We’re on the road again

My Aunty Kris has always wanted to see Lake Argyle and the surrounding areas, so she jumped onboard for the leg from Darwin to Broome. We plan going to take in ALL the sights of the region.

Darwin – Mindil Markets

A bit of music and then a fire twirler. I love how the fire guy set up right in front of the first aid tent.

Then day 1 of our journey was going to be full… Darwin to Katherine, visiting ALL the things in-between. First stop – Jumping crocs.

The crocs came out one by one as soon as they heard the boat – they weren’t keen on jumping for their food, and to be honest, I was a bit torn by this part. I wanted to see the crocs close up, but to make them dance for our amusement was a bit off. They are wild, but totally trained. They know they have to jump six times per boat (3 on each side) before they are given food. Some crocs just said “stuff you, I’m not jumping” and I thought good for them.

The birdlife was pretty amazing. The white bellied sea eagle sat and watched us for a bit and then the woman held out her rod with something on the end and the bird flew in and swooped it off the line. The ultimate drive thru (or fly thru)… and a little more sophisticated than the kites who, we learned can’t get wet because they don’t have the waxy coating on their wings, so the lady threw pellets up in the air and the kites swooped past, caught the pellets in their talons and then ate them on the fly.

Humpty Doo – a quick stop to have a drive around the small town and take a pic of the big boxing croc… why does he need the gloves?

Next on our itinerary was Litchfield National Park. We went straight to Wangi Falls as it’s the biggest swimming hole, the easiest parking and the simplest to get in and out of the water. Also, it has a cafe.

We had a big swim and lunch before heading south.

We stopped in to have a Quick Look at Pine Creek and then as we turned back onto the highway to Katherine, the road was closed and we were forced to take the ‘tourist drive’ back past Robin Falls, so I knew the road. The last time we drove it there was no other people because the road is narrow and needs work, but this time as the main highway was closed in that section, ALL the traffic was on there. This added about 40 minutes to our journey, but still we made it to Katherine in plenty of time to get organised and head to the cafe at the Big 4 Breezes for dinner.

The next morning, we got up early and headed down the Katherine Hot Springs for a dip before we headed for the Western Australian border. It was lovely and well worth it. We didn’t take any photos here because it was absolutely freezing out of the water and we jumped straight in, then once we got out, we hightailed it back to the van.

Big tip – go to all hot springs early.

We had planned initially to stop at either Victoria River Roadhouse or Timber Creek for a night, but instead we choose to push on through to Lake Argyle and have an extra night there…. and we are so glad we did!

We decided to park Fern up while we were here and get a 2 bed cabin with a view. It was so peaceful sitting on the balcony taking it all in.

This is the famous infinity pool that overlooks the lake. It was approximately 15℃. In other words – bloody freezing.

We joined a sunset cruise which was fantastic. We saw fresh water crocs basking on the banks, fed fish and checked out a family of wallaroos. The lake is so vast – 40kms across and 75kms long at full capacity. It’s full of islands of all sizes. The colour of the rocks surrounding the lake changes as the day goes on. It’s really hard to capture it all in a photograph.

These crocs were one bit fussed about the boat being there, still we didn’t get too close.

After all our site seeing, we headed into what appeared to be the middle of the lake and moored up so we could all have a swim. A few people were very keen and more than a few were a little trepidatious after seeing how many crocs we saw and how many we were told lived in the lake – thousands! But, the ‘when will I be here again?’ voice appeared in my head. ‘Life’s too short to not try things’; ‘just do it!’. They even give you a cold beverage to enjoy in the water which was warmer than the infinity pool by far.

You’ll notice I’ve kept my feet up quite high just in case.

We started heading home after they made sure everybody was accounted for and after about 4 minutes of motoring the outboard cut out. We floated for a bit but nobody panicked, in fact we were all happy to stay out there a bit longer.

Then as the sun was setting we turned around and …

The moon was rising in the opposite direction. Beautiful. I mean, can it get any better than this?

I think we may have got a bit of whiplash looking back and forth.

Then just like that, the motors started up again and we were on our way home. A great day!