and then onto Trephina Gorge where we did a bit of a walk and had lunch. Plenty of space to camp here but busy with travellers coming and going and very dusty and a couple of our new friends, Bob and Cheryl, told us about Ruby Gap Gorge so we decided that would be our destination. On our way out of Trephina we were stopped by a couple (from the Gold Coast) on a motorbike who had a puncture so Steve helped the guy re-inflate the tyre and repair the puncture and we followed them back to the bitumen and left them return very slowly to Alice Springs and we continued on our way and found ourselves at Arltunga Historical Site.
After catching up on a bit of the local history we found the turn off to Ruby Gap - 40km and 2 hours later on some rugged tracks we found Hale River and the entry to the Nature Park. It seemed like an endless 40km for so long we turned on the GPS and we were only just around the corner....haha....from the entry.
It was nearly 6pm when we got there so we planted roots at the first suitable spot....travelling 101 - never arrive late. Our spot was good but the next morning I went for a walk and about 10 feet along the track was a driveway into a great flat huge camp spot with a fire place further away from the dirt track...isn't it always the way.
Any ways...At Ruby Gap Gorge in the 1800s rubies were found but it was later discovered they were not rubies but garnets and on the ground while having brekky Steve picks up a garnet off the ground right at his feet (only small mind you but it is a garnet), so for the morning we sat in the river bed like a couple of big kids digging in the dirt. The arvo we built up a fireplace...but the wind picked up and we had one fire for a very short time.
We found plenty of garnets, actually the place is covered in them but they are all small. We found a couple of glassy looking pieces as well so we kept them also as there are zircons found in the area as well.
We went for a walk into Glen Annie Gorge, 6km and took us about 3hours, probably would have taken us 2 1/2 if we didn't stop to look for more garnets.
Into the gorge there were parts of the sandy riverbed that was a hue of red sand with little tiny garnets absolutely everywhere, it was beautiful.
We had a lovely couple of nights here, star filled skies, watching shooting stars and "ufo's" moving around in the skies. I wish you all could have been there to share it with us.
The flies are bad here:
From here we followed the Binn's Track for about 3days; we followed endless orange dirt roads of
different kind
and then every so often there would be something that catches your eye, another traveller driving by, group of aboriginals with their broken down car and a campfire on the edge of the road, a couple of graders working to make the roads a bit better for us (the drivers turned around where we had a cuppa so we shared our mint crisp slice with them) and then sitting on the sand edge will be a beautiful wedge tail eagle watching the world go by....just amazing. I want to get a good photo of one of these magnificent birds before the end of this trip but its not an easy task.
One sleepover in a gravel pit showed us a beautiful sunset
but it also turned into a very cold, windy night.
Back on the Binn's Track to the Sandover Hwy, Binn's to the Stuart Hwy via Ali-Curong and had to stop at Wycliffe Well (UFO Centre of Australia)
to have lunch then stopped overnight at Wauchope Pub for the night. It is starting to warm up, we only had to wear one layer of clothes tonight.
Devils Marbles
next just for a look and onto Tennant Creek for to refuel (cheap $1.759) and lunch, a right onto the Barkly Hwy at 3ways Roadhouse top up fuel at Barkly Homestead (not so cheap $2.029) and then north along the Tablelands Hwy...it is absolutely barren out here, how do the people and cattle survive?
There are two rest areas on this stretch, our first night stop at Brunette Downs Rest area is the better for a nights sleep as the 2nd one has a beautiful old Southern Cross windmill that didn't pump water any more but still caught the wind and was so squeaky it drove us nuts while we had a cuppa.
Spoke to a couple here telling us of a roo they hit back on the road and a dead ferrel cat...so I got to thinking road kill can mean wedge tailed eagles, so I had my camera at the ready and finally we saw them up ahead...4 eagles having a feast so I told Steve to slow down, I wound down the window and we got so close and as I was going to take my ever precious photo they all took off...in front of the car. We nearly had one as a hood ornament and I was squealing waving my arms around trying to keep one from flapping into the window and Steve nearly had me on his shoulders. Needless to say I didn't get any photos. We can laugh about it now. Anyway........
Yehhhhhhh...finally t shirt, shorts and thongs!!!
Today was a long drive north past Cape Crawford and the Heartbreak Hotel through Limmen National Park to find Lorella Springs Station (with the thermal pools). Lorella Springs is
1 000 000 acres to camp on, 4WD on, fish on and swim in (except for where there's crocs). We liked the place, it is very rustic but has a good feel about it and we even enquired about the volunteer help they want and maybe go back next year. We had one day we drove around to the pools, through bush, on rocks and in the bull dust and rested the next day.
We attempted a canoe ride up the creek to see where the thermal springs came out but the vessel wasn't quite sea worthy and the boat we were suppose to use was on the other side of the creek at the nudist campground so we thought we would just go for a walk and we found the bubbles coming to the surface...ooooo, ahhhhhh.
There are so many places to stop along the road we try to suss it out so it's not all the same thing. Next is Southern Lost City another amazing walk of rock formations
and lunch and now I can start complaining about the heat (not really). It is 33C at 1pm and very little shade around. There is a campground further on at Butterfly Springs and it is the only place in Limmen NP to safely swim so we stopped because we never know when our next shower is going to be...hahaha.
Beautiful cool swim and had a chat to a young family, there is never a day goes by without a chat to a new found friendly face. We pulled into a campspot at Town River (croc central) but we still haven't seen any! A woman caught a 65cm Barra of the bank here while her husband was setting up the camper trailer a few days before we arrived. How's that, one for the girls!
Our Trakky friends left the following morning and we were not far behind, we past places like Roper Bar, Tomato Island (which isn't an island I soon found out) and finally found bitumen on our way to Mataranka. We ran into Don and Chris and camped two doors down, did the swim in the thermal pool with every other man and his dog and settled in for a couple of nights. Had dinner with Don and Chris and they shared their wealth of travel knowledge with us and we had a few things to tell them as well. Next day Heather and Frank, Linda and Kevin arrived and camped across from us and we all had dinner together. It was so nice to spend a few days with the same ppl for once. Steve and I did a 1.2km walk to Stevie's Hole (and swam with the big fish and freshwater crocs), Steve was in for a good 5minutes before I got in, I figured it was safe:/ (we didn't see any). It was nice to get in some cool water.
There is a bit of history here and the Katherine gorge of course but not much really. We have decided to do a bit of homework and we have arranged to get a permit to go to the Cobourg peninsula up in the Top End of Arnhemland. We leave Katherine on Saturday 20th July, find a place to stay for a couple of days and drive through Kakadu to Jabiru on the 22nd July to pick up our permit and we have 7 nights in the Gurig National Park.
So today we went and bought some supplies...
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| hopefully this will do the trick! |
We will do Kakadu when we come back on the 29th July and then we will be off to Darwin.
Hopefully you will hear from us after that with all arms and legs in tacked...hahahaha
Take Care we will...try.
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