Goodbye to adventuring in the NT ……..Hello WA

Hello folks,

Again it has been a while between posts,  but wow…… a lot has happened to the Hopkins!

We are currently out bush in the East Kimberly waiting on some car parts after discovering our leaf springs are sagging the wrong way and we have a blown shock absorber…..Not overly impressed as I had the whole lot done prior to leaving! This does say something about the rigours a 4x4 goes through when dealing with the Australian bush and the dreaded corrugations. Needless to say we are discovering that WA is an acronym for…. Wait Awhile.

Anyway no complaints we are still living the dream and please read on to see what we have been up to since our last post.

Flora River NP

After another big stock up with food and another stay with Adam & his family in Katherine we had three more National Parks to visit. The Flora River is a nature reserve and is to be found after a 50 km dirt road bash and has the most beautiful coloured water you have ever seen but alas no swimming…….the dreaded Estuarine croc again. We stayed and played here for three days. Successfully caught some Sooty Grunter (that’s a nice fish for non fisho’s) but still no Barra catch. We also went 4x4 adventuring to the confluence of the Daly, Katherine & Douglas Rivers. We enjoyed interactions with lots of fauna but failed to play with a 3 metre olive python which hangs around the camp site.  

The home schooling with the kids is going well. Jodes and I are proud of how well the kids get on with their daily journals every morning without too much nagging. Here’s one of Jacks entries….

Leaving Flora National Park 

Jack Hopkins

4^th August 2014

Today it was bread for breakfast, after we ate that we packed up and said goodbye to Flora National Park. Then we went to get the net, but there was nothing in it. After that we drove to Victoria River. We had lunch at the roadhouse and drove to camp. On the way in we lost our bin, so we had to drive back and get it. We then drove back to have dinner.

Gregory NP

Gregory NP is in two parts and is found along the Victoria HWY. We headed into the second park just past Timber Creek road house (some great county style fired chicken much to mum’s complete disgust!) The Gregory is set up for some quite long 4x4 missions. Jack was un well so this wasn’t really an option and we made base camp at the old Bulita Station and cattle yards which were fascinating (I’ll say it again….they worked bloody hard). We attempted a walk into another spot called Limestone Gorge as there was a possibility of swimming but poor Jacko wasn’t up for it.

Keep River NP

This really is one of the NT’s well kept secrets. Most people have heard of the Bungle Bungles, well the Keep River offers the same sort of scenery and rock art with two exceptional walks with stunning views and is a whole lot easier to get to. Keep River NP is located right on the border with WA about 70 ks from Kununurra. I think the pictures give you an idea…..

Lake Argyle

Lake Argyle was created by damming the Ord River (1973) and forms a storage reservoir for the Ord irrigation area. The largest manmade lake in the southern hemisphere, by volume, now houses a hydro-electric plant that supply’s power to the towns of Kununurra, Wyndham as well as the Argyle diamond mine. At flood capacity it is estimated the lake would cover over 2000 sq. km’s!!! Lake Argyle features many bays, inlets and islands which the Hopkins family were to make home for four days…. (read on for more)

The lake is a unique eco-system and home to an array of wildlife, including 25,000 freshwater crocs, 26 species of native fish, 90 islands which are home to various marsupials, reptiles and approximately one third of Australia’s bird species, which at times can number in the tens of thousands.

Zebra Rock Mine and Sunset Cruise on Lake Argyle

On recommendations from friends (thanks Tim & Krisha, Deon & Lucy!!) prior to leaving we always planned a cruise on Lake Argyle. Fate played a wonderful hand here thanks to some dunny door advertising at the Keep River NP. We found out about the Zebra Rock Mine and boat tours that operated from the NT. Zebra Rock Mine and Boat tours are operated by Kim, Ruth, Opal and skipper Max. We camped here for a night, booked our Sunset Cruise and discovered the unique Zebra Rock, with an informative tour by Ruth. The Sunset Cruise which departs from the north east corner of Lake Argyle, meandering down Matilda inlet where the bird life was out of this world! An open esky, a fabulous sunset and great skipper made for an unforgettable experience.

Marooned on Josie Island, Lake Argyle…

After several beers with Max and chatting late in to the evening…., Max proceeded to tell me of the possibility in being dropped and left in the middle of Lake Argyle for an opportunity of a lifetime. Now this appealed to my sense of adventure immediately…I just had to get Jodes on board. The following pictures and video are a snippet of the incredible experience the Hopkins lived interacting and exploring in the middle of the inland sea that is Lake Argyle. A massive thankyou to Kim, Ruth and Max for an unforgettable experience… Keep up the good work (we’ll be back!!)

Here’s an extract from Tilly’s Journal…

A summary of our days living on Josie Island, Lake Argyle.

Tilly Hopkins

11^th to 14^th August 2014

Today we were up nice an early packing all the stuff into tubs. Jack, Flynn and I said goodbye to Opal, Ruth and Elsa. Then we were off. Kim and Max drove us down on the boat all the way to the island. That’s where they left us. We were marooned, left in the middle of nowhere.

Dad set up shade cloth and we helped set up camp.

For diner every night we had to catch fish, then we cooked it in a different way each time. We had canoes that we adventured in every day.

One morning we climbed up Kinfoyle Island, which was very high with a great lookout.

The name of our island was Josie Island and we walked around it, as well. We swam every day because there was only freshies no salties (crocs) in there.

In the evenings we went canoeing and saw heaps of wildlife and amazing sunsets. We looked up at the stars around the campfire. Then snuggled down in our tents.

And that was my amazing adventures on Josie Island.

Bungle Bungles

The Bungle Bungle range is renowned for its striking sandstone domes, stripped with orange and grey bands. They are an estimated 360 million years old and rise over 200 metres high, they were carved over 20 million years though erosional forces. Purnululu is the name given to the sandstone area by aboriginal people and covers an area of 240 hectares.

The Bungle Bungle range has been a tourist destination since 1983 and was granted World Heritage status in 2003.

Our visit was slightly tainted by mechanical problems however a standout walk in the Bungles was into Cathedral Gorge (see images below)

Here’s an extract from Flynns’s Journal…

A day at the Bungle Bungles

Flynn Hopkins

18^th August 2014

“Good Morning Dad” today dad was up trying to fix Nelly’s battery. Soon all of us were up, Mum made porridge yummy. We then drove down to the walks, when we got there we did the Cathedral Gorge, I took my first photo there. After that we walked to the piccaninny Creek Lookout it was amazing. Soon we were back at camp, we hung out and did some school work.

 There you have it, as you can some fun adventuring has been done. I hope to speak to you all soon following completion of the Gibb River Road…. Cheers Hoppo -Hopkinsgowalkabout 2014