Our last day at Koolpin started with dawn skinny-dipping in one 
of the, hopefully, croc free swimming holes. Photographs of this episode are available but only on “pay-per-view” basis! Then we packed up and were on our way.
You may remember the scene from Crocodile Dundee – Mick Dundee, in his beaten up 4WD, is driving through the bush when he finds his way blocked by a mean looking wild buffalo. Getting out of the car he approaches the beast, points the fore finger and little finger of his right hand at it whilst at the same time squinting quizzically and humming an old Aboriginal tune. The buffalo obligingly collapses to the ground thus allowing Dundee safe passage. If anyone finds themselves
in this position let me assure you that this technique does NOT work and it is far safer to stay in the vehicle and let said buffalo wander off in its own time.
Driving out of Koolpin Gorge in Kakadu Sandra and I faced a similar situation to Mick Dundee, so I got out of the car and tried a bit of finger pointing only to find that my buffalo was made of sterner stuff and did not collapse to the ground. Discretion being the better part of valour I stayed with the vehicle and took a couple of snapshots until it eventually left of its own accord.
My ear, as reported in the last blog, continues to improve after Sandra stitched it back on after the accident with a tree. She is due to “unstitch” me tomorrow – and I can’t say I am looking forward to it – she is!
After Koolpin we headed to the Katherine Gorge and booked into the National Park campsite which, following Koolpin was a bit of a disappointment as it was very busy and we only stayed for one night. Sandra made friends with a local wallaby and contravened all the rules by feeding it. This kindness was poorly repaid when
he came back during the night with a mob of his mates and ransacked our camp looking for more food. Emerging from the tent in the middle of the night to go to the loo Sandra let out a scream as she almost put her hand on what she thought was a large snake – and was only marginally mollified when she found out it was a scavenging wallaby’s tail!
Heading southwest on the Victoria Highway we made for Gregory National Park, the second largest NP in the Northern Territory after Kakadu and much less visited. We rendezvoused with Johann and Stretch at the Victoria River
Roadhouse where, after a cold beer, we decided to aim for the Bullita Homestead where there was a campsite. After an incident free 40k down a dirt road we set up camp at a good site next to the old Bullita Homestead.
Bullita was one an old cattle station which no longer operates as such and has been subsumed into the Gregory National Park. The homestead and associated buildings have been left very much as they were when they were abandoned and you can now wander about at will, free to imagine what life was like in the old days. For me one of the most interesting features were the
stockyards where the cattle were mustered for branding, shipment etc. The land was poor and the life must have been very hard.
On our second day we followed the old drove road, The Bullita Track, along which the cattle were driven to market hundreds of miles away. This was a pretty rough and rocky track which probably didn’t do much for the car tyres and it took over 6 hours to cover about 60k. On the way we saw many strange looking Boab trees. Back at camp I decided it was time to wash off the trail dust using our bush shower. Hanging a bag of water attached to a plastic tube and
shower nozzle from a convenient tree I erected our little used shower cubicle, for modesty as by this time there were other campers around, and Sandra and I shared a shower – quite exciting actually (at least I thought so) Johann and Stretch followed on (separately!) and we were all relatively clean again. It was then that the fun started!
The shower cubicle is basically a couple of long, thin strips of flexible metal covered with nylon, which is coiled up into three loops to fit into a circular bag. Erection is easy, simply take it out of the bag and bingo! like magic it unfolds into a
tent-like structure. But putting it away again! After about10 attempts to wrestle it into its bag – and not getting anywhere near it (as Sandra was killing herself with laughter) – I gave up. Stretch is a technically minded sort of bloke so I passed the task to him. Undeterred by failure he persevered, assisted in his incompetence by Johann – Sandra could hardly contain herself and took photos by the dozen.
Unbeknown to us our fellow campers were enjoying the spectacle and a multinational group from next door arrived brimming with confidence to show us how it was done. According to our new German friend his tent was of similar design and he had the technique – he didn’t! And neither did his French and Venezuelan friends. Eventually a seasoned old Australian camper called Clive, who with his wife and mate had been watching these antics for half an hour, arrived to put us out of our misery. With a bit of twisting wizardry he had it in its bag in seconds. My strange headgear in the last photo is to keep the flies off my stitched ear - not my attempt to look like a pirate!
Next we are off to Keep River National Park – our last post of call in Northern Territory before crossing into Western Australia.
of the, hopefully, croc free swimming holes. Photographs of this episode are available but only on “pay-per-view” basis! Then we packed up and were on our way.You may remember the scene from Crocodile Dundee – Mick Dundee, in his beaten up 4WD, is driving through the bush when he finds his way blocked by a mean looking wild buffalo. Getting out of the car he approaches the beast, points the fore finger and little finger of his right hand at it whilst at the same time squinting quizzically and humming an old Aboriginal tune. The buffalo obligingly collapses to the ground thus allowing Dundee safe passage. If anyone finds themselves
in this position let me assure you that this technique does NOT work and it is far safer to stay in the vehicle and let said buffalo wander off in its own time.Driving out of Koolpin Gorge in Kakadu Sandra and I faced a similar situation to Mick Dundee, so I got out of the car and tried a bit of finger pointing only to find that my buffalo was made of sterner stuff and did not collapse to the ground. Discretion being the better part of valour I stayed with the vehicle and took a couple of snapshots until it eventually left of its own accord.
My ear, as reported in the last blog, continues to improve after Sandra stitched it back on after the accident with a tree. She is due to “unstitch” me tomorrow – and I can’t say I am looking forward to it – she is!
After Koolpin we headed to the Katherine Gorge and booked into the National Park campsite which, following Koolpin was a bit of a disappointment as it was very busy and we only stayed for one night. Sandra made friends with a local wallaby and contravened all the rules by feeding it. This kindness was poorly repaid when
he came back during the night with a mob of his mates and ransacked our camp looking for more food. Emerging from the tent in the middle of the night to go to the loo Sandra let out a scream as she almost put her hand on what she thought was a large snake – and was only marginally mollified when she found out it was a scavenging wallaby’s tail!Heading southwest on the Victoria Highway we made for Gregory National Park, the second largest NP in the Northern Territory after Kakadu and much less visited. We rendezvoused with Johann and Stretch at the Victoria River
Roadhouse where, after a cold beer, we decided to aim for the Bullita Homestead where there was a campsite. After an incident free 40k down a dirt road we set up camp at a good site next to the old Bullita Homestead.Bullita was one an old cattle station which no longer operates as such and has been subsumed into the Gregory National Park. The homestead and associated buildings have been left very much as they were when they were abandoned and you can now wander about at will, free to imagine what life was like in the old days. For me one of the most interesting features were the
stockyards where the cattle were mustered for branding, shipment etc. The land was poor and the life must have been very hard.On our second day we followed the old drove road, The Bullita Track, along which the cattle were driven to market hundreds of miles away. This was a pretty rough and rocky track which probably didn’t do much for the car tyres and it took over 6 hours to cover about 60k. On the way we saw many strange looking Boab trees. Back at camp I decided it was time to wash off the trail dust using our bush shower. Hanging a bag of water attached to a plastic tube and
shower nozzle from a convenient tree I erected our little used shower cubicle, for modesty as by this time there were other campers around, and Sandra and I shared a shower – quite exciting actually (at least I thought so) Johann and Stretch followed on (separately!) and we were all relatively clean again. It was then that the fun started!The shower cubicle is basically a couple of long, thin strips of flexible metal covered with nylon, which is coiled up into three loops to fit into a circular bag. Erection is easy, simply take it out of the bag and bingo! like magic it unfolds into a
tent-like structure. But putting it away again! After about10 attempts to wrestle it into its bag – and not getting anywhere near it (as Sandra was killing herself with laughter) – I gave up. Stretch is a technically minded sort of bloke so I passed the task to him. Undeterred by failure he persevered, assisted in his incompetence by Johann – Sandra could hardly contain herself and took photos by the dozen.Unbeknown to us our fellow campers were enjoying the spectacle and a multinational group from next door arrived brimming with confidence to show us how it was done. According to our new German friend his tent was of similar design and he had the technique – he didn’t! And neither did his French and Venezuelan friends. Eventually a seasoned old Australian camper called Clive, who with his wife and mate had been watching these antics for half an hour, arrived to put us out of our misery. With a bit of twisting wizardry he had it in its bag in seconds. My strange headgear in the last photo is to keep the flies off my stitched ear - not my attempt to look like a pirate!
Next we are off to Keep River National Park – our last post of call in Northern Territory before crossing into Western Australia.
I think you will make more from mum's embelishments than PPV photos but am grateful they remain unpublished. We want a video of the stiches coming out!
ReplyDelete19 Waverley Road