hurried in to bed as well, after patting and talking to some nearby dogs, and we were able to read a few chapters of Inheritance while everyone was still awake, then we all crashed.

Half-lap Day 52: Edith Falls -> Timber Creek

It was a little different sleeping with the windows closed again, and it did cool down quite a lot over night. We actually felt cold when we woke up in the morning (just as I’d packed our warm clothes away) but we were fine still in our summer clothes.

We had breakfast and enjoyed being in nature on a sunny morning, there wasn’t any shade where we were but we weren’t hanging around so it didn’t get too hot before we left. We’d hung washing up the night before and the air was dry enough for it to be dry not long after the sun rose. Everyone managed OK without a toilet – using the bushes and trees and shadows that were available for privacy was fine.

Sunrise at our free camp

We headed off before 10 and drove the short distance (about 30km) to Katherine. The kids really wanted to see if any of the puppies were still at North Bank caravan park so we called in there – we parked out the front and walked in, and didn’t see anyone we knew. It was weird to be back, it felt quite familiar although did remind me a little of how frustrated we felt at the time. We saw Bundy and Pumbaa and the kittens, and the kids had a pat and a play with each of them. None of the other puppies were still there. Satisfied to have seen them again, the kids said goodbye and we drove into town. The kids and I went to Target to look for snorkels (no luck, though we did get a Skylanders figure for only $2), to the Visitors Centre to use the toilets and buy some Top End postcards and a tea-towel, and to Woolworths to get milk and other supplies for the next few days. Tony went to Home Hardware to get our empty gas bottle refilled (it had run out during breakfast this morning),to get petrol and to buy meat for the next few days.

Driving around Katherine also felt familiar and like we were almost locals. It was very exciting to head out on the Victoria Highway, on a road that none of us have ever been on, and to start the next stage (far more unknown) of our holiday. 

This road felt very long and isolated (surprisingly so, having come up the Stuart Highway. I guess this one is not quite as well used, not as many people come this way, and it’s heading to even more remote areas than the Stuart does). We saw lots more cows (Brahmins) and lots of kites. The ground was mainly sparse woodland – not much undergrowth, and the trees spread fairly thinly. After a while we saw our first boab tree of the trip – quite an impressive tree.

We pulled into the Victoria River Roadhouse to get petrol. I got a brief glimpse of the river as we crossed the bridge before the roadhouse, and the kids and I walked through the campground to see if we could get closer to get a better view of the river. There was a path leading down between tall cane grass, which rustled a lot as little animals moved around in there. It was quite spooky, not knowing how far away the river was and knowing that crocodiles lived in the river. Every rustle made us (well, some of us, LiAM seemed quite calm) jump a bit. We reached a sandy area high up on the river bank and could see the water and the bridge through the trees. That was good enough for us and we looked for a while then headed back. The kids also met a couple with a fluffy dog and talked to them for a while before we went on our little walk. It was hot in the sun, not so bad in the shade. We had a cool drink then kept driving west.

The drive from here was along huge craggy escarpments for a while, as we drove through part of Gregory National Park. The rocks were red and high above the road and so amazing to look at. We passed out of that section of the park and the road passed through sparse woodland again. There were many long straight stretches in this bit – it was a lot windier through the national park area. As we approached Timber Creek the escarpments returned. For a while we drove alongside the Victoria River – it was incredibly wide, the largest river we’ve seen so far. Looking at the map we could see we really weren’t that far from the mouth and the Timor Sea (about 100km).

Gregory National Park

Just before we reached our campsite (Big Horse Creek Campground in Gregory National Park) there was a bridge across the river which was signposted as a lookout, so we drove in to have a look. The bridge crossed the (still very wide) river and led to a Defense Force restricted zone. There was on vehicle access allowed on the bridge but pedestrians were able to walk out and look at the river – which we did. It was pretty cool looking along this long, wide river, with very green foliage all the way down to the edge. We looked for crocodiles but didn’t see any.

Victoria River

It was only 500m down the highway then to the campground. We drove around a couple of times and the only spots left were narrow bays in the middle, we looked at each of them for shade potential and flatness and eventually selected one. Tony backed the trailer in perfectly, right against one edge, and we were almost able to pull the tent out without it hitting the bollards on the other side. We were able to work around it though – with the kids’ beds down that end, we don’t use the bottom end of the tent so the little dent in the wall didn’t really matter.

The kids explored the campground while we set up, then LiAM, Caitlin and I went for a walk (bike ride in Caitlin’s case) down to the river. There was a boat ramp at the campground and we stood on it watching the water and the birds and noting how high the water level was so we could see if it was tidal. Caitlin rode back and met some people with a dog and chatted to them. We spent the rest of the afternoon sitting and doing puzzles and playing games, and had another walk down to the river to see a ground bird’s nest surrounded by shells and sparkly things. The kids talked to more of the other campers and met lots of people and dogs.

In the late afternoon we drove back to the east a little way to where we’d seen a sign saying Escarpment Lookout. We turned off onto the road indicated and it quickly climbed the escarpment and came to an area marked ‘Sunset Views’. We parked and got out – the sun was setting over the river and the escarpment and it looked amazing. We watched for a while then had a look at a memorial that was up there, commemorating and telling the story of the horse brigades that patrolled this area of Northern Australia in the 2^nd World War. It was fascinating, a piece of Australian history I knew nothing about. Another couple arrived and were looking at the monument too – and the lady said that her dad was one of those soldiers. She was so excited and moved to find all this information about it and to know that more people would learn about these men. From there we drove further along the escarpment and ended up at a lookout over the town of Timber Creek, with a different view of the river. It was quite peaceful up there. We had to drive past some parts of the bush that were being burned off, amazing how much less fierce these fires are than the ones at home.

Back to camp where had hotdogs for dinner (I had soup) and the kids played on the iPad for a while. It was another pleasant evening, temperature-wise, and the forecast was for a coolish night so we did close the windows again. We were slightly concerned about where we’d put our tent – there was dampness around one of the pegs, which was pegged in outside the bollards, so wondered if we’d hit a pipe or something.