Sunday 29 June 2025

After breakfast we headed out to find a banteng bull for me. At the wetlands we headed west again, further than we had been before. Leaving the truck we headed northeast on the high ground. We had only gone 500m when we encountered a mob of 4 bulls. After sneaking in for a look at each one, Steve decided they were not shooters so we backed out and headed east. About 0900 we came across another bull. We were a bit caught in the open so had to stand very still for sometime until the bull moved and we could edge forward to a tree while Ross waited on the ground behind us. After about 30-minutes Steve finally got a look at the horns deciding it was worth shooting.

I could see his shoulder through some scrub and carefully placed a shot into the shoulder. The bull stumbled then took off out to out right behind some scrub, then turned and charged straight at us. A carefully placed shot in his chest just before he went into some dead ground about 30m from us finished him off. I think bigger guns such as a 470 or 500 caliber would be better on these tough animals, particularly the buffalo which is a very large animal up to 1400 kg. Head off and we strolled the 1km back to the truck.

As we drove out there were still fires burning from fire bombs dropped from a helicopter a couple of days ago. At this time of year they burn off as much undergrowth as they can before the bush gets really dry. This prevents bushfires and is done by both helicopters and people on foot chucking matches into the grass. This takes place right across the Northern Territory and Queensland.

Arriving back at camp we said goodbye to Ron and Aaron who were heading back to Melbourne. Stephen loaded some fishing gear into the side-by-side and we headed east along the beach. Stopping by some rocks, Stephen got a long spear and dug a large mud crab out from under a rock.  We stopped again by some mangroves where he dug out another one.

We continued on a track along the top of some coastal cliffs before descending to the mouth of the Leaders Creek, some 10kms east of the camp. Stephen got out a throw net and soon had some small mullet for bait. Fishing rods were baited, chairs set up and, with a beer in hand, we fished away for a couple of hours. The only rule was “don’t turn your back on the water”. They had recently killed a couple of 4-plus meter crocs here. The results of our fishing were not great as the reef shark, eatery cod and catfish we caught were all put back.

Back at camp the crabs were boiled up and broken open – a bit rich for me but Ross and Stephen enjoyed them.

Monday 30 June 2025

We had a relaxing start to the day and after breakfast we hit the road just after 10am for the 200-plus kilometres of dusty, often corrugated road to Cahills Crossing. We had to be at this crossing as close to low tide as possible as the water is very salty and not good for the vehicle. Also if the high tide is going out it will wash the car down into the river. It is known as the most dangerous river crossing in Australia. Stephen saw a man taken by a croc while waiting to cross one day. Luckily people nearby managed to save him.

We crossed after Stephen, who had stopped just down the road and had a compressor in the back of his Toyota land cruiser to reinflate his tyres, which he had let down a bit on the way in to improve the ride on the corrugated roads. We carried on back to Darwin, stopping at Palmerston to refuel and clean the truck Sab had lent us before dropping it off and ubering to the hotel.

In reception we ran into the nice bunch of people we had met with Sab after visiting the rock drawings.

In the evening Stephen came in and had a beer with us and dropped off a couple of Walkabout Safari T shirts.

Tuesday 1 July 2025

We caught up with Sab’s group again at breakfast. They filled us in on the rest of their trip with Sab, which included a trip to a cattle farm a hundred kms west of where we were.

I headed off to pick up our rental car in town to find they didn’t have a vehicle ready yet. They also said we had to pay for kilometres over 500 inspite of the ad on Expedia saying kilometres unlimited when I booked it.

It was after ten when we were finally on the road south. The scenery was much the same as Arnhem land with scrubby bush on each side of the road. We stopped at Adelaide river where the general store was a bit of everything including a post office and cafe. We sat at the ‘grumpy old bastard’s table’ outside with a grumpy old bloke and drank our coffee. As the odd airforce person wandered in the old bloke told us that at Tindall airforce base south of here, the US has some B52 bombers based.

This town, during the war, had a large hospital to cater for soldiers wounded in the Pacific. They turned cattle rail cars into hospitals to cart the wounded from Darwin. Over 11,000 wounded were carted that way.

Next we stopped at Pine Creek, where a park had a good display of old mining equipment, including a stamping battery and a steam driven cage for lowering men into a mine and bringing ore out.

We arrived at Larrimah at about 5pm. It was only after I booked the accommodation here that I remembered that I had seen a documentary about one of the thirteen eccentric residents disappearing here. A real who done it arose; the crime is still unsolved.

 

Steve, the owner of the pub for the past seven years, was an interesting and likeable bloke. He started life up in Arnhem land, shooting buffalo and crocs for a living. He gave us a rundown on the surrounding area including a recent gas find that will keep Australia in natural gas for the next 200 years. A guy played the guitar in the courtyard for a couple of hours in the evening with a captive audience, many of whom were a veteran’s motorcycle club from Queensland on their way to Darwin.

A look at the museum indicated that during WWII about 6500 troops were based here as it became the rail head for supplies heading to Darwin. There is a photo of the first road train with 3 trailers arriving here in the 1930’s from England and going on to do some 1.2 million miles. Back then it spent a lot of time stuck in the mud on the dirt roads.

The speed limit is now 130kph on most of the open road. There was a time when the NT had no speed limits on the open road; that would have been fun.

We had seen many road trains on the road today. They are up to 53 meters long. There is one parked up near the pub, carting shingle for some road works nearby. We had a yarn to the owner, who said when he got the 1995 Kenworth tractor unit it had done over 3 million kilometres. He has lost track since then.

After a a few drinks and dinner we headed to bed. The accommodation was quite basic but comfortable.

Ross had got up during the night to relieve himself,  the toilet being some distance from the room.  I woke to him banging on the door of the room next door saying “Roger are you in there?” Lucky the room was empty and not occupied by one of the veteran bikers.

Wednesday 2 July 2025

We were invited by Steve, along with some others, to the weekly feeding of the pet croc. At 3-plus meters, this beast had been purchased from a pet shop by the then pub owner as a baby 25 years ago. It now goes with the business which is for sale.

Back on the road we stopped at Daly Waters, which was once an international airport with flights leaving Australia for Singapore from there back in the 1930s. The town is a hoot with all sorts of odd things displayed around the streets. The pub is full of memorabilia including many bras hanging from the ceiling.

Continuing south we came across the monument to the joining of the telegraph line, which was started in both Adelaide and Darwin and met here. With the poles coming from England, twenty were placed per mile. With incredible accuracy they met here in 1872, enabling a message to be sent from Adelaide to London within 7 days as lines were already in place up through Asia.

About 300kms south of Larrimah, the bush subsided, allowing us to see across large expanses of country, which continues way past where the eye can see.

We stopped for a brew at Elliot, a dusty red dirt town.

Then came the Tennant Creek Telegraph Station. This place not only wrote down each telegram then retransmitted it north or south. They also serviced the lines north and south of here, grew vegetables, kept beef cows, and had accommodation for travelers, as the line had started to become a track between Adelaide and Darwin.

As we were leaving we ran into Bruce and Estelle. We had seen their car several times today – a yellow Toyota branded with “A crazy chick and her rooster”. They had been on a cancer fund raising rally from Perth to Darwin along with 200 other cars. All had to be valued at less than $1500. 200 odd cars set out on the rally raising over $200,000 for cancer research.

We arrived in Tennant Creek around 1530hrs, checked into our hotel, then visited the gold mining museum. This place had been one of the highest gold production places in the world in the mid 1900s.

A drink and a nice meal at the local RSL finished the day off nicely. An old guy at the RSL told us how he had been robbed several times in the past few years by youths; he said crime is out of control here.

Thursday 3 July 2025

We left the securely gated motel at 0730, heading south again on the Stuart highway. The surrounding area was a little more open, which is good because for the first 700kms of the journey we had been driving between trees and scrub. There are even some hills to be seen in the distance.

About 350kms into the journey we stopped at Ti Tree for a coffee and burger. This was the first place that we had found open. A convoy of military vehicles was also stopped on their drive from Adelaide to Darwin.

At just over 500kms we passed Alice Springs. Some time later we saw Mt Conner, which can be mistaken for Ayres Rock. Turning off the highway at Gaun, we drove the last 70 kilometres to Yulara, and checked into the Outback Hotel. After checking in we headed to the information centre in town where Ross booked a sunrise helo ride for the morning. The hotel-come-lodge has a large bar area where a guy on a guitar was so bad we moved to the far end to get away from the noise.

Friday 4 July 2025

At 0650 a van driven by the helo pilot picked us up along with another couple and we headed for the airport where we boarded an old, but in good nick, bell jet ranger. I was in a crash in one of these over thirty years ago.

We took off just as the sun came over the horizon. To the east we could see Mt Conner and to the west the Olga, which looks like a pile of large stones. With Ayres rock in the middle it made for spectacular scenery. We flew around the rock then over to Olga before landing back at the airport. The pilot dropped us back at the Outback hotel where we had breakfast.

After a coffee on the town square we drove out to Olga. Parking the car we took a stroll up between the stones through quite a pretty valley. There were lots of people taking the same walk. It was easy going with foot bridges over any obstacles and a viewing platform at the top end. These features are made up of millions of stones ‘grouted’ together with what must be a rather strong grout as I am sure it has outlasted any locally grouted tiled bathrooms.

On the way back we drove towards Ayres rock and took some pictures before heading back to the hotel. In the evening we headed back to the large bar and had a long wait to get both a drink and a meal. It’s the beginning of school holidays today and a public holiday. Rooms don’t get serviced because of the holiday, something I have never struck before. This place seems to be staffed by mainly people from overseas with some 160 in the village from Fiji on a government scheme.

Saturday 5 July 2025

After a later start we headed out to Ayres rock. Parking in the last car park we headed off on the track around the rock.  There were quite a few people on the track, some on bikes, others on segways, others walking, and some running. After visiting some caves and a water hole by the rock, the track headed out well away from the rock giving us a good view of the high up caves and scars on the rock. This is not like Olga, it is one solid rock, not a pile of stones. There are lots of signs along the way about sacred places where one is not supposed to take pictures for some reason. There was a time when one could climb up on the rock but that activity has now been stopped.

Two and a quarter hours later we were back at the car. We headed back into town for a brew at the town centre cafe, where there is always a long queue to get coffee. We then headed for the airport and dropped off the Prado rental car and waited for the check-in to open. Apart from a night in Melbourne the trip is now over as we leave these clear blue sky’s behind and head home.