Another pre-dawn start. I may as well go back to work, all this getting up, swimming, walking and wildlife watching is wearing me out. I must admit it’s mainly the getting up not so much the other bits.

The local indigenous have lived in Kakadu for tens of thousands of years living of the land and communing with nature. I must say it would not have been too difficult with the abundance of food and water. You would only have had to worry about the odd snake, spider or crocodile everything else was pretty much laid out for the picking. As it turned out the biggest threat to this lifestyle was the well intentioned however misguided Europeans who, while introducing the best of the European lifestyle nearly destroyed a symbiotic relationship that had lasted so well for millennia. Fortunately the Aboriginal culture still exists despite the intrusion of the Quicky Mart, Medicare and The Commonwealth Department of Stupidity.

Too serious, you’re right.

Crocodiles and lots of them inhabit pretty much the whole top end of Australia these giant lizards come in two varieties, the unfriendly fresh water type and the more unfriendly estuarine or salt-water type.

For the sake of history it should be noted that Phillip Parker King, noted English explorer, spotted Crocodiles on the banks of several rivers while he was surveying the north of Australia in the name of the King (not himself but the other one who was too busy ruling the world to do his own surveying). Anyway having just returned from the USA he decided the crocodiles were actually alligators and named several river systems including the South Alligator and East Alligator rivers after the afore mentioned lizards with attitude. Unfortunately there are no alligators in Australia and despite several attempts by later folk including the klutz/explorer, but eventually successful, Ludwig Leichardt the names remain unchanged.

By the way should you get bored and are curious about the friendliness, or not, of salt water crocs then Google … Croc Eats Croc at Yellow Water, or Croc eats horse or Croc eats just about anything else for that matter.

Yellow Water Sunrise

Sunrise a little later.

Some sort of big Grey Bird. What am I an ornithologist?

Tree in Water with Croc and Bird.

Max the horse eating croc.

Why read a black and white newspaper when you can read one with a colour supplement. Aboriginal Rock Art, who gets it? Just like the petroglyphs in the USA only in colour, thus demonstrating the superiority of art in Australia. Dare I say Aboriginal art rock’s.

Fish

Now extinct Tasmanian Tiger. Thanks guys 😦

Turtle

Fully optioned

The Lightning Man

Anatomical view of Turtle

Very early art

A sixty-kilometre drive down a badly corrugated road led us to Jim Jim Falls and absolutely no flowing water at the falls. Twin falls another nine kilometres on yielded a more rewarding experience including a short boat trip.

River Crossing on the road to Twin Falls

Under Twin Falls

En Route to Jim Jim

Heading to Jim Jim Falls.

Gunlom Falls by a country mile.

Despite the dry, the falls continue to run. Accessed via a steep but not too long walking track (twenty minutes) the falls have a swimming pool at the edge of the cliff face. This is the pool you see in the Northern Territory Advertising, “You’ll never never know if you never never go” as the ad says.

Despite the desirability of this swimming hole the Aboriginals didn’t particularly like the place and wouldn’t go near it. They referred to it as the “sickness country” as many who travelled the area fell ill. Coincidentally or not this area is home to several uranium mines. Uranium I found out by via a little research has been found in a coloured glass plate dating back to 79AD, it was apparently used extensively in the manufacture of Vaseline and other coloured glass. I’m not telling you this so you will get all your old coloured glassware out of the cupboard and see if it glows in the dark I’m just mentioning it. I’m almost positive there could be no side effects from using the glass after all granny used a coloured glass teacup for years before she died. If you are worried about it keep a weather eye out for symptoms like drowsiness, pink eye, and falling down and not getting up. Early symptoms were originally treated, although not very successfully, with a spoonful of mercury or a course of leaches. Curiously we now use uranium for treatment of cancer. Who would have thought?

You’ll Never Never Know etc.

Me with my feets up

Thanks to the head Rabbit for photos as always.

A stop off at the Edith River and a visit to the unsurprisingly named Edith Falls confirmed that it was in fact a dry “Dry Season” in the North. The last three years have seen less than average rainfall and as a result the waterfalls and lagoons are drying up quicker than normal. The Edith River though a little down on normal still hosts plenty of wildlife as it is a permanent water source.

When I was growing up and had to endure the Sunday ritual of going to church to listen to fairy tales about the meaning of life, the universe and everything (subsequently confirmed as 42), we had to colour in line drawings of stuff like the Garden of Eden. Today arriving just after dawn and before most of the campers had risen from the dead we shared a virtual “Garden of Eden” with the birds and animals in the form of Edith River and it’s falls.

By the way I learned quite early that Sunday School was a waste of time for me, the sales pitch just didn’t seem the least bit logical. I discovered by giving my older sister the few pennies for the collection plate, and thus ensuring her silence, that I could miss the Sunday School ritual and I was free to do what I pleased for an hour or two, as long as I didn’t get my “Sunday go to meeting” clothes too dirty. God only knows what my sister told the teacher, maybe she told them we had converted to Judaism and stopped going herself. If that’s the case I will be seeking a refund of collection plate monies.

The Edith River

Not a Camper in Site

The Falls

The Tourist Information Building as you enter Katherine contains at least two of the best examples of ignorance I have ever encountered. For fifteen minutes they sat in their glassed in (presumably sound proofed) office and ignored the people standing at the desk. So I’m thinking they must be very busy answering on line enquiries or whatever, that is until one of them got up rushed to the snack shop, grabbed a frozen yogurt, rushed back to his fishbowl and resumed his net browsing activities all the time avoiding eye contact and without any sign of acknowledgement that I, or anyone else for that matter, existed on this large and equiring planet. These guys make Telstra look good, well better anyway.

Now I am not one to complain, well OK I am, but how do you complain to someone who doesn’t acknowledge your existence. I tell you these guys are pros. When they were growing up they were the winners of  the stare you in the face and not blink championships. Some of us grew out of that game, they didn’t, they chose to make a career of it, in fact I suspect they both have PhD’s in whizzing people off, they probably go to the weekly ignoramus club meetings and swap stories about interesting customers they have ignored.

In fact they are such fine specimens of their genus perhaps they should be stuffed. I felt a very strong urge to suggest same.

Tour what tour?

By the way I’m off to the hot springs to cool off.

For the Hot Springs aficionados, Bitter Springs seems to have eclipsed the better known Mataranka Springs just down the road. A picture is worth a thousand words so this should save some typing.

By the way, the water flow and temperature seem to be down a bit on five years ago we suspect that this is due to less than normal rainfall is the last three wet seasons, the spring flows being a point where hot underground rivers break through the surface of the ground.

1000 words

2000 words

We have found the water closet from the future right here in Australia, in the Northern Territory, in Katherine, in the main street fact. The full metal jacket, all knowing, all seeing, musical toilet with electric moving parts. Fascinating!

Press large blue illuminated button to enter and the toilet does the rest.

Magic computer voice… “Welcome to Exceloo press blue button to close door”

Toilet flushes, just in case.

Magic computer voice….“door is now locked and toilet is now ready for use, toilet will flush when you exit or wash your hands, you have ten minuets to complete your usage of Exceloo”.

Music starts “what the world needs now is love sweet love dooby dooby doo” etc. After ten minutes of this, trust me, you will be ready to leave.

So, having done whatever you have to do and having washed you hands under the automatic soap dispensing, water delivering, hand drying sink, the toilet flushes again.

Magic computer voice. “Please press illuminated blue button to exit and thank you for using Exceloo”

You can’t help but say thank you especially when a surly dude sitting outside the shopping centre toilet across the street demands a dollar to use their toilet and doesn’t even sing “what the world needs now is love sweet love dooby dooby doo”.

Doctor Who’s Office or his preferred place of business.

Well we finally reached somewhere not flat! We had to travel through a lot of flat to get to the not flat however (see picture of flat below). We did see some mountains of to the side of the road on the way with names like, Mount Doubletop, Mt. Affleck, Mt. Vergemont,, Walters Knob, Commissioner Mountain, and The Bluff. However lets not get carried away here thinking we are in The Alps, the highest of these reached a miserable three hundred and seventeen metres above sea level (one thousand and forty six feet, give or take). So you see it’s pretty flat which is what makes the non-flat bits more interesting.

We are now, or were when I wrote this in Limmen National Park just south of Roper Bar in the Northern Territory or “Discovery Territory” as they say in the advertising.

Limmen became a National Park in two thousand and twelve and is regarded by those who should know as one of the best parks in the N.T. The Rangers asked us to keep that to ourselves if we didn’t mind as they are concerned that it may end up a bit like Kakadu or worse still Uluru (over developed and commercial). The real reason I suspect is that with over one point two million hectares of park to look after (land and water) the Rangers don’t want to be interrupted by annoying visitors with stupid questions like…

Q. When will the rain stop?

A. Tomorrow.

Q. Why are there so many flies?

A. So none of the visitors miss out.

Q. Are the mosquitos particularly bad today?

A. No. They will be bad tonight though.

Q. Are the roads always this dusty?

A. No, in the wet season they are muddy or under water.

Q. Is it safe to swim in crocodile infested water?

A. Sure it is, don’t worry about the signs they are for other people. Actually we would prefer you went swimming.

I would love to be a Ranger.

The wet season runs from December to May closing the roads so the Rangers don’t get a lot of visitors for six months of the year however they cant get a lot done either being up to their armpits in water as it were.

Below is a selection of N.T. highlights to date.

The Flat Bits

Cows on the Run. (Fred…..Cows with Guns)

Bird 1

Bird 2

Bird 3

Bird 4

The Lost City

Inside the Lost City

City of the Ancients

Escape from the lost city

Sunset

The Struggle

Paper Bark

Mail Box

After passing through Mount Isa, stopping only for fuel, a real estate sign and gaffer tape to build our new back window we headed east. Just out of town were struck by the sheer glamour of the ant colonies. So much “glam“ for such small and normally retiring insects. Dressed as they were in designer clothing with so much panache it was like a Milan fashion week only on dirt. A description of the display would I’m afraid be pointless, suffice to say that the catwalk is over five hundred kilometers long (the length of The Barkley Highway in fact) and the range of exhibitors is huge. Being dedicated fashion critics we have selected the top two entrants which I include for you’re viewing pleasure.

To more holiday related matters, Rob turned out in his shorts this morning with a bold announcement that we were now in the tropics. I initially suspected that he was wearing faded blue jeans but then realized that it was the hue and texture of his legs giving the appearance of an aged pair of Levi 901’s.

Blue legs aside we left for Camooweal to see the caves however as National Parks have decided that it is unsafe to enter them we just looked from a distance. I for one would never disobey National Park regulations. That would be un-Australian.

By the way at Camooweal one can choose to pay fifteen dollars for ten litres of water, eleven dollars for two take away coffees or ante up twelve dollars and change for a couple of streets ice creams. It’s a deal, it’s a steal it’s ………..

We are overnighting at Barkley Homestead Roadhouse where water is a more sensible dollar twenty a litre. Fuel unfortunately is one dollar and ninety cents a litre (seven dollars sixty per US gallon). Note to self, “must build H2O separator to distill swamp water and run car on hydrogen and get drinking water (and possibly rum) as by-product”.

Heading north tomorrow.

Rob and his legs

And the winner is…..

The Gordon Chris Collection for 2015

Sometimes less is more as evidenced by the his simple example of the outback hat collection