Wistwahd Hy

As we travel west toward the setting sun, recent sightings seem geared to tell us not to take life too seriously. For example….

Why settle for a bedroll when you can have an entire bed? Unconventional camping at its most comfortable. And his car is missing its engine. You never know who you’ll meet in the next campsite.


We realize we’re still in Dr. Seuss country when we enter the enormous state of Western Australia and bulbous boab trees appear in riotous profusion. Now really, what was Ma Nature thinking when she invented them? Perhaps that they would be handy as temporary gaols (jails) since they become hollow as they grow older? This photo shows just one of several such prison trees used in the 1800s and early 1900s.



Here’s a super-sized boab thought to be 2000 years old.




On this road you can choose which one-way you want. How accommodating.

Despite an engaging smile the crocodile has few close friends. Windham greets travelers to the town with a giant grinning salty. Is there a message there?

The primary attractions in northern Western Australia are The Gibb River Road through the Kimberly Plateau and BungleBungle (really!) National Park. People are more than willing to risk their tires and vehicles for hundreds of kms on ragged-rocky, corrugated, bull-sandy 4-wheel-drive roads to see the spectacular rock formations, gorges, and waterfalls. And they have been more than willing to tell US to do it, too. Who are we to refuse? So we have a rear wheel bearing repaired, and we load up on food and water and a tire repair kit. And then the temperature drops to frigid and it starts to rain. Well, obviously THAT won’t last since it never rains during The Dry. And then it continues to rain. For four days and nights straight. All the unsealed roads are closed, and it’ll probably take about a week of drying out before they are opened again. Oh well. Apparently we weren’t supposed to have all the fillings jiggled out of our teeth visiting those places. Onward we go.

Architecture varies from one locale to another. Termite fashion is no different. Here is the northwestern home design.

Ultimately we trevel wistwahd until the land runs out. We are face to face with the Indian Ocean. Time to turn south.

The Top End

We arrive at what the Aussies inventively call “The Top End.” The city of Darwin was a remote outpost at the end of hundreds of kilometers of rough, unsealed road until WWII when the U.S. came to the aid of Australia and the bombed wreck of Darwin. They paved the road in record time, saving Oz from becoming Japan-South and enabling us to visit 65 years later. A major thing that people of The Top End do is try to stay cool. We fall into this custom like a couple of pros. The whole region is dotted with crystal clear limestone pools and waterfalls. Here you see photographic evidence of our diligence in inspecting as many as we can.



BUT…… Don’t swim just anywhere! Another featured creature of this area is the formidable, not to mention huge, saltwater crocodile. Salties live quite successfully in fresh water as well as salt, and they swim far up rivers in search of dinner. Dinner is anything they can clamp their jaws around, including unwary humans. There are freshies, too, but they’re more reclusive, smaller, and only capable of inflicting serious wounds, so nobody worries too much about them.

By now we have so many photos of the riot of birds that we could dazzle you for days. Instead we prefer to just tantalize you with one or two at a time. The expressive Frogmouth was surely the inspiration for Oscar the Grouch. And when was the last time you saw a flock of geese hanging around in a tree TOP?



Termite mounds continue to abound. How would you like to have this one for a neighbor?



Distances between inhabited areas are vast and the land is pretty flat. To transport goods most efficiently the Aussies have developed the “road train.” They transport everything from gravel to cattle to jelly beans. Of course these guys can’t stop on a dime (or even several dollars), so we give them plenty of space.

Tomorrow we will point our compass west, leaving the town of Katherine for the no-man’s-land of Western Australia. Stay tuned for further exciting encounters and challenges.

Northern Territory

Aussie animals continue to captivate us. The clever Black Buzzard breaks emu eggs by picking up stones with his beak and hurling them at the egg until it cracks.

We don’t know what the Horny Devil does for a living. By his appearance, anything he wants.

Aboriginal people lived nomadically in Australia for 40,000–60,000 years. About 220 years ago when England began sending convicts to this land, their lifestyle took a distinct downward turn. We are trying to puzzle out what this means today. The two cultures couldn’t be more different spiritually and materially. Most of the blacks we see in the towns seem to have lost themselves, and alcohol is a major problem. However, in national parks and cultural centres we learn about their proud culture, traditions, and sacred places. What gives? In Alice Springs we meet Eric Brown and his deaf/mute Aboriginal wife Napaljari who is a painter. Eric has a wealth of information. He lived among them out in the bush for thirty years.

We learn that the traditional ways are surviving just fine deep within their own land where possessions have no value. Closer to “civilization” are Aboriginal towns run by their Councils of Elders where people live in houses, go to schools, etc., but alcohol is prohibited. They’re sort of halfway into the white people’s world, though holding many of their own traditions and rules intact. Sadly, the most visible Aboriginals are the ones living in the midst of whites. Since few whites can fathom such a completely different way of being, there is considerable suspicion and resentment. And, on the part of the Aboriginals, there’s a lot of sitting around and drunkenness.

Back to nature. We can’t have a blog installment without a cliff photo. Here is Trephina Gorge, east of Alice Springs.


Heading north, we suffer our second punctured tire at the Tropic of Capricorn. Back we go to Alice Springs to repair it, then north to Devil’s Marbles. The many huge balanced boulders were formed underground when molten magma solidified, fractured, and weathered when the surrounding land eroded away. Water seeping into a crack weakens a rock until its own weight causes it to split apart.




Busy termites construct many tall mounds as far as the eye can see.



We are now in the tropics, roughly equivalent to northern Mexico. We have timed our arrival for the winter, but still it’s hot and humid. Swimming is a welcome diversion, though caution is advised. Stay away from salty (crocodile) territory! Katherine Thermal Springs (about 90 degrees F) and Edith Falls are lovely.

We leave you with this little-known bit of trivia: what does Qantas (Airline) stand for? “Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Service.” It was founded by a couple of WWI pilots.