Daly River to Katherine

Ramblings 2008 #4
July 23.
DALY RIVER TO KATHERINE VIA DARWIN & KAKADU
It was pretty sad leaving Woolianna although we were glad we stayed the extra days to spend some time meeting the Vodaphone team people and the drivers, Craig Lowndes & Jamie Winchup.
They really turned on a good day for everyone making themselves available to chat and have photos taken…..guess who was in the front row? Everyone there was impressed by the easy going nature of these 2 young men who in the eyes of many are superstars of their sport but really they are just 2 very nice young blokes with no airs & graces about them whatsoever….. (Photos are on the Blog if you’re interested.)
We arrived in Darwin early next morning (July 3) and were very happy to find our favourite site “The Courtyard” had just been vacated that morning so we jumped in there post haste and got ourselves set up.
This site covers an area of approx 200 sq. mts. and adjoins a very nice outdoor area surrounded by tall palms, it is very private and cool, also close to the toilets which is a big plus in a large park like Howard Springs.
The first few days for me was spent at the HIDDEN VALLEY racetrack for the V8’s which was great as the Fords won again. Darwin Council provides a free bus service to and from the track each day ……(pick up out the front of the park) which is very convenient as the car parks get pretty full on race days.
Peter & Barb had got to Darwin a few days before us and had a site fairly close to ours and John & Denise, (the Daly River swimmers) were also still there, but they left after the weekend to get to Kunnunurra where they had lined up some work for a few weeks to help pay for the new boat motor they had to buy to replace the old one which got drowned. (Non Repairable)
We had seen most of the tourist attractions around Darwin so the rest of the time was mostly spent resting, reading and cleaning up after so long in the wilderness, J also managed to squeeze in a bit of retail therapy.
We had a couple of meals at Stokes Hill Wharf and re-acquainted ourselves with the Moonfish plus a visit to the famous Humpty Doo Hotel for lunch, last Sunday we went to Mindil Beach for the annual Beer Can Regatta which was good fun, the boats they make from beer cans are quite remarkable …..
(the kids make theirs out of soft drink cans) but some people cheated this year and hid various hulls and large drums inside the cans so next year they are changing the rules. We also had a day at the Sky City casino which is a bit unusual for us but we learnt that every Monday is seniors day and if you join the casino as a member, (no charge) you receive a smart card with $20 poker machine money on it plus a $5 Keno voucher and a free coffee. You can’t cash in the money on the card but if you win more than the $20 you can then take out the cash, which we did and had a lovely lunch courtesy of Sky City…..Not bad for a couple of non gamblers.
Unfortunately Darwin is still experiencing a lot of crime & violence around the suburbs and also in the CBD, mostly at night, sadly the courts are not helping as most of the crims go to court and end up back on the streets the next day. There have been several cases recently where people have appeared in court 2 & 3 times in a month yet they still get bail……something wrong there, I think.
They’ve just announced the date for the Territory election next month and all the candidates are promising to take severe action to rectify this situation…..Hmmmm. We’ll see. I vaguely recall hearing similar noises the first time we came up here 4 years ago.
The weather has been beautiful though with daytime temps around 30+ and nights around 18 and it’s still not humid. Apologies to all you Southerners who are probably still freezing but this is the reason we come here.
From Darwin we headed out through Kakadu to Gagudgu Lodge Van Park at Cooinda where we booked the early morning, 6.45 cruise on the Yellow Waters Billabong. Yellow Waters is an offshoot of the South Alligator River which flows about 200k’s from its headwaters to the ocean in Van Diemens Gulf about 150k’s east of Darwin.
The area is alive with birdlife from ducks, egrets, jabiru & brolga to the most magnificent kites, sea eagles and magpie geese plus some of the prettiest honeyeaters you could imagine. The morning cruise seems to be the most popular as there were enough people there to fill 4 boats, each of about 60.…. We also saw a few crocs but nowhere near the size of those in the Daly.
We booked in for 2 nights as I was hopeful of doing a spot of fishing from a floating pontoon near the park,
unfortunately the pontoon is now on private property and not accessible to park guests, anyway it was fairly hot so we had a swim and enjoyed the rest.
Saturday night, 19th we stayed at a small park in Pine Creek where we intended to visit an old railway museum we had passed previously, unfortunately it was closed on weekends so we will have to save that one for next year.
We got to Katherine around midday Sunday in time to watch the V8’s racing in Queensland and then have a quick swim to cool off, it’s still very hot.
Monday we decided to buy a TV satellite dish which are much cheaper here in Katherine than anywhere else we’ve ever seen them. We went to the daily demonstration at Johnnies Electrics at 1.30 and by 4.00 we had it set up and were able to watch TV from all over the country. This will come in very handy over the next few weeks as we think there will be very limited coverage when we get up into the gulf country east of here and McLeods Daughters is just about to come back on, so according to Judith we need to have our priorities in order.
We’ll be out of here tomorrow morning and will probably have a stopover around Daly Waters then head east to Cape Crawford where we plan to take the helicopter ride over “The Lost City” which we have been told is worthwhile. From there we are hoping to attack the gravel for about 600k’s from Borraloola via Hells Gate
& Burketown to Normanton on the Savannah Way, we would also like to visit Gregory Downs and maybe Lawn Hill.
We’re not certain of the road conditions at the moment but we will start asking questions as we go and hopefully get the right answers, we’ve got plenty of time before we’re due at Wonga Beach so we can afford to go as slowly as necessary.
Hopefully I can report on all the good aspect of that trip next time.
Till then, hoping you are all well, thank you to those who keep in contact and send news from home and thereabouts, we love hearing from you.
Love to All
D & J.

Katherine to Daly River

Roaming Ramblings 2008 #3 July 1st.
Katherine to Daly River.
Greetings from Woolianna on The Daly. (Heaven on a Stick)
We were expecting to be leaving here today to go on to Darwin for the next 2 weeks, but late yesterday afternoon we learnt that Craig Lowndes and Jamie Winchup of the Vodaphone Race Team are visiting the local aboriginal community of Naiyu tomorrow (Wednesday) on their way to Darwin, for a meet and greet session with sausage sizzle lunch plus photo opportunities and being the dedicated Ford follower that I am I couldn’t pass up the chance to go over and join in the activities so we’ve delayed our departure for 2 days.
Naiyu, incidentally, is one of the best examples of an Indigenous Community we have ever seen, the whole village is clean & tidy, the residents seem to have a genuine pride in their community which is good to see.
They have a fully staffed medical centre, open 6 hours a day with their own air strip where the doctor lands for his weekly visit, the community is totally dry which is strictly adhered to and the Police Station is manned 24/7 by 4 aboriginal officers and they pride themselves on the low level of crime & violence in the area.
Those that want alcohol have to go to the Daly River Pub at the river crossing (about 10k’s), they can only buy takeaway between 3pm & 7pm, the same rule applies to us as well but you never see more than about 8 or 10 there whenever we go over. (Maybe the $50 a carton slows them down)
The kids all go to the local school at Woolianna on the bus each day and from the pictures on the wall at the school of those kids that attend 100% each week it seems they don’t have too much trouble getting them to attend.
It really is an eye opener compared to some communities we’ve been through in recent years, no government intervention needed here.
It’s about 20k’s from here and we go over every Thursday when the fresh food truck comes in, to stock up on the essentials at the village supermarket which is very well run and carries a wide range of food products and general goods.
We’ve learnt over the past 4 weeks that only about 20% of the residents have their “income” quarantined which I believe is the lowest in the Territory.
Anyway enough about Naiyu, will be able to report on tomorrows happenings with the FORD boys next time.
The last month we’ve spent at Woolianna has been really lovely, the owners here, Georgie & Adrian are ex Qantas staffers, he a pilot and she a hostess and they certainly know how to look after their guests, they get involved with all the park activities and organise regular events like Market Days, Dances & Singalongs.
Today being Territory Day (30 years of self government) we are having a BBQ on the lawn tonight followed by fire works.
On June 15, Georgie’s mum Anna, who is here at the moment from Sydney, turned 80, so we had a big party night to help her celebrate, again with fire works. (Any excuse)

Every Thursday the ladies have a craft day and market in the Gazebo here at Woolianna and several ladies from the other camp sites along the river come along and they all have a lovely time. On Tuesdays the same thing happens at the Banyan Farm, another resort/camp about 7 k’s away and all the ladies from here go over there for the morning. (J is there at the moment)
There are also markets at the Woolianna School every 3rd Sunday and believe me they come from everywhere for that one…. Judith has sold quite a lot of bears and jewellery she’s made at all the market days as well she’s been the Woolianna hairdresser for the past month.
I just go fishing which hasn’t been as successful as I’d hoped although I have caught 2 at 60+ cms and one at 70 (he was a nice fish) will put some pics on the blog when we get to Darwin.
Plenty of undersize which are still great fun to get in the net. These Barra know how to fight.
Last Friday night about 20 of us went over to the Banyan Farm for a charity dinner and entertainment, there was a variety club type rally passing through the area so they put on a function to help the teams raise some money for the Starlight Foundation, there were about 120 people there in total, we had a 3 course meal for $30 a head and it was a very successful night, we believe about $2000 plus was raised from various auctions and sales of goods etc. (We all came home with something)
They have a very large undercover area that holds about 200 which was built some years ago by the fishing club to cater for the entrants in the annual Barra Classic which is conducted on the river in April every year.
The entertainment was provided by a fellow we’ve seen before in Darwin, he calls himself Fat Thommo and he is well named, (HUGE would be more appropriate) he dresses up in all the costumes and does Elvis, Roy Orbison, Willie Nelson and Bee Gees impersonations.
As a grand finale he comes out in womens lingerie, including G String & suspenders etc. and does the Rocky Horror thing, hilarious.
We had one frightening experience a couple of weeks ago, John & Denise Dawe who we first met at Emerald and had seen a couple of times in between, called in for a week and one morning we went in the boats down the river about 7 k’s to fish and while we were there they got their boat caught up in an overhanging tree branch to which they were tied and subsequently tipped themselves into the river, Peter & I were only about 30 metres away and were able to get to them fairly quickly, we got John into the boat in about a minute or two and fortunately there was another couple close by and they were able to get to Denise and get her out of the water, the sad part about this is they are both fairly large people and poor swimmers and were panicking a bit so we were very lucky that the second boat came along as I think had we tried to get them both aboard my boat we might all have ended up swimming with the crocs.
Anyway all ended safely, we towed their boat home and the days adventure was the main topic of conversation at Happy Hour that night.
Unfortunately after about 3 days the story was embellished considerably each time it was told and people were treating us like heroes (very embarrassing)
Last night which was supposed to be our last night here, as well as another 4 couples, Georgie organised a farewell dinner for us all in the Gazebo, we felt we were there under false pretences as we had already decided to stay the extra days but she wanted us to be there anyway and guess what, yes ….she put another fire works display. As I said, any excuse.

That’s about all I can remember of this past month but we certainly won’t forget our time here, it’s been absolutely beautiful and we’ve already booked for the same time next year.
Till next time
Hope you are all well
Love to All
D & J.

Katherine to Daly River