SUNDAY 18TH- FLORA NATURE PARK

What an adventure. I wouldn't be in a hurry to go back but we are really glad we went there. The 46 klms of dirt road to get there was a bit daunting, particularly since we haven't had this van on a corrugated dirt road of any significance before but it handled it perfectly. That meant that the trip out could be a lot faster than the trip in.

We had the place to ourselves. The campground didn't look like it was often frequented but the amenities were in excellent order.

 

 

We got there late yesterday so didn't go exploring until this morning. What we did note as soon as we got there though was the sound of rushing water coming from the direction of the river. The area generally is arid and unwelcoming but once you approach the river, it's a whole different world. The Flora River is feed by springs and runs into the Katherine River which in turn runs into the Daly River. The springs must be impressive because the water running over the two sets of falls one can get access to is certainly impressive and, once again, there is all this beautiful inviting water that you can't swim in because of crocodiles (although we didn't see any).

 

When we arrived, we wondered why the mat we keep inside the door was soaking wet. I had thrown a couple of buckets of water over the van to get the worst of the dust off and suspected that perhaps some of that water had got in. We quickly realized when we took some photos at the water crossing on the way out that the lowest point of the van is the step and it was, of course, below water level as we went through the water.

 

A notable feature was the “boat ramp”, unlike any I have ever seen before. It is a set of bars you can slide a small tinnie down with a winch to wind it back up again. Apparently the five kilometres of navigable river is quite a popular barramundi fishing spot.

 

Having seen everything that there was to see, we packed up at lunchtime and are now comfortably settled at the National Park Campground at Katherine Gorge.

Tomorrow (or perhaps the day after), we will start the long trek back. Our present plan is to go across to Townsville, then to Eungella, then to Canarvon and finally to Lady Elliot. By then, it might be time to go home.

 

 

SATURDAY 17th - ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Below are the photos I couldn't post from Litchfield. We are in transit today, moving from Litchfield to Flora via Katherine from where I am posting this while Trish is doing the shopping.

 

 

 

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THURSDAY 15TH – BACK TO THE BUSH

Well it seems very hard to believe given the weather that we have experienced so far that, a short time ago, we were holed up in the van because it was pouring rain outside.

After we received the news last night, we went out with the Ashes to enjoy our last meal with them at Rachel's Seafood, a very quaint but fun restaurant.

This morning, we collected our van, switched the fridge on, got a refund for most of our storage charges, dropped the Ashes at the airport, restocked the van including the cellar and headed south.

We are now at the Wangi Falls Campground in the Litchfield National Park and it has wifi!!, apparently installed by the NT Tourism Commission. There is no phone signal but we can communicate with the world.

I have been for two swims in the waterhole at the foot of the falls and experimented with some reflections photography which I can't show you because the internet is too slow. After the rain stopped, I had the place to myself.

We are proposing to stay here for two nights and explore the area tomorrow. We are then heading to the Flora Nature Park somewhere west of Katherine. It comes highly recommended. I am confident there won't be any communication there.

So much for a West Papua cruise, whale sharks and fabulous snorkelling.

HOT OFF THE PRESS

The cruise has been cancelled!! They couldn't overcome their visa problems with the Indonesians.

Back to the drawing board as to what we now do. We might have to have a few days at LEI on the way home. Watch this space.

WEDNESDAY 14TH – AGAIN - 5:15 PM

Just a progress report to report no progress. We have heard nothing further from Coral Expeditions so we can only assume that they have not yet been able to overcome their problems.

They are prepared to refund money to anybody who wants to bail out but we are prepared to wait and see what tomorrow brings. We can only assume that those who did the reciprocal cruise are still on the ship and can't escape Biak. We would rather be us than them.

Heritage walk today – very interesting but we have now seen everything there is to see of interest in Darwin. Time to move on, one way or another.

WEDNESDAY 14TH – STILL IN DARWIN!!

Well, are we having an adventure, albeit not the one we were expecting?

As we were preparing to put the car and van into storage and to head to the airport yesterday morning, we received a call to say that there was some technical difficulty with the plane which was supposed to be taking us to Biak to meet the ship and that the flight had been postponed for an unknown period. The person who rang kindly offered to pay for another night in the caravan park.

We said that wasn't going to work because we had run our supplies down, turned off the fridge and weren't proposing to do any more shopping until after the cruise. They therefore agreed to put us up in a very nice air conditioned hotel and we proceeded to put the van into storage but kept the car.

We then had a pleasant day with Mark, Ceris and their daughter Gillian seeing more Darwin sights including the Darwin and Defence Museums.

At about 3:00 pm, we received a call to advise that the flight had been rescheduled and that we needed to be at the airport at 3:30 am for a 5:00 am departure. That created a complexity with the car in that the storage facility would not be open at 3:00 am to enable us to leave it there so it was decided that we would leave it in the long term car park at the airport.

At 11:30 last night, we were woken from a deep sleep by my phone making a noise. I thought it was the alarm going off and couldn't work out why it went off at precisely 11:30 given that I had set it for 2:30. I eventually worked out that it wasn't the alarm at all but actually a phone call which, of course, I missed.

A message followed to say that there was a problem with visas and the plane would not now be leaving at 5:00am

What fun. We now await further advice as to when we go.

In the meantime, it is 1:30am. I am wide awake so I thought I would update the blog.

Watch this space for further exciting developments. One can only speculate what would have happened if there had not been a problem with the plane yesterday morning and we had arrived in Biak to find that there was a visa problem.

I suspect that there are some very red faces at Coral Expeditions, as they now call themselves and it would appear that we will be having a somewhat shortened cruise.

SUNDAY 11TH – REST DAY IN DARWIN

I know that I indicated that I wouldn't be doing a blog until we were on the ship but Trish has suggested I do one so, of course, I comply.

This morning we went and toured the Darwin Tunnels, a fascinating piece of Darwin history. During the second world war, Darwin had all its fuel storage in large tanks on the waterfront which were, as you would expect, the prime targets of the Japanese bombing raids so they embarked on an ambitious scheme to build underground tanks Fortunately the war ended before the tanks were complete. One of them was used for fuel storage for a while after the war but they remained neglected until 1992 when part of them was opened up and adapted as a tourist attraction. Very interesting.

Otherwise yesterday was a rest day.

Tomorrow Mark and Ceris arrive and we head off or the cruise on Tuesday.