Nele & Andrew Around Oz

The Pebbles Campsite, NT (17km N of Tennant Creek)

Day 156 – 22^nd July 2011

The Pebbles Campsite, NT (17km N of Tennant Creek)

Today was a travel day. Along the way we stopped at Larrimah to have a look in the museum in the old telegraph repeater station and the Larrimah “Pink Panther” Pub. Next we continued on to Daly Waters where we visited the historic Pub which has walls covered in a collection of memorabilia such as banknotes, bras, business cards etc. We also stopped at the Stuart Tree, a tree where explorer Stuart carved a large letter ‘S’, and the Qantas hangar, in the early 1930’s Qantas used Daly Waters as a refuelling stop on the Singapore leg of its Sydney-London run. Further along the drive we made a detour to the ghost town of Newcastle Waters, once a former droving town at the intersection of northern Australia’s two most important stock routes – the Murranji and the Barkly. We camped the night at The Pebbles (Kundjarra), a formation of granite boulders and an Aboriginal sacred women’s Dreaming site.

Larrimah Museum

Larrimah Pub

Pink Panther Pub

Daly Waters Qantas Hangar

Ready for take off

Daly Waters Pub

Funny stand opposite Daly Waters Pub

Stuart Tree

Scenery along the long drive

Newcastle Waters' Drover Statue

Newcastle Waters Pub

Who wants a beer?

Newcastle Waters

Newcastle Waters Store

Andrew having a chat to a local

Newcastle Waters

The Pebbles

Sunset at the Pebbles

12 Mile Yards Campsite, Elsey National Park, NT

Day 155 – 21^st July 2011

12 Mile Yards Campsite, Elsey National Park, NT

This morning we had a look at an old sheep dip, which was part of an experimental sheep station in the early 1900s and an Aboriginal Army Camp to which Aborigines from the Darwin region where evacuated in WWII. Afterwards we decided to go on the Botanic Walk and continue on along the Roper River to Mataranka Homestead. This was quite an adventurous walk where we had to “build” our own bridges to cross the river. It’s only when we got to the other end that there was a sign saying this walk was closed due to flooding. At the Mataranka homestead we had a look at the Elsey Homestead replica, which was built for the movie “We of the Never Never”. They show the movie (an Australian classic of life in the Outback as a pioneer in the early 1900s) every midday for free viewing at the homestead. We went for a swim at the Mataranka Thermal Pools (very crowded and less impressive surroundings than the Bitter Springs Pools) and had a look at Rainbow Springs and Stevie’s Hole before returning to the van along our challenging walk (7km return – 3.5h). After lunch Maureen and Andy had arrived as well and together we walked to Mataranka Falls where we had a nice swim (8km return – 4h). When we returned to the campsite we had to cool of again and jumped in the Roper River for a refreshing dip.

Old sheep dip with great looking sheep

Botanic Walk

Andrew building a bridge

Testing his bridge

Luckily this bridge was still intact as building your own
would have been a bit more tricky here

Replica of Elsey Homestead

Thermal Pools at Mataranka Homestead

Rainbow Springs

Stevie's Hole

Mataranka Falls

Roper River at Mataranka Falls

Enjoying a refreshing swim

Andy and Maureen have been here before - about 8 years ago -
so when Andy saw the swinging rope was still there he just had to test it out

Andy, Andrew, Maureen and Nele

Roper River at sunset

Did we just see 2 big crocodiles jump in the water?

Enjoying another swim back at the campsite

12 Mile Yards Campsite, Elsey National Park, NT

Day 154 – 20^th July 2011

12 Mile Yards Campsite, Elsey National Park, NT

As we were packing up at Katherine Gorge, Nele received a phone call from Maureen (Nele’s hostmum’s sister) and Andy who were actually travelling through Katherine today. We decided to catch up for a coffee. As it turns out we will be travelling to Alice Springs at the same pace so we will catch up again along the way. Afterwards we dropped off the bikes at Greyhound, did the required shopping & refuelling and off we went. Late afternoon we arrived at Mataranka and visited the Bitter Springs Thermal Pools for a nice swim. You can let yourself drift from one end to the other and enjoy the peaceful surroundings while floating in 34 degrees warm water. We had a look at world’s largest man-made termite mound in Mataranka of which the existence is still a mystery to us as you can listen to the local tourist radio station explaining why it is there but we forgot. We set up camp at the 12 Mile Yards campsite in Elsey NP where we attended a ranger campfire talk in the evening and learned about the park’s history and local fauna and flora.

Mataranka, capital of the Never Never

Jeannie and Aeneas Gunn, main characters of the
"We of the Never Never" novel and movie

Ready for a relaxing swim at the Bitter Springs Thermal pool

Nele drifting in Bitter Springs

Smile for the camera

Bitter Springs thermal pool

World's largest man-made termite mound

Katherine Gorge Campsite, Nitmiluk National Park, NT

Day 153 – 19^th July 2011

Katherine Gorge Campsite, Nitmiluk National Park, NT

We left early morning to do the long walk to Smitt’s Rock (24km return – 7.5h). Smitt’s Rock offers nice views of the 4^th and 5^th gorge. As the river here gets blocked from the lower river by rocky parts, we were able to go for a swim as this area has been checked and declared salties-free (a few freshies do live here but if you don’t intimidate them they are fine as they feed on fish – not humans). Smitt’s Rock is a great spot to camp overnight if you decide to walk onto Eighth Gorge (8km further south). Camping is right in the gorge on the sandy bank, very peaceful. We got back at the caravan park by 3pm so relaxed the remainder of the afternoon at the swimming pool.