Days 57 - 70

We left Cairns, slightly disheartened, as we had only managed to collect 200 litres of WVO. To get across to Darwin along the Gulf Track, we would need nearly 600 litres of WVO and we knew that we would have to stop at every roadhouse, hotel and takeaway that we came across to try and get oil. On the plus side, the Barnacle had been mended and we restocked on meat, tins, fruit and veg for the next leg of our journey, as we had been told that the Gulf Track is a fairly desolate place with fresh food places few and far between.

About 200 kms into our journey, the cars started to thin out and we saw a car about every hour. The roads were sealed from Cairns to Normanton but from Normanton, the roads were unsealed the whole way to Mataranka. Although the unsealed roads and the creek crossings were no where near as rough as the roads we experienced in Cape York, the roads were generally loose gravel/rocks and we came across a number of travellers who had damaged their vehicles on these rocks.

Driving along the Gulf Track itself was unbelievably beautiful. Once we left the mountainous scenery of the stunning Atherton Tablelands behind, we encountered huge open plains from Normanton to Borroloola that carried on for miles and miles, with trees so far away in the distance that they appeared as if they were floating on water. The roads were also incredibly long and straight and all you could see in the distance was a mirage of the road. From Borroloola onwards, the scenery became scrubby with rocky outcrops, which was in stark contrast to what we had been experiencing up until this point. Some of the 4WDrive tracks we took went through cattle stations. Once again, I was amazed at the vastness of Australia for the one cattle station we travelled through went on for the whole day. As we were travelling through cattle stations, we would have to stop now and again to open and close gates. As Gerard and I take the driving in 2 hour shifts each, when it was my turn to open the gate, I got the gate that was labelled "the Bull Tank"! Needless to say, I did not hang around in that field as I was wearing a red vest top!

We covered about 400 kms each day for the first five days and although we were arriving at the bush camps around sunset, the advantage of this was the wildlife that we saw on the side of the road in the late afternoon. Once the day had cooled off a little, the animals would come from the plains onto the track and we ended up seeing hundreds of kangaroos, cattle, emus, water buffalo, brumbies (wild horses) and wild pigs. The bird life was incredible also. We managed to see birds of prey, mainly Kites, but at times, we were fortunate enough to see both black and brown Eagles. They were huge in comparison to the Kites. The circumstances where we saw a large amount of birds of prey was generally where there was roadkill. At one point, there was a roadkill every 30 seconds and not just poor Skippy and his friends, but also cattle and birds. With road trains coming screaming towards you carrying four carriages behind them (about 56 metres long), it is not surprising that there was so much road kill around.

Along the Gulf Track, the opportunity for bush camping is plentiful and we seized upon this. We ended up camping a lot of the time along the banks of creeks, lagoons and rivers and having a fire meters away from the water. The days were hot (averaging 33 degrees) without a cloud in the sky which meant the stars at night were plentiful and bright. We were also lucky enough to have a full moon for nearer enough the whole time of our trip and the natural light you got from the moon out in the bush was incredible.

Each morning, we would wake up, start the fire again and have breakfast watching the bird life on the creeks and rivers – it really was camping at its best. In some places, we had the entire river to ourselves but in others, there were a couple of other campers. Bush camping with other people around brings about a few “personal” problems! When nature calls, you take with you a shovel and try to walk as inconspicuously as possible to a large tree to give you some privacy, pretending that you are not actually carrying a shovel. I have seen some people whistling along carrying their shovel, pretending to use it as a walking stick! The most embarrassing time is when you come out from behind your tree and hurriedly walk back to your camp to bump into someone else walking in your direction also with a shovel. You just sort of knowingly nod to that person and hope they don’t dig in your “area”!!

Camping so close to the creeks and rivers gave us the opportunity to fish and when we didn't have any success with that (which was every night!), we would throw our crab nets in and excitedly check them each morning to see what we had caught the previous night. We mainly caught Cherapins (a freshwater prawn) which were fantastic eating for breakfast with a bit of garlic butter!

You will be pleased to hear that we did not just drive and fish for the whole time! We hired canoes in each of Lawn Hill National Park and Katherine Gorge, where we spent the days exploring the gorges and waterfalls. We also stopped off at Mataranka and went to the thermal spas at Bitter Springs and Mataranka Homestead, which was heaven after the long and dusty drive we had encountered. The water is naturally 34 degrees in these thermal spas and we spent a day snorkeling in the crystal clear waters where we saw turtles and tropical fish.

We took a detour from the track and went to see the Western Lost City, just outside Borroloola. The stone formations were pretty incredible and we spent a long time guessing what each rock looked like (I have included a picture of some of the rock formations so you can also have a guessing game!).

We crossed another state border, which was not very momentous, but it means we are now well and truly in Mick Dundee country!!! The Northern Territory is 30 minutes behind New South Wales and Queensland time which theoretically meant you could have an extra 30 minutes in bed but unfortunately for us, the sun and the birds do not follow this logic!

We also met some great people along the track. Barry and Helen, whose car brakes had broken so were using their hand adjusted caravan brakes to stop them when needed down the many steep dips; Richard and Macca, who we met in Roper Bar and whom were generous enough to supply us with beer and vodka when we had ran out (in return for their generosity, I baked them some blueberry muffins as a thank you. When I returned from giving them the muffins, I found the remaining muffin tins completely empty and on the floor and a fat kangaroo hopping off!); and Robbie and pals from South Australia.

We are now in Katherine and struggling to get used to the amount of cars and tourists we are seeing in comparison to the Gulf Track! We have managed to find more WVO here which means we will make it the whole way to Darwin from Cairns on WVO. Before we get to Darwin, we are heading to Litchfield National Park and after this to Kakadu National Park, where Croc Dundee was filmed, so as you can imagine, I am EXTREMELY excited!

I have included some photos of the scenery of the Gulf Track, the gorges of Lawn Hill, the rock formations at the Western Lost city, Gerard catching his first Cherapin, an eagle watching over his road kill, some pelicans in the morning on a lagoon and some of the bush camps we stayed in.

I would like to say a massive thank you to all those who have emailed and blogged us, it is so nice to hear your news and we hope you are all well.

We will blog next after I have met Mick, Wally, Donk and friends at the pub in walkabout creek!!

Rach and Ged x