Friendly crocodiles.. really?
No.. not the petting kind of friendly, but uninterested in killing and eating us kind of friendly.
These are freshwater crocs.. Definitely smaller than the ones we encountered in Kakadu that would have for sure killed and ate us. There would have been no way to get this close to a "salty", but we can be here with the "freshies"
These crocs are actually in our campground.
While looking for a place to stop for the night, I had a free camping spot in mind from my research. I've been trying to avoid the paid camping, which means caravans. Caravans mean loud generators for their satellite tv's.. haha. And even though the mass rush of grey nomads have already been through for the season, there are still plenty around. Therefore, bush camping is still the preferred, which to me means freedom, peace, quiet, stars, tranquility, views, comfort, etc etc etc.
But! We passed the Timber Creek roadhouse and out of the corner of my eye behind the building, I saw a patch of GREEN. In the northern territory landscape of dead burnt brown everything, the green really pops out. I still went forward to the free camp, but from the look of the completely brown dusty landscape, we made an executive decision to turn back 15 km's to the green spot with the caravans.
Bundaberg Rum and Coke.. $10!! Ouch!! I best sip on this one slowly and enjoy because I'm not buying #2 at that price! I did enjoy a little sit down to watch the flying fox families interact with each other. Plenty of arguments up there!
Flying foxes... heaps of them..
This was a really good decision.
For one, we got to experience these lovely crocodiles! Cold water!! A Shower!! Cold beer! And a meal... the meal of all meals to be honest.
Most of the meals hover around $30. So expensive. But they had a special on tonight. Meatloaf for $18. Neither Suzanne or I thought much about it, we both said Yes as quick as she could get the word Meatloaf out of her mouth.
Heck, when they brought it out, I couldn't believe my eyes. We each get this much food!?! More than enough to share on one plate but we have our own and we can eat as much as we want.
I can tell you... we both ate every bit of that meal. I certainly struggled and forced the last bits in, but it was the best darn meal we had in a long time. It was like the meal your Mom makes you after being away for a long time.
We've had some creative meal choices off the bike lately. Tinned chicken is a new one for me. I don't like it much. Cous cous with almonds on top? Or a couple of muesli bars for dinner. OR - a proper pub meal like this. I was one happy tired hungry rider.....
Back to the road and a very early morning start. The heat is the biggest challenge and even more noticeable when riding the paved roads vs the dirt/gravel roads.
We are on the bikes today by 6:45 AM, and I like that! I love my mornings and riding while the sun is coming up is extra special.
I noticed a sign for a look-out, as we came into town last night, so I thought, what the heck, lets do that before we go too far. I have to admit, I am guilty of passing a log of "look out" signs on my travels. Sometimes I pull in and sometimes I don't.
But this one was another good decision! Just have a look at this beautiful sunrise in the Northern Territory!
Oh what a beautiful morning!!!
Back down the heated road level and heading west as soon as we can manage. We have 2 things to race.. 1) Rising temperatures for the day due to summer heat and 2) the rain season.
Currently we are riding the tail end of winter which is dry season. Temperatures were lower in our mid-winter June and July, but now that summer is nearly here, the temperatures are already quite high as I've mentioned in previous blog posts. And the second worry is when the rain begins. Once this happens, the dirt roads, and mainly the Gibb River Road (our goal destination) will be impassable and closed. I really don't want that to happen as we are very close, so the sooner we get this road done, the better.
Just in case you are wondering.. it is very very very very HOT... If you could see the waves of heat rising from the pavement, and feel the heat coming off the motor. I'm not as hot as Suzanne though. My Touratech riding suit summer layer is mostly mesh.. so at least the air flows through. And if I wet my shirt with water, which I have been loving lately, the wind going through the mesh is so much cooler!! At least for a couple minutes before it drys out. Suzanne comes from Sweden and she doesn't ride in hot weather up there, so her suit is fully solid, with only a few vents that are not as user friendly as the mesh.
Cows.. cows.. and more cows. Avoiding cows has been a thing ever since we came up North. The cattle stations are several hundred thousand acres in size, which means they are too big for fencing. We've passed our share of dead cows, and I would hate to be the one who hit one!
And I have never had to avoid a bird as big as this one anywhere in the world. My goodness!!
Here we are! We made it to Western Australia! Being from America, we have 50 states in around the same amount of land mass as Australia. Australia has only 5 states. Another comparison might be that in Europe, you have entire countries with their own languages that are smaller than one state in Australia.
After traveling so long, coming to this border is almost like arriving another country! I'm surprised to see the border check. Should I have brought my passport?
While we were getting checked out by the border "security".. haha, they mentioned that we are lucky to be here this week temperature wise. We are baking in the high 30's but it's likely to be in the mid 40's next week.. For my American friends, that means, between 100 to 115 fahrenheit. As much as we are struggling with the heat, to know that it's going to be much hotter in a matter of days, suddenly it doesn't feel so bad anymore!
The security guy also mentioned that we should take a look at Lake Argyle just down the road. I had also been recommended to see the lake from other friends, which is only about 30 km away. Just the thought of being near a lake in this heat sounds refreshing already!
I have to say the Kimberly is just beautiful all day every day. Yes, it's remote, few signs of people and such a harsh landscape that keeps people from living here. But I'm so glad to I made this trip to see it myself.
First sign of this special lake.. how nice does that water look!?
There she is!! How quick can we jump in!! Probably not, the sign says it's home to about 35,000 crocodiles. ;-(
Lake Argyle is a man made lake built by the American Drago Corporation in the 1960's and 70's in an attempt to bring irrigation to the area to hopefully support agricultural crops and habitation of humans! There are many crops they hoped to achieve and they managed to grow, mangoes, sugar cane and cotton to name a few. Here's a satellite view:
If interested to learn more:
https://www.lakeargyle.com/
Nice place to stop to at least have some lunch under a shade tree. Cooling off in the lake with the crocodiles is out of the question, for me anyway.
Back out to the main road for our travels heading West. Look at this landscape and not a soul around!!
The country is still on fire....
You see that whirlwind in the photo below? We have seen quite a few of these every day since we've passed Alice Springs. I've noticed that they are mostly active after lunch time, the hottest part of the day. On one occasion, the whirlwind crossed the road and tried to rip my helmet off my head! It brought the mouth piece over my eyes. I panicked and luckily I had my visor open I was able to grab through the opening and yank the helmet back down. Heck!
Time to sort out where we might sleep tonight. Not usually a favorite, but the Roadhouse seems to have a decent campsite, so that's what we pick. As mentioned before, toads are still a massive problem up here but I've never seen this live toad disposal point at any other fuel stop. Good idea!! We saw that when you drop the toad down the chute, they have a bucket and water to live in until they are disposed of humanely. Now that is unusual!!
