All 4 one and one 4 all

To return home, we had to fly via Sydney. We spent our last day doing a lot of waiting – waiting to go to the airport and waiting for delayed flights.

Waiting has been a big part of this trip along with, ‘Closed due to lack of staff.’ We felt for the many businesses that hadn’t survived the pandemic and those trying to clamber out now. Despite the waiting and a number of things being closed or full to capacity, it has been a brilliant three weeks.

Reflections of our holiday

As per all our trips, we have completed our reflections.

Best place

W – Edith Falls

M – Katherine Gorge

D – Bungle Bungles

A – Florence Falls

Best experience

W – Bungles flight

M – Sunset cruise in Broome

D – Co-piloting flight to Horizontal Falls

A – Seeing the whales on the sunset cruise at Broome

Best food

W – Breakfast at Sandlewood Cafe in Kununurra

M – 7-course dinner on sunset cruise at Broome

D – Dinner on the Katherine Gorge sunset cruise

A – 7-course dinner on sunset cruise at Broome

Best drink

W – Great Northern super crisp at Darwin races

M – Dark Lager at Matso’s in Broome

D – Broome Mule cocktail at Zander’s in Broome

A – Mangolado cocktail at The Oyster Bar in Darwin

Funniest or favourite moment

W- Grubbie dropping the $60 platter at Cooinda

M – Ann watching the whales

D – Wayne recovering like a panther after falling down the steps at the brewery

A – Re-living Donna’s dream of us getting tattoos and what we were all wearing (this is restricted information lol).

Special mention: Donna asking the lady in IGA at Jabiru where she lived. Response: In a house!

What would you change

W – Don’t eat at the vegan restaurant and if you do, read the menu more closely

M – One less day in Katherine

D- Check that we have the right jumping crocodile tour

A – Do a wild barramundi fishing adventure

Something you learnt

W – First Nation people speaking in their language groups and how many freshwater crocodiles there are

M – Ord River and its system

D – Ord River system and how beautiful but tough it is to live in this part of Australia

A – How the different language groups lived – the stories from direct descendants and doing line painting

Inspirational moment

W – Travis’s Yellow River story

M – Megan singing at Cathedral Gorge

D – Listening to Manuel’s stories of hardship but how happy he is now

A – Floating on my back in the thermal pools and looking at the sky

Other special moments

W- View from Ubirr and jumping crocs

M – Florence Falls and Barra fishing farm

D – Thermal pools and serenity of sunrise cruise at Kakadu

A – Swimming at the waterfalls and the fast boat cruises

Next holiday

We began planning this trip at the end of our last holiday together.

As usual, we began discussing our next adventure. Below are each of our preferred choices:

W – Tasmania

M – Japan and Hawaii

D – New Zealand or Tasmania

A – Tasmania or Hawaii

So until next year, The Territory Tour 2022 team is signing out!

We spent a quiet morning before being picked up and taken to the airport for our flight to Cygnet Bay and the Horizontal Falls. Our original trip, which included a boat ride through the falls, had been cancelled and this was the next best thing.

Our pilot was Michael, who was a bit of a larrikin, and our co-pilot was Donna. Trip up the coast was a hit bumpy. I’m a nervous flyer at the best of times so having the little plane getting bumped around didn’t do me any favours.

We landed at Cygnet Bay and enjoyed a lunch of barramundi. We then had a tour and talk about the pearl farm.

The second time in the air was a lot smoother as the wind had died down a bit. We flew over Horizontal Falls a few times – not as good as riding thorough them but definitely worth seeing.

After landing back in Broome, we went to the Roey Pub to enjoy a dinner more to Wayne’s liking. A taxi home and our last touring day was complete.

We caught a bus into town again. We, as in Donna and I, explored the shops and Donna found a lovely dress to wear for the afternoon cruise. We had another coffee at the Green Mango Cafe and retuned to our accommodation.

At 1pm, we were picked up and taken to the beach our cruise boat was leaving from. We were given a Matso’s ginger beer for the trip.

We waded to our tender boat and joined the 16 other guests for a splendid afternoon on the water.

Our first three courses were standing up. Our delightful crew of Hallie, Chloe and Coel kept our drinks topped up and the chef, Will kept the food coming. In between courses, we could wander around the boat.

The weather was perfect; our seven courses of seafood and dessert were delicious; the company was great. What more could a person ask for?How about a pod of whales swimming past the front of our boat?

A rack of Mother of Pearl oysters was pulled up and Donna selected the first one to open. No pearl in this one but we were given a taste of its meat. The second one had a magnificent pearl.

The boat then travelled to Cable Beach and anchored. We indulged in the final four courses at tables and sat with our new friends, John and Judy.

Dessert was served as the sun set on the horizon.

What a magical day!

We took the bus into town to the Info. Centre. Two minutes into the trip, someone alerted us to the fact that a red and black bag had been left at our pick-up stop. It was Wayne’s. He quickly asked the driver to stop, got off and went back to retrieve the bag. We continued on!

Wayne caught up with us as we were booking another trip to the Horizontal Falls. We went for morning tea at The Green Mango Cafe. It was voted best coffee of the trip so far.

Donna and I had been recommended the Wear Art shop and even though the lady gave a good sales pitch for a 4-in-1 dress, we weren’t convinced and left empty-handed

We walked a bit around Broome and found Matso’s where we had lunch. As we were leaving, Wayne missed the last step and fell heavily. He tumbled beautifully and jumped up saying, ‘I am a panther!’ He does now have a sore shoulder to add to his hay fever.

We did an extra walk to the jetty and then came home for a quick rest.

We returned to Cable Beach and joined our sunset camel tour. There were three operators. We were with the blue group and it was run by Alison, the only female operator.

Donna said she was just about parallel on the camel. Was she reclining comfortably? I don’t think so!

We managed to extract ourselves from the camels and completed the day with dinner and drinks at the Sunset Bar and Grill.

Last night, we all made the commitment to get NT 2022, WA 2021 and UK 2019 tattooed on our backsides…in Donna’s dream. Donna even knew what each of us were wearing and asked for a discount to get TAS 2023 done as well.

Much to our dismay, Mark received a phone call cancelling our Horizontal Falls trip, ‘Not enough staff’. We think it is more to do with the incident in May. We are all bitterly disappointed and trying to find something to replace it.

Before packing up, we went for a final walk .

We drove the quick trip to the airport where Mark managed to drive up every one way street the wrong way…in the world’s smallest airport. We parked the car and unpacked to be asked whether we had re-filled it. Short answer: NO!

The boys dumped us and the luggage and headed back to town to fill up. Lucky, I am with early birds!

Flight to Broome was quick and uneventful. We were picked up by the courtesy bus and on arrival, immediately headed to Cable Beach. The water looked divine and lots of people were swimming.

We went to Zanders and had cocktails, beer and seafood.

Wayne was struggling with hay fever so we returned to the resort. While he was having a rest, Donna went for a swim and Mark did some research. Results: not much open on a Sunday.

In the end, Donna, Mark and I caught a bus to Divers where for the first time in a long time, we had to wait for the bouncer to let us enter the premises. We found a table with one chair but had trouble getting another two. Mark got our first drinks all right but after that I had to wait ages for the next round (someone had ordered 9 Expresso Martinis) and Donna had to wait ages to order food. We then had to wait for the taxi we ordered to return to our abode.

We began our last full day at Kununurra with a canoe at Lake Argyle. On our 70km trip to the lake, we saw these two most amazing birds.

Due to the previous day’s bad weather, there was some reluctance from a couple of our tour members to partake in this activity. As it turns out, their concerns were unwarranted. The water was a little choppy but nothing these adventurers couldn’t handle. Wayne and I were even asked to retrieve an esky lid by an occupant of one of the house boats.

We stopped in at the caravan park with one of the world’s best infinity pools. We tried to get morning tea and buy some merch. but a tour group arrived and the staff was slammed. We did get photos of the pool and view.

We detoured via Hoochery Distillery on the way home and had lunch – fish tacos and pulled pork sliders. Donna and I got the cocktail paddle.

We came home and yes….had a kip. It was then a slow afternoon. Donna and I did some washing and boy was that a saga. Fighting for the three operational washing machines and one dryer in a community of over a hundred caravaners and campers was not easy. Thank goodness for Donna’s determination and beautiful manner with everyone. She bewitched everyone with her aura and our washing was done and dried with only four trips back and forth to the laundry.

Meanwhile, Mark and Wayne went hunting and gathering…via the pub. They watched some footy, objectively observed some attractive girls working the pool table, and probably had a glass of sparkling water. They then went to Coles, the shelves even more depleted than the day before, and found something for dinner.

We all went down to the lake to watch the sunset. Unfortunately, there was still some cloud cover so it wasn’t as beautiful as the first night where I was the only witness. On the first evening, I was out getting mine (and Donna’s) steps up and for the first time on this trip, I didn’t have my phone on me. It was the most magnificent sunset and I thought we could see it the next night …and that’s when the poor weather set in. Note to self: seize the day! I should have ran back, grabbed my phone and tour group, and taken a photo.

Mark did a great job with dinner – steak, bacon, lettuce, cheese, tomato and beetroot burgers. A fitting dinner for our last night in Kununurra – place where two waters meet.

Today, our travels went from being in the air to traversing land and water.

We began the day with a trip to the Sandlewood Shop and Cafe. The day before, we flew over these farms. Sandlewood trees require host trees for nutrients and to speed up their maturing.

We all enjoyed a lovely brunch and Donna and I enjoyed some shopping both before and after our meal. What can I say? We were enticed back twice!

We stopped at Kelly’s Knob and climbed the smaller part. It was drizzling rain so did require some careful treading.

We joined the Triple J Ord River Discoverer with sunset tour. We were picked up in a very comfortable coach and driven the 70km to the Argyle Homestead Museum.

The bus then drove to the dam wall of Lake Argyle and the upper end (highest point) of the Ord River.

We joined the boat and our tour guide, Grant and began our 55km cruise back to Kununurra. The first 15km was an exhilarating ride through the narrowest section. It was freezing so each of us grabbed a blanket to help shield ourselves from the elements.

Every now and then we stopped and became ‘birdos’ as they were the main wildlife. Freshwater crocodiles were scarce due to the colder waters from 4 days of overcast weather.

At one stage, we parked at the side of the river and Grant gave an in-depth talk about the Ord River system and its conception.

Further upstream, we enjoyed an afternoon tea of pumpkin scones and sticky date cake with a welcome cup of steaming tea or coffee.

We continued towards Kununurra, making frequent stops and nipping into a little estuary. We spotted a couple of freshwater crocs but they were little and elusive. We also saw an amazing rock wallaby.

Closer to town, we stopped to view Elephant Rock

Finally we came to a halt in time to view the sunset, which unfortunately only just peeked through. Another sunset cruise without the sunset.

We wanted to eat out but the only place available for dinner was the Kununurra Pub and it was totally booked out. We couldn’t even get a park. We went to Coles and got ingredients for Spaghetti Bolognese and settled for cooking in-house. It was an ‘Ord’some day!

What a day! The day started with an early morning pick-up so that we could join our small plane flight to the Bungle Bungles. This was my first small plane flight and Donna gets travel-sick so there was a degree of anxiety.

The lovely Renee flew us safely and smoothly from Kununurra, across the Ord River Dam and Lake Argyle to Purnululu National Park.

We landed at Purnululu National Park and indulged in a morning tea of little cakes and a hot drink. Ben, our guide, and Waylon, a proud Gidja man, were out land guides and took us on a teeth-shattering bus trip to the car park of the Cathedral Gorge walk.

It was incredible to observe these miracle of nature first from the air and then to walk through them. Ben gave us lots of interesting details about the area.

We ate a picnic lunch in the awe-inspiring Cathedral Gorge. It was such a privilege to enter this area as it was once a men’s meeting place for the traditional owners.

Our trip home was just as spectacular. I was keeping a close eye on the pilot and her instruments…just in case she needed someone to take over. There were a couple of moments that air turbulence hit and my heart went into my mouth.

We flew over the Argyle Diamond mine and landed just before sunset.

Our pilot, Renee, then became our driver and returned us to our cabin. As she said, you become adept at lots of things in the north.

Wayne cooked a sausage sizzle and the boys watched the footy on the iPad (we only have one TV channel). Donna and I retired to bed early (Manly was playing).

Low-key start to the day. Breakfast at a little coffee shop.

I loved the wall art around the town.

Drove to the airport and said good-bye to the car. Wayne and Mark went and filled in the paperwork for the wallaby incident. Thank goodness, they had elected to take out the $50 a day extra to cut out the excess. It could have been up to $6000 in damages.

Our flight to Kununurra was delayed by an hour. When we consider how many flights we have taken on our three holidays together, this was a first and small inconvenience.

Trip was short – no sooner were we up, we were coming into landing.

We hired another car but were given the strong warning that a number have been stolen in recent weeks. We received the same warning in town – don’t leave anything unattended as some young people will take them.

We were staying at a cabin in Discovery Parks and conducted a walk around the park after our arrival.

We came back and had our usual kip before going into town and buying a few groceries and refreshments.

Donna cooked her famous burrito bowl (plate).

We finished the night with a Mastermind game. Wayne’s chosen subject: Manly. Mark’s chosen subject: Canberra. Wayne won by half a point – always controversial.

We left Katherine at 7:30am and headed to Florence Falls. The weather had become a little overcast and a bit cooler so I wasn’t sure about the swimming. Mark bought the 2nd worst coffee of the trip at the Adelaide River Roadhouse – little coffee and lots of milk.

Just out from the falls, we walked down to Buley Rockhole. The other three embraced the water and enjoyed slowly meandering down to a number of the rock pools. I became the chief photographer.

We then drove up to Florence Falls and walked the 135 steps down to the base of the twin waterfalls.

This time, I did get in. I was told as I prepared to enter the water that a little tree snake had just swum out from under the steps. We were only there once so I ignored that and joined the others in the water… slowly. Remember, I’m a slider not a plunger.

It was amazing. The force of the falls was incredible and the current made it nearly impossible to approach the one in the photographs.

We had lunch at Bachelor and then finished the drive to Darwin.

Tonight was the night – finally getting the seafood we have tried to get so often. We walked to the wharf and had dinner at The Oyster Bar. We had wanted to try Snapper Rocks but it was closed again.