The real Wolfe Creek- a big crater…not the home of a homicidal maniac (thankfully)

Wolfe Creek Crater, WA

Friday 9th September

When I hear 'Wolfe Creek', my brain immediately jumps to the 2005 horror film and this man (how do you go from Play School to slaying unwary backpackers???).

Thankfully though, we did not encounter 'Mick Taylor', star of Wolf Creek, whilst we were at Wolfe Creek National Park.

What we did encounter was something very impressive. A huge crater (the second largest in the world where meteorite fragments have been discovered) formed by a meteorite, travelling at 15km per second, crashing to Earth about 300,000 years ago. The crater is 880 metres in diameter and the depth is now about 20 metres (it used to be about 120m deep but has been filled in with desert sand over millions of years).

It is a 130km rough road into Wolfe Creek National Park, so we left the van at Halls Creek Caravan Park. We securely locked it and left the lights on as there is a crime spree against travellers at the moment in Halls Creek, driven by opportunistic young (around 10 year old) locals who are currently competing with each other for the most high stakes 'steal'. We were told of a recent theft of a campervan that was then taken for a joyride! As the kids are so young the Police don't have many choices for 'consequences' and many of the parents don't have the skills to know what to do with their unruly kids.

Anyway back to our adventures. We arrived about 3pm (as the weather was so hot we had only planned to spend the late afternoon, night and early morning out at the crater) and as we set up we discovered that we had forgotten the kids' bedding! We had both thought the other was packing it and hadn't checked. We had to improvise and use the picnic rug and the car window shade blinds for mattresses, then we shared the sleeping bags! Although we all had a rough sleep, it was well worth coming out to see.

We did the crater rim walk at about 5pm, so we could watch the sunset over the desert from up on the crater. Thankfully it was nearly a full moon as it was basically dark by the time we made it around the rim, and the moonlight was all we had to help us navigate the rocky track! We were up early in the morning (due to the bright, hot sun streaming into our tent from 5am!!) but this was the perfect time to climb down into the crater and walk to the centre. After spending some time wandering around marvelling at the uniqueness of this place, we had a basic breakfast, packed up and headed back to the van.

It was predicted to get to 37 degrees so, after collecting the van (that had thankfully not been broken in to), we drove out to Palm Springs, a swimming hole we remembered from our last trip. We spent most of the afternoon cooling off in the water before retreating early to our comfortable beds!

Admiring the crater on the afternoon we arrived (it was too hot to do the walk at this stage).

Climbing up ready to do the rim walk

Playing with the moon!

The light was gorgeous for the crater rim walk

Looking down into the crater, there is a circle of green vegetation that thrives due to the mineral rich soil down there.

It was a hot walk (even though we started at 5pm)

The pretty lilac flowers of the native cotton were in abundance in the National Park

We were about halfway around by this point, the sun had set about 15 minutes ago so the light was lovely

By the time we got 3/4 of the way around the light was fading- still beautiful but it was getting harder to navigate the rocky crater rim.

Nearing the end of the walk - quite dark now! Thankfully it was a full moon.

We slept with the fly off to enjoy the night sky- which then meant we were up with the sun!

Looking out to the crater wall from the middle.

The low sun gave us some cool shadows!

Climbing up the crater wall.

Last view from the top- although it was only 7am it was already VERY hot.

A quick bush shower before we left for the 2 hour drive back to Hall's Creek (and the van).

PALM SPRINGS

Jackson and the fish he caught in his net in the creek at Palm Springs (he let them all go after giving them a thorough examination).

Enjoying the swimming hole at Palm Springs (you can see our caravan over the back, it was a dusty spot but we were lucky to be able to camp so close to the water).

Relaxing with a drink and watching the rock change colour as the sun set.

We had the place to ourselves by late afternoon.

Jackson practised his howling as the full moon rose!

On alert at Wuggubun

Wuggubun Community Campground, WA

Wednesday 7th- Friday 9th September

After a big drive from Katherine, then a quick shop at Kununarra to replenish our fresh food (you can't bring any fresh fruit or vegetables over the border from NT to WA), we rolled into Wuggubun Campground about 3.30pm (which was actually 5pm NT time, due to the time change at the border). We were all quite exhausted after a big day driving and were ready just to relax and enjoy the serenity of the place. However, as we checked in, the camp hosts explained that the massive smoke clouds we had seen on the drive in were not controlled back burning, but bushfires that had the potential to cause havoc if the wind changed. The ranger had already been in to give them a briefing on the situation and a bulldozer was on its way to dig out some trenches near the entrance to the campground to create a fire break, just in case. We were advised that everything 'should' be fine but it would be advisable to camp near the rocky mountain on north side of camp, as that had recently been back burned so would be the safest spot. At this point none of us could fathom getting back into the car, and we felt confident that the rangers would give us all notice if the situation changed so we decided to stay and hope for the best. 

After a swim in the creek next to the campground, and some time to slow down and savour the incredible surroundings, we had all recovered from the big day. We were still closely watching the smoke in case the direction changed, but by the time we went to bed everything seemed okay (thankfully).

We decided to stay another night at Wuggubun as we all needed a rest day. We had a lovely day enjoying the creek, utilising the hammock and generally just relaxing. We only left the camp for half an hour to check out the nearby lookout -  it was great to have a day out of the car!!

Wuggubun means echidna in the local language and the Dreamtime story states that the echidna formed the ranges around Wuggubun when it was digging for food. The ranges have jagged marks all along them which are said to be gouged out by the echidna. There is a small, thriving community just beyond the campground, and one of the elders is assisting other indigenous communities to set up simple campgrounds like the one at Wuggubun in order to share the wonders of their land with others.

Arriving at WA, thankfully the quarantine check was quick and easy. We'd been driving since 7am so we were very excited when the time went back an hour and a half and suddenly we had more day left to get groceries and get to our campsite!

Cooling off in the creek at camp, we spent the days dipping in and out as it was about 35deg each day.

Giving Daniel a well needed massage after all the driving he's done...not a bad view!

Jackson made a friend and they spent hours playing in the creek and catching little fish.

Looking down on the campsite from a nearby lookout.

The other view from the lookout.

The campground was in a narrow valley, there was another rocky mountain range behind our van.

Leaving Wuggubun.

Getting up close with Crocodylus porosus (aka the Saltwater crocodile)

Darwin, NT

Friday 2nd - Tuesday 6th September

Darwin is a place both Daniel and I feel we could live, and by the end of our 4 days here both kids felt the same. The weather is great, the town is well set up and the whole place just has a nice feel to it. We did a few of the touristy things, in between catching up on some of the jobs we needed to get done and enjoying the pool and splashpark at the caravan park.

We had a fabulous time at Crocosaurus Cove, where we visited all the attractions and saw every presentation. Our highlights were:

• seeing several huge saltwater crocodiles getting fed
• feeding juvenile crocodiles using bamboo fishing rods with meat attached on the end
• watching a python eat a rat (whole)
• when the kids got to hold a python and a blue tongue lizard (Emilia built up the courage to hold the snake the second time it was on offer, whilst Jackson was right up the front both times!).
• watching a barramundi get fed (they suck their food in and make a very unusual noise)
• holding a baby crocodile 

After Crocosaurus Cove we headed to Mindil Beach Markets, where we enjoyed meandering through the market stalls before the difficult task of choosing what to eat for dinner from the many vendors displaying their tempting and delicious smelling food. We ate listening to live music before watching a great juggling act with our dessert. Both kids spent some of their pocket money on a memento and I got a few presents. It was a great day and night.

Monday consisted of more jobs and running around, then in the afternoon we headed over to the NT Museum and Art Gallery where we learnt about the devastating impact of Cyclone Tracy (including the sound room where you experience the roar of a cyclone) and viewed the winning pieces from the recent National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards before heading to the saltwater lagoon for a swim. The kids couldn’t resist the appeal of the Aqua Zone course so, whilst I caught up on some work, Daniel and the kids exhausted themselves on the blow-up water park. They came back an hour later bright red, puffing and panting, but with huge smiles. That evening we had dinner while watching the sunset over the ocean at Sunset Beach (very aptly named!).

We left early in the morning, hoping to make it halfway between Katherine and the NT/QLD border…..however our water tank didn’t stick to the plan. About an hour out of Darwin we stopped at some roadworks, then a lady came up to Daniel’s window and said, ‘There’s water leaking from under your van, I think something is wrong.’ Indeed something was very wrong! The bracket holding the water tank up had broken and the water tank was dragging along the asphalt. Daniel did some magic with a few ratchet straps and we made it to Katherine. We stayed the night at Katherine and luckily a steel fabricator was able to make new brackets, which Daniel fitted. There were no replacement water tanks around (the nearest one was in Broome) so Daniel patched it up with some special glue (that will hopefully hold!). Whilst he was working on the van the kids and I cooled off in the pool then we walked down to Katherine River, where Jackson joined the local kids sliding down the slimy rocks into the rapids. We left very early the next morning, hoping to make up the time we lost!

Enjoying the view on our first night in Darwin.

We went out for Thai (our first dinner out in a long time). My scallop entree was incredible.

The kids loved their Pad Thai but their highlight was definitely dessert...banana fritter!

You could go under one of the tanks at Crocosaurus Cove and get a very different view of a crocodile.

The juvenile crocs were very inquisitive and kept coming up to the glass to look at us (Jackson did notice there were lots of scratch marks on the inside of the glass so I think they'd like to do more than look if they could).

Dinner time..I just couldn't get over the keepers. The only thing they had for protection was a colleague holding a broom handle!

The crocodile above and below is Burt - he starred in Crocodile Dundee. He is over 80 years old, 5.1m long and weighs a whopping 700kgs. In the past they were hoping he would help their breeding program, but he ate 3 of his potential mates!!

Juvenile crocs- so funny how they lay all over each other!

Feeding the juvenile crocodiles - when they bit you had to yank the rod up fast, they certainly already had a lot of power in their bite.

We all took advantage of the opportunity to hold a python and a blue tongue lizard.

Both snakes that we were allowed to hold showed a lot of interest in Jackson...must be his glowing blonde mullet!

She finally built up the courage to hold one (as long as we were close by).

Then we all got to hold a baby crocodile, it was surprisingly heavy.

No. 1 on Darwin's Must Do List - Mindil Beach Sunset Market

Mindil Beach was the place to be for sunset....there were so many people! Everyone clapped when the sun set (which we thought was quite strange).

Enjoying dumplings for dinner

Followed by a huge icecream

This street performer was very entertaining.

After an hour on the Aqua Park - red faced and totally exhausted!

The view with our bbq dinner at Sunset Beach.

Wading over Katherine River.

Jackson copied some of the local kids letting the rapids take them down then river before grabbing onto the tree and swimming back up to do it again.

These are my favourite frangipanis - they look and smell amazing.