A Long Way to the Top

Alice Springs - Karlu Karlu (Devils Marbles) 406km
Karlu Karlu - Dunmarra  468km
Dunmarra - Elsey N.P. 228km
Elsey N.P - Katherine 134km

What a change as we have moved 'up the track'. We have left behind the red sand dunes, rocky gorges, ghost gums, dry river beds, vast plains of spinifex and mulga, dingoes, NOW it's all shades of green with palm trees, frangipanni, flowing rivers, flowering eucalypts, yellow wattles, very dense bush with high grass and small delicate kangaroos, new birds. And it's WARM. the last 2 days have been near perfect. 28-30 degrees during the day, clear blue sky and a light breeze, 12 degrees overnight - an aboriginal chap we talked to in Katherine today said the nights were freezing, we thought they were just about right for a good nights sleep. 

The first day from Alice took us to Kurlu Kurlu, a much nicer name than Devils Marbles. We arrived about 1.00pm and got a good spot but there were not many places left to choose from. By 2.30pm it was full - 42 units all lined up about 2m apart. There was a fair demand on the 2 pit toilets. A lazy afternoon and late walk through the formations.

 We had been up since 5.30 in the morning so it was early to bed. We have found that most campsites are completely quiet by about 9 o'clock - except for the howling dingoes.

On the road by 8.00am. shopped at Tennant Creek, lunch at Elliot which was larger than we remembered with a mainly aboriginal population. Had planned to stay there but park was closed because of a power failure so drove for another hour to Dunmarra roadhouse. The distances are so vast in this country, an hour means you are another 100km up the road. There was a very pleasant caravan park with power but no phone. A Brahmin cow and calf welcomed us to our site,

huge (56 metres long) road trains came and went

(this truck took $634.00 of diesel), and two helicopters dropped in and left after purchasing 2 bags of ice.

After a 2nd long day of travel we decided to change our plans and travel for only a couple of hours to Elsey National Park. Back in 1985 the family had enjoyed the hot spings at Mataranka but this time we travelled out to a lovely campground with large bush sites just near the Roper River. A proper toilet block with solar hot water added to the appeal of the place. It was hot (over 30) and humid so we sat in deep shade with our books (Merilyn slept) and watched the passing parade of some delightful birds, including Shining Flycatchers, both male and female and an Olive Backed Oriole - I bet that excites some of the readers!

Next day a morning walk (8km return) to Mataranka Falls, alongside the green Roper River, flanked by tall palms was delightful. About 1km from camp over a distance of about 20m we were engulfed by a myriad of butterflies, hundreds of them. The afternoon was spent much the same as the previous one. We did not hear dingoes at night at this park BUT we did hear (quite a lot) wild donkeys.

Today was a quick trip of one and a half hours to Katherine where we are staying in the BIG4 park which is large and green with lovely trees and gardens. After lunch we rode on a track into town and back out again on another track on the opposite side of the Katherine River. A black, skinny slithering snake crossed our path but quickly got out of the way when it saw Merilyn bearing down -who wouldn't. 

We had a nice brief chat with a young aboriginal man near the  Katherine Road Bridge. He was a 'local' and lived in a nearby community of about 30 homes. We have encountered several bright, pleasant aboriginal people working in cafes, stores and the bank and it is most encouraging. However alcohol abuse  problems are still very evident and it is most distressing to see some of the other health problems of many of the people, there is much diabetes because of high sugar diets. Law and Order issues are also of concern in many of the communities. There is a program where many shops won't serve minors during school hours unless they have a permission slip from the school. School attendance is an obvious issue and we saw several uniformed aboriginal truancy officers in Alice Springs. The more leaders that come from the aboriginal community the better our future will be. Some of the racist attitudes of people of my generation is quite disturbing. One fellow I was chatting with in Alice, who seemed a very nice chap, started talking about all of the aboriginals hanging about in town, suggesting that the problem is that we have put a white mans head into a black mans body - I didn't stay chatting for long. Another very conservative type of man in Dunmarra started talking about the 'coloured folk' he had seen in Elliot. I asked him did he mean aboriginal. When will we learn?

Tomorrow we are heading West to Gregory National Park and will be off-line for some days.