A Top End Extension

In which The Haystack Mountain Hermits have A Series of Extraordinary Events!

Ella in the storage tunnel

Storage Tank Number 5 - 3.8475 million litres!

There was rain on Friday night, which was an extraordinary event in itself! The sky was almost orange and the rain pelted down, which required some adjustment to the tent and the Blunderbuss in the dark.
Saturday morning was a bit cooler after the rain, which made a welcome change. We toured the WW2 oil storage tunnels which were cut by hand into the hillside when the navy realised how vulnerable their above ground storage tanks were to Japanese attack. The war ended just as they were finished, so they were never used. They were opened to the public on the 50th anniversary of their completion, and contained a fascinating collection of war photos.

Pango (with guitar) and Isodore having a Sitdown with us!

We had lunch at "our" spot on the Esplanade.  The plan was to play some music, but were all exhausted so resting and reading under the cool trees was a fine plan. We were about to leave when two Aboriginal men came over, said "Hello Band Family" and one said "I'm going to sitdown with you and make you happy, tell some stories". After a while they introduced themselves - which involved them giving us their Centrelink papers to "prove" their names. They were insistent that we read them, and Isodore thrust his Commonwealth bank card at us for good measure, very proud of "his" bank. A Police paddy wagon drove past and the officers asked us if we were alright, which was slightly disconcerting and upset Pango. He recovered quickly (after flipping them the bird!), played guitar and sang us a song in Walpiri language about the stolen generation, of which he was one. He had been educated in Adelaide and had certainly lived an interesting life as a stockman and rodeo rider, when not in jail! Isodore was harder to understand, but he told us about one of his relatives who escaped from Fannie Bay Gaol. He also proudly read us a page from Dave's Ted Egan book, and became really excited when we told him we were heading to WA. "That is my country" he told us happily.  They insisted on us taking their photographs and I promised to send them copies, care of the Darwin Post Office. It was a fascinating afternoon to say the least!

Sandfly bites are covering all of us!

It was a cool, pleasant evening (as opposed to all the others which had been stinking hot and unpleasant!), apart from all the scratching from sandfly bites which have started tormenting us.

Sunday morning dawned cooler, windy and with low humidity - which was the most pleasant weather we had. Most mornings we started sweating profusely just getting out of bed!

It was another busking day at Mindil Markets, but before we went busking we went out to Leanyer Water Park, where the kids had a blast on the free water slides. It was their lucky day as they had free sausages and helium ballons as well, courtesty of a local politician. Dave and I wrote a Hermits bio for the ABC interview while the kids slid, ate and talked to each other in Chipmunk!

A good day to visit Leanyer Water Park!

Woo hoo!

Jackson and Marcus

We went back to do a bit of rehearsal before busking, but discovered that Jackson's accordion had a sticky key and could not be played. He was gutted and resigned himself to playing the ukulele for the afternoon.

At Mindil, we were given the same pitch, so we started our set at 4 o’clock. We’d only done a couple of songs when an Australian Geographic freelancer and her partner asked to interview us for an up-coming issue about travellers on Highway One. We chatted for half an hour or so and they took some photos as we started to busk again. Poor Jackson really missed his accordion as he was photographed playing Ella's pink ukulele! We will probably be in the December edition of Australian Geographic. 

On Monday we had to be in at the ABC studios at 12:30 for a sound check, so apart from me doing 5 loads of washing, the morning was spent rehearsing our songs and pretending to be cool, calm and collected so the kids wouldn’t get nervous!

Our rehearsal was OK but the time disappeared very quickly and in no time at all the ON AIR sign lit up and we went out to wait for Richard Margetson to start his show and introduce us. The very last thing he said before we went in was announcing that Ros Lawrence had just won the C1 teams event in Slovakia. She also grew up in the shadow of Haystack Mountain, so that was a moment of pure synchronicity! Our interview was very relaxed and went well, we played our two songs live to air and everyone was on a high when it was over. We enjoyed victory icecreams  at an old fashioned Soda Shop (which seemed appropriate!) in the city before returning to camp and another load of washing!

ABC Darwin studio - Richard Margetson and the Hermits!

Stay tuned ...

Our First Busking Experience!

It was an effort to costume ourselves in the 30+ heat, but we arrived at Mindil Beach Sunset Markets all togged up and carted all our instruments in to our pitch. After the Alice experience, we were half expecting some ranger to come and tell us to bugger off, but the people were very organised and we got our busking licence for $7 on the spot.

Tuning took a while, but all the unusual instruments attracted attention, and we started playing to a crowd. Our first warm-up song was OK and a lady came and asked if we could do "Brown Eyed Girl". Dave could and the rest of us "sha-la-la-la-laed" and pretended we could. She wasn't too discerning and put our first $10 in!

We had been reminding the kids to smile, and Marcus leaned over to tell me "I can't help but smile" in the middle of a song. One guy came over at the end of a song and gave Ella (who had been drumming) $5, saying "This little girl deserves every cent of this!". Thommo gave her another $5 for smiling all the way through one song, complete with her first ukulele solo - which consisted of a C chord!

The first set of 10 songs went quickly and we had a break. The kids were very excited to buy a can of cold drink each out of the proceeds!

The second set was cut short by the fire juggling man who wanted to start next door as it was getting dark. We didn't mind stopping as the mandolin case was jingling and we had already made $235.80. My days of chasing $1 coins for the washing machines are over!! (Thanks to Ian, Alana and Thommo for helping to rev the audience up!) While we were putting the notes away (so the kids could shout us dinner!) we found the business card of the Operations Manager of the ABC Radio. There were some very excited Hermits who had a hard time getting to sleep last night.

Our first task this morning was to ring the ABC. Dave spoke to one of the announcers who was very keen to put us on the afternoon show on Monday. He explained that it would involve an interview and that we would perform 2 songs live. We were supposed to leave this morning, but after about a tenth of a second's hesitation we agreed to stay on in Darwin to be available at the ABC studios.

We then started rehearsing.

After a good couple of hours, we drove off to the air conditioned shopping centre for haircuts (all round) and had a swim to top off a very interesting start to our busking career! We are booked in to the Mindil markets again on Sunday so we will discover if our first day was indeed just a fluke!

Stay tuned ...

At the top of the Top End

New growth after fire

We left Litchfield on Friday morning after an early morning swim at Wangi Falls, our favourite! It was magic - no-one else was there except for hundreds of dragonflies and the ubiquitous white cockatoos having a blast, screeching and wheeling around above us.

There were lots of sand palms and cycads springing back to life
 in all the burnt areas as we drove back to the Stuart Highway and on to the top of our Top End journey. It is amazing to see how quickly they come back to life.

Chris tack welding to hold everything
together until he can fix the chassis

Driving into Darwin early that arvo we spotted a Caravan Parts shop on the Stuart Highway. We stopped and took the opportunity to try to get a replacement water tank for the caravan. The lady was exceptionally helpful, found us a tank that would fit and recommended a repair shop just down the road. Deciding to strike while the iron was hot (and let me assure you it was hot - 36 degrees in fact!) we found the place and explained our plight to the guy who was about to shut up for the week. He agreed to fix it for us there and then, so he hopped under the caravan.

"Holy Shit!" are not reassuring words coming from underneath the caravan upon which this whole venture depends.

The chassis was cracked in two. Fearing it was terminal, Dave and I made some rapid calculations. It was a lot of busking to buy a new caravan! Especially at our current rate of (non) success. However, Chris from Northern Van Repairs said he could fix it for us on Tuesday. He welded a quick patch on for us to keep us safe until then. We happily left the old watertank with him as we are sick of packing it in to the already overstuffed caravan every day.

We found a van park a little further down the highway and set up quickly to try to get some shade out of the awful heat. The shade didn't help much and with tempers fraying we took a drive in to the city to get our bearings. Darwin's Esplanade is on a cliff top overlooking the beautiful blue tropical waters of the harbour and has lots of WW2 memorials dotted along the shady path. Further down towards the port we checked out the deckchair cinema, which looked really groovy. Unfortunately there are no suitable films on while we are here.  We drove down to Stokes Wharf and the Waterfront Precinct, where we had burgers for dinner, after failing to find a fish and chip shop. The scenery included a US Navy ship with sailors going about their business. I am so glad that I am not in charge of all those white uniforms with these dodgy camp washing machines! We went a little further to Fisherman's Wharf where we were surprised to see a display of classic cars, and spent a good while checking out the cars (and all the personalised number plates) and wondered if they'd like a classic caravan to add to their collection! The kids enjoyed watching the container ships load and unload. Finally, we went back to camp at about 10 o'clock and it was still 29 degrees! I caught up on the blog for a couple of hours as I couldn't bear to get into the hot tent.

Personalised number plates are free in NT!

Catching up on the news

Kebab anyone?

The night was stifling and the morning hit the late 20s very early. Tempers frayed a bit more and we drove off to find something cool to do (ie anything out of the heat!!). We stumbled across the Parap Village Markets and spent a while there. The boys bought themselves croc tooth necklaces and now look like Mick Dundee with their hats and croc teeth on! The shady trees and sea breeze along the Esplanade called us next, and we had lunch, played 500 and read the newspapers for a while.  Ella made kebabs out of leaves and twigs for the "park creatures" and Marcus informed us "I like Darwin from under a shady tree"! He has a point! It wasn't getting any cooler, so we went down to the Waterfront to swim in the safety (from crocs and box jellyfish) of the artificially constructed public "beach". After a long swim, we drove back to camp for another sweltering night, being eaten alive by sandflies. Our camp is very close to the RAAF base (and Darwin airport too) and the planes make the ground rumble as they take off, keeping us awake so we can reliably inform you about the temperature and the sandflies!

Not a bad place to read the paper

Mick Dundee x3, Ella and Dave feed the fish

Sunday (Father's Day) started with a lovely assortment of handmade cards, some very melted chocolates, a tide chart and a blues CD. We drove to Doctor's Gully to feed the fish, a tradition that started in the 1950s. It was just awesome! Huge fish swim in from the sea for an easy meal and you get to stand in amongst them and pat them as they swim by. It was an amazing way to see some of the species that are out in the Arafura Sea - and how bloody big they are!

I am slightly concerned for my bass playing fingers!

Lachie was chosen to help feed the
barramundi and archerfish, who
repaid him by squirting him!

Mullet and catfish swim by!

We decided to continue celebrating Father's Day in an air conditioned shopping centre, where we enjoyed coffee and milkshakes (on our budget, not something we do very much!) and did a few pressing jobs - like buying some reading material for Marcus (well, all of us, really!) and Ella some new clothes as she has grown out of everything she came with! Jackson has been having Lego withdrawal symptoms, so he somehow managed to convince me to buy him a small box of Lego to give him his "clicking" fix!

A happy camper (with new Lego)!

Ella and I with our "mermaid's money" necklaces
bought at Mindil Markets

Mindil Beach Sunset Markets were our next stop, as we wanted to check them out to see if we could busk there. They were fantastic markets, and we enjoyed some of the other buskers as the sun went down in a blazing red ball.

Our mornings have been starting early with Ella cheering on Harry Potter as she reads Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire. "Go Harry!", "Oh no! He's in trouble now!", "Harry's got a girlfriend!" and "Hermione is going to the ball with Victor Krumm!" emanate from the caravan at regular intervals, as well as some of her hilarious mis-pronunciations. Cedric Diggory has become "Credick Buggery" (her B and D reversals are still a problem!) and Bellatrix L'Estrange is "Bethica Donkin". Needless to say, she is totally enthralled in the series.

The view from outside the gaol

After dragging her away from her book, we drove around to Fannie Bay to see the Gaol Museum. Imagine the most scenic spot you can think of (although decidedly HOT) with a corrugated iron fence, one strand of barbed wire (to keep visitors to the inmates out!) and gallows which hanged NT's last two convicted murderers. Ghoulish, stinking hot and really interesting! There are lots of funny stories about the gaol. Ted Egan once broke into the place to give a footy mate a beer! Inmates were given fairly liberal freedom, and were urged to make it back to the gaol before six o'clock to ensure they weren't locked out! One night roll call recorded one prisoner too many. Dave and I want to write some songs with all the material we are collecting.

Fannie Bay Gaol

Feeling the heat after gaol, we headed to MAGNT (Museum and Art Gallery NT) and its splendid collection of air conditioning vents. At about 2 p.m. we were finally cool, but starving, so we had lunch at Mindil Beach where we checked out the market site again as we have booked to busk on Thursday night. Rehearsal was much needed, so we drove to the Esplanade to practice under the shady trees. We attracted a large Aboriginal crowd, who all seemed to enjoy what we were doing, if their dancing, singing and clapping was anything to go by! A swim in the pool back at camp completed the busy day and everyone went happily to bed with new books to read.

Jackson's favourite plane!

Tuesday was D Day for the caravan.  We got the caravan in for repairs by 9 a.m. and drove off to the Aviation Heritage Museum, home of a B52 Bomber and a replica Supermarine Spitfire. The boys were in heaven after all the Biggles and Gimlet books they have been reading.

Trying to keep up with the blog in spare minutes!

After morning tea at the same park across from the Gaol, we went back to the Museum to continue our inspection of their air conditioning ... er, exhibits. It really is a fantastic museum and the Cyclone Tracy exhibit was particularly interesting. Chris rang to say the caravan was repaired, so we drove off to get it. He had a replica of Ned Kelly's armour in his shed, and told us it was one of the copies Heath Ledger wore in the movie. Chris' mate in Melbourne, who made them for the movie, has Heath's signature on his armour.

Ned Kelly's iconic suit

After setting up the caravan (which involved some pretty tidy reversing by Dave as we had to fit in between our tent and the next caravan!) we went to the Esplanade (again) for a picnic lunch, where our Aboriginal fans came past. They call us "The Band Family". One guy said he loved what we sang yesterday, as it reminded him of being in jail! The kids' eyes were like saucers as he wandered off ! Back in camp that night we saw the first act of a musical/comedy show where Ian and Alana (the lovely couple we met when we toured their bus) bought us some raffle tickets. We won a blanket. Just what we need in this temperature!

On Wednesday we had the van booked in for a service, so we were up early, cleaning the Blunderbuss out. Dave dropped us and all the clobber in town and we walked down to the Waterfront and the wave pool for the day. He joined us after dropping the vehicle off. The kids had a fantastic time in the wave pool and Lachie and I had a wander along the Smith St Mall to find a supermarket to get some things for lunch. We had an enforced "shady rest" after lunch and played cards to try to avoid getting scorched. The wave pool closed at 6 p.m. and the kids were very sorry to leave, they'd had such fun. Toad Races were on when we got back to camp and Ian and Alana bought a toad. Lachie "Toad Wrangler" Church handled it for Alana (who was wisely not very keen to touch it!) and it won two races. So we ended up with some chocolates (luckily didn't win the electric blanket!) and Ian gave the kids a cold soft drink, which was very well received. Cold drinks are on the top of the Things We Miss list! Next was dinner, showers, cream on sunburns and sleep!

Does my bum look big in this?

On Thursday morning we packed all the instruments into the Blunderbuss for a rehearsal at our favourite spot on the Esplanade. Dave dropped me off at Smith St Mall to try to find some 1930s-style shoes (a task I was not looking forward to - Eula, where are you when you are needed?) and got set up with the kids. I was amazed to find some shoes that fitted the bill after only half an hour of looking, so joined the Hermits for our busking rehearsal. Once again we had an indigenous crowd very interested in the instruments and what we were doing. We got a trolley full of groceries (and were tempted to stay in the air-conditioned splendour of Woolworths!) before heading back to camp to get costumed and organised for the Mindil Markets.

Stay tuned ...

Nitmiluk - Litchfield National Park

Edith Falls again

We left Nitmiluk National Park on Tuesday and stopped in Katherine to fix a windscreen chip and chase a mossie net. With the temperatures soaring we are not keen on sleeping 5 in the caravan any more for one night stops, so a net is imperative for the Blunderbuss sleepers. We found one in a camping shop, where Lachie was in heaven checking out all the fishing gear and trying to talk me into buying a Lachie sized rod for "Father's Day"! Edith Falls was not far out of our way on the road north to Litchfield National Park, so we stopped there for the second time for a late lunch and another swim. We all swam out to the falls again and this time I managed to jump off the rocks. I got a good sinus clearout and lost my top for a tangled few minutes, but it was worth it! The family were suitably impressed.

500 ... or was that 430?

We made it to Adelaide River before roo hour, which is always a relief, so we set up and Dave started teaching the boys how to play 500 while there was still a little light. Jackson and I installed the mossie net in the Blunderbuss with only a couple of rude words. The kids were very excited when the Ghan rumbled past us on its way to Alice just after dark. We also heard some big roos hop past, but they fortunately did not stop to do any washing up, so it was a fairly peaceful night.

Come and get me, you mongrel mossies!

Ella was keen to be a horse and run around the
lovely grass racetrack the next morning, but as it was already very hot when we got up, she went off the idea. She contented herself with making her excellent horse noises in the shower!

We didn't have far to go to get to Litchfield but we wanted to be early to get a powered site as the fridge keeps turning itself off when running on gas. And no, this time it is not Mr. Security's fault! We checked in to Litchfield Safari Park and quickly got organised to go swimming at Wangi Falls. The pool at Wangi was only about 70m across, but it was an impressive falls with two waterfalls coming down over the sheer cliffs. Many fish species were abundant in the water, so we got the snorkelling gear out and had a great time fish watching. We kept the snorkel on Lachie so he wouldn't think about fishing rods!

Iceblocks and 500

Wangi Falls

Checking out the spa pool

The kids and I scrambled up the rocks near the smaller waterfall and found a deep, spa pool sized rock hole which was continually filled by the waterfall. It was fantastic sitting there in the water watching the cockatoos fly overhead and water at the top of the falls.

White cockatoos water at the top of the falls

It was a few nights since the last bushfire experience so it was no surprise to awake to a tent filled with smoke and the campsite filled with what looked like heavy mist. I couldn't see the glow from the fire anywhere, so I went back to sleep.

On the drive out to the Termite Mounds the next morning, we got a good view of the fires surrounding us. There were several large fires burning off the plateau out to the west, but a couple of smaller ones were much closer. National Parks Rangers give a lot of free talks in the dry season so we took advantage of the Termite talk and learnt lots about termites and the mounds that we have been seeing everywhere.

Magnetic Termite Mounds

Huge Cathedral Mound

It was stinking hot by the time the talk had finished, so a trip to Florence Falls was an easy decision. This waterfall was different again - a powerful falls and an enclosed, gorgeous pool with sparkling clear water. There were more fish here than we'd seen anywhere, so out came the snorkelling gear again. We bought it for the Reef, but it has been great in the Outback!

The bottom half of Florence Falls

Ella found a patterned rock

Getting lots of use from the snorkels

Dave has trouble swimming without
his pink floatie!

After reaching the vehicle by climbing 135 steps, we were ready for another cool swim (it was 34 degrees!) so we checked out the Buley Rockholes, a series of pools gouged out from the rocks with waterfalls linking them all. There was not much shade, so we slid through them all pretty quickly, but it was hugely enjoyable.

We'll need new boardies soon!

Our drive back home included a visit to Tolmer Falls (where colonies of endangered bats are protected, so no swimming there) and as we were hot (again) another swim at Wangi Falls.

Tolmer Falls

On to Darwin next.


Stay tuned ...

Got a good view of one of the fires

Right, let's go for another swim!

Mataranka - Nitmiluk National Park (Katherine Gorge)

More Hippos in the Water Hole

We were tempted to extend our stay at Mataranka, but we packed up, parked the van and caravan and spent the next hour in the pools as the next best option. There weren't very many people there, so to the kid's delight they were able to jump in off the edge and make hippo noises to their heart's content. The pools were fed by Rainbow Springs which bubbled up out of the ground at an astonishing rate - 30.5 million litres per day. The water then flowed down into the Roper River which was a curious green colour. Any crocs lurking in there would have been hard to spot. We managed to get the kids out of the pools for the hot drive through sparse woodland and termite mounds to Katherine.

More keen on the washing up than any of the kids!

Nitmiluk National Park was our next destination, and was not too far, so we arrived in good time. Fortunately the park was not full and we got set up and booked a canoeing trip for the Katherine Gorge. The park was bone dry and mostly dust, but the pool was fantastic so we quickly headed over for an afternoon of swimming. The pool was surrounded by lush, green grass. The kids took off their shoes and enjoyed the feeling of grass underfoot for the first time in at least a month! (OK, Dave and I did too!) The other highlight of the day was the wildlife - we had wallabies hopping around our camp and the kids hand fed them carrot pieces. They were entranced when one female had a tiny joey which got out of her pouch to hop around. The female was enjoying some free time when the male came over and decided to try to mate. She was not keen and tried to hop away. He grabbed her tail and spent the next 20 minutes hanging on to her tail in a vain attempt to stop her. She was grunting at him as she hopped away (it sounded like "bugger off") and we all thought it was pretty funny! Dave and I were not so entranced when a big male came back into camp during the night and knocked everything over. He was about 10 cms from my head (I was in the tent) and spent about 20 minutes carefully lifting our foam mats to eat anything that had fallen through!

We had just got to sleep when one set of neighbours arrived back and proceeded to open and slam closed their vehicle doors. More than us must have been awoken, as a laconic voice drifted through the camp:

"Jesus, mate, how many bloody doors have you got?"

Our next day at Nitmiluk was spent cleaning, repairing and washing. The pool looked awfully good by the time we took our picnic lunch over! The kids were in the water for so long they all had sore eyes and needed eye drops to be able to blink again! The wallabies entertained us around camp again at dusk, although the male must have got the message as he didn't show up.

We decided to take a trip into Katherine for some essentials on Sunday morning. We left a bit later than anticipated, so it was a horrible surprise when a wallaby walloped into the side of the van. It was being chased by a dog and obviously didn't see us at all. Poor thing died on impact and we now have more to tell the insurance company when the phone has reception!

Edith Falls

We enjoyed the air-conditioning in Katherine so much we nearly didn't continue on to Edith Falls (on the northern edge of Nitmiluk National Park) but boy were we glad we did! The falls emptied into a vast pool which was absolutely magic for swimming. It was 150m across to the falls and we all swam across to check it out. The boys found a 2m rock platform to jump into the water from which kept everyone occupied for hours. Ella graduated from a rock at the water's edge to the high rock during the afternoon. I tried many times, but chickened out at the vital moment, to my disgust. Ella tried to console me. "It's OK Mummy. You still did really well for a mummy."

Dave had a pink floatie to help him!

It was a terribly hot 60kms back to the caravan so we had another swim in the pool. Deciding we needed to carb load for the canoeing the next day, we had dinner at the Bistro. The $15 all you can eat plates were as big as the Northern Territory and even Jackson could not completely empty his. He made several valiant attempts, swimming lengths and playing tag in between!

We finally left the water and went back to try to get some sleep for our big day. Others close by were intent on having a big night and may as well have been in our tent with us for all the protection it afforded from the noise. So it was difficult to get out of bed when the alarm rang the next morning to get organised for the canoeing.

First paddling since NZ

Three double canoes were quickly filled with food, water and us and we left the banks of the Katherine River to paddle upstream through the gorges. Dave paddled with Ella, Lachlan and I were in together and Jackson and Marcus made up the last boat. We had so many waterfights that it is a wonder there are any photos at all, but after a near miss we devised the call "Camera Out" which let us take some photos! We had the most wonderful day paddling up the first three gorges, exploring the rock faces and caves, climbing up into rocks sculpted by the water and swimming. Freshwater crocodiles live in the river but we didn't see any at all, although there are many sandy areas where you can't beach the canoe as they are breeding areas. The rangers trap the salties before declaring the park open for swimming. I'm not sure how they know they have got them all, but it was so hot we enjoyed the swimming anyway. All of us agreed that it was the best day we have had so far.

Jackson and Marcus

Towering cliffs in Gorge 2

Jackson Hole

Sunscreening again!

Camera Out!

                          

Amazing scenery

 

Stay tuned ...

What croc?