The last week.

Right, this starts a week ago. Brace yourself, it's long, but I promise it took me longer to write (and about 5 times longer to do the photos).

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Monday July 29

It took ages to pack up today. I woke when it was still dark to the sound of the bats returning. It doesn't get light until after 7. I packed and it was probably only a bit slower than usual, but then I went to fill up the bike from the jerry can and the spout wasn't on so I spilled petrol everywhere. I tried to put the spout on again and it spilled again. It took me about half an hour to get it to work. I ended up just forcing it. I didn't leave until after 10 and I was in a bit of a mood.

I went around to Buley's Rockhole. It is similar to the cascades but with nicer swimming holes. It was really nice. I just picked a hole and jumped in. Later I went for a look at the other holes but the first one was the best. The water was a perfect temperature.

After that I headed out of Litchfield and stopped at the magnetic termite mounds. They are shaped a bit like a front tooth and point from south to north. Or from north to south. Apparently those are the only termites on the planet that build mounds like that. I don't think they're actually magnetic. They build them that way so that one side is always out of the sun so they can move around to escape the heat.

This photo was way over exposed and in trying to make it viewable I have just made it grainy. 

A scientist did an experiment when he moved a mound out of alignment and most of the termites died. The ones that survived he got with a magnifying glass, then he poured boiling water into the mound just to make sure, probably.

I thought I may as well keep heading out of Litchfield so I can get supplies. I'm camped a bit before Batchelor at a van park. It was cheap and is nice. They have grass here.
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Tuesday July 30
I left that place at Batchelor and made my way to Robin Falls. It was hotter than hell there. I walked alongside a pathetic creek for a few hundred metres then judged that if there was a waterfall there it wasn't making enough noise to be worthy of continuing.

I found this dead parrot and a leaflet for the zebra rock polishing attraction placed strategically under my bike. I don't know what it means. Is it a warning... Or a threat? 

When I neared where the bike was I came across some geriatrics who were trying to decide where to swim. The creek was probably up to the knees at the deepest and about 4ft wide. I put it down to the early stages of dementia and carried on.

Although the waterfall eluded me the detour was well worth it. It was much better than the boring Stuart Hwy. Nice windy roads through some hills.

I got to Pine Creek and camped at the racecourse. I found the only shade in the place beside the lone tree. It was full of galahs screeching and squawking all afternoon. It would've been annoying but I could barely him them over the drunk lady camped nearby swearing at her husband.

Apparently she has broken her arm and is waiting to get some scans done in Darwin to see if the plaster is ready to come off. She'd taken 70cc's of red wine (stat!) to dull the pain. Almost every word was a swear word in a horrible voice that made the galahs sound pleasant.

I went over to happy hour for some respite. It was the usual. Old people talking about their fantastic go get em attitude. Two of them were towing Suzuki Jimny's so that replaced the usual battery talk. A couple came in with a really fancy campervan and everyone turned to watch in awe as the side wall extend out.

Then it was 6 o'clock, time for the news. 20 odd chairs scraped the concrete in unison as the old folks turned towards their Mecca. They spent the opening few minutes talking about how long it had been since they'd seen the news. Nobody seemed to care that it was the Brisbane news.

I farewelled the caretaker, who I'd been talking to, and left. Not one of those old people had even glanced at me let alone said hello the entire time I was there. They even talked about how hard it must be for the guy on the motorbike. Hence why I'm ridiculing them.
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Wednesday July 31st

Today I rode into Kakadu. I was supposed to get a pass but I don't know where from. Perhaps I'm supposed to ask a tree. I'm camped at Barramundi Falls aka Maluk. The camp is spread out and peaceful. The road in was hairy with patches of sand. I didn't even pretend to be a dirt bike rider. I put my feet down and duck waddled through. I'm not even ashamed. I was going to use here as a base to go see some other places, but I don't want to go on that road more than I have to, so tomorrow I think I'll go to Cahills crossing on the border with Arnhem Land.

This afternoon I went to the Falls. It was fantastic. The walk in was along a board walk across a crocodile infested swamp (allegedly, I didn't see any) and then a rock scramble along the creek. There is a giant plunge pool to swim in. It was similar to Wangi Falls but with less people and the plunge pool is surrounded by a shear rock wall.

Camping in the dirt at Barramundi Falls. 

 Definitely crocodiles in there. Taken from the path to the Falls. 

I must say, I'm getting a bit of waterfall fatigue. I don't think I'll go visit the others in Kakadu.

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Thursday August 1

Another day without internet. This is going to be a long catch up post. Last night I went and sat around the fire with a group from Shepparton. They weren't travelling together but happened to be here at the same time and knew each other through work. Three of them are teachers.

While we were sitting around the fire (despite it being about 28 degrees) dingoes started howling all around and then there was a clatter from one of the camps. Dingoes (or maybe a goanna) had gotten into the bins. I'd left a bunch of stuff out so decided to go back to camp and dingo proof it.

This morning I packed up and headed back down the sandy track. I discovered that if I just hang my legs out each side I don't need to waddle and can churn through the sand without losing balance. This does seem to go against every bit of sand riding advice I've heard, which suggests I stand up. But it works for me.

I headed to Jabiru and bought a parks pass. I'm such a coward. $40 it cost. It is decent value but not paying it would've been much better value.

After Jabiru I kept going to Cahills Crossing. I've just come back from Ubirr. It is a site where Aboriginal people drew a shit load of fish and the occasional kangaroo and turtle. I think they drew every fish they caught. They drew over the top of older fish drawings too. I don't know how old the oldest paintings are. There is one of a Ye Olde Saling Bote which I assume isn't that old. I know they go back at least 5000 years.

Tassie Tiger drawing

This one is a picture of a bloke who had all his fish stolen. He was devastated because he wanted to draw all those fish. So he killed everyone who ate the fish. 

Some fish. The yellow is important. It represents the fat, which was highly prized. 

One cool thing that I overheard from a noisy private tour was that the artworks are actually rusted into the rocks about 6mm deep. I didn't hear the mechanism that caused it because he briefly stopped shouting (oxidation ahhhh derrrrrrr, but caused by the paint how? Ahhhh derrrrr)

The main gallery was under an overhang. I tried to get a photo of it. It'd be an awesome place to live. A short climb up the rocks revealed the best view I've ever seen. It reminded me of the Lion King. The floodplain was green and lush with billabongs filled with birds. On each side were these huge rock formations that spread out in all directions as far as I could see.

It was so good that one lady felt that her beauty would be overshadowed by the beauty of the surroundings. I saw her off behind a rock putting on makeup! Gotta get them likes!

Zoom in, that's a makeup case and a little mirror. I bet she thinks that song is about her. 

What a hypocrite. 

The locals refer to Kakadu as Kakadon't. It's not that good, they say. Countless other travellers have made the assessment that Litchfield is the far superior park. I haven't heard anyone at all talk about Kakadu with the same reverence as Litchfield. But Kakadu is a class above. It feels truly ancient and unspoilt. It probably isn't (the Uranium mine suggests it at least isn't unspoilt), but it feels that way.

I'm now back at Merle camp ground. I went to the river crossing to see if I could see what I am supposed to see there, but the tide was too high. I'll have to go back tomorrow. I'm not saying what it is in case I don't see it. If I do see it this paragraph will be pointless, as the next paragraph (written tomorrow) will probably be about it.

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Saturday August 3

The most amazing thing is happening! I'm back at pine Creek camped under the lonely tree on my lounge reading a book. My commitment to cleanliness is unwavering so I've left assorted food scraps around. Some pretty blue faced birds flew down to eat some bread while one sat on my bike and kept a lookout.

The lookout gave a screech and the birds scattered. I looked around and a kite was drifting overhead. It parked up at the top of the tree that the blue faced birds had retreated to. Directly above me.

After a while one little bird thought he'd get back to the bread and the kite took the opportunity. He dropped off the branch straight down towards me, spread his wings about a foot above me and shot across to the bird eating the bread. I was sure he got him but I think he actually got a piece of bread.

I jumped up and grabbed my camera. He sat back up in the tree for a while, this time over the other side. A pair of little black and white birds ganged up on him and chased him away. He did a quick lap and came back. That seemed to satisfy the black and white birds and they left him alone.

A different species of bird went down and got stuck into the bread but he just watched. Eventually he took off and dived down to the bread but these little birds were too quick. As he found the wind current a gust hit him and he ended up directly above me. I held my finger down on the camera and was preparing to be ripped up but he floated away. I really felt like I had become his new target.

Looking directly at me. Premeditated. 

The lookout looking the wrong way. 

Lunch

Spotted. 

A cat and mouse game is now playing out where he leaves and the little birds come back, so he comes back and they bugger off again.

I may as well fill you in on yesterday. Not much happened. I went down to Cahills Crossing but the tide was too high. When the tide comes in the water runs over the crossing. Barramundi take the opportunity to get across to the other side, and crocodiles take the opportunity to gorge on barramundi. They lay on the crossing eating. It's a shame I missed it. I did see some crocs down in the mud. One swam past another one and I was hoping they'd fight but they didn't.

I rode back to Pine Creek yesterday. I stopped at Bukbukluk lookout for a bukbukluk look. It wasn't that great. The ride back was enjoyable but hot.

I'm having another day at Pine Creek then I'll head to Edith Falls. I met a guy from Byron on a bike yesterday who is keen to meet up and do the Gibb river together. I'm up for that but don't really want to compromise or stick to anyone else's itinerary. I set my own pace, often without rhyme or reason. I have his number so I'll call him when I'm over there and see if the timing is right. He knew exactly when he'd be there and that is the sort of forethought and planning that I'm trying to avoid.

This was the sunset. I tried to edit it to make it look how it looked but went a bit overboard with the tint. 

That more like how it actually looked. 

I need to get a rego inspection done in Katherine. I have a horrible feeling that it is already out of rego. I thought it was due in august but now I think that may have been the car. I haven't received the email reminder and it should've come by now.
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Sunday August 4

Tomorrow I'll have internet and will be able to post. Today I left Pine Creek after realising I'd developed quite an obsession with the birds in that tree. They wouldn't leave me alone this morning and I'm fairly sure one of them stole my 12v usb charger. It was beside my tent and this morning, after the birds kept messing around over there is was gone. Having said that, I found the cover for my chair. I thought it blew away on a windy day in Rockhampton but it was in my bag.

I rode down about 70km to Edith Falls today. The bike was incredibly unbalanced and it was really windy so it wasn't fun.

Edith Falls is the winner out of the water falls so far. It is a mixture of Barramundi Falls (because it is surrounded by rocks) and Wangi Falls (because of the size of the plunge pool) but if you walk up around to the top of the Falls you can see that it is actually a series of falls with a series of plunge pools. The top plunge pool was smaller, less crowded and more peaceful. From there I went to the edge of the Falls and the pool below was another big one that again flowed to a waterfall and down to the main plunge pool. I climbed up to a lookout and could see above the top pool and there appeared to be another pool above that.

The top plunge pool. 

At the top of the waterfall. 

At the top pool. 

Bottom pool. 

That's all I got to say 'bout that.

This evening I ate a can of baked beans and 2 tins of tuna. I just copied the photos over from the big camera. I over exposed every photo from Kakadu so I'm going to try to fix that.

Katherine tomorrow.

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Today, Monday 5

I have come back to the camp out to the west of Katherine. They have put me in a spot that isn't even in the camp ground. I'm camped behind one of their ornamental palm shrub things outside the front gate. People drive in and look at me like I'm a living billboard.

I spent today trying to sort out my broken stuff. Last night my new $100 mattress packed it in. The seam has come apart. I bought it from bcf so I could easily get a refund. I rang them and they can only do a refund in store. The nearest store is back in Darwin. The next store on my trip appears to be in Perth. I went to town to buy another mattress but it is a public holiday today so nothing was open. I might have to send it to someone near a bcf to get my refund. I don't really want to carry 2 mattresses around the country. I tried to fix it so I have something to sleep on tonight.

Next was the $350 headphones. They wanted the serial number that is only on the warranty card. I obviously don't have that. I couldn't believe that it doesn't have the serial number on them somewhere. I found a tiny little qr code on the volume controls and when I scanned it it was the serial number. So hopefully they can send me some new ones.

My $140 broken chair is holding up, so I'll wait until I get back to get a new one (that'll go straight on ebay).

I also looked up my rego. It isn't due until the 26th of August, which is a relief.

Oh I forgot, Shannon sent me a news article that someone bitten by a crocodile at Wangi Falls the other day!

Finally, this camp is the last place that I used my plate and fork. I don't remember if I mentioned but I lost my plate and fork. I haven't gone searching yet to see if they are still here. I'll leave you with that cliffhanger!
































Bloody hell that took ages. I hope I'm all caught up and it makes sense.
Here is a picture of my bike parked in the outback.