A Great Farewell Dinner

Monday 13 November

Today was a “option day” in that many of the group chose not to go on the tour arranged to Litchfield National Park, but instead to sit around the pool and explore a little more of Darwin itself. This was tempting, but the thought of swimming in the waterfall pools in the Park swayed us (well me, really).

It was another two hour drive to the Park and I spent most of that time writing yesterday’s blog. It is still difficult to keep up with everything going on and write the blog, download piccys (when we get to Cairns we will try and put some more on the blog), as well as eat, sleep and all those other little things that take so long when time is short.

On the way we passed a small replica of a European castle, with sort with lots of towers and turrets and hundreds of small windows (you expected to see them light up, as in fairy stories). This was built by a Czechoslovakian man who was a gardener at the Botanical Gardens for many years. There was a rocky outcrop which he felt was an eyesore, so he built the castle to cover it up. It took him four years to complete.

We also heard about Jack Wall, who, in 1947, stumbled across some grey/green rocks nearby the town. He took them to geologists who said they were “nothing special”. In 1949, in response to a Government pamphlet he read, he sent some of his rocks for analysis, and they were found to contain uranium. So he sold his claim for A$50,000 and the first uranium mine in the area was founded. Mining began in the early 1950’s and continued until the 1970’s, and produced about 3,500 tons of uranium, using quite primitive methods to extract the ore. The mine became known as Rum Jungle – there are several theories as to the origin of the name, but they all contain a group of people over-indulging in rum, be they Government Officials or the workers themselves.

As we approached the Park there were many stands of trees which looked as if they had been burnt at the bottom – the bark was dark brown/black in colour and flaky. About half way up the trunk, the bark looked as if it was peeled back, to reveal a very smooth white surface, which looked as if it had been painted. The branches spread out above this line ending in a canopy of green. I suppose most trees were about 20+ feet tall. These are a native to this area, and related to the eucalyptus tree.

Litchfield Park covers 146 hectares. It is a sponge-like plateau, absorbing water during the rainy season and releasing it during the dry season. One of the main inhabitants of the area is termites and we stopped at a viewing point to see some really large termite mounds. Over 60% of the trees in the area are hollowed out by termites. During the dry season, most of the termite community come out at night, looking for dried plant material, such as leaves and dead twigs. They break this down using their pincers to release the nutrients and take these back to the mound, where it is stored for the times of flood. As families, the termites live in a similar way to bees. They have a king and queen, who have separate chambers from the rest of the clan. Then there are the “workers”, who collect the material and build the mound as well as finding food. 90% of these termites are blind as they work at night and inside the mound it is always dark. There are also the “soldier” termites, who gather to protect the “workers” from predators and ants. They use their pincers again, to decapitate small prey like ants or secrete a sticky substance on to the skin of the offender. The mounds are built of soil, mixed with a “gluey” saliva, which is very strong, and they differ in colour with the changes of soil from region to region. Some build “cathedral” mounds with lots of buttresses which produces shady areas in the sun which keep the mounds cool. Within the mounds there are ventilation chambers, areas for storage and birthing chambers. There are whole towns of these mounds under the trees and in fields and they vary in size from small stumpy humps to gigantic structures reaching as much as twenty feet in the air. And that doesn’t take into account the areas underground, which can be vast. Melvin (from the US) prodded one of the mounds with his index finger, and immediately a whole army of termites appeared, racing around to protect the entrances to the mound. The termites themselves look similar to ants, but have straighter bodies, not so bulbous, and longer angular legs. The ones we saw today were a reddy-orange colour, which shone in the sun. Aborigines mix the mound material with water to use for medicinal purposes – putting on cuts and grazes – as it has antiseptic qualities from the saliva. They also mix it with spinifex grass and water to use to build the walls of their homes – this mixture is particularly strong, a bit like super-glue. And some parrots use vacated termite mounds as nests.

Magnetic termite mounds are built like gravestones, tall and thin. The front of the mound must face east, as they need warmth. The morning sun will heat the flat, front face, the burning midday heat will only heat the thin top of the mound, and the cooling afternoon sun will warm the back face. These termites have to keep within a 10 degree temperature or they will die. We saw a whole field of these, granite grey in colour, which could easily have been mistaken for a human graveyard.

Our first waterfall stop was at Tolmer Falls – named after another benefactor of the explorers. We wandered along a path around the cliff edge, to a spot where we could clearly see the waterfall – a thin stream of water (it is the dry season) tumbling over the edge of a cleft in the rock and falling about 200 feet, to a deep, dark green pool. Because of the colonies of ghost bats and orange horseshoe bats that live in the caves at the base of the waterfall, you are not allowed down near the pool.

After just a twenty minute stop, we continued on our way to the largest of the falls we would see today, the Wangi Falls. Down a path through the trees, we came across the waterfall, plummeting over the cliff in two places. The resulting streams of water fan out at each side of the pool, and fall in white torrents at least 150 feet to the large pool below. There is an easy entry to the pool by way of man-made steps here, and many of the group donned their swimming gear and made their way into the water – which was not nearly so cold as we were expecting. The base of the pool was rocky at first but became sandier near the middle. The area at the base of the falls was deep water, and cooler in the shadow of the rocks. But the swimming was good. Ruben and Paul showed us a natural spa pool, a hole in the rocks about ten feet up, that was filled by the waterfall, and gently overflowed into the larger pool below, but climbing up – and back down – over the steep sided rock face, meant entry wasn’t easy. The swim was refreshing, as of course, temperatures were still in the high 30’s and the sun blazing down on us – in fact several people got sun burnt. After the exercise it was time to find lunch, and the café at the top of the pathway, which did not looking to inviting – (merely a large tin shed with a huge awning covering tables and benches) turned out to serve delicious chicken mayo sandwiches – all freshly made and brimming with salad. There are several walks from here, to take you to the top of the cliffs and up the streams towards the sources, but we didn’t have long after lunch, and anyway it was too hot even for strolling.

We made our way to the final falls of the day – Florence Falls. We had to walk down over 135 wooden steps to reach the base of the cliffs, or take a one kilometre walk. We, along with most of our group, chose the steps. The flies here were much worse than at the other two pools and were quite invasive (I had to wear my fly net on the way back). The pool at the bottom was not a large as at Wangi Falls, and entering the water was a much harder task – there were no helpful steps, just rocks which were slippery in the water, to slide over and hopefully find somewhere to stand – not easy as the rocks on the bottom were smaller and uneven. Across the centre of the pool was a natural barrier of larger rocks, which provided a resting place, as you swam too and fro from the deluge pouring into the pool from over 100 feet above, splashing out a considerable way from the rock face. In the shallower water, several large fish came to nibble at toes and ankles as they swam by. It was another enjoyable, and refreshing, experience.

Back in the coach it was time to return to the hotel, to prepare for our “final supper”. We watched “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” but reached our destination with about 10 minutes to go – Ruben promised to play the ending on our way to the airport tomorrow morning – will we be compus mentos before 05.00? I had just a short while on the computer in which to send some emails – we finally got a connection tonight. Colin completely repacked his case for our flight to Cairns tomorrow – transferring as much as possible to his hand luggage to lighten the load. But once again we seem to have gained quite a lot – paperwork, backpacks (kindly donated by AAT Kings), and mementos, so he was fighting a losing cause. He then managed to grab a few minutes to go out and take some fantastic photos of the sunset – a real crimson ball, sinking into the ocean. The skies around are all colours of the rainbow – he is fast becoming a David Bailey!

Dinner was in the hotel, another buffet – but they do them so well – lots of seafood, including monster prawns, large green-lip mussels and octopus in a spicy garlic sauce – very yummy. I decided to have two goes at the seafood, and miss out the main meat course – no steak tonight!!!! The standard of the food throughout this trip has been excellent – well presented and extremely tasty, with a good variety to suit all palates.

When we had finished the meal, Julie (our lady who had epileptic seizures earlier on the trip – probably brought on because she banged her head on the overhead luggage rack quite badly one day), read out a poem she had written, as a “thank you” from everyone to Ruben and Paul. This is what she said:

When you come to the outback and you don’t know where to go,
When you want to find the answers to the things you’d like to know,
You need someone to drive you down the long and dusty track
And somebody to organize and safely bring you back.
To answer silly questions and still give out bright smiles,
To steer the endless highway as it stretches lonely miles.
To tell us stories to remind us of the places that we’ve been,
And a driver to care for our bus and always keep it clean.
Someone to load and unload all our cases and our bags
And get them to our rooms with all the proper named tags.
To make sure you wear strong shoes and socks
When you climb the red and ancient rocks.

With these two there’s lots to see on the map
From Alice, Standley Chasm to Simpsons Gap.
You could eat camel, crocodile or kangaroo,
Or see a magical sunset at glorious Uluru
You could learn about how ‘bush tucker’ is made
Or see a Bradman statue in downtown Adelaide,
Stare at termite mounds and other strange things
Or hear a native bird as it gently sings.
You might see a kangaroo by chance
Or maybe do and aborigine dance.
Learn that they didn’t have to cope with ‘spam’
When they used the old bush telegram.
Go down a gold mine to see how it’s made,
Or learn how a didgeridoo is played.

With all the places that we’ve been,
And the numerous struggles over seat sixteen (!),
With tummy bugs and quick loo trips,
And crocodile cruising safety tips,
When swimming in warm mineral pools,
When dancing like emus made us look fools
We know it must be quite a large task
To answer all the questions we ask
While constantly counting our moving heads
And making sure we have enough beds,
To keep us properly on the right track
As we see the vast Aussie Outback.

Through care, experience and driving skills
We safely covered the flats and the hills.
We thank you both for your terrific approach
Even when a window was smashed on the coach.
We’re a motley crew from all round the world
And together into your bus we were hurled.
And everyone here in this happy mob
Says “thank you both” for doing a great job,
For putting in the long hours of work
To show us all the back of Bourke.
We’d like to buy you a few cold beers,
But first we give you three big cheers.

Everyone cheered madly and clapped – it was a splendid effort and very unexpected – luckily there were not too many other customers in the restaurant at the time. This set off a mad whirl of hugging and kissing and saying “au revoir” – nobody wanted to say “goodbye”. Most people still have a few days of their holiday left – traveling to Cairns with us, to sit in the sun or Perth or Sydney to do more sight-seeing, or even staying on here in Darwin for a while. We found out that Norm and Sue (from Canada) are also traveling on the APT tour all the way to Sydney with us – so there will be seven of us at the beginning of the trip (Fergus, Cynthia and Ruth leave halfway through at Rockhampton). We may meet up with Ruben and Melvin (who is flying to Sydney to join an AAT Kings tour from Sydney to Cairns with Ruben as his tour leader again) in Hamilton Island – that would be spooky.

Eventually it was time to leave the party – every tick of the clock meant a second less in bed before that horrible hour of 03.15 when the alarm would wake us. I still had to sort my case – but in the end I just threw everything in and will hope the airport staff are in a lenient mood at the airport at that early hour.

Bob and Gwen will be staying on in Darwin for a few days before traveling on to Broome and then home to Port Stephens. I hope we manage to keep in touch as they have become very good friends. We will also miss Ruben and Paul. Ruben has supplied much of the historical information I have included in my blogs, as he kept us amused on the long journeys across the desert with his fantastic memory for details. He never once looked up any of the facts in a book or referred to notes. He is just a walking encyclopedia on Australia. Paul has been a very careful driver, and we wish him well when he comes to Europe to drive tours next spring.

AAT Kings has proved to be an excellent tour provider and when we were asked to complete the questionnaire, we were hard pushed to find anything that could be improved. They seem to have thought of everything, and we would definitely recommend them to friends.