Insects just love me... I discovered after staying at Batten Point that I had many, many sandfly bites, which came up in big welts all over my body. I tried taking anti-histamines and using dermaid cream to combat them, to no avail.
So, off we went to Southern Lost City which is a group of spectacular red rocks in the Limmen National Park. This was really the beginning of our corrugated dirt roads along the Savannah Way. Miles and miles of corrugations.... Carole and John were a bit concerned about taking the Ford Transit along this road, but it coped very well. But there were some really, really rough patches, with intervals of relatively OK patches. Trouble was, you'd get up some speed over the relatively OK bits, then come crashing back to reality when you hit the rough patches again, and it was difficult get back up to speed.
Southern Lost City was lovely - we went for a walk around the loop which took an hour and a half, just on sunset, with the sun shining onto the brilliant red formations. I did take a few photos, then we set up our camp and had dinner. Price per head at the park was only $3.30 - NSW and ACT parks take note! The park had drop toilets, but when I lifted the lid to use one, a million mosquitoes flew out - yuk! I took over some insect spray, and gave all of the toilets a really good going over. But still they came out. Eventually, I did have to use one of the toilets, and I'm sure the mossies took one look at my lily-white bottom and just attacked! I ended up with many more mosquito bites to go with my sandfly bites. Loving this! I put antihistamine cream on that night, and lost count at 35 bites. Not happy, Jan!
Next morning Trev and I did another quick tour of the Lost City and I took some sunrise photos. Then we packed up and headed to our next stop about 30kms up the (corrugated) road to Butterfly Springs for a swim in the pool (a little bit cool - well, cold really). There was no waterfall, as the last two years up here have been a 'dry wet', but it was still lovely, surrounded by paperbarks and orange feathered grevillea. We enjoyed the swim then had lunch and moved on again.
Back onto the corrrrrr-ruuuu-gaaaa-tions and up to Towns River, another popular fishing spot, for the night. Again, it was only $3.30pp per night. This is where we spotted our first crocodiles. In the middle of the river was a little sandbar - and there, sunning itself, was a reasonably-sized (2-3m) freshwater crocodile. A little while later a smaller croc joined him. The water was so clear and inviting, I really wanted to have a swim, but my mum will be pleased to know that I resisted the urge.
We had dinner then took another walk down to the river after dark to see if we could spot any crocodile eyes. Yep, four sets of eyes over on the sandbar and the far bank. How exciting!
We had been told to visit Tomato Island (which is not an island) by other travellers, so we headed there the next day. It was only about 70km from our previous stop, but took about 3 hours to drive there over these wonderful corrugations. Trev is loving it - well, maybe not??? It is hard work, takes lots of concentration, and you have to watch out for bends, oncoming vehicles, overtaking vehicles, but thankfully not a lot of wildlife on this stretch. Tomato Island is a ranger station, a big fishing spot, and is huge and well laid out. Cost here is $6.60pp per night, but the facilities are excellent - lots of toilets and showers, gas bbqs, hot water for washing, and Telstra service.
Next morning it was off to Roper Bar to refuel, restock at Ngurkurr Community Store, have a look at Roper Bar, which is really just a little ford and waterfall across the road, then we finally got off the corrugations and onto the blacktop (Yayyy!) to drive to Mataranka. I think we are all very happy to have finished with that section of the road - we can relax a little now.
Meanwhile, I just keep getting mosquito bites to add to my collection :-(
Southern Lost City was lovely - we went for a walk around the loop which took an hour and a half, just on sunset, with the sun shining onto the brilliant red formations. I did take a few photos, then we set up our camp and had dinner. Price per head at the park was only $3.30 - NSW and ACT parks take note! The park had drop toilets, but when I lifted the lid to use one, a million mosquitoes flew out - yuk! I took over some insect spray, and gave all of the toilets a really good going over. But still they came out. Eventually, I did have to use one of the toilets, and I'm sure the mossies took one look at my lily-white bottom and just attacked! I ended up with many more mosquito bites to go with my sandfly bites. Loving this! I put antihistamine cream on that night, and lost count at 35 bites. Not happy, Jan!
We had dinner then took another walk down to the river after dark to see if we could spot any crocodile eyes. Yep, four sets of eyes over on the sandbar and the far bank. How exciting!
We had been told to visit Tomato Island (which is not an island) by other travellers, so we headed there the next day. It was only about 70km from our previous stop, but took about 3 hours to drive there over these wonderful corrugations. Trev is loving it - well, maybe not??? It is hard work, takes lots of concentration, and you have to watch out for bends, oncoming vehicles, overtaking vehicles, but thankfully not a lot of wildlife on this stretch. Tomato Island is a ranger station, a big fishing spot, and is huge and well laid out. Cost here is $6.60pp per night, but the facilities are excellent - lots of toilets and showers, gas bbqs, hot water for washing, and Telstra service. Next morning it was off to Roper Bar to refuel, restock at Ngurkurr Community Store, have a look at Roper Bar, which is really just a little ford and waterfall across the road, then we finally got off the corrugations and onto the blacktop (Yayyy!) to drive to Mataranka. I think we are all very happy to have finished with that section of the road - we can relax a little now.
Meanwhile, I just keep getting mosquito bites to add to my collection :-(
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