August 2021
We arrived at Mataranka and were relieved there was a supermarket for some fresh supplies. There was little else in the town but a pub, petrol stations, an outdoor sculpture museum and a giant man-made termite mound – this was bizarre as we had just spent 1000s of kilometres driving past real ones of varying shapes and size (many of them in fancy dress). We pulled up at the Little Roper Stock Camp ($30 night) and were incredibly impressed by this little family run caravan park. Des and Telka have developed such a wonderful experience here for kids. They have cows, buffalos, chooks and pigs and great big hay bales for the kids to play on. In the mornings they cook up delicious Johnny Cakes (‘bread dough donuts’ is the best way to describe them) for $1.50 apiece and afterwards Des gets out his Blue-tongued Lizards, pythons and baby crocodiles and almost every child has one in their hands. I was astounded he was so trusty to allow every kid to handle his pets. Each night all the kids are rounded up (well they round themselves up outside the squirrel glider cage) and allowed to enter the cage and hand feed them fruit and mealy worms. I got more enjoyment out of watching about 15 kids squeeze into a large cage.
The camp is about 2km down the road from the Mataranka Homestead (caravan park) and Mataranka Springs. The springs were so relaxing to sit in and crystal clear and warm but very crowded. A few kilometres down the road are Bitter Springs, which are hotter and extend for about 100m so you can float from one end to the other on a pool noodle (BTW if you are travelling through this area of the NT, including Litchfield, bring a noodle as you will spend quite a good part of most days floating on it in a waterfall or spring fed pool). Goggles are also worthwhile as there are some cool fish and wonderful underwater vegetation to look at. It was quite an experience. Mali insisted we do the drift about 6 times and still wanted to do more – we were all prunes at the end of it.
The whip cracking show by Nathan Whippy Griggs at the Homestead was incredible. This guy spends about 1.5 hours showing us all his whip cracking skills including whipping in sync with the music, glow-in-the-dark whips, and whips on fire. He was so engaging with the crowd and put on an excellent show. I think he finishes in September but might be back next year as he was so popular.
Just over 100km north is Katherine, well known for its famous Gorges and all their glory. We stocked up on groceries and spent some time at the great Information Centre before heading 30km north to Nitmiluk Gorge and campground in the National Park. The Nitmiluk campsite is right on the river where all the gorge tours depart and there is a lovely visitor centre, café and a pool and bar. We spent the afternoon swimming in the pool and relaxing in the heat. The next morning, I experienced the most scenic mountain bike ride in my years of riding. The trails were rocky, and it was hot but the scenery was incredible and the Jatete Trail brings you right out to a lookout overlooking the gorge – incredible!!
Afterwards, we decided to go and walk to the lookout, have a picnic and book the 3-gorge tour that we heard was incredible. We got to the booking desk and all the staff were wearing masks. I thought it was odd. When I asked to book into the tour, they were uncertain as Katherine was probably going into a 3-day lockdown at noon that day (it was 11am). We did not have any phone reception since we arrived, so we had no idea this was coming. There was no chance we could have left quick enough to escape the lockdown, so we awaited the official news and bunkered down for the 3 days.
We spent the lockdown (which turned into 4 days) doing loads of schoolwork so Mali could have the next week off on Darwin, she swam in a bucket as the pool was closed, I enjoyed early morning walks and meditations at the lookout – I don’t think the gorge area has ever been so quiet and I enjoyed every minute of the silence up there. We also enjoyed walking out to the boat ramp on dusk to watch all the flying foxes depart the tree roosts, leaving their young behind, and head off to feed. They would dive into the water to catch insect on the wing, and we saw several Freshwater Crocodiles dive out to try to munch on a bat. It was quite the spectacle and usually most of the campsite was out there looking as well.
Nitmiluk, 30km north of Katherine was out of the greater Katherine area and not part of the LGA so many of us thought about heading north to avoid the lockdown. We couldn’t go to Darwin, as they were also in lockdown, but we could travel through Kakadu until it has settled down. A few families left after speaking with the police and receiving confirmation they could leave. Since they had not returned, we gave it a shot. We packed up and travelled 70km north. At one point we thought the roadblock must have gone it was so bloody far from Katherine but, sure enough, we came across it. The policeman said he had let through some people from Nitmiluk the day before, but his superior had heard about this and communicated that Nitmiluk was part of the Katherine lockdown area. So, we turned around and gave a thumbs down to several caravans following us. We had all failed at escaping. We returned to our campsite with our tails between our legs. Craig and I then ventured into the local vaccination centre and got the first of our COVID19 jabs.
On day 4 we spent Mali’s 6th birthday morning opening presents and enjoying morning tea and birthday cake with our neighbours. Once, we heard news of the lockdown lifting we packed up the van in record time and departed for our 4-hour trip to Darwin. As soon as we arrived at the caravan park, we greeted the Cozbiels (friends we had made in Yamba months ago), unhitched the van and I drove up to the city to pick-up Mali’s birthday packages from the General Post Office – arrived with 15 minutes to spare. She spent the evening opening these with much delight, eating Japanese pancakes and sushi with the Cozbiels and a second ‘Woolworths’ birthday cake – it appears I had a decent enough excuse NOT to bake a cake from scratch
this year (Mum, I was rather relieved given the expertise I am trying to keep up with). The next day we had a picnic at a local water park with her friends Amauri and Zenjiro. All the water parks in Darwin are free which I am really impressed with given you can’t really swim in the ocean, and it is so damn hot.
We spent a week in Darwin visiting museums (Military and RFDS), water parks, the Botanical Gardens (beautiful!), coastal walks, shopping and getting various things fixed. We were lucky enough to be able to hand feed fish at the Aquascene Fish Feeding Sanctuary. Since the 1950s the enormous high tides bring hundreds of local wild fish to the shallow shoreline and they are now so used to people they will eat bread from your hand. Craig also went out on a hired fishing boat from Dundee Beach (1.5hr from Darwin) with a friend he has met on the trip and brought back a good selection of fish (Mackerel, Coral Trout and Trevally). We are still working through the freezer stash of Mackerel.
It is really starting to heat up now and 36◦C days are the norm. Air conditioning at the caravan park is a real luxury and helps Mali with her schooling as she is often zoning if we do not get it done until the afternoon. We try to do most of it in the car when travelling from place to place but this is not always possible. We find we are continually bumping into families we met briefly on the journey up the Stuart Highway as everyone seems to be heading in the same direction. It has been great to stay put for a week as it was getting exhausting moving along every day or so on the journey from QLD. We are heading south to Litchfield for a week and can’t wait to see the incredible waterfalls before we head back to Darwin to restock for our Kakadu adventures.
See you soon.
Craig, Corrine and Mali
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