- Part 1: The Universe Gives Me A Nudge
- Part 2: Bangkok & Rest & Realisation In Koh Lanta
- Part 3: Singapore Slings & Bali Tranquility
- Part 4: A Trip To The Place Where Oceans Collide
- Part 5: Geraldton, Woodchopping & Kalbarri Majesty
- Part 6: Monkey Mia, Ningaloo Reef & A Deep Sense Of Dread
- Part 7: The Tent & The Bull
- Part 8: The Sky Turns Red & The Earth Glows Orange
- Part 9: The Overwhelming Power Of Untamed Nature
- Part 10: The Universe Brings Us Together At Purnululu
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My visit to Western Australia was over and I felt a change soon after I crossed the border into the Northern Territory.
High, steep sandstone cliffs loomed over me and boab trees dotted the red landscape. It was all very rugged and dramatic and I was a tiny speck amongst it all. The heat was intense to the point where sweat was dripping off me and I had to be conscious of breathing deeply and slowly.
After stopping at Timber Creek, I pointed my car in the direction of Katherine. I passed a small bushfire to my right and watched as a park ranger (I think) towards it with a small extinguisher.
It unsettled me a little bit and I kept seeing pockets of dark smoke rising above the forest that was bordering the road.
It felt like the forest was closing in on me and I concentrated hard on the road ahead of me. I could see something orange moving a couple of hundred metres away to my right and it took me a second or two to absorb it. It was a bushfire which seemed to be very close to the road, getting bigger and taking hold.
I said out loud “f***ing hell – what do I do here?” No-one was going to answer me but if they could they’d probably say “you just keep on driving.” Which is exactly what I did.
The fire seemed so unpredictable, as if it would dance into the road and block my way. It didn’t of course but I felt really unnerved and later that evening in Katherine, I’d see a black plume of cloud drifting hundreds of metres in the sky where the bushfire had got so intense the road was shut while it was dealt with.
The forest thinned out and I could hear a helicopter overhead. There was a 4WD stopped on the road and as I drew closer I realised it was the police. I assumed it was to do with the fires but the helicopter was herding cattle.
Where The Outback Meets The Tropics
I reached Katherine wound up like a spring after the fires and the relentless heat. And also because the Northern Territory just hits different.
I found Gorge View Bush Retreat where I was staying. Pizza was served on the deck which was a drive up the hill and offered panoramic views over the area and with it the black smoke of the fire that was drifting further and further.
Katherine is a small known as the place where “the outback meets the tropics” and has a really independent feel. I floated in the Hot Springs for hours and went on a boat trip in Nitmiluk National Park with its steep-sided gorges.
There was non-stop build-up to the NRL final between Brisbane Broncos and Melbourne Storm. I sat outside the tent in the evening in silence looking at the stars when one of my fellow campers returned from watching the Broncos’ victory.
I headed north and took a diversion to Pine Creek, a small town of 320 inhabitants and drove up to the overlook with views over the old gold mine which is now filled with water. Many Chinese miners arrived in the 1870s and a Chinatown was established during a short-lived mining boom.
I also went to Adelaide River War Cemetery with the graves of 434 military personnel who were killed during WW2 and the civil cemetery that honours 63 civilians including the nine post office workers who were killed in the 19 February 1942 bombing of Darwin. There’s also the Memorial to the Missing, honouring 292 service personnel who lost their lives in Timor and other northern regions.
Living For Today In Litchfield
Then on to Litchfield National Park which was just glorious. I swam in Florence Falls which felt enclosed and personal before walking a short trail through the rainforest to Buley Holes.
I struck up conversation with Belle who was perched close to the water reading her book. She’d driven her camper van from a couple of hours north of Sydney to Broken Hill and then on to the Stuart Highway and up through the Northern Territory.
The following day I headed to the termite mounds which are all aligned north to south which regulates the temperature. There were thousands of them, standing like tombstones, up to about 2 metres tall. Others stood alone, up to 4m tall.
I drove on to Wangi Falls which were absolutely spectacular. As you swam towards the waterfalls the water went from cold to warm to cold again with each stroke. It was just beautiful.
I stopped and did a 360-degree turn and just burst into tears. This was the moment I saw life in glorious technicolour. I’d never felt this way and understand exactly what living in the moment actually means. No looking back, no regrets, no looking forward – just that moment alone in the present.
When I got out, I saw Belle again reading her book, all quiet and serene. We chatted a little about Kakadu National Park which I was set to visit. I was rejuvenated by Litchfield after feeling a little out of sorts since leaving Western Australia. I wondered then if it was sensory overload: I’d experienced so much on that drive from Perth through WA.
I also think Belle was a guardian angel who calmed me when I needed it.
Reaching Darwin: Tropic Like It’s Hot
From there I made my way into Darwin. I’d done it – I’d driven all the way from Perth to the most northerly point of the Northern Territory. About 7,500kms in all. I could only start to process everything I’d seen and experienced and all the people I’d met along the way.
I did a lot of ‘normal’ things the first couple of days in Darwin. Went shopping, had a facial, drank a lot of coffee and walked around the town. I really liked the feel of it: lots of street art – ‘Still Here, Still Trans’ said one, ‘Tropic Like It’s Hot,’ said another – independent stores and cafes and a deckchair cinema. There was a sense of communities rubbing along together, living cheek by jowl.
It’s easy to say that when you’re a visitor and don’t really scratch the surface of things. That was brought home to me when I noticed a poster for a ‘Reclaim the Night’ march against sexual violence urging young people to attend.
I don’t know why but I couldn’t sleep well at all: my mind was going at a million miles an hour for the first couple of nights and I was feeling a bit jumpy.
I went to the Museum of the Northern Territory and walked round the exhibition about Cyclone Tracy which flattened Darwin on Christmas Day 1974. The city had been rebuilt after it was bombed by the Japanese in WW2 and again it was destroyed only to rise again.
I learned about the history of the Northern Territory which was first populated by the Indigenous people more than 60,000 years ago. Fast forward to the 19th century and many Europeans – including the British – had tried and failed to make expeditions and the Northern Territory was annexed by South Australia.
There’s far too much history to write about here but yet again we see man’s inhumanity to man.
I walked along the seafront just near the museum where I saw the imprints in the sand left by the swoosh of a crocodile’s tail with the sea in Darwin a no-go zone given the salties’ presence in the water. There were people clambering around on the rocks and I recalled speaking to a woman at Ivanhoe Crossing whose husband had swum there despite the croc warnings and he’d also gone in the sea in Darwin. Not only were the crocs a concern, the tide came in very quickly.
I walked along East Point Reserve with its military history and views along the coastline to the city.
After a few days, my time in Darwin was up. Next stop Kakadu and then the long drive south on the Stuart Highway.