Kakadu

Kakadu National Park Administration is run by Aboriginals, and the administrative section is run well, the local Aboriginals in the township, however, degrade the area as they urinate in public, abuse each other in public and have an distinctive “un-kept” appearance, shame, with the International visitors in Kakadu, it does not send a good message to the rest of the world.
The following day, we drove up to Ubirr, where I climbed, past Aboriginal rock paintings to the top of a rocky lookout that gives a superb view over the Nardab floodplain. We then proceeded down to the Yellow Water Wetlands, and by walking the established walkway through the wetlands, one can witness the Magpie Geese, Jacanas and pig-nosed turtles, close-up and in the wild.
After leaving Kakadu, we proceeded South East along the Kakadu Highway to Pine Creek, then continued down the Stuart Highway to the small town of Mataranka. This place is noted for its “Hot Springs”, and is well worth a stop over for a dip. We did and the water was great. Clear and pure as you could hope for, warm and the underground spring flow was incredibly strong. I spent about 2 hours in there, (until the skin on the fingers became “wrinkled”).
There is a Tavern there and a Van Park as well.

Leaving Mataranka, we continued south to “Three Ways”, where we turned left onto the Barkley Highway heading east, towards Queensland, (incidentally, there are a few water tanks along this section of road, map references are in the “CAMPING AUSTRALIA” CD, handy point to know if you need water for Camping up ahead.
Arriving at Camooweal, we were totally dismayed at the road, the nice broad bitumen we had traveled through Western Australia and Northern Territory had suddenly turned to a narrow, rough “Strip road”, with no fencing, dead carcasses (cattle) over the road and Road Trains approaching where as you HAD to leave the road to allow them to pass. Be warned, this section of road runs for about 180km and needs full attention and caution.

Upon arrival to Mt Isa, we were glad to see a good size town with some decent shops and supplies. We booked into a “Top Tourist” Van park and did the “town crawl”. The next day we drove down to Lake Moondarra, which is worth the 20km trip, there are plenty of mine tours, if your interested and a good collection of “Nice Old Pubs”, that cook up a nice counter meal. It pays to visit the tourist center and get the “Guff” on the township, for things to see and do.

After a few days at Mt Isa, we traveled down the road to Cloncurry, where we turned left and took the Burke Matilda Highway up to Nortmanton, we were intending to travel further up to the Gulf to Karumba, but it was all booked out by Victorian travelers and their Vans, (a grey nomad fishermen surge that occurs each season from Victoria). So we continued south along the Gulf Development road to Croydon, where we stayed at the one and only Van Park. That evening we met a good variety of travelers from all over the Country, and two people had some good tales to tell about their recent trip from Cape York. Of interest in the town was Lake Belmore and the Chinese Temple Site, the store there was suppose to be the oldest existing trading store in Australia, (who was I to argue).
Leaving this quaint little town, we proceeded along to George Town where we stopped and had Coffee and noted the Causeway there that crossed the Etheridge River, interesting to see some of the photos in the town when it was in flood.
Proceeding through Mount Surprise, where the lava tunnels were, (which we gave a miss because of the fee to look through them); we turned left onto the Kennedy Highway, where the vegetation became more lush and green. Proceeding along to Mt Garnet, we were surprised that just over the hill, everything became really Lush and Green, (this is where I broke out into song: “The Hills are alive……..”), Cynthia thought I had gone “Nuts”. We proceeded north through Ravenshoe, Atherton, Mareeba, Mt Molloy to Port Douglas, that made it a 560km run in one day. Croydon to Port Douglas, we booked into a Van Park, uncoupled, hit the sack till 10: am the next day.