Sea Darwin & Mindil Beach

We took a cruise around Darwin Harbour and into the mangrove estuaries. Featured was a shipreck of a Singapore ferry washed up in the mangroves and several fish jumping. The boats moored in the harbour on the buoys pay only $10.00 a week rent and some of these are million dollar yachts. This tour took us right into the middle of the city.
Mindil Beach Markets are a mecca for those wanting to try the variety of foods cooked there and eat as the sun sets on the beach which is very idyllic. Thousands of people flock here. The stalls here feature lots of aboriginal artifacts, jewellery, clothing, paintings, crocodile trinkets and whip cracking for anyone wishing to have a go.

A boat trip up the Adelaide River to witness crocodiles being fed is an eye opener, 4.5 metres long, one with part of it's snout missing from a brawl as they are canniblas and will eat each other so the bigger always wins. They do not eat when hungry but when food is available as they do not how long it is until their next meal. Females lay several dozen eggs in a nest on the riverbanks and then stay close by until they are ready to hatch. If any of the eggs are dead the female eats them. The ones that survive the journey to the water may not survive long as they are eaten by bigger fish so very few survive to adulthood.

Darwin

We arrived in Darwin 27th April staying at the Howard Springs Caravan Park 25 km south of Darwin. Peacocks roamed around the park and came right up to the steps of our cabin like they were waiting to be fed.

Friday 29th I signed my contract with ntmedic for work and our accommodation for a 2 bdrm unit at 2/45 Brinkin Terrace which is 2km away from the hospital and a short ride to the beach which is not for swimming due to crocodiles.
We explored the wharf area in the city where there is a wave pool and a lagoon which is croc and stinger proof. It is a very pleasant location surrounded by eateries and the Medina Vibe hotel. The water is a very pleasant temperature.

I started work at Darwin Private a 5 theatre complex hospital which is small and friendly. Dale started work repairing household whitegoods which has 13 service vehicles.

From Katherine to Darwin

Adelaide River 203 km north of Katherine we visited the Railway Heritage Precinct. This was at the 77 mile point on the 145 mile Palmerston and Pine Creek Railway where passengers could stop for refreshments during a 10 hour journey. This features a display about railway life during the 1880's and during WW11 period. This ceased operations in 1976.
Several aspects of WW11 feature here as it was a major forward supply base  having a large military presence. An aerodrome constructed in 1941 for a fighter strip and then as an emergency landing strip. A hospital was established in 1942 following bombing by the japanese in Darwin, the hospital moved from Berrimah to this location and ambulance trains ferried patients here.
The QCE hotel was established here in 1873 and this is where Charlie the buffalo from "Crocodile Dundee" stands stuffed on the bar.

Katherine

We spent Easter in Katherine satying with friends Lyn and Bob Piper who were superb hosts. Easter Saturday we set off to Katherine Gorge which is a series of 13 gorges carved in sandstone rock by the Katherine River in Nitmiluk National Park. The water in the river is flowing rapidly due to the excellent wet season. The views as we walked to the lookout were spectacular. The walk was 3.7 km and felt like 10 in the middle of the day.

We also went on a dinner cruise up the Katherine River and into the accessible gorges which in some areas were 45 metres deep. There is a lot of aboriginal mythology about the river and the formation of the gorges and aboriginal men and women are not allowed to swim in the same areas.
We then went for a helicopter ride over the area and the differences in the views was amazing as the country looked so rugged from the air. We had a lady pilot and she had done cattle mustering so I was relieved when I heard that as I was quite hestitant about going.

Edith Falls is another spectacular area which is 42km north of Katherine and still part of Nitmiluk National Park. There are several walking trails but some remained closed due to water over the track. We walked the Leliyn Trail a 2.6km round track which climbs to the top of the escarpment and then down to the upper pools. The water from the falls was flowing very rapidly and the walls of the pools was very rocky so we only put our feet in but most people went in for a swim and got swept around but were able to get back out of the water without too much difficulty.
We also visited the museum which is the site of the original Katherine aerodrome and terminal. The displays detail early pastoral history, WW11 and communication. The main focus is the Dehavilland Gypsy Moth flown by the first flying doctor, Dr. Clive Fenton.
Our last day we were given a tour of the Rural College, it is a large farming area with cattle and horses. This complex is part of Charles Darwin University and courses available there include animal husbandry, motor vehicle maintenance, 4 wheel driver training and many other course pertinent to the area with a particular focus on indigenous education.

Larrimah, Mataranka ,Daly Waters

We left Tenant Creek heading for Katherine on Good Friday. Our first stop was the Daly Waters Pub which was licensed in 1938 to service passengers and crew from the nearby airfield and in early WW11 became very important with the Raaf setting up headquarters here. This pub has an amazing amount of memoribilia on its walls such as bras, business cards, currency from all over the world. Camping and accommodation id available here.

Our next stop was Larrimah for lunch at the Pink Panther Pub. This hotel was originally the RAAF Officers Mess during WW11.

Mataranka Thermal Springs was our next stop. This area was made famous by the movie "We of the Never Never" with the homestead being a replica of that in the movie. Mataranka has a population of about 250 people. The RAAF were stationed here during WW11.

                                                                                                                                             

                    

                                                                                                                                            

                                                                                                                                           

Tenant Creek

Tenant Creek was a goldrush town and was 1of 15 repeater stations for the overland telegraph in 1872 and was opened by Charles Todd. A store and hotel was built in 1932 just prior to the goldrush where there were 200 mines for gold and copper.

The telegraph station is a lovely old  building made of thick rock from the surrounding area with a large verandah all the way around. It has outbuildings for meat storage, living quarters and blacksmith and stables.
Today Tenant Creek is the town centre for vast open grass palins, scatterred cattle stations, mines and aboriginal communities.
We had dinner at the memorial club which has a courtesy bus to transport patrons to and from the club every 1/2 hr, this is to prevent patrons from being harassed by aboriginals for money and alcohol. Patrons have to swipe their membershipn card to gain entry and non-members have their drivers licence scanned to check for a criminal background and if necessary you may be refused entry.
Our caraven park was in the main street and as the aboriginals made their way home to their settlement they were loud and verbally abusive to each other.

Journey from Townsville to NT

We left Townsville 18th April after working there for 13 weeks planning to travel to Mt. Isa, Tenant Creek, Katherine and on to Darwin. However 60 km west of Charters Towers we had to turn back as there was 800mm water over the road at Shovel Creek, so we spent the night in Charters Towers and set off after checking with the local council and only 20mm was over the road so we drove carefully and all was well so on stopping at Julia Creek for petrol @ $1.69 per litre and a sandwich for lunch. This is a popular stop but all there was was the fuel stop cafe. The drive was very scenic due to the excellent wet season. There was water lying on the side of the road in several locations and the magnificent ochre rocky Mt Selwyn were covered in green trees and grasses.
We had 2 nights in Mt. Isa - staying in a cabin in a caravan park. dale visited his parents and grandmother's graves as he had been wishing to do for some time. We went to the Outback Museum as we were told there was an audiovisual presentation of William Purdy and his input into the commencement of the Mount Isa Mines as a prospector with Campbell and Miles but it was out of order.

The Underground Hospital was fascinating - it was built during WW11 when the Japanese were bombing Northen Australia. It was never utilised as a hospital but some nurses used to sleep there when on night duty or the babies would be taken there when temperatures were extreme. It has dirt floors, bunk beds(so much for infection control),  the old mixture bottles, bassinets, placetal disposal unit(never seen one before) and the old anaesthetic masks and machine.

The hospital was not known about until they were extending the current hospital.

The entry was quite hidden in the hill behind the hospital.

This is one of the tent houses where the miners lived, it had tin walls, calico to cover the window spaces and a framework of tin over the roof in an attempt to keep it cooler.

venture to innisfail, silkwood, paronella park, undara.

We set off to Inisfail a small north Queensland town with friendly people and spent the night in a caravan park.This is an entry to a caravan park in the main street of Inisfail but not the one we stayed at. The trees light up at night.
Just south of Inisfail we found a winery called "Murdering Point Winery" named after a massacre which occurred at that location many years ago. However the wine was made from the local fruits and native herbs grown in the area including lychees, mangoes, passionfruit and many others. They were all very nice especially the liqueur to rival baileys.

We travelled through the village of Silkwood which has the smallest bank in Australia.

Then onto Paronella Park a castle built by the  catalonian man Jose Paronella  who arrived in Innisfail in 1913 and worked hard for 11 years buying and selling cane farms to enable him to buy land where he commenced building his castle which included a ballroom and movie theatre. He planted 7000 trees and built Queensland's first hydroelectric power plant. There was also tennis courts and change rooms for the swimmers. However in 1946 logs being cleared upstream descended on the park destroying the refreshment rooms and then fire in 1979 swept through the castle and a cyclone in 1986. The new owners are gradually restoring it. The kauri forest above is often the backdrop for wedding photos.
Undara was our next experience, this is a series of lava tubes created by volcanic phenomena 190,000 years ago. Undara is home to one of the earth's longest lava flows from a single volcano with lava flows travelling more than 90 km to the north and 160 km to the north west. This resulted in the formation of underground caves with water flowing through thier bases. Many of these remain undiscovered. Some of these are homes to microbats which as they fly out they are eaten by the snakes which live in the trees at the cave entry.

Undara was originally part of a cattle station and its owners provided tours and accommodation and when the parks and wildlife wanted to turn some of this property into national park it was on the condition that it remained a tourist spot with various forms of accommodation along with tours. Guests eat at the restaurant and partake of a bush breakfast with kookaburras who drop in to sample the food from tourist's plates. We satyed in  ofthe old Queensland Railway carriages which had been converted to hotel rooms. Kangaroos roamed the outside gardens unperturbed by anybody.

Our next adventure was to Bowen which is a quiet town south of Townsville which is Queensland's oldest town, with Captain Cook passing this site in 1770. Captain Henry Daniel Sinclair discovered Port Denison in 1859 which is Bowen Harbour. Within a year of settlement there were 20 cattle stations in the area along with hotels, stores and government agencies. The movie "Australia" was filmed in Bowen. The history of Bowen is depicted by a series of murals painted on the side of buildings around the main street. There are several lovely beaches and walks around the area. The township has been maintained by the establishment of the Abbot Point Coal Loading Facility which is 20km north of Bowen and employees 500 personnel. Once again we found purdy relatives an old friend of Dale's who has a mango farm. He took us for a tour and told us the story from growing the small trees to exporting the fruit which was fascinating

wwwworkingholiday.blogspot.com

We  commenced our working holiday 15th January 2011 but not without drama as the heavens opened the week before we were due to leave Ballina causing road closures. Each day we mapped out a new route and in the end all exits were closed. I flew to Townsville and Dale followed in the car.
When I stepped off the plane a wall of humidity hit me and I thought "What have I done"  Roslyn (sister-in-law) picked me up and I stayed with her overnight and nearly melted. I went to my unit the next day which was right behind the hospital. Dale arrive later that day and we started settling in to our 2 bedroom townhouse with everything provided.
The Mater is very different (I had no expectations). Everything they do is different and the only familiarity is the anaesthetic machine which is the same as the old one at St. V's.
We had many an enjoyable weekend whilst in Townsville. We stayed at home one weekend and went away the next. The weekends we were home we went for a walk along The Strand which is a 2.4km walking/bike track along the foreshore with beautiful gardens, bbqs, benches and a water playground for the kids - although some were big kids.

We had a weekend on Magnetic Island - a small island 20 min ferry ride from Townsville. It has 4 bays catering to the holiday makers.

Early Feb Cyclone Yasi paid us a visit but we were not in the eye of it and only lost power for 24 hours and no damage to our unit but it certainly caused havoc around Townsville with powerlines down and trees uprooted.

There are other agency nurses here Gayle, Maree and Lisa who are very friendly and love a chat they have been on other placements like Burnie, Hobart, Saudi and the Emirates.
Dale commenced work mid Feb repairing household whitegoods full-time which part of the plan but that was what the company wanted.
We also did the 3 historical walks around Townsville visiting the old pubs, railway station and shopfronts. One one of our walks we found the old government offices and were invited inside to view an apartment - it was beautiful and all for a cool $1.49mill. The building had been converted into 5 apartments.

Charters Towers was our next visit just 1.5 hours drive from Townsville. It is a very quaint town with beautiful historic buildings. Gold was discovered here in 1871 and at one time was the 2nd largest city in Queensland with a population of 30,000. This very wealthy goldmining town had 3 calls a day at the gold stock exchange when mining was at its peak. There were 92 hotels in the city to cater for the miners thirst and had its own brewery. During WW11 15,000 USA military personnel were stationed at Charters Towers. Whilst here we visited the family history centre to track down Purdys as they lived here in Cemetery Rd and 2 purdy children were born in Mt Leyshon Rd. We got a little lead but Dale found other living relatives so we spent an entertaining afternoon with them. Dale's father went to school here.