Kununurra, Keep River, and Katherine
Kununurra was really hot whist I was there. I couldn’t be out in the sun after 6:30am without sweating profusely. I spent four days in Kununurra, which involved relaxing, eating, watching the grandy, and preparing my bike. On my fourth morning I met with my good buddy Kais. He works on a mine site south of Kununurra and had just finished a swing. We hired a 4wd with the idea of going to El Questro Wilderness Park on the Gibb River Road. Before we got onto the Gibb we checked out The Grotto. I passed the turnoff or it when I was heading to Wyndham but had no idea what it was. I was on a mission at the time and thought it was just a lookout so I didn’t call in. I found out in Kununurra that The Grotto was a small gorge with a deep swimming hole at one end. It’s actually ridiculously deep; around 100 meters. It was hot by the time we got there so after we climbed down into the gorge we jumped straight into the water. It was deluxe. There were a few water monitors around also enjoying the water. There was a rope swing over the pool, which we tried out. It’s the best one I’ve seen in many years. We climbed up onto a rocky ledge a few meters above the water to swing from. It felt sketchy as the first part of the swing is over the rocks below; however, there were no close calls. We were soon on the road again heading for El Questro. After entering the park and sorting out our camping spot we drove out to El Questro Gorge. The walk through the gorge was supposed to take four or five hours all up but we decided to complete it as we had most of the afternoon free. Although it was a hot day there was a microclimate inside the gorge and the temperature to accompany the difficult walk was really pleasant. The gorge was loaded with ferns, and palms, and it felt like we were in a rainforest. About halfway along there was a large boulder sitting in a pool of water. To continue we had to wade out into the chest high water and scramble up the side of the boulder one at a time, passing our stuff up as we went. It was a really hard walk, but it was spectacular. The pool at the end had a small waterfall and the swim was a great reward. We were the only ones out there; it was serene. The following day we headed straight for Zebedee thermal springs; they were awesome. The water seemed slightly warmer than body temperature. Smooth rocks enclosed the spa like areas. Afterwards we headed to Emma Gorge. The walk to the end was really hot, and we noticed a few people struggling. The pool we arrived at was amazing. There was a droplet waterfall and a thermal spring at one end. We spent a lot of time out there swimming and taking it all in. We had luxury lunch at the resort restaurant before checking out Moonshine Gorge. We really only wanted to go for a swim and chill out for a while but we couldn’t find a good swimming spot or shady area to sit in and ended up completing the 5km loop walk. It was really hot and we were so exhausted by the time we got back to the car. After regaining some energy we drove back to Kununurra and Kais dropped off the car at the airport. It began to rain as I was putting my tent up. The weather was definitely starting to change.
I’d read that the only fresh fruit and veg that you could take into NT from WA was citrus and bananas. I stocked up on both, along with dehydrated peas and onion flakes for my vegetables. I left Kununurra and only had to travel 35km before I got to the border. It was a great feeling crossing over. The quarantine info I’d read must have been false as there was no requirement to declare anything. After crossing the border I entered Keep River National Park. The road in was really corrugated and I almost stacked a couple of times in soft sand. I went to the first campsite, about 20km in and set up. I was eating some lunch when I heard thunder. At first I couldn’t be sure if it was thunder or a plane but after intermittent bursts every ten minutes or so I knew I was in for a storm. The thunder clouds on the horizon kept developing and were coming my way. There was a short loop walk adjacent to the campsite and I’d decided to take my camera on the walk and try to get some shots of the storm front but it unexpectedly hit before I’d set off. There was no rain; just really strong gusty winds. The first gusts picked up loads of sand, dust, and leaves and blew them towards me as I was putting something in my tent. The debris blew straight into my open tent and covered everything that I’d put in there. I watched it unfold but couldn’t do anything about it. My bike blew over next; closely followed by my tent fly being blown off the tent. It was saved from blowing away by one trusty tent peg; the only one still in the ground. I picked up my bike and tied it to a bench so it couldn’t be blown over by the gusts and commenced reattaching the fly, this time tying it firmly to the tent poles and some nearby bollards so it couldn’t come off again. Once I’d finished that I set about getting the debris out of my tent in between gusts. It wasn’t a fun experience. By the time I’d sorted everything out the wind had died down a lot and I went on the walk. It was fantastic. It weaved through ancient sandstone formations and around every bend there was amazing views. I met a traveller the following morning and she gave me some mangoes as she was heading to WA and would have to discard them at the quarantine. I did about 100km on the bike and camped in a dry creek bed. It was strangely cool that night and I had to use my sleeping bag. I turned my phone on the previous day to see if I had any reception. There was none so I switched it off but the phone must have sensed the change in location and adjusted the clock automatically for the time difference. I’d set my alarm so I could get on the road as soon as it was light but I didn’t realize the phone had adjusted the time and I woke up well before I was supposed to. I was eating my breakfast at 2:30am before I checked my watch and realised what had happened. I went back to sleep and got up at a more appropriate time. There was a specific moment about halfway up a hill, still very early in the morning, where the temperature of the air drastically increased; like someone turned a heater on. I must have chanced upon a cool spot in the creek. One of my favourite aspects of riding along the Victoria Highway was witnessing the massive willy willies that frequently occurred. If they were close by I’d often hear the roaring sound they made as they rattled foliage before I saw them, however, I saw a lot from a distance where plumes of dust and leaves were launched well into the sky. I reached the very small town of Timber Creek in the late afternoon and bought some fresh fruit and veg for the stretch to Katherine. They have facilities there for travellers and I was able to have a shower before leaving the town. I stopped to set up my tent as it was becoming dark and looked up to see bushfires burning across a nearby hill, I hadn’t noticed them previously. It was a surreal moment. When I woke the line of the fire had moved to the other side of the hill, which would now be blackened. I noticed a green distance sign to Katherine after I’d been riding for a little while. I’d previously only been seeing the Timber Creek signs and the first Katherine sign was a bit of a shock. I’d imagined I’d be doing around 130km a day after crossing the border but for different reasons I never achieved those distances. My mum was flying to Darwin on the 7th, picking up a hire van, and driving down to Katherine to arrive that night. The green distance sign read 270km and I had already completed about 7km. As it had taken longer than expected to get to that point I only had two days to cover that distance to stick to the plan of meeting in Katherine on the same day. It was exhausting riding in the 40 degree heat and I wasn’t interested in riding two big 140km days and arriving by nightfall. I really wanted to cruise in to Katherine on the 7th with enough daylight left over to grab some food and get established in a caravan park before Mum arrived. I decided then that I’d try to camp 70km out, leaving another 200km to complete that day. The biggest day I’d previously done was 140km and that included an early start and night riding so I knew my plan was ambitious. The headwinds started like the previous days; they were never strong but they were persistent and annoying. I was also experiencing the occasional ‘face-melter’. The term I dubbed for specific short bursts of wind that seemed to be super-heated from the road, and made my eyes sting. They’d only last about a minute but they packed a punch. I’d done about 80km when I got to Victoria River Roadhouse. I planned to have a twenty minute break to eat my lunch and fill my waterbags. That time pushed out to an hour through chatting to other people, studying my map aimlessly and enjoying an icecream a French traveller gave to me. After 110km I hit a wall. My eyelids had felt heavy for a while and I found myself closing them for as long as possible for relief. I couldn’t continue. I pulled over, pushed my bike off the road and found a patch of ground amongst the savannah grass that seemed fairly clear. I put the bike on its stand, rolled up a shirt to use as a pillow, and laid on my bush bed. There were stones and grass stubble sticking into my back but I was so content to be able to rest my eyes properly. I think I slept for about thirty minutes before a passing car woke me up. I willed myself to get back on the bike and pushed on. The snooze had done the trick. I’d watched the sun rise whilst on the bike and after travelling 140km I watched it set. I turned my bike lights on and kept going. Whenever I stopped to fill up my water bottle or have a snack my legs began to seized up. I found pushing the bike before getting back on warmed them up again. Riding in the dark was good. The temperature became pleasant, the headwinds disappeared, and the traffic dropped right off. I stopped thinking and simply rode album to album on my mp3 player. The green distance signs flew past, time went fast. It was getting harder as I went though. My legs were got increasingly exhausted, my butt hurt, and my eyes began to lose focus. I didn’t question the strange sights and sounds of the night. The last 20km were the hardest. I knew I travelled roughly a kilometer for each song I listened to and I couldn’t help counting songs when I hit the 80km sign. During song eight I saw the final green sign; 70km. The sign was located just before a bridge over a creek and I could see a gravel track that led down towards the water. I rolled down the embankment and found a spot on the track that was free from stones. I removed my bike light and shone it on my bike computer. The trip meter showed I had travelled 208km for the day, pedalling for 12 hours and 14 minutes. I was too tired to cook dinner so I ate oats and almonds instead and fell asleep as soon as I laid down. I set my alarm for 7am but a passing truck woke me up around 6:30. It was already light and I didn’t feel too tired so I got up. It was a lot easier packing up in daylight but it was really warm by the time I was on the bike again. Getting to Katherine all went to plan and I met mum in the early evening.
Katherine is really hot; and only becomes ‘cool’ for a few hour before the sun rises. There’s fully loaded mango trees everywhere but I haven’t found any fruit that is close to being ripe. There are lots of gorges, caves, and swimming spots that we’ll be checking out whilst we’re here before completing the last 310km to Darwin. The final chapter of the trip.