The Top End - Darwin and Kakadu

Hi all from hot and sunny NT,

This email describes our time in the Top End, after we left Nutwood Downs. Our main stops were at Katherine Gorge, Litchfield Park, Darwin then Kakadu.

We travelled nearly 400 km from Nutwood Downs to Katherine. At Katherine Gorge, we did a boat trip up two gorges, starting at the downstream end. There are a lot more gorges all in a chain. We swapped from one flat bottom boat to another, clambering over the rocks between gorges. This photo is in the second gorge just near Jedda's leap (for those who saw the movie a long time ago). At Katherine we also tried to get a fuel pump problem fixed, with limited success.

260 km further north is Litchfield Park west of the main Stuart Highway, and about 100 km south of Darwin. Litchfield is a place of waterfalls and giant termite nests. It was very hot so it was great to cool off after a short bush walk. We even drank our coffee (plastic mugs) in the water.

Termites build above ground because they would otherwise be flooded and drown in the wet season.

We had a phone call from Peter's student, William, as we drove into Darwin, inviting us to meet him for brunch at Cullen Bay. He had just finished a week at senior residential school in Darwin. The lady in the photo is a teacher who billeted him, the girl is another student who was about to board the Greyhound Coach with Will to return home.

We took a sunset cruise on Darwin Harbour, in a sailing catamaran, with about 10 other people.

Darwin is a beautiful city, lots of parks with big shady trees and streets lined with flowering trees (Frangipani ?). We went to Mindil Sunset markets on the beach and watched another lovely sunset. We also checked out the Cyclone Tracy exhibit at the museum.

And we went to the Military Museum at East Point,to learn about the bombing of Darwin. Over 60 Japanese air raids in 18 months from Jan 1942. Can you see Lee's reflection in the searchlight mirror.

Darwin was a strategic location for the navy, in its own right and as a supply base for the Pacific war. As a result of the air raids, the navy replaced bombed out oil storage tanks with underground ones (long tunnels) under the city. These were not finished when the war ended so were never used.

Leaving Darwin, we travelled about 250 km east to Kakadu. We crossed three rivers flowing north, the Adelaide, Mary and Alligator. All have tourist attractions. This is a small part of a panoramic view from Mamukala bird hide.

We saw these Jabiru dancing at Nourlangie, just south of Jabiru township. We kept the engine running here as we were still having problems. We ended up booking a service at the Mercedes dealer, which meant we had to return to Darwin.

We liked Yellow Water best, at the upstream end of the South Alligator. We went for a cruise in a flat bottom boat and saw lots of birds and crocs.

These Brolgas were in the long grass beside the lagoon.

and the boat got real close to this Northern Azure Kingfisher.

Look at the Jabiru's reflection in the Lillies.

My favourite was this White Breasted Sea Eagle, apparently the second largest eagle in Australia (after the wedge tail).

It was then back to Darwin where the fuel line was finally repaired (a small hole in the hose), and we headed south hoping for some cooler weather, or at least less humidity.

Till next time,

Peter and Lee.

Nutwood Downs part 2

Hi to all,

We left Nutwood Downs about a week ago and have just arrived in Darwin. Here are some further impressions of the very interesting six weeks we spent there.

Last email I described the process of mustering the cattle. The ultimate purpose is to load them into roadtrains for transport to Darwin then live export to Indonesia. Below are the steps to load the roadtrains.

The cattle are mustered from very large paddocks into the cattle yards. You can see a long line moving right to left in the distance and the group of stragglers in the foreground are being pushed along by the bullcatchers (which you can't see).

This is Starkvale, one of three cattle yards. It is almost empty because we just loaded 2 roadtrains (12 decks). In the top left you may just be able to see cattle. The main gates are here. Cattle are pushed in an anticlockwise direction down the left side through a series of gates to the front left hand corner then into a “pound” just under the small tree in the centre. Cattle can be drafted in several directions from the pound, the majority in single file up the narrow ramp towards the road train which is just behind the camera.

Cattle are drafted about 10 at a time into the pound and then sent through one of several gates. Some cattle can get very anxious and charge at speed looking for a way of escape.

The work is very skilled and requires quick reflexes

It gets extremely dusty.

Up the race into the blue and yellow road train.

They talk about the number of decks, so this road train has six decks and will carry about 150 cattle, depending on size of the cattle.

Nutwood Downs has certainly been a different experience for us - the remoteness, the climate, the way of life, the dust, the dogs (there must be about 7 of them which are let off the chain at different times during the day. Some of them are stupid big pups which jump up on you as you walk past).

Not to mention the cane toads. Hundreds of them come out at night and as I (Lee) walk to the toilets or shower with the torch, they hop out of the way – or just sit defiantly. As I was pulling my washing out of the machine the other day, I noticed something moving, and sure enough, it was a small cane toad – a lighter shade of brown than usual, but still moving!

One good thing about the cane toads – the highly poisonous brown snakes like to eat them, and of course the poison in the cane toads kills the snakes, so there aren't as many brown snakes around !!! There have been several sightings of snakes around the house – William killed one the other day, but the others got away. The numbers of snakes and spiders increases dramatically during the wet season as more and more of them seek the high ground around the house – sounds inviting, doesn't it ?

Having the noisy generator going 24/7 has been another different experience for us. The generator died one day and had to be replaced. Backup No 1 was also out and backup 2 was too small, so they had to fork lift an old one in from the workshop. The power supply is not consistent, there are many surges of power and flickering of lights – the microwave in our Van has "chucked a hizzy fit" and seems to be gaining a couple of hours a day – it can't cope with the irregular power supply.

School work has progressed well. Lee's student had to design an experiment to drop a raw egg from 2 metres without breaking it. With many hints from Lee, he succeeded. Peter's student went to Darwin the day we left for seven days Senior residential School. He was really looking forward to the social interraction with his classmates

Of course all the meat is locally produced, how many ways can you cook beef? We also had pork and there are chooks as well. This photo is outside the kitchen, the big white box is the walk-in coolroom.

A couple of quick comments to conclude. The Hodgson River runs through the property. It has a huge flow in the wet season. When it is flooded the only way out is by helicopter. For the rest of the year the river quickly

subsides and all that remains are waterholes at several places. The Hodgson drains north into the Roper River, which flows east to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Nutwood Downs was one of a string of stations owned by (British) Lord Vesty till the family bought it in 1986.

There are usually three or more Aboriginal stockmen. Their tribal area extends to Roper River and Ngukurr in the north, where CMS has just celebrated 100 years of missionary work and church support. The stockmen live on the station or at an Aboriginal settlement at Hodgson River (an Aboriginal owned cattle station), immediately north of Nutwood Downs. Hodgson River has a community store, school, nurse and police station. Aboriginal people also own Cox's River to the east. Unfortunately, neither station is running anywhere near its potential.

We really enjoyed our time with this family and other staff at Nutwood Downs. Our two students were delightful. The weather and the dusty conditions were trying, especially as it got hotter at the end of our time. Overall another memorable VISE experience.

God bless,

Peter and Lee Caspersonn.