Every trip has it’s hiccups… and hopefully we’ve now had ours….. Everything started well as we left Uluru…
Sunday
Back on the road again! After saying goodbye ot the others we packed up and checked out and filled the bus with diesel before heading out on the long road back to Alice Springs… and it is a long road!
The first section we just backtracked through the section we had done coming down from Kings Canyon three days earlier, so we felt a sense of deja vu as we drove past Mt Connor again. There really isn’t much to say about the road back… you drive east for 245Km, turn left and drive north for 200km ! But of course there’s a bit more to it than that.
At the left hand turn you discover the Erldunda Roadhouse – an oasis in the desert with a petrol station, shop, bar, accommodation ( $15 a night!!) and most importantly the monument that records the place as the “Centre of the Centre” . You will hear some disagreement about the location of the centre of the country because of the different ways of measurement. Currently, there are five points that compete for the title of the centre of Australia. The Government has decided that the title goes to the middle point of those five measurements,hailing Erldunda the ‘Centre of the Centre’.
On our American trips Neil has often taken us a bit ( or a lot!) out of our way to visit those unique compass points ( northernmost, southern most etc) and on our last big trip ( the the USA of course!) he made sure out trip through the mid West of the USA included a visit to the “Geographical centre of the USA” in Kansas. So naturally we needed to make a stop in Erldunda to record our visit to the centre of Australia. It’s amazing contrasting the differences in the continents though, America’s centre point is surrounded by lush green cornfields and many small towns, whereas Australia’s is smack bang in the middle of arid nothing much!
At the Centre of Australia!
and at the Center of the USA in 2019!
We stopped to have a drink and some sandwiches and to visit the emus that are kept here in an enclosure. They looked hungry!
Heading north we picked up speed , it’s an 130km per hour speed limit of this section of the Stuart highway and we passed caravan after caravan for the whole 200km. The grey nomads are taking over I think!
It was lovely to catch sight of the hills around Alice and to pull in to the Crowne Plaza carpark… and even more lovely to catch sight of the pool bar and to relax with a couple of drinks after the looooong drive.
For dinner we walked next door to the Juicy Rump restaurant that is out the front of the Lasseters casino. We were lucky we went reasonably early as soon after we settled in, busload after busload of happy race goers arrived. Today had been the day of a big horse racing carnival in Alice and it seemed like the whole trackload of carnival goers had traveled there and back from the casino. There were fancy shirts and hats all around, as well as a few worse for wear punters who had had a very big day. A green faced young man asked me if I had any gaviscon and shortly afterwards disappeared rapidly to the gents…followed by his long suffering girlfriend. A big night out in Alice! We enjoyed our Chicken Parmi and a bottle of wine and the colorful crowd before heading back to the hotel to pack our bags for our flight to the Top End tomorrow.
Monday
We had all our timing worked out for today. Our flight to Darwin was due to leave at 9.45 am and arrive around 2 hours later. We would stop in at a supermarket to buy food supplies and then head down to our AirBnB in Litchfield National Park for our 2 night stay. We had plenty of time to take in a couple of sights on the way and we’d be enjoying drinks and nibbles on our deck by 4pm. Owen had gifted us a couple of lounge passes so we arrived at the airport with some time up our sleeves to enjoy breakfast in he lounge before our flight. Well, that was the plan…
When we checked in the clerk said boarding was at 9.25 BUT…that was probably going to change as our plane coming in from Darwin was delayed an hour. We weren’t too fussed, an extra hour in the lounge would be quite nice. We settled in and had a coffee and were eating our fruit and yoghurt when the announcement came over that our flight was now delayed until 11.30 pm. Oh well, a couple of extra hours in the lounge wouldn’t be so bad…
I was having my second coffee and watching a video with my headphones in when Neil tapped me on the shoulder. An announcement had just come over… our flight was now delayed until 3.20 pm !!! Now I enjoy some time in an airport lounge but even I aren’t too keen on spending most of the day there! Oh well, these things happen when traveling. Neil called the rental car company to let them know of the significant delay and I tried to get in touch with our AirBnB hosts to ask if we’d be better to spend the night in Darwin rather than drive on down to Litchfield in the dark. While waiting for a reply we worked our way through the lounge menu and were happy when the bar opened at midday. The lounge grew VERY crowded with the ( now TWO ) delayed flights to darwin as well as the regular flights to Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide
At long last our plane finally arrived and at around 4pm we were able to escape Alice Springs and head north. I’ve never been so happy to see a plane!
The flight passed quickly and at long last we descended into Darwin airport. Today was another public holiday in the N.T. and we had only a limited amount of time to find a supermarket ( and bottle shop!) to stock up on supplies for our next two nights. We’d been advised to buy supplies in Darwin before heading to Litchfield National park, so after grabbing our bags and our next car ( a Toyota Corolla) we made a beeline for the nearest shopping centre. The sun was setting as we arrived in Darwin and it was pitch dark for our 90 minute drive down from Darwin. Neil had discovered “Hideaway Litchfield” online many months ago, They have two lovely cabins constructed from old shipping containers, set in the middle of the bush at the doostep of the National Park. We bumped along their entry road and were greeted by Rog who guided us down to Cabin 2.
He pulled out his portable Makita vacuum to suck up the tiny flying ants that had invaded the kitchen ( only because his wife, Viv, had left the lights on inside to welcome us and the pesky tiny bugs can get through the flysecreens!) and gave us a few tips about visiting the park . We waved him off and immediately set about BBQing our dinner, sausages and salad . We were kept company by a local tree frog and lizard and a multitude of bugs ( who were fortunately more interested in the outside lights than in us, they were nowhere near as irritating as the flies at Uluru). After a tasy ( but late!) dinner we were glad to climb the (outside) stairs to the bedroom and get some sleep before our day in the Park.
Tuesday
After arriving in the dark last night it was interesting to see the area around the cabin in the daytime! Rog & Viv’s son, Simeon had designed and built the cabins and he’d really done an outstanding job. The downstairs living/kitchen is constructed from one and container and they plonked a second conatiner on top ( tipped on its side) to create the bedroom and bathroom. It was so comfortable and with the outside decks ( top and bottom) had all the space you would need.
Rog had advised us last night that the park had been very, very busy in the last few weeks. In his words ” Most of Sydney and Melbourne seem to have arrived!” – so he’d suggested that we get out early to see the most popular spots before the daytrippers arrived. We cooked up our bacon and eggs on the BBQ and enjoyed them in the relative cool on the verandah.
WE set out around 9.15 to take the main road through the park. First stop was Wangi Falls – as well as the twin falls this is also ( usually) a popular swimming hole. However, due to the recent heavy rains the waterfall is gushing heavily and this means the currents and increased crocodile activity make it unsafe for swimming. I can see why it’s one of the most popular swimming holes in the park, easy access from a large carpark and an easy walk into the pool itself. We admired the waterfalls, but didn’t see any crocs!
It was another 20 minute drive from here further into the park to our next stop, and first swim, at Buley Rockhole. The Rockhole is actually a series of cascades that run for around 30 metres down the hill. We were lucky to have one of the top rockholes to ourselves for a short time, a bit slippery getting in and out but the crystal clear water was delightful. Not too cold for me ( and I like my pools warmish!)
A short drive further on we stopped at the carpark for Florence Falls & Waterhole. This one required a little bit more effort, we walked down the 160 steps and along the trail through lush trees before arriving at the waterhole. This was definitely getting busier, we’d arrived just before a couple of tour buses but there were already many people in the water and sitting around the edge. We went straight in. This waterhole is large, deep and shaded so was a lot cooler than the Buley Rockholes but still lovely once you were in. We watched a few young people ignore all the warning signs and climb up the cliff walls before jumping in – you could hear the whole crowd breathe a sigh of relief when their heads popped up out of the water again!
After our swim we climbed up those stairs and drove off further through the park to the Magnetic Termite Mounds. They’re called magnetic because the millions of termites that build them align them north-south – so that they receive the warmth of the sun on their eastern and western sides in the morning and evening while exposing less surface to the sun at midday when the nest might overheat. They can be up to 4m tall and 100 years old!
It was REALLY hot by now, we drove further east out of the park until we arrived at the little town of Batchelor, where we stopped at the Motel-Pub-Bottle Shop-Cafe-Casino for lunch ( they multitask up here!).
From here we backtracked threough the park again with just one stop at Tolmer Falls – there was a fine view down over the flood plain and into the falls themselves, but swimming is not allowed here.
We decided to call it quits at this stage amd head back to the cabin to cool off in the aircon and then to sit on our top deck and enjoy a drink and cheese as the sun dropped down. We took a stroll up to see the next cabin that is currently being built. It will be identical to ours, and it was interesting to compare the bare bones “container” to our comfy digs. A final BBQ for dinner tonight, although we had to beat a retreat indoors because the bugs were particularly fierce – the kind that crawl inside your underwear!
