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!