Alice - Darwin

Perhaps I too hasty to judge Alice, with an already gloomy impression of the town from reading and talking with friends, but one good thing from the stop there was time to catch up on sleep in relative comfort, for day one of the tour was another early start. The tour from Alice to Darwin was always going to be long. Three days to cover circa 1500km.



Day one took in Barrow Creek (telegraph station with a history), Wycliffe Well – the UFO centre of Oz, Newcastle waters (Drover History). Barrow creek was built in 1873, one of many telegraph stations stretching from Adelaide to Darwin, a move to establish the first commnication network with the Indonesia and of course the rest of the world. The route north from Adelaide was surveyed by a John Stewart, hence the name of the highway which runs from Adelaide to Darwin. Relations between the indigenous Aboriginal population and the 'new settlers' were often strained, and at barrow creek they were no different. It is said to be the place of many ugly encounters between the two very different cultures. What can be seen as a major step forward in the settling of Australia by Europeans, it helped strenghen the divide between indigenous and European culture, and serve to erode away that of the Aborignee.







Our overnight at Bunka Bunka, another permanent campsite of Adventure Tours. Here some of us followed the sign for the 'waterhole', 2km down a dirt track. Looking forward to a refreshing swim we were greeted by the most unappealing 'waterhole' I've had the please of seeing signposted. It wasn't all bad, and it is understandable why it would be almost devoid of any large body of water. We did get to watch the sun set over Bunka Bunka and the walk was good.

Day two Bunka Bunka to Katherine via daly waters (pub and first international airport in Oz), mataranka (springs). Recent history in the Norther Teritory has been marked by devistation, no more so than darwin during WWII. Coming here was the first I have ever heard of Australia being directly targeted – 63 times no less! To defend against such attacks the infrastructure around Darwin and the 'Top end' was built up to repell them. Daly Waters was one such town established as an airforce base, later becoming the first international airport in Australia, being a hub for flights from singapore to Sydney. It's a quaint and quirky place and seemingly a backpacker mecca. You are encouraged to leave behind thongs (flip-flops to us Brits), underwear or anything else for that matter to leave your mark on this remote yet very popular place. Not far from Daly waters is a fresh spring, Mataranka, established during WWII as a retreat for officers. The water is crystal clear and tepid, refreshing given the heat. This is all the place where they filmed the movie 'We of the never never', a film I can't say I know too much about (google it :p), but it is one of hardship of early settlers.



Day Three took in Katherine gorge. My morning started with a brisk 15 minute helicopter flight over Katherine taking in 8 or so of the gorge's that meander across the landscape. This was followed by 2 hours or so of canoeing in the main gorge, with time to take a dip in the second. Next we drove on to Edith falls for lunch and another swim. Once again we were greated by stunning scenary and crystal clear, tepid water. One further stop at Adelaide River for refreshments and fuel, we arrived at our destination, Darwin.