To the Gulf of Carpentaria or "Wyndham Town"

Well this is the first sign of home - our state is in front of us, just the 3,000 odd kilometres between here and Perth.



Just to enhance the crossing we have our prime mover at the wheel to ensure we stay on the right road. well in reality there is only one road here South to Perth or North to Katherine

The road does become a little congested at times this is a view from the cab of one of the many cattle on the road- no fences except a number of road kill that have included on our trip - Camels,Wild pig,Kangaroos, wallabies and numerous unknown Australian Fauna.

We have only contributed to our regret 2 birds. Maybe our speed of between 70 and 80 kph plus very little night driving is the reason.

Another sight which luckily has been very uncommon for us is fire.

These images were taken on this section of the trip and demonstrate the way the fire moves.

They were taken in sequence over a 300 metre stretch of road.

We also came across this large reptile in one town that was a product of the local TAFE
Certainly the largest we have seen to date.

This was a modern road crossing of the Ord river one of the sources of Lake Argyle mentioned later in this episode of the trip. The bridge spanned some 400 metres of empty river.

Then we came across the old crossing.
This was blocked by a huge rock as you can see.
The markings on the road in front of the camera said the river rose to the camera position when the river was in flood..

However at this time the river was as shown below.

Always a country to make us of all environmentally friendly system, this was a cunning fence end post !!

The Ord river is a source of this giant men made lake, Lake Argyle - it was enormous.

This is a 30 MW power station that is the source of power for Kunnunara.

The Government sold the system to private enterprise, I cannot believe this was a sound financial decision for the voters.

Green power and unlimited water source proven over generations??

This is the outfall of the Lake and wends it's way from the dam to Kunnunara some 40 Kms to the south. This discharge river is also designated a lake - Lake Kunnunara that is 40kms long.

Nothing in this area is small.

Another view of the gorge that forms the banks of Lake Kunnunara.

We had lunch at the green treed area to the left, cool and full of Aerial fauna.

The technical details of the dam wall are here.

Some of the dangers common to Lake Kunnunara are listed here.

At the Wyndham camp site this wild donkey appeared - apparently he calls at the site every day during the tourist season and then disappears until next season.

Is it wild ??

At this camp site - which only had one redeeming feature which was the 2,000 year old Baob Tree -well that's what the sign stated - and we have come to believe all we read - otherwise nowhere would be unique.

No doubt about it's size!

Another nights stop where Mike found the fire with a Pernod and chair first.

Then comes another sunset over a river bed with very little water.

directly under the sun in this image was supposed to be a Crocodile, we looked but failed to locate the reptile.

Should we have wadded in to be sure??

Well we reached the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Very impressed with the size again but the mud and water colour was dull as you can see.

This was Wyndham at it's historic best.

The pub.

Plenty of history and memorabilia.

But as Katherine said -the dirt, dust, broken furniture and high prices were equally memorable






Distance from Perth = 3359 Kms

Distance travelled on Trip = 17,844 Kms

Number of days on the road = 256

Katherine and then lookout Western Australia

The bulk of this chapter of the trip is all about "Katherine" the town and not Katherine so you have to be alert to the descriptors that have reference to Katherine.

This was one of the highlights of Katherine
Called now "Nilmilut Gorge" or what was called "Katherine Gorge"


This is the view of one of the numerous Gorges that is pictured in the dry season.
In the "Wet"the water level rises up to 10 metres above this level and can rise in a matter of hours.

Whilst there is more than water in the Gorge.
These are Flying Foxes taking a rest during the hot daytime situation. It was 35 degrees when we were on our lunch cruise up the Gorge



The next 4 images are called "Spot the Croc"

We assure you there are Crocodiles in each image sized from 1.5 to 3 meters long.

The easy one to spot.

This is one of the many sand beaches at the side of the Gorge.

There are signs saying do not enter since there could be damage to the Crocodile eggs.

That would be of less worry to me that the animals themselves who maybe are hungry

Well one can canoe in the Gorge.

Could this be Katherine and Mike??

Imagine the volume of water that arrives in this section of the Gorge during the "Wet"
The boats we travelled on are taken upstream in the "Wet' and have to stay there until the next years "Wet"

The volume of water creates some wierd and wonderful sights, this being a hole carved out of the rock face.

Awesome size and magnificent rock formations, all created by water that is discharge into the ocean, whilst we in Perth are in draught.

We had another cruise on the Katherine river at night.

More Crocodiles where seen in the natural habitat.

However the BBQ on this Cruise was it's speciality. The food, wine and company were excellent.

Perhaps, as Katherine said at the time, "we are all Croc'd out"

This was our style, Large tree,plenty of shade and Irish Breakfast tea.

This was another Northern Territory sight
A "Raintree" planted in 1879 and is still growing bigger at this age.

The sign at the base of the tree makes interesting historical reading.

The visit to Katherine was not all Flora and fauna.

This captures one of Perth's more competent cooks!!

Having left Katherine we headed for the Western Australian border some 500Kms to the west.

The trip took us 5 days.

Typical of our stops was this group that we met in a "Rest Area" along Victoria Highway.

Looks very Innocent at 4pm, however by 9pm with BBQ and bottles of red consumed and was somewhat livelier.

This was another rest area stop on Victoria Highway.

Peaceful and serene with no Crocodiles visible, but no one went in the water.

Another Australian bush sight "The Billabong"

They are many and varied in this area

We must have a Boab Tree

This is the Victoria River, large and flowing to the sea.

The reason for the image is the following image.

The bridge that spans the Victoria river just south of Timber Creek is there for Army use only.

The bridge quality was exceptional, my guess $30M exceptional.

For what, by the construction only heavy tanks would justify the bridge strength.

Why could they have practiced amphibian crossings and spent the money on something more appropriate.

Another must show of the Northern Territory roads are the "Roadtrains"

These are 55.5 metres long and are not to be denied.

Distance Travelled from Perth = 3,348 Kms

Distance travelled on Trip = 17,437 Kms

Number of days on the road = 253

Townsville to Katherine - Across the "Top End"

This is one of the long treks and definitely rivalled the Nullabour in distance.

One long road named by the publicists as "Overlander Way".

There was little to say about the hundreds of kilometres between the infrequent towns, but each town really tried to capture some important aspect of outback Australia.

Charters Towers, Hughenden,Richmond, Mount Isa and Camooweal were the only Queensland stops with only Tennant Creek being the Northern Territory's contribution in the town stakes.

Firstly this image is what can be done when you use that precious commodity "water"

Queensland's oasis Mount Isa - no real rain for 2 years and they have created this wonderful park at a Museum.






























Even without water though these desert flowers can flourish.































Entering Mount Isa though tells a lot about the City!!

The pollution from the mine stack is just as black as it looks - they mine gold, nickel and lead here, but we heard no complaints regarding pollution.

Without the Mine and others in the vicinity there would be no Mount Isa.
























Before we reached Mount Isa though there was Hughenden and Richmond that are famous for their prehistoric fossils, enormous animals all captured in stone, they ensure that the local communities have at least one outlet for the passing tourist to enjoy.

The pubs and other shopping experiences are extremely limited.











Clearly this animal was quite impressed with Katherine.











Well we made it to the Northern Territory and to prove it here is a photograph of our overnight stop on the night of the crossing. Strangely we had telephone coverage here and I tried to describe to my mother in Newport the location. Maybe from the European perspective it was a bit difficult.



















Next is the real oasis - a place called Bitter Springs in Mataranka.

Undoubtedly one of the highlights of the trip for both of us.

Mike went swimming in water that was 32 degrees C and clear to the river bed which in some places went to 3 metres.

The underwater world was stunning and all the more special for the isolated nature of the place.







In the wet this floods to at least3 metres above the current level.

At that time the crocodiles return!!

This is the river bed some 3 metres deep.

Just before Katherine is a place called Daly Waters.
It survives on tourists and rubbish from the past.

The local shop??
Need less to say Katherine found something to buy.

A person in her element.

This was another was another wayside stop that had some very good aboriginal artworks.
Plus the sculpture.

This sign cannot be ignored, Katherine did have the experience but did not use the flush solution.

This was taken just to prove that there has been 2 drivers on the crossing!!

Another sunset at the end of another day crossing the "Top End'

Distance from Perth = 3689 Kms

Distance travelled from Perth = 16,983 Kms

Number of days on the road = 248