Trip report

Week 4 (Monday 20 October — Sunday 26 October, 2003)

Written by: kuvaweopu

The route

Map

20 Oct - 21 Oct: Driving, and more driving

Day 21 (Monday 20.10.2003)

The new week began very early in the morning to get a good start for another long driving day. All the gear was packed in the dark and just as the day started to lighten we hit the road and left Normanton behind. Our plan was to drive south to Cloncurry, turn west, drive thru Mount Isa and continue as far towards Darwin as we could make it before sunset.

There really wasn't much to see from the car except termitaria and more termitaria and occasionally some kangaroos and cattle. No GSM coverage until the mining town of Mount Isa where we stopped for a quick lunch at Subway and did some shopping for necessary outback supplies such as a Donnie Darko DVD :-).

Asmu driving along the Stuart Highway in the Northern Territory. (Picture: kuvaweopu)
Here's Asmu driving at 100 kph and not looking at the road. Not that there was much to look. :-) (Picture: kuvaweopu)

The drive continued west and as we crossed from Queensland to Northern Territory the speed limits ceased to exist on the highways. We had some fun moments when Asmu decided to test just how fast Winona could go on the straight and deserted highway. The whole car started to shaking and rattling as the speed climbed over some undisclosed mark. We actually had to keep holding the doors in place as they seemed to be trying to shake themselves loose. Well, I have to say, there is enough oomph in the simple straight six of Winona to drive at unsafe speeds. :-)

Cattle and nothingness at the Tablelands Highway. (Picture: kuvaweopu)
Cattle and nothingness at the Tablelands Highway. (Picture: kuvaweopu)

We had another break and refuel at Barkly Homestead roadhouse, 400 kilometers west of Mount Isa, where the Tablelands highway forks north from the Barkly highway. We bought some beer to go and drove north to drive the remaining two daylight hours. The sunset was pretty spectacular over the flat desert as we dodged cows and drove over the myriad cattle grids. At last we had to stop and make camp at a rest stop. We just had time to take a group picture of use in the middle of nowhere before the light was gone completely. After that we had some quality time with the beer and snacks we bought.

Winona and us at a rest stop on the Tablelands Highway. (Picture: kuvaweopu)
It's us! Happy and content in the middle of nowhere at a rest stop on the Tablelands Highway. No other soul around for tens of kilometers. (Picture: kuvaweopu)

While we were drinking beer in the dark we wondered what the weird flickering light was in the sky due south. The light shone brighter and brighter until two hours later a big road train came into view. The headlights of the road train were actually visible all the way from the Tablelands highway and Barkly highway intersection which was some 150 kilometers away and way below the horizon! Now that's some flat and empty country for you.

Day 22 (Tuesday 21.10.2003)

Again the day started pretty early as there was still a lot of driving (some 1000 km) before we'd get to Darwin. The drive went pretty uneventfully. We just had a short stop for petrol and ice cream along the way and otherwise drove almost non-stop. In the evening we checked in to Shady Glen tourist park and decided to just relax for a day or two and enjoy Darwin and the nice swimming pool at the park.

Beautiful sunrise at the outback. (Picture: Gandi)
Sunrise at the outback. (Picture: Gandi)

22 Oct - 23 Oct: Relaxation and burning skin

Day 23 (Wednesday 22.10.2003)

Damn it's hot in Darwin... even in the night. But no matter. Today's all about NOT driving long distances as we've just spent the last three days in the car. A trip to the shore of the Timor Sea revealed very warm waters and a nudist beach but unfortunetaly swimming was advised against because of box jellyfish in the water.

Gandi and Asmu playing chess at Shady Glen. (Picture: kuvaweopu)
Gandi and Asmu playing chess at Shady Glen tourist park. (Picture: kuvaweopu)

The city of Darwin was quite quiet as the main tourist season was already over. We went shopping for some nice leather cowboy hats for protection from the sun. I found just the kind of hat I would've wanted but unfortunately they didn't have the right size in stock. Gandi and Asmu found decent leather hats for themselves but I settled for a cheapo synthetic one as none of the other leather models were just right. Yes, I'm a picky customer.

Darwin beach by the Timor Sea. (Picture: kuvaweopu)
Asmu and Gandi walking on the Darwin beach by the Timor Sea. No swimming allowed because of box jellyfish. (Picture: kuvaweopu)

Uploaded some trip pics to the mobile diary from an internet cafe. The manager of the cafe was impressed with the huge 1 GB IBM microdrive CF cards in our cameras. :-) The rest of the day went chilling at the camp site.

Day 24 (Thursday 23.10.2003)

Another rest day. Even less action than yesterday and it felt GOOD. Just being still, enjoying the warmth and relaxing at the pool. Perfect! Gandi and I enjoyed the last Winter Ciders we had brought with us all the way from Finland and across half of Australia. Damn it tasted good. Gandi managed to burn his skin once again while playing chess with Asmu at the swimming pool. :)

Asmu on a sightseeing drive. (Picture: Gandi)
What makes Asmu's head turn so far on his sightseeing drive? (Picture: Gandi)
Enjoying Winter Cider in Darwin. (Picture: Asmu)
Gandi and kuvaweopu are enjoying Winter Cider in hot Darwin. Ahhhhhh. Note the new hats! (Picture: Asmu)

24 Oct - 25 Oct: Kakadu National Park

Day 25 (Friday 24.10.2003)

The morning began with checking out of the tourist park and buying some tuna from Woolworths. In addition to beer, canned tuna was pretty much the only thing keeping us alive on the road if we were too far from road houses serving rump steak. :) Then it was time to head to the Kakadu National Park.

Walking in Kakadu National park. (Picture: kuvaweopu)
Walking in the arid Kakadu National Park. (Picture: kuvaweopu)

As it was just about the end of the dry season with monsoon just weeks away, the whole park was parched dry and most of the wetlands had minimal water. We stopped from time to time to walk around some of the trails near the wetlands and the Alligator River although the temperatures were hellishly hot. The wetlands didn't offer much as there were very few birds or other life to see. Near the river we witnessed the park rangers doing controlled burning of the dry undergrowth... It's pretty wild looking when big flames dance around the trees and bush. One of the more moist rainforesty places had a huge amount of large fruit bats flying around and claiming the treetops.

Controlled burning of the undergrowth in Kakadu National Park (Picture: Gandi)
Whoops! We accidentally the whole Kakadu National Park! (Picture: Gandi)
Fruit bats in Kakadu National Park. (Picture: kuvaweopu)
What's that smell? What just flew past my head flapping its leathery wings? BATS! Huge fruit bats and lots of them. (Picture: kuvaweopu)

Late afternoon we set erected our tent in a campsite in Jabiru and took Winona towards Ubirr, a site which is famous for its Aboriginal rock art and spectacular views from the top of a rocky lookout over the floodplains -- especially at sunset. The rock paintings were indeed quite interesting. We watched the beautiful sunset after which we headed back to our campsite for some well earned sleep.

Sunset at Ubirr in Kakadu National Park. (Picture: kuvaweopu)
Spectacular sunset at Ubirr in Kakadu National Park. (Picture: kuvaweopu)

Day 26 (Saturday 25.10.2003)

Once again we broke camp before sunrise. The plan was to do some hiking today so we headed towards Nourlangie Rock which has a nice 12 km marked trail. The weather was already hot in the morning and we packed several litres of drinking water each so that we could hike without fear of dehydration.

Aboriginal rock art at Nourlangie in Kakadu National Park. (Picture: kuvaweopu)
Aboriginal rock paintings ar Nourlangie. (Picture: kuvaweopu)

The first kilometer of the hike went fine under the shade of the trees but the hot weather really started taking its toll on the climb up to Nourlangie Rock. We realised that it took several rests and over half of our water JUST to climb to the top of the rock after which we were something like two kilometers in of the 12 km trail. And we were sweating like pigs. I drank almost two litres of my water on the climb up and I had three originally in my backpack. It wasn't that we were in bad shape (having hiked quite some distances before) but the hot temperatures that were just too much for us. And this was at ten o'clock in the morning! So, with way less water than we needed left the only sensible thing to do was to just enjoy the view from the top and head back to the car... which incidentally was left in the sun and was hotter than a well warmed sauna when we got back to it.

Group shot of kuvaweopu, Asmu and Gandi on top of Nourlangie Rock in Kakadu National Park. (Picture: kuvaweopu)
A group shot of us on top of Nourlangie Rock. The view was as awesome as the heat. (Picture: kuvaweopu)
Asmu next to a decent sized termite nest in Kakadu National Park. (Picture: Gandi)
Asmu posing next to a decent sized termite nest. (Picture: Gandi)

No air conditioning in the car and temperatures that peaked at 40 degrees Celcius in the shade and a hell of a lot more in the sun made for some sweaty driving through the rest of the park. We did stop at a few more places, including a detour to an almost dry waterfall at the end of a dirt road. After refuelling Winona and accelerating away from the petrol station there was a single cough from the engine. We all looked at each other and wondered what was going on but everything seemed to work fine. But as it turned out, this was only the first sign of trouble to come...

Asmu and kuvaweopu on a break in Kakadu National Park. (Picture: Gandi)
Asmu and kuvaweopu on a break. (Picture: Gandi)
Almost dry waterfall near Kakadu National Park. (Picture: Gandi)
An almost waterless waterfall. Would have been nice to swim but the fishes in the pond actually bite! (Picture: Gandi)

The day closed with us finding a nice camping park in Mataranka, about 100 km southeast from Katherine. The place had a very, very nice hot spring to bathe in. The warm water felt so good after a day of sweating in a hot car. We also got a hint that shining a flashlight at the surface of a nearby river after dark would attract turtles. And boy was it true! Many big ones (over 30 cm) came near the surface to check out what the light show was all about. Kangaroos also hopped around the campsite and kakadu parrots squawked, wondering why all the people had invaded their land.

Turtles coming to investigate a bright light at Mataranka camping park. (Picture: Gandi)
Hypnotising the turtles with a bright light. Mmmhh... bright light so beautiful... (Picture: Gandi)

26 Oct: Driving South

Day 27 (Sunday 26.10.2003)

Oh noes! The day started worryingly when Winona refused to start due to an empty battery. Luckily we almost immediately found a friendly fellow-camper who helped us start our car with jumper cables. Wondering why the battery had drained we started our journey southwards to Alice Springs.

Diagnosing Winona's problems on the road. (Picture: Gandi)
Trying to diagnose Winona's problems on the road. Here we're checking the air filter and cabling. (Picture: Gandi)

After eating some nice rump steaks for lunch we arrived at the Devils Marbles, a place where huge granite boulders of roundish shapes perch precariously atop bigger rocks. Some rock climbing efforts later we continued on to camp at the UFO themed Wycliffe Well roadhouse in Tennant Creek. Apparently Wycliffe Well is the UFO capital of Australia. :-) We did hope to see some UFOs ourselves or at least be abducted but alas, nothing. Well, better luck next time.

Gandi and Asmu atop one of bigger rocks at Devils Marbles. (Picture: kuvaweopu)
Gandi and Asmu atop one of bigger boulders at Devils Marbles. (Picture: kuvaweopu)
Asmu and kuvaweopu looking out for UFOs near Wycliffe Well. (Picture: Gandi)
At Wycliffe Well the trip got more dangerous than ever: now we had to avoid being abducted by UFOs as well as trying not to hit the kangaroos! (Picture: Gandi)