And our travels continue.
We ended up staying five days in Mt Isa albeit our intentions of only staying four days. As usual our first day was allocated to de-ferrelling the van, vehicle and ourselves plus all the other necessary chores i.e. washing, maintenance issues. The entire Monday was taken up with shopping, collecting the mail, and sourcing someone to service the air-conditioning plus do a wheel alignment on the van since we had noticed one wheel had an inordinate degree of wear. Tuesday we had the air-conditioning serviced (turned out a bolt had worked itself free and was the primary reason the racket it was making) plus had the wheel fixed. With the maintenance completed and no other pressing issues, it was time to visit the Irish Club for dinner and a few wines that evening utilizing their courtesy bus service.
There is no doubt after visiting the Irish Club that Mt Isa has been adversely affected by the current recession. This city of 21,000 is quite possibly one of the worlds major mining regions and as such you would expect a club with the stature of the Irish Club to be well patronized however the reality is that of the three dining areas only one was operating plus other lounges within of the club were also closed. The last time we visited the club it was crowded, this time just prior to leaving we counted a total on 28 people including ourselves within the entire premises.
Our last day in “The Isa” was essentially a relax day and besides doing a bit of last minute shopping, collecting our lotto winnings (miracles will never cease), trying to obtain tourism information on the next leg of our journey (that was a waste of effort), it also included having a pleasant lunch at the “Buff Club” in downtown Mt Isa; I have absolutely no idea what “Buff” stands for but assume it’s an abbreviation of Buffalo Club - there are other connotation of the word “Buff” that spring to mind however I’ve been given strict instructed not to go there.
Leaving Mt Isa at a civilized hour our first overnight stop was 260 kilometres (155 miles) east of the Sturt Highway camping behind an abandoned Telstra communications tower; the towers are generally easily accessible and as a general rule are built of high flat ground affording great views of the surrounding terrain.
Following a restless night sleep and with Mita making herself comfortable in the driver’s seat for the first time, we continued on our way towards our first refuelling stop at the junction of the Barkly and Sturt Highways, some six hundred twenty kilometres (three hundred ninety miles) since leaving Mt Isa. After nearly gagging at the price of fuel (they have a captive audience plus no competition so I guess they can get away with $1.69 litre unless of course you want to make a fifty kilometre detour) we turned north continuing on towards Mataranka, the first town we are scheduled to encounter for approximately eleven hundred eighty kilometres (seven hundred thirty miles) since leaving Mt Isa.
Our second night was spent at the Renner Springs Roadhouse sharing the camping facilities with seventy members of the Ulysses Motor Cycle Club from Alice Springs, Mt Isa and Darwin……Oh happy days. All jokes aside, they weren’t a bad bunch of people comprised in the main by professional people (or so they say) and were having a great time without imposing themselves on anyone. And as for their bikes, wow weren’t there some outstanding rigs amongst them.
But all was not lost. One thing we have notice during this trip is that while communications i.e. telephone and internet are pretty well non existent, surprisingly there always seems to be television coverage (Mita and I still haven’t quite figured out why as yet) and that being the case, we opened a bottle of wine, sat back and watched the football.
We left Renner Springs once again at a civilized hour seeing absolutely no point in being in a rush to get to our next destination wherever that may be. The landscape has been quite variable ranging in parts from just plain boring to outright spectacular. The further north we progressed the greener it became and the water lying beside the road, in fields, creeks, etc became more evident. I can understand foreign visitors to this part of Australian being confused with the constant barrage of warning regarding how harsh the outback is as it is quite lush and green following the wet season – come back in six months time and see what its like.
Our only planned stop for the day was for lunch at one of the great icon of the outback, the Daly Waters Pub. The old pub is obviously either under new management or ownership because there have been some dramatic changes, not structural but in the management/marketing fields. While the pub still maintains its rustic appearance and general décor they now offer camping on a well grassed and shaded annex to the pub at $20, choice of evening meals cooked on the barbeque with the menu ranging from wild Barramundi at $17, prime Scotch Fillet at $30, or a combination surf and turf, plus entertainment every evening, in short they are making every effort to tap into in the tourism industry.
While we were very tempted to stay, it was only early afternoon and Mataranka our target destination for the day was still one hundred seventy kilometres further on we begrudgingly continued on our way. Arriving mid afternoon we booked into a bush camping area that adjoined the Elsey National Park and after making ourselves comfortable made our way to the park renown for its crystal clear tropical fed thermal pools, and which we had grandiose ideas of enjoying. Unfortunately what we hadn’t taken into consideration is that most of this region has been inundated with flood waters for the past several months as a result of the annual tropical wet season and it’s only been in the last few weeks that most of these areas have become accessible. While the waters in the pools were crystal clear the entire area was still very moist and littered with decaying materials producing copious amounts of “Rotten Egg Gas”, something that is quite normal in this park. With swarms of insects buzzing around, any ideas of having a swim in the pools soon dissipated.
After showering in the outback style ablution block constructed from corrugated iron sheeting complete with an audience of green tree frogs, it was a relatively short drive of one hundred ten kilometres to our next destination, Katherine. Arriving mid morning after passing numerous abandoned WW2 airfields and other military establishments, our first stop was the information centre to check road conditions of the Victoria Highway between Katherine and Kununurra plus obtain any relevant information that may be of relevance. As it turned out there are still some sections of the road underwater and other sections undergoing repairs however the road report indicated it would be passable for 4WD and high clearance vehicles.
With that out of the way we booked ourselves into a local caravan park.
On our previous visit to Katherine we had the most fantastic meal of fish and chips that we have had anywhere in Australia at an establishment owned by an English couple and were not disappointed to discover that it is still operating; that night Leigh feasted on Barramundi while Mita had a steak burger and we have to admit we weren’t disappointed. So if any of you are transiting Katherine, visit the Kumbidgee Tea Rooms located on the Gorge Road.
Having ascertained that our favourite fish and chip shop was still in existence, we then lashed out and took a joy flight in a Robinson R44 helicopter over the Katherine Gorge. The flight took in thirteen gorges and was scheduled to last twenty minutes however in actuality it lasted well over thirty minutes with the pilot dropping down low allowing us to get a better view of a variety waterfalls, gorges, and even wild buffalo wallowing in a tributary of the Katherine River. I suspect we received the “Gold” treatment simply because it’s still not “tourist season” and the pilot was just plain bored sitting around waiting for passengers with nothing better to do.
And that evening much to our disgust we discovered that the westerly migration of the dreaded Cane Toads has now reached the Katherine region.
With Mita again assuming the driving duties, we left Katherine around 09.00 for the five hundred forty kilometre final leg of our journey to Kununurra with our plan being to overnight at Timber Creek. Considering the Victoria Highway has only been open a matter of weeks since the end of the wet season, the road surface was in pretty good condition although around the Victoria River region the roads had obviously sustained major road damage. Stopping briefly at the Victoria River Roadhouse for a driver change and a coffee the Highway wound its way through the rugged and scenic Gregory National Park with us stopping several times to admire the scenery.
Eventually arriving at Timber Creek, a predominately aboriginal community where we had stayed previous, we soon cancelled our plans of staying after sighting the camping facilities that now resemble Fort Dix, a strong indicator that the community now has some social issues.
Arrived Kununurra around 15.30 local time it didn’t take us long to realize we were in the Kimberley’s with the temperature sitting on 38C (touch over 100F) with 75% humidity. Settling into a well shaded park on the shores of Lake Kununurra and with no more driving to do for the next three weeks, it was time to relax with a glass of red in air-conditioned comfort.
With the forecast for Tuesday being 39C we headed into town nice and early to restock, visit the tourism office, collect our mail, refuel, and have a general browse around the town. It’s been four years since our last visit to Kununurra and we have to say there have been some major changes for the better.
That afternoon we adjourned to the lakes edge for a glass of wine or two while watching the sunset and enjoying the general scenery. No sooner had we sat down when Mita noticed a ripple in the water heading towards us; a two metre (six feet) freshwater crocodile decided to join us for happy hour. We were there for about an hour watching him watching us, at times coming within metres of us then suddenly disappearing only to resurface somewhere else in the general vicinity. As for having a peaceful wine and enjoying the scenery, that was a non event as we were soon joined by other campers armed with their cameras.
On Wednesday we went in search of Molly Springs plus revisited two other water holes that we had been to on previous trips to Kununurra; finding Molly Springs was quite an adventure. After located the turn-off to Molly Springs some thirty kilometres out of town on the Wyndham Road, we then had another five kilometres drive on a pretty rough track followed by a short hike into the waterfall and albeit looking like members of an expedition trudging through the Highlands of New Guinea getting to them, it was well worth the effort as the spring and its waterfall was absolutely gorgeous. Mita and I were the only ones there and spent a good hour enjoying them before being joined by others.
Come Thursday it was time to start getting organized for our cruise. Mita attacked the laundry while Leigh gave the van interior a spring clean plus attended to a couple of minor maintenance issues. With that out of the way we once again became good tourists visiting the “Hoochery”, Western Australia’s oldest legal still. While I’m not a lover of rum I did try the liqueur which I have to admit wasn’t too bad; Mita on the other hand had a definite glow about her when we left the premises.
As a result of the filming of the movie “Australia”, Hugh Jackman has made quite an impact in Kununurra with photos everywhere of him posing with the “locals”.
Saturday we board the “Matrix” at Wyndham for a two week cruise through the Kimberley’s with the cruise ending on the 1st May at Broome from where we fly back to Kununurra.
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