Bungle Bungle - Purnululu NP

This is a world heritage area due to the area's natural beauty and geological value. The Bungle Bungle range is renowned for its banded domes of sandstone. 

Echidna Chasm

The drive in is 53km of corrugations and only for 4WD and off-road campers. So, we lose all the big rigs with grey nomads! We chose Kurrajong campground for 4 nights.

One day was spent doing all the walks on the north end, including the must-see Echidna Chasm. We spent more than an hour waiting for the sun at the angle where it lit up the chasm. We covered a fair mileage walking to Mini Palm Gorge and Homestead Valley. While they were around the same area, each place offers different perspective of the range.

Sharing travel stories at Bungle Bungle

After the northern side, we took the next day to visit the southern area. This is the part where you see familiar shots of Bungle Bungle, the dome-like sandstone features. 

Cathedral Gorge

Dingo got my shoe!

From Alice Springs to the Kimberleys in WA, we took the Tanami Road. It used to be called the Tanami Track but due to all the mines and road trains servicing the area, lots of improvements have been done. The road is over 1000km with more than 700km of gravel and dirt with bad corrugations.

After a full day's driving, we found a stop off the road and settled in for the night. We never leave food and rubbish out but in the morning, TJ saw a dingo or wild dog took off with one of his shoes! Fortunately, he managed to recover it before the animal chewed it up.

We crossed over to WA the next day. It was indeed strange to suddenly gained one and half hours back. On the way, we took a side trip to see Wolf Creek Meteor Crater. The crater was created when a meteorite hit over 300,000 years ago. To me, its just a big hole. Not sure if its worth a 40km diversion.

Wolf Creek Crater

Kings Canyon and West MacDonnell

Kings Canyon from the campground

After Uluru, we took to Kings Canyon in Watarrka NP, another 3 and half hours drive. There are not many campground choices and we went to Kings Canyon Resort as it was closer to the walks.

Lunch time at Garden of Eden

We did the Canyon Rim Walk,which is a 6km loop to the top of the canyon. It was very busy, which takes the enjoyment away. Lunch was at Garden of Eden, a water hole half way. 

Next stop was the West MacDonnell NP. Its a loop from Kings Canyon back to Alice Springs. The national park's campground is unique as every site has its own BBQ, 2 gas burners and tables/benches. Unfortunately, the burners were not working too well. No saving gas for us.

I took the lazy option of doing nothing while TJ went for a walk up to Mt Sonder. Its part of the Larapinta Trail from Alice Springs to the top of Mt Sonder. TJ did well taking 3 hours instead of the 6 hours as per the trail notice. The summit is over 1300m and is the highest mountain in NT.

Red Centre

We decided to take the long drive to Uluru after Edith Falls. Took us 2 days to get to Alice Springs. On the way, we stopped at Devil's Marbles outside of Tennant Creek.

Devil's Marble

We stayed 2 nights at The Gap View Hotel's campsite for a bargain price of $15/n. It is the cheapest in town as the other caravan parks were charging $50. We had the Sunday roast for $10. Temperature was a vast change from high 30s at Edith Falls to below 20 in town. The low in the mornings were between -1 to 1!

From Alice, it's another 365km to Yulara. We camped at Ayers Rock Resort at Yulara, which has luxury accommodation as well as campgrounds. It is about 30mins to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. Our first night, we drove to the car sunset viewing area for our first sunset at the "rock". 

The next day, TJ ran around the base of the rock, approximately 10.6km while I did the guided Maya walk. We saw a lot of people climbing the rock but we decided not to as asked by the original owners, the Anangu people. They are planning to stop the climb by October. 

Kata-Tjuta, Valleys of the Wind

After a visit to the Cultural Centre and lunch, we drove to Kata-Tjuta or known as Oolgas in English. We did the Valley of the Winds walk. 

On our way back, we decided to watch the rock glowing orange one last time. This time, we took the time to watch and soak in the transformation instead of busy taking photos.

Kata-Tjuta

Edith Falls

Edith Falls, plunge pool

There are 2 seasons north of NT, wet and dry. In the wet season, it gets an annual rainfall of 600 - 800mm between Nov to Apr. As a result, there are lots of waterfalls, springs and water holes. After Limmen NP, we went further north to Edith Falls, an hour from Katherine. 

Devil's Marble near Tennant Creek

The falls is located in Nitmiluk NP. It is one of the best campgrounds we have been to. It is a busy place and lucky for us, we got a handy tip from a fellow traveller at Tomato Island. The gate is only open at 10am but if you get there early and park in the carpark, walk around and choose your spot. You can always see someone packing up and then go to the office and book the site. We got there at 9am and picked a great spot. It had good sun for our solar, next to a green grass patch and near the showers and BBQ. 

There is a pool near the campground but we also walked up to Upper Pool as well as did a 8.6km return trip to Sweetwater, passing Long Hole Pool. The further the pools are, the less people.

Sweetwater Pool

Limmen National Park - Part Two

TJ cleaning the fish cleaning table

After a week at Nathan River Ranger Station, we were asked to be caretakers at Tomato Island or in its aboriginal name, Munbillila. This is a popular campground. This was unexpected assignment due to the last minute pull out by the planned hosts.

There is not much to do here relative to our work at Nathan. We only had to turn the sprinklers on/off, clean the toilets/showers and take the rubbish out to the tip and set it on fire. Other than these daily tasks, we were on site to handle queries from campers and whatever pops up.

The worst part of the job. Burning the rubbish

Bites

One downside of camping at Secret Fishing Spot was the insects. There were sandflies around and we found red bites all over us. Although we continued to apply plenty of insect repellent including 99% deet, the bites kept on coming. Unfortunately, we can't tell if they were new or previous ones. All I know is I kept on getting red itchy welts all over my body from legs, body, hands and neck! I have no idea how they get on to me when I have fully clothed. It could be that I am out there fishing when its dusk! This is a downside to fishing. The best times to fish is first light or last light.

Limmen NP - Part One

To take a break from the road, we volunteered at the park like we did at Lake Eildon back in January. This time, we decided not to be campground hosts but asked to do general work at the Nathan River Ranger Station in Limmen National Park. 

Basic accommodation

As volunteers, we get accommodation, air-conditioned(a plus), hot showers, kitchen and washing machine. These are certainly welcomed after weeks on the road. A big plus is tv. One can start to miss tv after a while. 

The experience as volunteer rangers is unique and interesting. We were given the trust with the park's vehicle and keys to the station and left on our own for 2 days. It is not surprising as the park covers 12,000 sqm with only 3 rangers. Our to-do list was long from cleaning campgrounds to installing bollards and repairing fences. One task which TJ was excited and very happy with was fixing a broken road sign.

During our one week stint, we visited Butterfly Springs, Southern Lost City and the closed Western Lost City. We are happy that we got to drive out to the last place as it was spectacular with the arches and rock formations. It would not be possible if we had not been volunteers.

Fencing at the Arch at Western Lost City

Western Lost City

Southern Lost City

Lorella Springs

Lorella Springs Wilderness Park is a 100 hectares property in NT, which is a working cattle station as well as a camping/adventure playground. 100 hectares is big, so there is plenty of space and places to camp.

The main site is the homestead campground, which has amenities such as showers, water and flush toilets. There is a bar where meals are served as well. There is no mobile coverage but the homestead offers satellite internet and phone for a fee.

We camped at the homestead for a couple of nights. There is a water hole called Magical Spring, where warm water flows and croc-free. We spent our evenings in the spring with a couple from Newcastle who we met on the way here. Together with our new found friends, we drove to Helicopter Pool, Fern Gully and Le Spa. All 3 are watering holes which have different landscapes and features and safe to swim. My favourite was Helicopter. The water was clear and pristine.

Helicopter Pool with the Sanders

After 2 nights at the homestead, we said goodbye to the Sanders who left Lorella Springs while we moved on to more remote areas in the park. We decided on Secret Fishing Camp, right where the river meets the Gulf of Carpentaria. It was a 61km drive out. The track is 4WD only and took us three and half hours, which gives you an idea of the condition of the track. We were also towing the Podd. Our main goal here is to get a barramundi and mud crabs. Once you leave the homestead, we have been warned about crocodiles and told not to swim and never turn your back to the water. 

TJ found some discarded broken mud pot and net, which he modified into a scoop net and useable mud pot. In the afternoon, he put in the mud pot and we went off to try the scoop. I was on crocodile watch while he walked into the water to find crabs. We were successful twice but they were not big enough to legally keep. Finally, after 3 days of hunting, TJ got his first big muddy. It was sweet tasting.

Meanwhile, his mud pot trapped a few small ones, which he released. Overall, TJ was happy as he made the two apparatus from junk.

I tried my luck fishing but unsuccessful with barramundi. I switched to squid as bait instead of plastic lures and got my first Mangrove Jack, which tasted quite nice.

The next day, I used live bait fish, which someone gave and caught a baby shark. It was a thrill reeling it in. The best part about fishing is reeling it in. I am happy to release it as some fish has to be eaten fresh or not edible as in the case of the shark.  We did have fish for dinner as our neighbour caught 2 Queenies and they have to be eaten fresh. We learned that Queenies don't have scales.

The road into Secret Fishing Camp

Queenie

Whole fish into the fire straight up

New Territory

Having been in Australia for 19 years, I have been to every state except Northern Territory. Today, I can say that I have been to all 6 states and 2 territories.

We left Boodjamulla and took the shortest route to Lorella Springs via the Savannah Way. This means unsealed/gravel road almost all the way. We did, however, wasted 45 minutes having to turn back from Bowthorn as the road was closed. 

The drive was interesting with lots of cattle and burnt out/rusty cars by the side of the road. There were a few river crossings with warnings of crocodiles. I did keep an eye out hoping to spot one.

After the last roadhouse/fuel stop in Queensland named Hell's Gate Roadhouse, we crossed over to Northern Territory. Of course, we stopped and took a picture of the sign as per photo evidence here!

After 8 hours of driving, we decided to stop for the night. We found a rest stop off the road, thanks to Wiki Camp.