The Final (SA) Leg of our 2019 Roadtrip

So it was that on July 11th, 2019 that WTF? - Where are The Farrows? re-entered our home state of South Australia almost 7 months after we had set out.  Southbound on the Stuart Highway we drove… and drove… and drove!  Between the NT border and home were 4 more Bush Pubs to visit so with these destinations locked in we continued on our meandering way.

First on the list was the Kingoonya Hotel about 35km south of the highway and 45km west of Glendambo Roadhouse.

We enjoyed sitting around the fire with locals and
visitors alike at the Kingoonya Hotel

With the signature of the publican secured we enjoyed counter meals with three blokes that had ridden their motorbikes 200+km on the muddy tracks from the upper Eyre Peninsula.  After dinner we adjourned outside to sit around a nice warm fire and have a couple of drinks with them and three or four local station hands that had arrived.  While their party was just kicking off we bid them all goodnight and returned to the caravan that was parked in a wide open space a couple of hundred metres from pub near the railway line that runs through the town.  Fortunately, only one train rumbled past during the night - but it was a long one!

The next day was bright sunshine and clear blue skies which made for some great photos when we stopped at Lake Hart - a dry salt lake on the edge of the highway and railway line.  For some reason the railway line in the middle of nowhere reminded me of the old silent movies where an evil villain (me?), would tie a damsel (Heather) across the line ahead of an oncoming train.  I don’t know why - it just did!  See photo of ‘Damsel in Distress’, below.

Heather as the 'Damsel in Distress'
lying across the train tracks

I love the bright white of the salt and deep blue
of the sky in this photo of Heather at Lake Hart 

Next pub to visit on our route, albeit requiring a short 300 km detour to get there, was the William Creek Hotel situated along the Oodnadatta Track.  The Oodnadatta Track has a reputation for being rough, heavily corrugated and hard on vehicles - it is well deserved!  At several stages in our journey we were down to walking speed and at one point the ute and caravan (and us as occupants), were being shaken so vigorously that the flexible whip antenna for our UHF radio was snapped right off of it’s base!  We made camp at Coward Springs, and without the caravan in-tow, proceeded to drive to the pub a mere 75km further up the track.  Anyway, we finally made it to the pub, met the publican who was very happy to sign his page in our book, enjoyed a refreshing beverage before making the return trip back to camp.

After a bone-shaking drive it was good to stand on
solid ground again at the William Creek Hotel!

We broke camp from Coward Springs and drove 130km east until we reached Marree at the eastern end of the Oodnadatta Track.  Along the way we stopped at some roadside ‘art’.  Considerable effort has gone into this ‘open air gallery’ which appears out of nowhere, is located in the middle of nowhere, on a road between nowhere and nowhere else, and includes a couple of light aircraft ‘planted’ in the ground, amongst other curios.

This 'roadside attraction' is worth a stop - if only because
it is the only thing for over 100km along this section of
the Oodnadatta Track!

The Marree Hotel, also in our Bush Pubs book, is the main feature of the town of Marree which is located 675km N of Adelaide, and is the starting point (or end point) of BOTH the Oodnadatta and the Birdsville Tracks.

The Marree Hotel at the start/end of the Oodnadatta &
Birdsville Tracks

With the last of the dirt roads now behind us it was smooth sailing on sealed roads all the way home from Marree.  One of our stops on the way home was a ‘Station Stay’ in the southern Flinders Ranges.  We were the only campers there and really enjoyed the tranquility of our campsite alongside a dry creek bed.  I managed to take a photo that I think captured that most peaceful time of the morning as Heather enjoyed a cup of coffee beside the campfire.

Serenity is a hot cup of coffee beside the campfire
first thing in the morning!

Heather also had some good success metal detecting in this region.  She managed to unearth 4 dog tags in great condition.  The oldest from 1892.  The others were 1898, 1901 and 1922.  The smile on her face (see pic below) shows just how happy she was to have found these beauties!  

Heather, very happy with her Dog Tags from
1892, 1898, 1901 and 1922

As we moved south the weather got wetter and colder - which turned out to be a little bit fortunate for us as I will soon relate.

The last pub for us to visit on this road trip was the Overland Corner Hotel on the northern bank of the Murray River near Barmera in SA’s Riverland.  So, after making camp near the pub we went into the pub, had a beer & a wine, got our book signed by the publican, and it was ‘mission accomplished’.

This pub is for sale if you are interested...

As soon as we had got back to the caravan after getting our book signed we discovered that the refrigerator/freezer in the caravan had stopped working and refused to operate regardless of whether it was plugged into the ute, mains power or the gas bottle - it was done!  Nothing but a blinking red light.  Luckily we were just a three hour drive from our home rather than hundreds of km or days from anywhere that could try to repair the fridge.  Given the cold SA winter weather we knew the food in the fridge would last one more night but nonetheless we agreed that tomorrow we would have to go home and, sadly, bring our 2019 road trip to an end. 

16 days and 2,442km through SA
and we were back home

A long and winding road… It was great fun!
We will be back at it as soon as we can once I have retired!

Over almost 7 months WTF? - Where are The Farrows? had towed the caravan 19,735km around Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, Northern Territory and South Australia.  A long and winding route saw us visit 23 of the 50 Bush Pubs in our book - some brilliant, others very ordinary!  The natural attractions and sights are what impressed more than the man-made ones and the vast emptiness of large, enormous stretches of the country also stand-out.  While there was not always alot of people out in the remote parts, there were always plenty of flies out there to keep WTF? - Where are The Farrows? company.  We look forward to sharing some stories of our next extended road trip - whenever and wherever that may be...

Kakadu and more of the Northern Territory

Upon our return from Singapore, WTF? - Where are The Farrows?, pulled out of Darwin to commence our return to Adelaide after 6 months on the road.  First stop on our way south was Kakadu National Park.

Kakadu National Park - much of the scenery was
made famous to the world in the Crocodile Dundee movies

Kakadu is not only famous for its scenery, waterfalls, wetlands, birdlife and crocodiles but also for its significant aboriginal culture and ancient artwork.

Selfie at sunset with Nourlangie Rock, Kakadu NP in
the background

Didn't see any crocs in here but did see croc traps!

There are many sites to see rock paintings of animals
(turtle above), fish, and people of the region

An example of art featuring people

We spent 4 busy days in Kakadu checking out all that it had to offer - it was well worth the visit! 

Rather than beeline towards the NT-SA border we had always intended to take our time meandering in a generally southwards direction albeit with the odd detour along the way.  One such 500km detour took us east and deep into the bush to pass through Limmen National Park where we came across another ‘Lost City’ - two of them in fact!  These are called ‘lost cities’ because, if you let your imagination go a bit, the numerous sandstone rock formations can ‘resemble’ crumbling apartment buildings.

OK… I can see the crumbling apartment building story!
(Just)

No surprise to learn that the above sandstone formation
is known as Cathedral Rock!

It was a long way to go over some pretty rough and remote dirt roads and while interesting, perhaps not worthy as a stand-alone destination.  But, as they say, ‘it is the journey not the destination’, which was truly the case in this instance and we enjoyed it nonetheless.

Following a long but not overly hasty haul southbound we came to a place called Aileron on the Stuart Highway.  Many places along major transportation routes and highways the world over don’t have much more than a roadhouse selling fuel, unhealthy food and maybe a place to sleep for the night.  Aileron, located about 135km N of Alice Springs is one of these places.  However, in an attempt to differentiate itself from all places like it along the Stuart Highway, Aileron has installed a ‘roadside attraction’ that is clearly designed to get your attention and pique your curiosity enough to make you pull off of the road to take a closer look.  On the hill behind the roadhouse/reststop/pub/caravan park combo is a 17m (55ft) tall sculpture of ‘Anmatjere Man’ - an aboriginal man holding a spear in front of a ‘Hollywood-like’ AILERON sign.  It worked as intended on us as we pulled off of the highway to take a look.  We also found is a giant figure of ‘Anmatjere Woman and Child’.

Anmatjere Man is 17m tall and
clearly visible from the highway!

Made you Look!  If it is good enough for Hollywood...

An added bonus is this sculpture of
Anmatjere Woman & Child (with goanna)
in the parking lot

We resupplied in Alice Springs before exploring both the East and West Macdonnell Ranges.  These locations either side of Alice Springs are home to some remarkable and typical central Australian scenery, i.e.: dry river beds, steep sided gorges (some with permanent waterholes) and red sand.  Unfortunately at the time we were in the region, so were thousands and thousands of holiday makers visiting the most famous central Australian landmark, Uluru (formerly known as Ayers Rock).  As it turned out, this was the final holiday season where people would be permitted to climb to the top of Uluru before the climb was permanently closed to everyone by the traditional owners.  Resorts and caravan parks were full, there was not a regular campsite to be had anywhere and people had gone feral by driving onto farm/station properties without permission, they were stopping along the side of the roads to make camp (all this without toilet or rubbish facilities) - it was NOT a good advertisement for ‘civilised’ human behaviour.  Add to this the fact that tempers were flaring as fuel supplies were limited due to the unforeseen demand and lines to get said fuel were loooong… WTF? - Where are The Farrows? took about 2 seconds to decide that we needed to take no further part in this circus.  We pointed the rig due south and drove out of the Northern Territory into South Australia.

A leisurely 2 months spent in the NT

All-in-all we had spent two months in the NT (including a week in Singapore) and had covered 5,505 km in the process.  We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and will definitely be back to explore more of the Top End either on the way to or from Western Australia.  Until next time, when WTF? - Where are The Farrows? will summarise the last couple of thousand kilometres of our 2019 journey, I wish you all (all 3 or 4 of you that read this blog), well! 

Side trip to Singapore

It was while we were in Darwin that we came across a real "Godfather Deal', i.e.: an "offer we could not refuse".  Return flights from Darwin to Singapore for just $270 each!  We arranged some hotel accommodation for ourselves and were soon off for a week in Singapore!

The beauty about flying to Asia from Darwin is that it is so close!  In less than the time it takes to fly from Brisbane to Perth or from Vancouver to Toronto we were in Singapore.

Clean & safe City/Island State.

English is the 'Lingua Franca', i.e.: the working language used in formal settings such as government, courts, schools and business, but Chinese, Malay & Tamil are also official languages as they represent the major ethnic groups present in Singapore. 

As soon as we arrived in Singapore it was striking how clean and modern this city is.  Even in the airport there is a giant glass dome containing a multi-level ceiling to floor waterfall and jungle biosphere.  They call it 'The Jewel'. 

The 'Singapore Experience' of modern art starts
as soon as you arrive at the airport!

Tall glassy skyscrapers, fantastic old and modern architecture, sculptures, parks & gardens, are everywhere.  If you like walking, as we do, you can walk from the city centre / marina to any of the major ethnic districts, i.e.: Chinatown, Little India & Kampong Glam.  If you get a little leg weary you can always jump onto the super efficient and affordable subway system.

Panorama of Singapore Marina.  L-R Marina Bay Sands Hotel,
Financial District Skyscrapers, & Merlion - the symbol of Singapore 

Lotus Flower and Marina Bay Sands Hotel on Singapore Marina

Heather in front of Singapore's Merlion fountain

Gardens by the Bay is a huge botanic gardens complex that
should be visited twice - once in the day and then again at night
after a free light & sound show at the Marina

A free nightly light, sound and water show at the Marina is a
must see before going to see Gardens by the Bay lit up at night

Nestled at the base of the Financial district is Singapore's Chinatown district.  This is a bustling part of the city that is loaded with Chinese food markets (and all of the sounds and smells that go with them), temples and hundreds of eateries.

Chinatown really comes to life as the sun goes down
and the lights come on!

Little India is another district of Singapore that can be reached on foot or via subway.  So much colour, so much noise and so many stalls selling food and garments - be careful or you could end up being fitted for a suit or dress - that didn't happen but it easily could have!

Lots of colour and elephants can be found in Little India!

Don't stop to look for too long or the very eager (aggressive?)
stall attendants will have a tape measure on you before you know it!

As well as there being plenty to see, there are enough food and dining options to ensure you would never eat at the same place twice even if you dined out everyday for a year!

As it turned out, we happened to be in Singapore on Heather’s birthday.  To celebrate we had a lovely evening and meal at one of the many restaurants that line the Singapore River in the midst of the financial district.

Unexpected location for Heather's birthday but our
spur of the moment trip to Singapore made it a memorable one!

If shopping is what turns your crank while on holiday then the Orchard Road shopping precinct is the place for you.  There is something for everyone!

We had a great time in Singapore!

WTF? - Where are The Farrows? had a great time during our ‘whirlwind’ visit to Singapore where we walked our feet to within a hair of blistering!  Luckily, the good folks that run Singapore airport know that this is a common occurrence amongst visitors to their city.  To help out in this space there are numerous FREE massage chairs positioned throughout the airport where you can get some relief for your aching feet and legs prior to boarding your flight home!

We both took advantage of the free leg and foot massage chairs
that can be found throughout the departure gates at the airport

They seem to have thought of it all from start to finish.

In the next episode of WTF? - Where are The Farrows? we commence our journey south towards Adelaide.  First stop is Kakadu National Park. 

Where did I leave off?… Ah yes, - Darwin!

Not sure what led to me discontinuing the documentation of our travels in my WTF? - Where are The Farrows? blog over 15 months ago (last post was 14 June 2019 to be exact) but it certainly happened.  Why I have resumed is not COVID19 related but it is well known to me - I will get to that after I have taken care of my backlog.

Given the passage of time between the actual experiences and me writing things down, it would be a good bet that descriptions will be briefer than those provided in near real-time and only the highlights will make it into print.  Enough of the excuses, let’s get on with it…

Darwin

We rolled into Darwin on the 31st May 2019 with the intention to stay put for a couple of weeks in order to soak up the sights, sounds and flavours of the Top End.

Darwin is a pretty modern looking small city (pop ~ 150,000) - primarily because most of it has been rebuilt 4 times in the last 120 or so years: in 1897 following a cyclone, again in 1937 after a cyclone hit town, post-Japanese air raids during WWII and most recently after being devastated by Cyclone Tracy which delivered a direct hit late Christmas Eve / early Christmas morning 1974.

Being located in the tropics, just 12 degrees S of the equator it experiences a tropical climate with a wet and dry season. A period known locally as "the build up" leading up to Darwin's wet season sees temperature and humidity increase and people tend to go 'Troppo' (essentially they go crazy from the heat).  Darwin's wet season typically arrives in late November to early December and brings with it heavy monsoonal downpours, spectacular lightning displays, & cyclone activity.  

During the dry season, the city has clear skies and mild sea breezes from the harbour and all sorts of weekend and evening cultural events to enjoy.  The weather is perfect and it is a great time to be there.

Rather than going into detail about each of the events we attended (mainly because the details elude me more than a year after the fact - that will teach me), I will cheat a little and let some pictures tell the story instead.

The 'Top End' is famous for it's Crocodiles.
Heather posing with a life-sized sculpture of one of the critters.

Heather peruses items on the menu at The Road Kill Cafe at Mindil Night Markets.
Choices include Croc, Roo, & Buffalo Burgers

The Mindil Night Markets are held every Thursday and Sunday so there is plenty opportunity to attend even if you are only in Darwin for a short stay.

After buying some dinner we, along with many others,
sat on Mindil Beach to eat as the sun sank into the Arafura Sea

We also went to the Greek Festival - 'Glenti', where some fine Greek food and music got Heather in the mood to reveal her inner Greek! (see pic below)

Heather the Greek!

We also managed to have an evening at the footy to see my team, the Adelaide Crows, play Melbourne.  They won (but they shouldn't have) so I went home happy!

Attendance at AFL footy in Darwin is far more relaxed than it is in the big cities!
Bring a lawn chair and / or blanket and enjoy a picnic on the hill!

We were having a terrific time in Darwin but before our planned 2 weeks was up an opportunity too good to refuse presented itself - return airfare direct from Darwin to Singapore for just $270 each!  With no need to be anywhere at any particular time, we thought to ourselves, WTF? - Where are The Farrows? should go to Singapore!  We bought a couple of tickets, booked a hotel room in Singapore for a week and off we went!

Daly River & Litchfield National Park

Right from the outset I have to say that Litchfield National Park is probably the best National Park we have visited in all of our travels so far!

It has hiking trails to suit everyone, i.e.; short, long, steep, easy.  It has unique rock formations, it has hills, valleys, plateaus, & unique rock formations.  It has waterfalls both tall and small, clear water swimming holes, monsoon forest, savannah grassland scrub and, as always in the Northern Territory, termites mounds!

Litchfield National Park - What a great place!

We stayed for 4 days and had things to do each day without being hurried to get it all done or bored in between activities.  We thoroughly enjoyed every bit of our time here.  But before I go into detail, I need to briefly tell you about a couple of days we spent in the Daly River region prior to getting to Litchfield.

The Daly River Region is reputed to be one of the best ‘Barra’ fishing locations in Australia.  ’Barra’, short for ‘Barramundi’, is a fish species prized by anglers for their good fighting ability.  I haven’t got right into fishing to wile away the time just yet (truth be told - the rod and reel have not been seen for the entirety of our journey thus far), so despite its reputation for great fishing, that wasn't the reason we came here.

Parked on the low-level Daly River crossing looking for Crocs!
This crossing is frequently under water in the wet season.

We parked and set-up the van under a nice shady tree off to one side of the local pub.  I hear you saying, “I thought you said there would be no more bush pubs for a while”.  You are absolutely correct - I did say that!  For the first time in a long time we did not go somewhere in search of an autograph in our book.  The Daly River Inn is not even in our book but it is the epicentre of commercial and social activities (fuel, food & drinks, accommodation and information) in town.

The attractions for us, beyond ‘because it is there’, were reports of crocs in the river and water buffalo (yet another feral animal species in Australia), roaming the camp area under the cover of darkness.  As it was still early afternoon we decided to get out and about and explore the surrounding area a little bit.

From a lookout in the beer garden of the pub (we did go out and about beyond the pub), we quickly spotted a saltwater crocodile.  From a bridge crossing a few hundred metres away we soon spotted another along with a gangly looking Black Necked Stork wading in the shallows and walking on a sand bar in the river.  It was hard to get good clear photos of any of them as we were quite a long way from the animals.  With the camera on my phone at ‘full zoom’ the images I captured are a little blurry - definitely better seen with the naked eye than through a screen.  We also visited one of the local mango farms and picked up some mango cheeks for a smoothie - yum!

Saltwater Croc (estimated to be 2 - 2.5m in length)
lurking in the shadows

This Black Necked Stork has a funny way of 'sitting' down!

During the night, Heather heard some noise outside of the caravan.  Was it a herd of water buffalo?  She grabbed her video camera in the hope that it was and that she could get some footage of the beasts!  To our delight, the buffalo were out there!  Unfortunately, just the noise of the van door opening and a small light on the camcorder was enough to trigger their natural wariness resulting in them disappearing silently back into the shadows before we could enjoy their presence or get any photos.

Heather managed to get some video that was of much better quality than the stills I could manage.  To see video of the crocs, stork and the mango farm (but no buffalo), in and around Daly River, just click on the link below:

https://youtu.be/FOj__ZBSwJ4

Now... Litchfield National Park!

There are a couple of campgrounds in the national park.  We managed to get a site in the Florence Falls campground.  Just a 5 minute walk from our site were the namesake falls themselves.  Two cascades, side-by-side, splash down into a beautiful shaded waterhole.  The water was clear and inviting.  So much so that it did not take long for us to get into our swimming gear and take our first swim at the ’local’ waterhole.

Florence Falls from a lookout just steps from our campsite

View of Florence Falls from the steps into the plunge pool

Florence Falls from the cooling waters of the plunge pool

While termite mounds are prevalent all over the Top End, they are a major feature within this park.  There are two main types - Cathedral Termite Mounds and Magnetic Termite Mounds.  Cathedral Mounds up to 5 metres in height can be seen throughout the park.

Heather is dwarfed by this Cathedral Termite Mound

Magnetic Termite Mounds found on floodplains within the park stand up to 2 metres in height in a North-South orientation.  This orientation acts as a temperature control mechanism as it presents the least possible surface area to the heat of the sun.  We couldn’t get very close to them but there was a whole field of them.

Field of Magnetic Termite Mounds

Yet another feature of the park is ‘The Lost City’.  Located about 10 km down a 4WD access track, The Lost City is a formation of weathered sandstone blocks and pillars that, with some imagination, resemble crumbling buildings and ruins from an ancient civilization.

10km down a dirt track is an easy walk around and
through the sandstone pillars of 'The Lost City'

Over the next couple of days, we visited Tolmer Falls, Buley Rockhole, Tjaetaba Falls, Walker Creek and Cascades.  Spectacular scenery at all of them with swimming allowed everywhere except at Tjaetaba and Tolmer Falls.

So many photos, such limited space!
Did not want to bore you with endless photos of
waterfalls and swimming holes but I easily could have.

Last but not least was Wangi Falls.  Like Florence Falls, these are also double falls but Wangi Falls are much much higher!  Easily accessible, Wangi Falls is the most popular swimming location in the park.  Fortunately the pool at the foot of the falls is also large so there is room for everyone to enjoy themselves without feeling at all crowded.

Heather in front of one of the two cascades at Wangi Falls.
Shortly after this photo was taken we were swimming
where the falls splash into the waterhole!

WTF? - Where are The Farrows? had a great time at Litchfield National Park and highly recommend it to anyone who finds themselves in this part of the country.  Re-reading this post prior to publishing, I feel that I have not been able to do it full justice.  Hopefully, "Wow!" and  "You’ll Love It!" convey the message as to how much we liked the place.

A better way to see more of Litchfield NP as we saw it would be to watch the short movie (it runs for 9 min 30 sec), that Heather made of our time here.  To do that, just click on the link below to see what we saw.  Like we did, you may well find yourself asking WTF? - Where are The next Falls?

https://youtu.be/suyn_pTpnjs

With Darwin now less than 150 km away, WTF? - Where are The Farrows? are closing in on their targeted dry season destination.  Stay tuned for more tales from the Top End...