bobmcgee

Hell’s Gate …

We spent two nights at Borroloola. The first afternoon a caravan arrived and we got into conversation with the owner. Typical travelers tales. Where have you come from? Oh, that’s the way we’re going. How was the road?

The road, he said, was bloody awful, the bull dust had him fighting the steering wheel, the dips were ferocious, the corrugations were bone jarring. Would we like a look in the van?

It was a scene of devastation. The drawers and their contents were strewn across the floor. Red dust lay on everything. His car was in no better condition, the rear window was broken, red dust covered the interior. He was quite upbeat about the situation. He had survived the battle. Among the fragments of celebration he did mention 80 kph, getting airborne and that he never reduced his tyre pressures. It caused us some concern. For us, not him.

When it was our turn Gayle prepared the inside of the van with great care. When we got to the dirt road I let the tyres down 25% all round and we proceeded at moderate speed. 317 km to go. The creek crossings were mainly dry, the dips in and out were taken slowly. The bulldust was avoidable or manageable at modest speed. The corrugations were corrugations, choose the quietest route and vary speed to suit. Conditions varied with the underlying substrate, some sections were rocky, some sandy. There were two wet creek crossings and a couple of puddles to negotiate.

We had intended to take two days for the journey but progress was better than expected and at lunch time we moved the goal posts and went all the way to Hell’s Gate. No damage. No dust. No drama.

Nothing like hell or its gates. A pleasant campsite by a bore fed pond. The odd Agile Wallaby and Antilopine Walleroo passing by.

Borroloola …

I’m looking out at the fading orange predawn glow, under a mackerel sky. It’s pleasantly warm. I am but a speck in the universe. Borroloola … We’ll be on our way in a couple of hours to Hell’s Gate via Robinson River. Still on National Highway 1 but the next section is unsealed and from what we’ve heard quite exciting.

The road here from Daly Waters was easily managed. It’s in the process of becoming splendid and while that’s happening its 390 km of two lane highway, one lane highway and kilometre after kilometre of dirt sidetrack. You reach the McArthur River mine about 70 km from Borroloola. The road is good from there on. The mine is owned by Glencore. Lead and Zinc ore goes from there to Bing Bong on the Gulf of Carpentaria by quad road train hence the good road. There is a lookout tower at Bing Bong. You can see the loading facility, there is otherwise nothing for the tourist, no shops, no accommodation. About 5 km of stony track away is Mule Creek where you can launch a tinny or fish from the bank (watching out for crocodiles, of course.)

Borroloola has a population of about 800, 75% are aboriginal, the Yanyuwa people. There is a school, a couple of fuel outlets and stores. The caravan park is pleasant, good facilities including a shop and a swimming pool and very friendly management. There are a couple of boat ramps for people wanting to fish the McArthur River. It once had a remarkable library, a story in itself – see wikipedia.

King Ash bay is an alternative camp site. Very suitable for the fishermen and women.

Before leaving Broome and after updating the Calendar Game score I added White-browed Crake to the year’s tally so left Broome on 330. The banks of the McArthur River yielded two more species, the Lemon-bellied Flyrobin and the Buff-sided Robin. The count down to 365 is on. I also had success with Crimson Finch in the Pandanus. Not far from town I found an Australian Bustard.

Manbulloo to Daly Waters …

285 km, sealed road. Via Katherine, a real town with a supermarket and everything. Population about 6000. And a change of explorer. It has been Gregory for the last few days. Now it’s time to tip the hat to John McDouall Stuart.

Daly Waters is a pub with a campground attached. At lunch time it has a population of about 55, by tea time that’s 555. Stuart conferred the name on a chain of springs that he found on his third attempt to reach the north coast, 1861–62. The overland telegraph arrived in 1872. The town was founded in 1927. The pub got its license in 1938. There is a WWll airstrip. At the moment it seems like one of the worst places I have ever stayed. It may seem better after a few beers.

And it did.

The pizza was good too. Donkeys, horses and goats wandered among the crowd outside the pub. With them came the Apostlebirds, Gayle’s favourite bird. We have been in the territory since a little west of Katherine but this is our first contact this trip. They are bold, aggressive, hissy and unloveable. They come in groups, I hesitate to say by the dozen. If you are unwise enough to catch one the remainder attack.

The last few days we have been on the country traversed by the extraordinary Kimberley pioneers, the Duracks. Patsy and Michael drove a good sized mob of cattle and horses, leaving Thylungra, Queensland, in 1879. Nearly three years and 4,800 km later they arrived in WA where Lake Argyle has now been created. Their homestead was taken down stone by stone and rebuilt on high ground before the lake filled.

Manbulloo …

Manbulloo Homestead has good natural values, a shady campsite and good facilities. A track takes you to the Katherine River. You can pat the goats, play with the donkey and watch the cows being fed. They have a couple of Turkeys, that I hope will survive Christmas, named Camilla and Charles. Sweet.

Northern parts of Australia are steeped in WWll history. Broome and Darwin were subjected to Japanese air raids. There is a memorial to the Nackeroos, essentially lookouts trained for geurrilla resistance, on the escarpment above Timber Creek. WWll airstrips dot the countryside. And Manbulloo has its own small share commemorated on an information board.

There is a military tale concerning Chinese Whispers run amok that has the punchline “Send three and fourpence we’re going to a dance”. Apocryphal I was certain … until I saw this photograph showing a squad rehearsing its dance moves with the choreographer out front.

I know, wrong war. The earliest version seems to have been published in 1914 under the title “Altered in Transit” in the “Temperance Caterer” periodical of London and various similar variations followed. Credit Quote Investigator for that bit of intelligence.

Torresian Imperial Pigeons and Yellow Orioles were calling during the day. Bush Stone-curlews were wailing during the night but the only bird lining up for a photograph was the Radjah Shelduck.

Wyndham to Katherine …

Over two days. First night Timber Creek. 327 km, all sealed. Population 278 slightly more than half are Aboriginal. Augustus Charles Gregory and a party explored the area in 1855 and bestowed the name Timber Creek on one of the creeks. That was adopted for the name of the settlement when the opening of a police station put the “town” on the European map in 1898.

Gregory’s party included Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, a bit of a botanist. Well perhaps the most important of Australia’s pioneering botanists. It was he that described and named Adansonia gregorii, the Boab. (And for one of my faithful readers it was he that described and named the genus Macadamia.)

The camp ground is behind the well-stocked store. There is a swimming pool, a creek at the bottom of the garden and plenty of shady trees. There are freshwater crocodiles in the creek and a large Flying Fox camp overhanging the creek.

The camp ground, the airstrip, the race course and Policeman’s Point on the Victoria River are well known birding spots. The airstrip can be very productive but alas fire had been through and for the time being it will be quiet.

Timber Creek to Katherine is 289 km, all sealed. We are camped at Manbulloo (the local aboriginal name of the Crested Pigeon) about 10 km short of Katherine, on the bank of the Katherine River. The campsite is well shaded which is much appreciated as the temperature hits 37°C (98.6°F).

Wyndham …

The most northerly town in Western Australia, population 941, slightly more than half Aborigines. Founded as a port to serve the Halls Creek goldfields in 1886, it kicked on on the back of meat processing and export until the 1960s. It’s now a pleasant sleepy hollow with some iron ore passing through the port.

The Wyndham caravan park gets a tick of approval. It doesn’t have quite the natural values of Parry’s Creek Farm but for an urban van park it is well above average. Spinifex Pigeons walking around the campsite can’t be bad! Gouldian Finch are also on the list but weren’t in evidence during our stay.

Parry’s Lagoon is one of my favourite wetlands and did not disappoint.

A couple of raptors gave me a chance with the camera.

I mentioned the Kapok Trees in the last post. It’s not the real Kapok that was used to stuff pillows in the olden days. Its Cochlospermum fraseri, given the same common name because the seed pods are stuffed with similar cotton-like fibres. When the flowers are out it’s time to collect Freshwater Crocodile eggs, I don’t think the occupational health and safety officer will be impressed. It’s found in the Kimberley and Top End of NT. Large shrub to small tree.

Mary Pool to Wyndham …

480 km. Sealed all the way. Top temperature 37°C (98.6°F).

Like it says on the label, the Savannah Way runs through a lot of savanna. Today we saw some rugged ranges, plenty of impressive Boab trees and spindly Kapok Trees in brilliant yellow flower.

An Australian icon that you rarely see in Broome is the Sulphur Crested Cockatoo. Encountered one at Mary Pool.

Open grassy woodland suits birds of prey. The most numerous today were the Whistling Kites (We are camped right under an occupied Kite nest). Also a Hobby, some Black Kites and a Black-breasted Buzzard.

We would normally be staying at Parry’s Creek Farm but unfortunately they have shut up shop. So its the Wyndham Caravan Park. We’ll stay two nights. Tomorrow holds a visit to Parry’s Lagoon.

Camp 1 …

The road trip is under way. Broome to Mary Pool, 580km. This late in the dry season the countryside is extremely dry. Vast swathes of bush have burned this year, the willy willies are black with soot rather than the standard light grey.

Top temperature today was 35°C (95°F).

The camp site is on the bank of a dry river. There is usually a sizeable pool here. At the moment that is completely dry. I did manage to find a puddle up stream by following some Corellas that were going in to land.

Best bird today – Wedge-tailed Eagle.

A Road Trip …

Yes, I feel the need for a road trip. Seems like ages since I finished the last one (goodness, is it 6 months already?). Sit here much longer and I’ll take root. Origin Broome, WA, destination Broome. Pick somewhere in between, say Port Fairy, Vic. We like Port Fairy and summers are coolish there. A loop then. How big a loop? Let’s go for the max. Anywhere special on the way?

The classic Highway 1 loop covers roughly 15,000 km (9,400mi). This is Australia, there will be any number of special places on the way, unavoidably. But there is one place the lovely Gayle and I have not visited. It’s been on proposed itineraries but the weather has denied us every time. In this dry, dry continent nothing stops outback traffic faster than rain. Borroloola, NT, population 755. Setting off towards the end of the dry we have a fairly good chance of making it this time. It’s not flooded at the moment. An early start to the wet, though, could soon fix that!

That determines the direction of travel. It will be clockwise again this time. The journey breaks down into four major legs. The journey across the top, Broome to Cairns, is the Savannah Way. It can be completed on sealed road but there are a couple of alternate sections. If Borroloola is included then it would be remiss not to include Hell’s Gate and then Burketown, 365km of corrugated suffering. Tape your beer cans so they don’t rub through. It gets easier from there to Normanton. At that point you choose to take the Burke Development Road via Chillagoe, once again shaking your teeth out of their sockets or the bitumen via Croydon. We’ve traveled both before and unless overtaken by a bout of masochism I suspect we will opt for the latter (and a soak in the Innot hot springs).

Before dropping into Cairns we will pause on the Atherton Tableland, our first opportunity for a flurry of new (for the year) birds. Then up to Cooktown.

The next leg is the east coast, but all in good time. First you will need to endure heart wrenching bulletins of the trip to Hells Gate.

Oyk …

On a more serious ornithological note, the fair city of Broome (population 15,000) looks out over Roebuck Bay, Australia’s most important site for the waders, outnumbering the humans many times over. In Australian (and English) usage waders are birds in the order Charadriiformes. Americans tend to prefer the term Shorebirds and if you say wader they think of herons and such and it’s possible they might have a point. Herons do a lot of wading. Some waders do no wading at all, not all shorebirds live on the shore, but most do. But I digress. The Broome Bird Observatory is the hub of considerable research into the charadriiforms. So it was that on 1st December 2002 members of the Australian Wader Studies Group were in the field (on the beach, actually) using cannon nets to catch birds.

Among the catch that day was an Australian Pied Oystercatcher. It was weighed, measured and closely examined. It was in its third year of life or older. Smart ornithologists can age first and second year Oystercatchers by their moult. It went from being an anonymous Oyk to Oystercatcher 101-07877. Thus if it were encountered again something would be learnt about its movements and survival.

I was not in the field with the AWSG that day in 2002 although I have enjoyed that privilege on other occasions. I was on Gantheaume Beach on the 11th of August 2025 when I met 101-07877. When it faced west I was able to make out the first three band numbers, when it faced east I was able to get the last three. I had no luck getting two numbers in between.

I reported my sighting to the Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme. They had records of two Pied Oystercatchers 101-XX877 but the other one is also carrying a coloured flag. Thus we know the identity of this particular little bird, found alive and well just 20km from where it was banded 22 years 8 months and 10 days earlier. Its age is now 25 years or more.