queensland: undara experience

Undara boasts some of the largest intact lava tubes in the world. We took a tour of the tubes and stayed in the campground for two nights. The kids had a great time in the pool and the tour was informative and incredible. 

The kids didn't realise how grotty they'd become after playing around in the dirt in the tubes! 

There are a few bushwalks on the Undarra property. We took the Bluff Walk with the kids where we saw right across the country to extinct volcanos. 

We spotted this sad sight on the path - a dead jabiru. These are magnificent birds. Their black feathers have a dark green sheen and their beaks are long and strong. We wondered how he met a grisly end. 

queensland: karumba to undara via belmore lake

It was a relief to leave the confined site at Karumba though we all began to miss our new friends, Mitch, Veronica and their kids! 

We waved goodbye to Mitch and Veronica and jumped in the car, ready for a few hours on the road before another resident of the caravan park pointed out our flat tyre on the caravan. It must have been a slow leak from that magic dirt road from Leichardt Falls. J was quick to act - replacing it with a spare one from the truck - while the kids practised their diving one last time in the pool. 

We were on the road by eleven and grabbed a good coffee at Normanton Art Gallery. 

Our small stop was just out of Croydon on the dam. This town has been ravaged by fires, drought and floods in the past decade. On the drive to the dam there's a small historical site- the remnants of a Chinese village - from the glory days of gold mining. 

Once again we picked a beautiful free camp. Belmore Lake is a bird watchers paradise with hundreds of water birds inhabiting the lake which appears as an oasis in the dry country. Once again the large open campsite was welcome and the kids collected a range of rusted tools before we ate dinner by the lake watching the birds and the sunset. 

It's particularly beautiful and was a restful night before we head off to Undarra the following morning. 

This section of the Savannah Way is interspersed with kilometres of single lane bitumen road. In reality there's plenty of space to pass oncoming traffic but it can be dicey with showering stones as both parties leave the tar. 

queensland: karumba

It was fortunate that in Karumba, despite being full of grey nomad fisherman, we were camped a few doors down from another travelling family who happened to be from Sydney too. 

The kids got on like a house on fire and when the kids finished for the day we got together and hung out eating chocolate and solving the problems of the world. It was fun. 

The kids did school work in the mornings and had the rest of the day to swim in the pool. 

We had quite a comical night at the tavern for sunset. At no time were all parents sitting watching the horizon because at least one of the kids needed to visit the loo. What eventuated was a decision to meet for the sunset the following night. The kids put on a concert while we watched the sun going down over the Gulf, ate pizza, drank beers and protected our dinner from the diving kites.

Again, we extended our stay for an additional night because we were all enjoying the company. And the pool.  

queensland: boodjamulla to karumba on the savannah way

It was hard to leave Adele's Grove. It was a relaxing week that we could have extended. 

We broke our rule again, briefly, and back tracked along the road back to Gregory Downs. If we had the time we would have stayed a night by the river like so many were. It looked beautiful. 

Heading north we hit the tiny town of Burketown where we bought a few supplies from the grocery store that had been recommended - in the post office. Some of these remote towns have deliveries of fresh food once a week. We made the most of a delivery. 

We almost stayed in Burketown but opted for the freecamp at Leichardt Falls instead. This must be an incredible sight in the wet or even after a wet wet. So much of the top end has struggled after a dry wet season. 

We do love just pulling up at a free camp for the night. 

The dirt road from Leichhardt Falls to Normanton was the best dirt we've encountered in our lives. There's always talk about the condition of dirt roads and there's a lot to be said about the impact of lots of traffic, weight and speed. 

One of Normanton's claim to fame is the shooting of the suspected largest croc in Australia by a local croc hunter. Obviously this practise isn't condoned or encouraged anymore thankfully. Normanton also housed a teeny tiny public library where the kids went crazy over the books!

Karumba is a town on the coast on the Gulf of Carpentaria. We wanted to see that sea since we had no intention of doing 'The Cape' on this trip. The population is predominantly made up of grey nomad fisherman holiday maker who fill their freezers over a few months each year. 

northern territory : kayaking katherine gorge

I've never been that enthused about flat water kayaking. I love the dynamic nature of the ocean - the swell, waves and surge around the rocks. That intoxicating smell of salt spray. However, one hears so much praise about Katherine Gorge and years ago when I was there with my younger brother we weren't able to get up the river so I decided to ask my wife for some time off to paddle up the gorge this time!

I left early in the morning before the kids got up for breakfast. I thought I'd be up at sunrise every morning of this year long trip but soon realised that despite my expectations of a year long 'holiday' the full-time work of 'growing up' a young family rapidly brought me back to reality. My wife and I stay up late, grasping onto the limited time alone together, only to be left tired the next morning. Just like home!

Once I slid into the mirror smooth green/brown water of Nitmiluk and began stroking upstream I began drifting into the world of quiet, solitude, reflection and solace. It was easy to get into a rhythm and as usual found my mind skipping from topic to topic, family-work-that was a freshwater croc-holidays-family-white breasted sea eagle-work-holidays-getting hot now-family...

The gorge is large and there are some beautiful sandy spits and banks with signs warning to keep clear of these fragile freshwater crocodile nesting sites. The first gorge seems to be the widest and as one gets further upstream the narrower it becomes. The towering orange brick-like cliffs looming in over me reminded me of the narrow canals in Amsterdam lined by leaning Dutch terrace houses!

Where I could I kept to the shady side seeking relief from the tropical sun. The first gorge ends at a rocky barrier that would produce some fun rapids when the water level was higher. There was very little flow when we were there so I dragged my kayak (the beauty of plastic!) up the middle and took advantage of a couple of pools that I could paddle across.

I paddled up to the third gorge which is as far as one is allowed to go on a day permit. It wasn't until I was there that I thought that I'd missed a good opportunity to do another solo overnighter (Steep Point being the last) by camping further up the gorge for a night.

Instead I sat on some rocks under a battered, almost horizontal paperbark tree between the second and third gorges and listened to the gurgling of Nitmiluk as it passed by me on its long course to the ocean. It was a wonderful moment and thoughts came to me of my late father who would have so enjoyed following our journey. I deliberately hadn't brought a camera with me this time and took in the scene before me intending to sketch it from memory when the kids were next drawing.

The thought of freshly ground coffee urged me back to our roaming home and we were also heading into Katherine town to catch up with some friends, another travelling family, who were overtaking us on their way east too. 

As I paddled back downstream it was the vibrant and varied colours of the gorge walls that stuck in my mind. Colour has been a recurring feature in my memories of this trip. The colours of northern Australia in particular really gets to me. Some of the most pleasurable moments have been driving the vast distances in this wondrous country of ours. Through the deep reds and oranges of the many Pilbara & Kimberley ranges spotted with light green and brown spinifex hummocks, through open savannah and Gulf country with miles of dry native grasses, oranges, purples, browns, yellows, the thin white trunks of the eucalypts with their dark green foliage stamped against the deep blue sky. We've had hours and hours of this and I love it.