Week 6 – Darwin to Home Valley

Week 6 – Darwin to Home Valley – 1114 kms

Day 36, time to leave Darwin. After the sadness of the last 2 weeks the whole family was glad to be back on the road and re-settled into our living the dream routine. Unfortunately the stress of the last 2 weeks and the Victorian weather had taken a toll on me and I returned from Mt Martha with one of the worst flu’s I had experienced in the last 10 years. Feeling like death we packed up and headed off to Liitchfield National Park. On the way we stopped at Berry Springs for a beautiful swim in a warm freshwater spring, despite feeling poorly the area was beautiful and the swim lifted my spirits and helped me forget about the past 2 weeks and to focus on the rest of our family adventure that we still had in front of us. We set up camp at Wangi Falls campground and quickly headed off to the beautiful Wangi Fall waterhole for a refreshing swim. The afternoon was spent exploring the national park in particular the remains of the Blyth homestead, which was occupied by the Seargant family from the late 1920’s through to the 1960’s, reading their family history was just fascinating, you just can’t imagine living in the conditions that they did. It was wonderful to spend a night where there was no lights and just the noise of the bush.

Day 37 was again spent exploring Litchfield National Park and the wonderful safe waterholes it is renowned for, The day started with a lovely 1.5 hour walk to Tyaetaba falls along Greenant creek, followed by a visit to Buley rockhole, which is a series of small plunge pools joined by waterfalls. The afternoon was spent again at Wangi Falls trying to keep cool.

Day 38 saw us leave Litchfield behind and head to Katherine. On the way we stopped to view the magnetic termite mounds which are up to 2 metres high and all aligned north south, a natural phenoneum that no-one really understands. The second stop of the day was at Adelaide River where we visited Australia’s largest war cemetery. Over 200 people who lost their lives due to the bombing of Darwin in 1942 are buried here. When we arrived in Katherine the children were very excited to catch up with their friends Rachel and Ryan again.

Day 39 was time to say good-bye to the Northern Terrority and head off into the Kimberleys in the far north of Western Australia. Between Katherine and Kununurra there is very little, only two very small towns with really nothing to offer but fuel. The excitement of the drive was passing through the Quarantine station on the Western Australian border where both the car and caravan were searched and all fruit, vegetables and honey had to handed in.

Day 40 was spent exploring Kununurra and the surrounding area. Of course the first stop for any girl is Kimberley fine diamonds where the range of Argyle Diamonds was closely examined. Unfortunately the pink diamond ring I fancied was over $30,000 and thus I left the store empty handed. Next on the schedule was a visit to the Zebra Rock gallery. Zebra Rock gallery was a fascinating gallery on the edge of the Ord river, the stone they carve is mined from a quarry below the Argyle Dam and thus they can only access it for approximately 6 weeks a year when the water level drops low enough. The stone is striped in formation hence its name and was formed some 600 million years ago and is only found in this area. The gallery also had a great pier over the Ord where you could feed the fish and turtles. Next was a tour through the Ord Valley irrigation area, the reason the Argyle Dam was formed. They grow a range of fruits, vegetables, herbs and interestingly Sandlewood. The Sandlewood plantations are the largest commercial plantations of Sandlewood in the world. The Sandlewood is grown for its oil which is predominately used as incense or a base for perfumes. Next was the Hoochery Distillery which produces a range of rum from sugar cane. The final points of interest were 3 waterholes marked as swimming spots on the town map, unfortunately they were either stagnant or dry, however the drive to visit them required us to drive through the Ord river which was just a little scary as a croc was perched half way waiting for motorists to stall their cars.

Day 41 was spent on the Triple J tour of Lake Kununurra, the Lower Ord river, Argyle Dam and finally a tour of the Durak homestead. The tour down the river really put into perspective the size of the water flows the area experiences in the wet season. Pete was seriously jealous when he heard of the water rights the Ord farmers are allocated along with the price they pay per megalitre, however was smiling we he heard their transport costs. Visiting the Durak homestead was great as I had only just finished reading “Kings of Grass Castles” by Mary Durak which describes the Durak family’s settlement of the area. The evening was spent watching the Federal election count unfold, what a fizzier, when will we know who will form the next government?

Day 42 saw as head for Home Valley Station, a station run by an Aboriginal community. We decided to take the longer off road route to Home Valley as we weren’t towing the van to allow us to get a good feel of the isolation of the area. The first stop was the “Grotto” a waterhole at the bottom of 140 steps, once again a real disappointment as it was stagnant. Obviously the local tourism branch is trying to make something out of nothing. Second stop was Wyndham, the furthest north town in WA, obviously it is just too hard to provide facilities this far north, as it was seriously lacking in any attraction or services. We then headed off to the prison boab tree, a huge boab that was used to house prisoners on their way to Wyndham. Then it was beautiful drive along the Kiljamini track through bush scrub and sand flats, circling the Cockburn Ranges and finally along side the Pentecost river. The night was spent squashed into two 2 man tents sweating the hours away,, that’s living the dream.