Completion of the Gibb River Road moved us ever further north east in WA – almost to the Northern Territory border in fact. Leaving WA this far up brings you pretty close to what locals simply refer to as “The Top End” and it included several places we were keen to visit. But first, a final look at WA.

Prior to heading east  towards Kununurra we made a slight detour west to Wyndham – not a major draw for most but it did offer a little history ( another of Australia’s northern outposts that was bombed in WW2 ), and an exceptional viewpoint ( The Fiver Rivers ) for taking in the expansive surrounding area.

Kununurra is home to the Ord River a river that was dammed ( The Ord River Scheme ) in what was, at the time, an extraordinary engineering feat in bringing much irrigable crop land to what was formerly barren desert. It’s a prosperous place, vibrant, a semi tropical oasis and nearby Lake Argyle, created in the scheme, is now an attraction in itself. 

The road east had us crossing into the Northern Territory barely an hour outside Kununurra but from there it was a long run into Katherine, straddling the Stuart Highway and famous for its eponymous gorge. A return visit for us but a long time ago – over 40 years for us both!  The gorge was nice but, this time around anyway, a little underwhelming- hard not to benchmark it against those we’d seen so recently in Karijini, and on the Gibb. In fairness we opted not to re-do the boat tour we’d done before and it’s a sight that’s definitely more impressive from the water.

Years back the big “buzz” in the travel marketing space was Kakadu ( National Park ), not far north of Katherine. We’d succumbed to the hype and visited but found it also a little less spectacular than the  NT tourist folks would have you believe. In fairness we’d travelled there during the wet season (and it was pouring rain most of the day), so hardly did it justice but it seems the feeling was fairly widespread among other travellers – the place is now jokingly referred to as “Kaka-don’t”.  Not far from Kakadu is another park, easier to access and whose stunning charms can ( thankfully) be enjoyed without boat tours or helicopters – Litchfield National Park. Several travellers had suggested it was a “do not miss” and better than Kakadu – we’d 100% agree and thoroughly enjoyed the place. Highlight of the park was definitely Wangi Falls – a scene right out of Jurassic Park. Beautiful to just soak it up even though you can no longer swim in the pool at the base ( a saltwater crocodile captured here recently forced its closure ).

Darwin is only an hour or so north and we’d planned a few days there – a van service, a search for elusive imperial measure plumbing parts, and some general sightseeing filled our time. Both of us marvelled at how this once frontier town had morphed into a thriving, diverse, modern metropolis right on Asia’s doorstep. We really enjoyed the vibe, and got all our tasks done – it is however, incredibly humid. This is the “dry” season – definitely not a place to come in the “wet”.

Darwin would be the furthest north in Australia we’d venture until Queensland. For the first time in a long  time we’d now be heading south, back past Katherine, through the hot springs of Mataranka and on to the historic and legendary town of Daly Waters where the Carpentaria Highway would take us on east into Queensland.

Till next week…..