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  • TravelerZauners Lap of Oz
    Day 50–52

    Mataranka

    May 10 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    Here in Mataranka, home to the Mangarayi and Yangman people and made famous by Jeannie Gunn’s 1908 novel “We of the Never Never”, we spent lots of time drifting along the wonderful warm waters of Mataranka Thermal Pools and Bitter Springs, where we dived down spotting turtles in amongst the lily pads and weeds. We also hung around at another amazing campground, Little Roper Stockcamp with its tagline “Pat ‘Em Feed ‘Em Eat ‘Em”! More reptiles were passed around, more cute animals fed (this time squirrel gliders), there was playground built out of giant hay balls and campers could enjoy a daily breakfast cook up of tasty Johnny Cakes as well as various evening meals, complete with Saturday night murder stories told after dark by campsite owner, Des.

    Mataranka is also famous for being home to Nathan “Whippy” Griggs, world record holding whip cracker! After hearing glowing reviews, we timed our stay to coincide with his opening performance for the season. A fun mix of incredible tricks, whip cracking to music and some great NT jokes, Whippy certainly didn’t disappoint.

    Our visit ended on Mother’s Day morning and Andrea felt very lucky to be treated to a bircher muesli breakfast and some beautiful gifts from our travels, and 7 hours spent together in the car travelling to our next stop 🥰    Read more

  • TravelerZauners Lap of Oz
    Day 47–50

    Katherine

    May 7 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    We farewelled Western Australia and crossed over into the Northern Territory on our way to Katherine, where we found ourselves a great little Farmstay, complete with not just classic farm animals (cows with a 2 week old calf, chickens, bunnies, a giant 260kg pig and 18 cute little piglets), but also saltwater and freshwater crocs, lizards, snakes, buffalos, emus and a gorgeous 4-month-old camel named Toey. In the afternoons, the kids loved wandering the farm with Mickie, the Farmstay owner, feeding and petting the animals, with Toey being the clear favourite.

    Despite being quite happy to hang at the campground, we did venture out to Nitmiluk National Park, on Jawoyn land, taking a cruise up Katherine Gorge, with its beautiful sandstone rock walls. We would have loved to canoe further up the gorge, but that wasn’t to be after a 4m saltwater croc had been found in the gorge just two weeks earlier.

    We also enjoyed soaking in the warm waters of the natural Katherine Springs, however the highlight of our stay was hiking out to and swimming at Leliyn (Edith Falls), where there was still so much water that we were able to float around and through the rocks in an exciting kind of whirlpool!

    On our way our of town, we stopped off for a tour of Cutta Cutta caves, taking in the beautiful glittering rock formations and learning about some of the Jawoyn and European history of the area.    Read more

  • TravelerZauners Lap of Oz
    12
    Day 45–47

    Gibb River Road from the East

    May 5 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    We continued through the Kimberley, enjoying the beautiful scenery along the Great Northern Highway, and passing Warmun Community where we had hoped to visit the art centre (recommended by Maartje), but found it unfortunately closed as it was Sunday. After dropping off our caravan at a beautiful bush campground run by the Wuggubun Aboriginal Community, it was then off to the Gibb River Road, along the scenic Cockburn Range, to see the Pentecost River crossing, the most famous on the Gibb. We would have loved to watch some cars as they crossed, but unfortunately the water was still too high after the late rains and the crossing was still closed.

    We kicked off the next day with a walk through rainforest-like Livistona Palms to get to Zebedee Springs, a series of warm rock pools connected by small waterfalls and fed by a thermal spring. We could easily have soaked in the warm water all day, but begrudgingly forced ourselves out to explore Amalia Gorge, where the water was colder, but the rock pool had an exciting rock jump that Timo and Josh had loved.

    The much anticipated Emma Gorge was our last hike (rock scramble) of the day, where we admired the sheer cliffs and had a great time being absolutely hammered by water as we swam under the 35m high waterfall in the cold gorge pool! It was also exciting to discover a warmer part of the pool, where a some hot spring water flowed through a crack in the gorge wall. All in all, quite the adventure for our last full day in Western Australia.    Read more

  • TravelerZauners Lap of Oz
    Day 43–45

    Purnululu NP and the Bungle Bungles

    May 3 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    We arrived at our Spring Creek camp with an afternoon to spare, so Timo, Emily and Nina whipped up some damper dough while Josh and Andrea set about making a fire and we spent the afternoon munching on damper, roasting marshmallows and enjoying some much needed R&R.

    The following morning we were up early to take on the 53km 4WD track into Purnululu National Park, our most adventurous 4WDing to date, including 54 river and creek crossings - 108 if you count both directions! The 1.5 bumpy hours were well worth it, for the beautiful scenery en route and because Purnululu really is special place.

    Once in, our first stop was the Bungle Bungle Range down the southern end of the park, made up of incredible orange and black striped domes, some reaching 200m above sea level. The sandstone domes are actually white, but get their orange colour from iron oxide and black colour from cyanobacterium coverings. After doing the walk into Cathedral Gorge, a huge cave nestled within the domes, we jumped back into the car to explore the northern end of the park. We were surprised at the stark difference in landscape in this area, with its palm trees and impressive Echinda Chasm, a narrow walkway through a cleft with rock walls on either side reaching 180m directly upwards.    Read more

  • TravelerZauners Lap of Oz
    Day 42–43

    Mueller Ranges stopover

    May 2 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    With sections of the Gibb River Road not yet opened for the dry season and also a reluctance on our part to submit our Jayco caravan to the full perils of the bumpy 4WD road, we detoured south via the Great Northern Highway. This meant we got to drive past and stop over near the Mueller Ranges, a perfect place to think about all our Mueller family members ❤️Read more

  • TravelerZauners Lap of Oz
    Day 40–42

    Gibb River Road from the West

    April 30 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    On our way towards the Gibb River Road, we stopped off near Derby at the Prison Tree, a giant boab tree that was used as an overnight lockup for Aboriginal prisoners as they were led to the Derby Gaol.

    From there, we headed into what many call the true Kimberley, rough and rugged with its bumpy unsealed roads, river crossings, rocky outcrops and ranges, varied bird and animal life and signature boab trees. We were especially lucky to be here thanks to an early road opening for this year’s dry season.

    From our campground we marvelled the 90m high rocky cliffs of the Windjana Gorge, known for its freshwater crocodiles, which we we were excited to spot when we ventured into the gorge, swimming in the water and lazing in the sun on the banks opposite us. We also saw beautiful brolgas and groups of agile wallabies hopping by.

    We day tripped further into the Gibb, visiting the stunning Bell Gorge where we swam right up to the waterfall, and Leonard River Gorge, also beautiful, but much less exciting for the kids due to the long, hot walk in and no swimming.

    Our last stop before heading back out to the highway was Tunnel Creek, the most exciting of our gorge visits yet, which involved walking along and swimming through a creek in a completely dark cave, using headlights to find our way. Not sure whether it was the cold, deep water, the guide book that wrote of potential freshwater crocs in the cave pools or the fact that we were all alone in the cave, but we were certainly all pretty happy to make it out into the sunshine at the end!

    Tunnel Creek also has a more sinister story reminding us again of our history. It was the location that, in 1897, Aboriginal freedom fighter (or outlaw as described by white settlers), Jandamarra, was captured and killed.    Read more

  • TravelerZauners Lap of Oz
    2
    Day 39–40

    Back in Broome

    April 29 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 32 °C

    We drove back to Broome for one more night to catch up with our good friend, Maartje, and to do one of Broome’s famous camel rides along Cable Beach. No swimming this time though, since the beach was closed again after a second croc visit in as many days!

    The camel ride was great fun. Each camel had its own entertaining personality and the slow, relaxed pace gave us time to appreciate the beautiful sunset over Cable Beach.

    After our ride and hundreds of camel photos, Maartje invited us into her home for tasty mocktails, a delicious dinner and a wonderful catch up. She works for the Royal Flying Doctor Service and offered to show us around, so the following morning we met up for an incredible private tour of the planes and patient care rooms. The only intensive care units in WA are located in Perth so the Royal Flying Doctors have a lot to do, moving patients from remote parts of WA down to Perth for treatment.    Read more

  • TravelerZauners Lap of Oz
    311211122
    Day 36–39

    Pender Bay, Dampier Peninsula

    April 26 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    The Dampier Peninsula land is owned and managed by the Nyul Nyul and Bardi Jawi people and their ranger teams. We felt privileged to be welcomed as visitors to this beautiful part of the country, camping on a little cliff overlooking stunning Pender Bay, with its pristine blue waters, red cliffs, black boulders and aptly named love heart rock.

    We visited the One Arm Point community at the top of the peninsula and Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm, the home of world’s most valuable pearl (and also the home to the only swimming pool on the peninsula), but the absolute highlight of our stay was a 5 hour tour with Bolo from Southern Cross Cultural Tours. He welcomed us to his land, Lullumb, by way of a splashing ceremony in a fresh water stream and taught us about his family tribe, the significance of the land and the waters in this area, the six seasons of the year and how the bush, mangroves, beach and sea were used by his people to provide shelter, make tools and spears, source, grind and cook seasonal foods and make soap and medicines.

    Bolo also helped us to find our own food. We went mud crabbing, sought out bombshells with little slugs in them (big pointy shells that resembled ice cream cones), picked berries from the bushes and pulled bush carrots from the ground.

    Bolo introduced us to his family who helped with what they called a cook-up, but we considered a feast of mud crabs, oysters, cockle shells, bombshells and damper. Those of us not terrified of crocs went for a quick swim and then Bolo finished our tour by presenting some artefacts of his tribe and singing songs, using his boomerangs as clap sticks. His message was clear: we may all come from different places, but we can happily live in harmony together as long as we all share the responsibility of respecting and looking after the land. An exciting and moving learning experience that each of us will remember forever.    Read more

  • TravelerZauners Lap of Oz
    111
    Day 34–36

    Broome

    April 24 in Australia ⋅ 🌙 26 °C

    Apart from camels on the beach, we weren’t quite sure what to expect of Broome. The town delivered a successful hunt for real dinosaur footprints at Gantheaume Point, a memorable Anzac Day dawn service, stunning sunsets over the water, a beautiful beach and an exciting crocodile experience at the Malcolm Douglas Croc Park.

    … And relief that we all stayed safe… When we enquired about jellyfish and crocodiles at the tourist office at the beginning of our stay, we were told (i) although someone was stung at the beach this week, the water had cooled so jellyfish had moved on; and (ii) the beach water is so clear that we’d be able to see any potential crocodiles and exit the water in time! Emily, Nina and Andrea decided there and then not to swim, but when we got to the beach, it was so hot and there were so many people swimming that Timo and Josh went in after all. As it turned out, Cable Beach was closed twice in the following 48 hours after another person was stung by a jellyfish that afternoon and an actual saltwater crocodile was sighted directly in front of the surf life saving club just two mornings later!!    Read more

  • TravelerZauners Lap of Oz
    3
    Day 32–34

    Eighty Mile Beach

    April 22 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    We picked Eighty Mile Beach for a stopover because it was just over halfway between Karijini and Broome (and, to be honest, there weren’t many other options), but we ended up staying two nights because it was so beautiful - a little green oasis with just about nothing else 350km north and 250km south.

    Here on Nyangumarta land, there is a massive 900m between low and high tide which made for incredible sunset walks across the low tide flats, spotting hermit crabs and sea snails and stumbling through sections of quick sand. We stayed clear of the water, having been warned of crocodiles, box jellyfish, string rays and tiger sharks and instead relaxed with our books, played in the sand, fished at high tide and kept an eye out for wildlife, specifically the agile wallaby.    Read more

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