Relax and feel the Spirit

Finally it's time to hit the road again, after an extended stay in Darwin, and with some of the best and "most wanted to visit" destinations ahead of us, we were more than keen to get going.

Our first stop Litchfield National Park  which stunned us with the raw beauty of its gorges, and waterfalls with  deep crystal clear  pools to swim in and lounge around on these hot winter days. The climate is also good for the unique magnetic termites mounds,
which are found in this part of the world. Many people believe
Litchfield to be better than the world famous Kakadu National Park, but we'll kept an open mind until we had seen both.We were heading for Pine Creek in Northern Territory for a spot of Gold detecting, on rout to the southern end of Kakadu National Park.
Gold was discovered there in 1872 by workers on the overland telegraph line. ( I bet they didn't work again) Pine Creek has a long gold history and is the top end's only original mining town remaining from the 1870's gold rush era, with many of the original buildings still in use, such as the National Trust museum building, being the oldest surviving prefabricated structure in Northern Territory.  There is an impressive collection of artifacts and implements of the day on display.

Right through the middle of town there is a park with rock pools and grassed picnic area's, with mosaic foot paths, telling the history of Pine Creek, all using reclaimed land and materials that was once the railway line.

We headed off out of town on the Goldfields heritage trail to Grove Hill Heritage Hotel to learn more about this fascinating area. Sighting mines currently owned by Crocodile Gold in various locations en route, we began to wonder were the public fossicking areas were?

Over a coldy at the Grove Hotel all was revealed by a couple of locals, it appears  that Crocodile Gold did own everything, bought up all the leases. The dirt tracks we saw going off into the bush were prospecting tracks, but don't get caught the penalty is pretty stiff, but its the only way your going to find gold in Pine Creek. There are folks up in Darwin who are trying to get some land gazetted for public fossicking but everything is a  slow process in the Northern Territory, were time is not the same. So it seems there was to be no prospecting for us at Pine Creek, but I did get to cut Laurie's Hair which like the gold is a rare occurrence.

We found a bush camp called Harriet Creek on the doorstep of Kakadu, were we could base ourselves for a couple of days or so whilst waiting for some of the sites to open after the wet season. You see the road through the park is good, but roads off to various locations are dirt, often flooded and some horribly corrugated, so it was time to sit, relax and feel the  spirits of this country for a while.

Harriet's Creek was shallow but still flowing and with no Crocs in sight we spent many happy hours playing with Mylee in the shade of the Paper bark trees along the bank.

On finding an abundance of Rosella Bush's we set about making some bush tucker Rosella jam, great with Laurie's damper, yum! 

Opposite our camp in a hollowed tree trunk, a family of Cockatoo's kept us entertained with their antics in and around the nest.

The days were a  comfortable 30 degrees and our few days at Harriet's Creek quickly turned into a week, during which time we grilled other travelers who stopped about their Kakadu experience, and which places were worth visiting. There are seven areas in all with many kilometers in between and often with many more kilometers to walk once reaching the place, so planning and fuel was of paramount importance. It was the need of fuel for the adventure which moved us on 30 kilometers to the Mary River roadhouse, were we could also safely leave our van.

Kakadu is a living cultural landscape, generations of Bininj and Mungguy people have cared for this country for tens of thousand of years, it is their cultural obligation to look after and cleanup the land, a duty handed down from generation to generation.

There are six seasons in Kakadu and signs in nature tell them of the time to burn, a time when minimal harm would be done but huge benefits would be gained. Using this traditional land burning practice,  the landscape has flourished and is a testimony to its success with abundant life.

Aboriginal spiritual connection to the land is globally recognized in the Kakadu's world heritage listing which honors one of the oldest living societies on earth. The rock art found here represents one of the longest historical records of any group of people in the world and it was the rock art at Nourlangie we had come to see. It is said that Mimi spirits were the first of the Creation Ancestors to paint on rock, and they taught some Bininj people how to paint. At the end of their journeys some Creation Ancestors put them selves on rock walls as paintings and became dreaming places (djang). Some of these paintings are sacred and dangerous and can only be seen by senior men or women; others can be seen by all people. In some cases the act of painting can put one in touch with their Creation Ancestors - powerful stuff! but the act of painting is generally more important than the painting itself, so many older paintings are covered by younger ones.

I could rave on for ages about Kakadu but really its a place to go sit , relax and feel the spirits.
I think Litchfield may be prettier and as a tourist certainly easier to access but Kakadu is a special place which requires time to explore and appreciate the diversity which is truly unique.  

Darwin in the Dry

Darwin in the Dry

Due to extremly fustrating computor problems stemming from a computor virus dressed up as a "windows security download message"  I have lost somewhere in cyber space all photo's and film footage of this time. I am hoping to resolve this issue and will back date all photo's when available, so please bear with me and enjoy the blog anyway! 

The warm weather of between 19-32 degrees entices flocks of Australians to sit out the cold southern winters in Darwin in the Northern Territory, and I was amongst that number this year, whilst Alan was back home in Coffs Harbour.

With Al away visiting with his family and in particular his daughter who was to become the mother of twins at any moment, I (Laurie) had planned to sight see around Darwin for a couple of weeks and take things easy. But who knows that our plans are only tentative to what the universe dishes out and there's a reason for everything?



Our first day in Darwin was one of getting lost at every turn and as all women know, men do not like taking directions from women or asking for help from "strangers". This reluctance by men to take direction was confirmed to me yet again, as an "inherent masculine genetic fault" in all of them, after chatting with a crowd of other women, on the bus to the casino one day. (and that's another story in its self)

One women revealed that her hubby even argues with the on board GPS in their car, and constantly wants to turn off, with out it's permission, which we all thought hilarious. And we all could associate, with "turn left here honey" and they (Male drivers) turn right instead. All these error's will be forgiven in time but in the moment pulling a 20ft caravan behind you, in a strange city, blood pressure can rise after a few of these "mistakes".



After spending our first night at Lee Point road caravan park on a bitumen car park "their dog friendly area" beside the road, with the toilets miles away and at $40 per night, I was to say a tad bit apprehensive about the coming couple of weeks alone in Darwin. With only 24 hours till Alan was flying out we needed to find a safe place to park up and needed it now!



We had a couple of phone numbers of parks we'd tried from the day before, who said they took "family pets" classified as little white fluffy shiatsu type dogs not Staffy's like our Mylee, who some how got themselves on the "band dog list". But what did we have to loose by calling again and saying Mylee was a small cross breed, because as soon as they meet her they would know she is such a softy, and could not intentionally hurt anyone. So off back down the highway 30 km to Coolalinga Caravan park. And Yes our girl did us proud and licked her way passed the interview, and we were in , and as a Staffy family.

Funny thing is, that during our stay at Coolalinga caravan park our darling Mylee got attacked three times, by unsociable little white fluffy shiatsu dogs, not seriously thank goodness, but she still bears a snout scar to prove it.



We found a lovely spot in the park under some big shade tree's adjacent to the BBQ and camp kitchen, which as I found out was the social hive of the park, and life blood to fill my lonely weeks ahead.

So with Alan safely on the plane it was time to read all those brochures I'd collected on route and to decided what I could do with my respite time.

It was still early in the tourist season so not everything was open yet, in fact most of Kakadu national park was still flooded from the wettest wet season in recorder history, which had followed a very wet dry season the previous year.

I had briefly visited the airport transit lounge once back in '72 before Cyclone Tracey in '73 which flattened Darwin, leaving only a dozen or so houses standing, which are now historically listed and the oldest buildings around. Basically I knew nothing about the place, its people or it's politics, so I started with a tour of the city centre and Parliament house to find out what makes this place tick.

Parliament house is affectionately called the wedding cake by the locals, due to its flat top and numerous columns adorning the shady verandahs.

But did you know that the Northern Territory government is wanting to become a state? I didn't and apparently a lot of people are apposed to it, as

it would lead to regulatory practices, you see it appears at present the NT is like the wild west, where anything goes and there's not a lot of regard for occupation health and safety or compliance to rules and regulations of any sort.

With the Exception of banned alcohol zones and the banned alcohol list to reduce alcohol abuse and family violence mainly amongst the Aboriginals. Thankfully the laws in Darwin are not as strict as those in Alice Springs, where you have to use photo ID to purchase alcohol after 2pm, and no more than 2litres of wine at a time, which is pretty hard on us grey nomad travelers who indulge daily at happy hour and come to town rarely, like us.

After a self drive tour around the Harbour and foreshore, a tour of parliament house, followed by a "Duck-a-bout" amphibious craft, on a tour cruise, I must say I was very surprised at how small the city centre is, but I had digested ample facts to indulge my need for information, and I was now ready for some much needed retail therapy.

Shops! Darwin has shops and markets everywhere, from little suburban centre's, to large retail complexes like Casuarina, Palmerston and the city centre.

On mentioning my love of markets to another traveler Kay (1) and her partner Rod (there were 4 Kay's in the end so hence they were all numbered in order of meeting) we were off to investigate the world of Darwin markets, starting the rotation Thursday night at the great Mindil Beach sunset markets.

The Mindil Beach markets are legendary in Darwin, and scores first prize in my book too. From attendance numbers in the thousands every Thursday & Sunday nights , to the wide variety of stools and entertainment on offer, and then there's the food! all types of food from your usual Tai and Asian dishes, and fried foods to Mexican meats and tortilla's to Greek Baca and other sweet delights and not forgetting the Afghani curries. And for some real decadence one must have fresh strawberries and nuttella crepes for dessert. It becomes a 3-4 cause meal feast and the drinking of alcohol is allowed for this event. Hordes of people gather on the beach for the setting of the sun over the ocean and a meal in the cool of the evening, including us. My second choice would have to be the Parap Village markets on Saturdays a trendy up market village feel with great fruit and veg and Palmerston on Friday evening comes in third, another good food sauce cooked or fresh. I guess by now you may have noticed I was taken with the food this city offers, but in my defense I say what better way to use my respite time but to sample other peoples cooking, I barely made a salad the entire time Alan was away.



As the caravan park swelled with southerners escaping the cold, our little 5pm happy hour group grew and grew, to include 4 Kay's, 3 Chris's, and 2 Ian's amongst other names too many to mention. The huge circle now encompassing the whole BBQ area particularly on Saturday nights which became a meal night. With the abundance of Barramundi being caught it became the meat of our meal but we did also have a pizza night once.

At these gatherings we shared everything from best tours to do to recipe's and cooking gadgets, onto car mechanics and how to sex and degut a mud crab. Some of us ladies also had smaller gatherings during the day for craft lesions and scone making with afternoon high tea. Kay (2) taught me how to cook everything from a cake to a roast in a "turbo cooker" the must have appliance when cooking with 240 volt power on the road, as well as how to preserve food by vacuum sealing using a hand operated pump devise, good when you have no power.



But most importantly at these gatherings we all connected on some level and I'm sure many friendships were made that will last beyond the road.



Now you may well ask if I caught any of these Barra's? being the keen fisher women that I am, but the answer is a resounding NO WAY not this time. The waterways, rivers , creeks, drains, and beaches are crawling with Crocodiles in Darwin and I would not take the risk to catch some fish when I could buy it cooked in several different ways.

On a serious note though, it would appear that the conservation of crocodiles is out of hand in the top end, and there are those calling to begin culling their numbers once again.



Well the first two weeks flew past , what with all the socializing, tours, shopping and entertainment I got involved in. At the caravan park people came and went and came and went, and we ( that's includes the whole crowd) were still waiting for the arrival of Alan's twin grandsons and each day they would expectantly ask " is there any news yet?"

I was beginning to run out of activities to amuse my self with, and Alan was going stir crazy with boredom in Coffs Harbour, having completed his list of to do things. But we all know babies do not come into this world on queue to suit our schedules, it was another three weeks till they finally arrived on June 6th. and we are proud to announce that Grandsons Crew 6lb.6 and Cylus 5lb.11 are healthy and happy and their Mum and dad are adjusting.



Alan arrived back in Darwin 5 weeks after departing, to a celebrity status welcome, having had a Gemseek Adventure DVD night in his absence , everyone recognized him.



With Alan back its time to hit the road and let the Adventure begin again, we're off to find some Gold so stay tuned, and remember!



Look after those gems!



Laurie.C

www.gemseek.com.au