Tag Archives: Timber Creek

Leaving Darwin

I was sad to leave Darwin, well sad to leave the family, but we couldn’t stay forever and Kyran and Vanessa had to settle into their new lives after nearly seven years living remotely in Nhulunbuy. We all went out for dinner at the Darwin Sailing Club since it was our last night. It was a very balmy evening, and it was perfect sitting by the ocean eating and drinking. The boys found some boys to kick a football with, so they were too busy playing to sit with us for long.

 

 

Kyran wouldn’t let us go the next day as planned because he felt that we would roast in the new van. There is no air conditioning but there is a fan above the bed. Vanessa suggested we buy a little Sirocco fan for the front cabin which we did. Kyran wouldn’t listen when we said we would be fine. He took off to Bunnings without John and came home with a mobile air conditioner which would have cost a fortune. Then he put insulation on the ceiling of the sleeping compartment of the van. There was no way we would overheat now! We really appreciated the effort he went to.

 

So that night – the evening before we actually left – we stayed home, had a barbecue and sat out by the pool. It was Territory Day, the only day in the year when Northern Territorians are allowed to buy and set off fireworks. I believe it is the only State in Australia that allows fireworks at all. Kyran didn’t buy any this year, and he and Vanessa turned down invitations to go out to friends’ places. They were exhausted from unpacking and organising us. As it turned out, fireworks exploded all around their house, so we were able to have our barbecue and drinks as well as enjoy the fireworks. Kyran cooked both pork and lamb in their smoker and it was delicious.

 

The next morning, we packed up. After hugs and thanks, and lots of tears from Joey, we drove off heading towards Western Australia and home.

 

 

Our first stop was Edith Falls just three hours out of Darwin. We had previously camped there and loved it. Being off-grid and in the Nitmiluk National Park, it was peaceful. It was our first night sleeping in the campervan and I felt quite excited. Unfortunately, John, who had been suffering with a sore back for more than a week, crawled into bed and immediately got a bad dose of vertigo! Last visit, we had swum in the waterhole, but we didn’t this time. The water was cold and we just wanted to be on our way.

Edith Falls

   

 

We drove on to Timber Creek where we had stayed on the way up to Darwin and liked. We booked into an unpowered, shady site and had a pleasant overnight stay. In the evening, we had a drink in the outdoor bar but cooked on the camping cooker at the van.

 

The following day we headed for Doon Doon Roadhouse. We had stopped here for fuel before but hadn’t camped. It was a pleasant stay as the camp was basic but quiet. On our way, we stopped off to look at the Durack Memorial. I had always been interested in the Durack pioneering story, so found it very interesting.

John was keen to go back to Lake Argyle which we had visited on a Kimberley bus tour a few years before.  As we reached the turnoff, 34 kms from the camp, we noted our fuel was low. It was 40kms to Kununurra, a big town with fuel. I thought we should go there then come back to Lake Argyle as I didn’t remember there being a garage there. John disagreed and said there must be. He turned towards the camp but the sign showing amenities had no picture of a fuel pump. I urged John to go back to Kununurra and not take chances. We had only just bought the van and didn’t know its little idiosyncrasies such as how much reserve fuel it had. However, John spotted a couple stopped next to their caravan and he asked them if there was fuel in Lake Argyle. They didn’t know but the lady looked up her phone and said it looked like there was.  Once again, I told John not to take a chance but he was sure we would be fine.

Of course, we arrived at the camp with very little fuel in the tank to discover that the only fuel in the area was back in Kununurra. John looked a bit pale and was paler when we were charged $87 for a night on an unpowered site.

We agreed just to enjoy our stay and worry about the fuel in the morning.

 

And we did enjoy our stay. The infinity pool with the most amazing view was our first port of call. The water was cool but we just plunged in and soon enjoyed the freshness of the water after the dust of camping. We swam to the side and just took in the view. That alone was worth $87! Later, we made our way over to the outside bar for happy hour. They had football playing on the oversize television under a tree, but it wasn’t our team, so we didn’t pay too much attention. We did notice, however, that there were lots of Collingwood supporters there glued to the match.

We held our breaths and made our way to Kununurra hoping to make it without running out of fuel. We hadn’t gone far when the fuel light came on and the car started beeping. However, we made it to a garage by the skin of our teeth.

 

 

Into the NT

We had a pleasant stay at Ivanhoe Caravan Park but left early to look around the town of Kununurra.  That’s the problem with going to bed when the sun sets. Although we read for a while,  we still wake early.

 

We found a nice cafe in town, The Wild Mango, and enjoyed coffee. Then wandered around the few shops  there. We were back in the car and heading towards the Northern Territory before 10am.

 

 

The roads in the Kimberley and in the Northern Territory are quite badly damaged from the recent floods. There are pot holes everywhere.  In WA they have mostly been repaired or marked for repair but in the Territory so far they look like they have been filled in for a temporary fix. I did notice on the news that the NT government has set aside money for the repairs.

 

The drive from Kununurra to Timber Creek, where we decided to camp for the night, was a pleasant three hours. The scenery was lovely. It changed as we crossed into the Territory, as it became more rugged.

As we got closer to Timber Creek, we drove along close to the Victoria River which was very pretty, although showed evidence of recent flooding. This area is part of the Judbarra/Gregory National Park.  We stopped at Gregory’s Cairn on the side of the road. Augustus Gregory was part of a very long expedition that explored this area in 1855. I can’t imagine how those explorers survived back then. It is so hot and remote. They must have been very tough.  In case they didn’t survive the expedition,  Gregory carved the dates they were in the area into a tree along with details of where they left a letter. Unfortunately we weren’t able to check out the tree because the road was just mud. The story had a happy ending anyway because the explorers did survive and returned home safely.

 

We arrived at Timber Creek around lunchtime and were glad to stay put for a relaxing afternoon. It is a very small, remote town of about 270 people and is the only settlement between the Western Australian border and Katherine,  our next stop.
The caravan park was very nice with lots of beautiful trees for shade, a small pool and a surprisingly large outdoor bistro/bar. It was very quiet with very few campers. We enjoyed a peaceful afternoon reading and catching up with laundry. We thought we’d have a quiet swim in the pool around 4pm to cool down but forgot that we had changed time zones. When I checked my phone, it was already after 5pm! So we headed over to the pool. John dived in right away but I was shocked to find the water really cold so I sat on the side dangling my feet to at least cool them. All of a sudden the gate opened and about ten large men took a run and jump into the pool without spilling a drop of the beer they were each holding! They were builders who had just knocked off work after a hot day and I guess this was what they looked forward to. They began splashing and ducking each other. That was my cue to avoid swimming in cold water so I quickly got out and grabbed my towel.  John wasn’t far behind me. The guys apologised and said they hoped they hadn’t scared us away but I told them their need was greater than ours.
Instead we dressed and walked over to the bar for a drink. Suddenly it wasn’t so quiet any more. The bar was filling up,  the music started pumping and several more  caravans arrived for the night.

 

When we walked back to the van, we noticed a few people looking at the river so we wandered down too to have a look. What we weren’t expecting was to see some crocodiles on the riverbank! Luckily they were fresh water crocs so not likely to eat us. Apparently it was quite normal for them to come onto the bank of the river at the caravan park.

 

We got to thinking that we have not seen a lot of wildlife on the trip because we are driving a lot. We have seen snakes and goannas crossing the road in front of us, wallabies, eagles, brolgas, praying mantas, frogs in one caravan park that were so big I thought they were cane toads, and, as well as the crocodiles at Timber Creek, there were dozens of fruit bats above us that squabbled all day!

 

 

So our quiet time at Timber Creek turned into party central with music and laughter coming out of the bar. It must have been the 270 residents come out to play on a Wednesday evening. But it was nice. It was so hot, we just sat back outside the van and enjoyed the atmosphere.