Cave Walk at Tunnel Creek
Windjana Gorge National Park

Tunnel Creek & Windjana National Parks

After finished the last post this morning. It was time to decide where to go today. First I thought going to Derby or Broome but then I just wanted to see a couple more National Parks. So I decided to go to Derby or Broome through the back roads rather going on the highway. That way I could visit Tunnel Creek and Windjana National Parks. They are only about 35km from each other.

Tunnel Creek is the oldest cave system in Western Australia. You can walk into the cave and come out at the other side of the range. It is about 800m one way. The only thing is that you will need to get wet as there are a few permanent pools that you need to wade through. The cave is the only attraction in the park so it was a very brief visit.

Next, Windjana and it was only 35km away from Tunnel Creek. But about a km before Windjana, I thought the car felt a bit funny and I smelled something burning. Pulled over, got out and found that the same tyre that were punctured was now blown. Smoke were coming out from holes on it. I kinda knew it would happened sooner or later after Bungle Bungle. That trip really gave the car the full workout. So today, the extra 200km of off-roading finally done it. So pulled everything out the the boot to get the spare tyre and changed it. Now I have no spare so guess have to stay on the bitumen for awhile until I have the spare replaced.

After changing the tyre, I went to Windjana as planned and that was a short visit to as part of the walk was closed due to damages during the wet season.

John @ Broome, W.A.


Images: 1. Cave Walk at Tunnel Creek National Park; 2. Windjana National Park
Bungle Bungles Ranges
View Looking Up at Echidna Chasm
Echidna Chasm
Mini Palm Gorge
Cathedral Gorge
Track to Piccadilly Gorge

Bungle Bungle (Purnululu National Park)

It took me 3.5 hours to get to Purnululu National Park and almost half of that time was to travel on this rough dirt road for only 60km. Guess you can see how slow I was going on this road.

I have been to many places in Australia in the last few weeks that words and pictures just cannot do them any justice. This is another one of them, the Bungle Bungles. It was impossible to capture what I saw with my bare eyes. It was as spectacular as I thought it would be. It made the 60km rough off-road track worthwhile at the end.

First went to the visitor centre to book myself the camp sites. They have the North and the South side. I decided to stay at the North the first night then the South the next.

I went on the walking tracks before heading to the camp site. They were the Echinda Chasm and Mini Palm Gorge tracks.

Echinda Chasm – I simply could not take photo of this place to show the ‘wow’ness of it. The only way I could describe it is that the feeling like being in the movie ‘Indiana Jones’. Truly, I felt like I was.

Mini Palm Gorge – The track to wasn’t very difficult but you do have to climb over some big boulders that were bit dangerous when you have a backpack, camera and iPhone in your hand 🙂 The gorge was dried already and I have to say it wasn’t as impressive as it should have been. The walk was fun though.

Day 1 in Bugle Bungle was over and was time to head over to the camp site. Fixed myself some simply dinner and watched a movie on my iPad then went to sleep.

Wake up on day 2 with a headache and I know it was caffeine withdrawn. I have them all the time if I don’t have coffee for a couple of days. I soldiered on and did my third Bungle walk, the Cathedral Gorge walk. To get here, I had to drive another 30km from the camp site to the Southern side of the park.

Cathedral Gorge – The walk was relatively easy after the walks the previous day. It was a little bit longer so the return trip took about 2 hours for me (walking slowly and taking pictures). The walk eventually ends at gorge with this rock amphitheatre. It was absolutely amazing place thinking that nature had created it.

I didn’t really have time to do the Piccadilly Gorge and Creek walk. It was a 20km return trip. I would have walked it if I wasn’t push for time. Greg is meeting me in Perth next week. That gives me just less than a week to get to Perth. I had to skip part of my trip, the Gibb River Road. I guess will have to do it some other time.

I decided after Cathedral Gorge that I won’t stay the night. I would use the time to drive to Fitzroy Crossing. It was basically where I would have end up if I take the Gibb River Road. I was exhausted when I got in and couldn’t possibly finish this post. I parked on the side of the highway and just ‘crashed’.

Bungle Bungle Range is definitely one of those places that should be in everyone’s bucket list. Look for people in a couple of the images and you will have the sense of just how big they actually are.

John @ Fitzroy Crossing, W.A.


Images: 1. Typical Bungle Bungle Domes; 2. View Looking Up Inside Echinda Chasm; 3. Fallen Rock Stuck Between Echinda Chasm’s Cliffs; 4. Mini Palm Gorge; 5. Cathedral Gorge (can you see the people on the bottom); 6. Track to Piccadilly Gorge 
Lily Creek Lagoon
Lake Argyle
Ivanhoe Crossing
Lunar Eclipse

Kununurra

I was up this morning at 4:30am… bloody time zone changes. 🙂 It actually not too bad because the sunrise here is lot earlier than the other states. It rises at about 5:30am so I got up and took some dawn photos of the Lily Creek Lagoon from the camp site. I also decided to stay in Kununurra another day so there was plenty of time to go places.

After extended my stay with the park here. I went to Lake Argyle, the largest body of fresh water in Australia. It was BIG… You can only drive to a couple of places there. To see it really need to take the cruise but I wasn’t going to do another one. So just drove to wherever I could and took my pictures and check out the dam structure. The wall wasn’t very tall but I suppose it is the area it covers.

Came back to the camp site after Argyle, made myself a sandwich for lunch. Chatted to my ‘neighbour’ camper. He’s from Fiji and was working here in Kununurra. He told me many places to go around here so I did.

Ivanhoe Crossing, a river crossing, was closed and the stream was flowing strong. There would be no way any car could made it across. It was the biggest river flow I’ve seen so far. Also, I went to a lookout here called Kelly Knob. I know… weird name. You have a birds eye view of the Kununurra township. It looks beautiful from up there.

It was a partial lunar eclipse tonight and got myself all ready to shoot a proper time lapse. It will need to be properly processed so stay tuned. It consists of over 2500 images of the eclipse. Too bad it wasn’t a full lunar eclipse. It would have been so much more epic.

Ok… tomorrow I am off to one of my ‘most wanted’ destination, the Bungle Bungles. I can’t wait…. hopefully won’t be too long before I get to show you some photos of it.

xox

John @ Kununurra, W.A.


Images: 1. Lily Creek Lagoon at Dawn (taken right from the camp site); 2. Lake Argyle; 3. Ivanhoe Crossing; 4. Tonight’s Lunar Eclipse
Mary River
Giant Boab Tree
Gregory’s Tree

Gregory National Park

It was time to say goodbye to Northern Territory after 2 weeks of being here. It has been a wonderful experience. But before crossing to Western Australia, I had one more place that I wanted to go, Gregory National Park.

I arrived Gregory N.P. just before noon and it was 32 and not a cloud in the sky. It felt more like 40. Tried to do this Escarpment Walk but the sun was just too much. I had to give up after a km up the hill. I did manage to get a few shots of the Mary River below and Davenport Ranges.

Next in my list was Gregory’s Tree. A base camp for Augustus Charles Gregory’ exploration in 1856. He left an inscription on a large boab tree on 2nd July, 1856, indicating where he left a letter in case the expedition team should get lost. I wonder how old the tree actually is…

Also, during the day I came across this gigantic boab tree. I took a picture of me standing next to it so you can have a sense of now big it was. It was huge…

Crossed the N.T./W.A. border around 3pm and the quarantine officer took my 2 apples 🙁 Fist thing I noticed after crossing was the rocks… maybe that’s why they call this the Stone Country. Found myself this caravan park in front of Lily Creek Lagoon. It would have to be the best locations that I have seen so far for a camp site. The Sleeping Buddha and the lagoon is going to be my backyard for tonight. Tomorrow, I will visit Lake Argyle and then decide to stay for another night here in Kununurra or not.

The start of my trip in W.A. could not have been a better one… Western Australia, bring it on!

John @ Kununurra, W.A.


Images: 1. Mary River and Davenport Ranges; 2. Giant Boab Tree (Can you spot me?); 3. Gregory’s Tree
Rock Art at Nourlangie Rock
Yellow Water
Croc and Sunset
Water Lilly
Croc and ducks
Wildlife at Yellow Water
Swimming Croc
Sunset over Yellow Water

Kakadu National Park

Arrived Kakadu just around 1pm yesterday and it was quite a hot day. First stopped at the info centre to get some details on the Yellow Water Cruise. There was this road status report on the billboard. The road to Jim Jim and Twin Falls, the main thing in Kakudu I wanted to see, was closed still. Next time I suppose..

Booked myself a sunset cruise on Yellow Water so had a few hours to spare. I went to check out Nourlangie Rock. I found out that Aboriginal people that live here said the place should actually be called Burrunggui (the upper section of Nourlangie) and Anbangbang (the lower section). The indigenous people been using the huge rocks here for shelters and meetings for thousands of years. There were plenty of rock arts to look at. I couldn’t do the whole walk as time constraint though would have loved to.

The famous Yellow Water Wetland didn’t disappoint. The birds, the plants, the crocodiles and the ‘Mosquitoes’. It was kinda of a blur because I was so busy snapping away to anything that looked slightly interesting. The only thing was that I wish I had a bigger zoom lens. Did I mention that it was my first time that I saw any crocs in the wild. They were kinda ‘dopey’ and happy to pose for all the visitors. Watched the sunset on the boat and it was amazing.

It’s time to decide to stay or go. Jim Jim is not accessible, Yellow Water: checked, Rock Arts: checked, and I hate mossies: checked. So decision was kinda easy – Time to Go!

Since it’s the way I had to come back to go west so drove about 280km back to Katherine. Absolutely exhausted by the time I got into town. I found myself a spot, parked the car. I tried to blog but just simply didn’t have the strength so I just ‘crashed’

John @ Katherine, N.T.


Images: 1. Rock Art at Nourlangie Rock; 2. Yellow Water; 3. Croc and Sunset (Can you spot it?); 4. Water Lilies; 5. Croc and Ducks; 6. Wildlife; 7. Swimming Crocodile; Sunset over Yellow Water

 

Water is so Blue in Darwin
Fish Feeding at Aquascene
Darwin After Sunset

Darwin

It’s 1st of June and that means that I’ve been on this trip for a month. What a month it has been. I have learned so much about Australia in one month…more than the past 17 years that I lived here combined. It does have so much to offer and see for everyone.

Staring from today, I am going to stop counting my day as last month. I am just simply going to title all my posts with the place(s) that I’m in that day. So naturally, today post is: Darwin

The first thing I noticed here in Darwin is the water. It is so turquoise blue and in fact it makes the sky seems pale. Much to my surprise that this town is pretty and tidy. It has a beautiful waterfront and a buzzing town centre.

I am sitting in a park on Esplanade, there are palm trees everywhere and Port Darwin just in front of me. The seabreeze feels rather nice on such a hot day.

Went to Charles Darwin National Park today and looked at some WWII bomb storage bunkers. It is hard to imagine there was a war right here. Also, as a tourist, I had to check out the Aquascene – fish feeding place. During high tide everyday, all the fish come in to shore get fed by all the tourists. It was quite amazing to see. The fish is so used to human that they don’t mind you touching them at all. There were some ‘big’ ones there.

I was going to go to Gove Peninsula to visit a friend who is now working and living there. But it is 900km from Katherine the wrong way. It is a bit silly to drive all that way just for a visit. So Pok, if you are reading, sorry but will have to see you some other time, some other place.

Tomorrow, I might be going to Kakadu National Park but can’t be sure yet. I will decide it later tonight or in the morning. South is where I would be heading if not Kakadu tomorrow.

Anyway, it is nice being in a city after been in the outback for awhile and definitely glad to see the ocean. Hopefully it won’t be too hot in the car tonight…

-_-

John @ Darwin, N.T.

update: just took another picture after the post.. so thought I might as well put it up too.


Images: 1. The Turquoise Port Darwin; 2. Kids Feeding Fish at Aquascene; 3. Darwin After Sunset

 

Last 2 Days of May

I had the most unproductive 2 days since I started the journey. So let’s go back to day 30…

Left Alice Springs early in the morning and destination was Cape Crawford. I had 2 ways to get there and they were pretty much the same. So I picked the route Stuart Hwy – Barkly Hwy – Carpentaria Hwy. I originally thought I would stop over half way overnight; but when I got to the Carpentaria Hwy turnoff it was just under 400km to Cape Crawford. The time was just after 3 so I thought I might as well get there so I have all day today to see the ‘Lost City’.

Arrived at this Heartbreak Hotel and where should I begin….. thought  drove close to a 1000km so got myself a room to rest. First the light switch in the room doesn’t work so used my own light. I could’ve ask for another room but was too tired to even bother. The gents was so shocking that I didn’t even want to shower in it. I just went to sleep…

Got up this morning on day 31, asked how to get to ‘Lost City’ and was told it was only accessible by helicopter tour for $160. Totally frustrated so I thought I would go to the Lost Cities in the Limmen National Park. After some 20-30km in… my primal instinct kicked in… it told me it’s silly to go because it was a 400km 4WD into totally middle of nowhere. I had no communications at all. They always say one should listen to their instinct and I did… Turned back and forgot the idea of ‘finding’ the lost cities. It just not meant to be!

Where to then? Katherine. That was another 600km of driving…. First I was a bit angry but thought such as life…. like anything there will be ups and downs… so I had a good week in the centre so just a bit of ‘down’ time to balance it all out.

It was funny in a way, I felt zen.. hehehe… In fact, I drove quite slowly and took my time getting here to Katherine. So sorry guys, haven’t really taken many photos the last couple of days. However, I did took a few on the Carpentaria Hwy near Tablelands. It was flat as a table and I kinda liked it. The sun was setting and I managed to captured some shots that I like.

Let’s hope June brings a good beginning 🙂

John @ Katherine, N.T.


Image: Sun-setting at Tablelands, N.T.

 

 

Rainbow Valley
Self Portrait at Rainbow Valley
Sunset at Rainbow Valley

Day 29: Rainbow Valley

What can I say about Rainbow Valley? It’s OK. It must be because I have visited and seen some truly amazing rock formations and mountain ranges in the past week. Especially after Chambers Pillar yesterday. There was just not much to this place for me.

The rock is interesting enough as it looks like someone had a bite off of it. I believe it looks a bit different during the wet season or just right after. There is this rather big dried ‘lake’ looking thing in front of the rock. It would make the place come alive I think.

Waited around for the sunset, took the shots I wanted and decided to drive back to Alice as it was only under 2 hours of driving. Reason being that journey to the centre of Australia finally is over for me and I must start heading north tomorrow.

Uluru, Kata Tjuta, Kings Canyon and Chambers Pillar are definitely my favourite places so far as in history and culture concerns. There are just something magical about these places.

See you at the Top End..

John @ Alice Springs, N.T.


Images: 1. Rainbow Valley by Day; 2. Self Portrait; 3. Rainbow Valley Sunset
Chambers Pillar
Me at Chambers Pillar
Sunset at Chambers Pillar

Day 28: Chambers Pillar

I had my first planned camp-out in the middle of nowhere last night. I went to this place called the Chambers Pillar. It is only accessible by 4WD and the road was rough. It took about 4 hours for me to get there and you can tell that you are driving toward the desert. The road is much more sandier than any other road that I’ve been on so far in the journey. This probably is the closest I get to Simpson Desert. Would love to cross it one day but definitely not attempting it ‘alone’.

From a distance, the pillar looked like a little match among all the rock formations around it. I kind of thought…. really? However, it looks totally different when you get near it. A sandstone column stands 50m tall eroded by wind and rain over millions of year.

John McDouall Stuart was the first European to see the pillar in 1870. He named the pillar after one of his sponsors, James Chambers. It is hard to even imagine anyone getting here at the first place. It was hard enough driving to it… let alone riding on a camel.

I wasn’t going to come back to Alice today. My destination today was Rainbow Valley. The road I wanted to take has one of the gates padlocked after half way in so couldn’t get passed. The only other way is to pretty much head back to Alice way and turn off just 11km outside of it. So I thought might as well come in to town to grab a coffee and also give me a little time to blog.

I will be leaving for Rainbow Valley about 2pm. The place is famous for it’s sunset. Looking forward to see what is it all about in a few hours. I will probably camp out there tonight again.

xox

John @ Alice Springs, NT


Images: 1. Chambers Pillar in Day; 2. Me at Chambers Pillars; Chambers Pillar at Dusk
Amazing Formation in N’Dhala Gorge NP
Me at N’Dhala Gorge NP Entrance
N’Dhala Gorge National Park
Corroboree Rock
Jesse Gap

Day 27: East MacDonnell Ranges

After visited West MacDonnell Ranges yesterday; today I went to East MacDonnell Ranges. It was a completely different experience. It’s not that the scenery very different but it felt more remote and untouched. There were definitely lot fewer cars and visitors around which I appreciate.

First, I went to N’Dhala Gorge Nature Park. It is famous for it’s rock carvings. There are apparently close to 4000 of them but, of course, I’ve only seen a few. Needed to 4WD for about 11km after turning off Ross Hwy and it was very slow driving. Had to cross Ross River several times. It was kind of fun 🙂

The walk here basically follow the already dried river going upstream. You walking on all these rocks and stones dating back millions of years. You can’t help but just ‘wow’ in your head. I stayed in N’Dhala for a couple of hours and heade for Corroboree Rock on the way back to Alice.

Corroboree Rock is a column of dolomite formed over 800 million years ago. It’s not a really huge rock butdoes look rather interesting. You can walk around the rock in 10 minutes.

Last stop for the day: Emily & Jesse Gaps. I just stopped at Jesse Gap. I got back to Alice Springs about 4pm and checked into a motel for a good night rest.

The MacDonnell Ranges is one amazing place to visit if you have a chance. My trip to centre of Australia is coming to an end shortly. However, I still have a couple of places I want to get to  before heading up north. I will keep where I am going as a little secret.

John @ Alice Springs, NT


Images: 1. Amazing Formations in N’Dhala Gorge Nature Park; 2. Me at N’Dhala Entrance; 3. Inside N’Dhala; 4. Corroboree Rock; 5. Jesse Gap