Jatbula Trail, Nitmiluk National Park, NT, Australia

The flight north to Darwin was uneventful, and we even managed to get our shopping done that night. The next morning, we strolled around Darwin till midday, before catching the Greyhound Bus to Katherine. The one thing that struck me (other than the heat) was just how flat and featurless the terrain was out there.

Katherine was not really a nice spot. Within about 20 minutes of getting off the bus we were watching a confrontation among the locals. I was pleased to catch our shuttle bus and get settled into the Campground at Nitmiluk National Park. The camp area was pretty full, complete with swimming pool and bar.. Jahoo!

19 Jul 10

The day before we began the trail, I’d organised Kayak hire for us to paddle up the Katherine Gorge, Nitmiluk’s main tourist attraction. The Katherine river has a series of navigable gorges, interspaced with small gravel or slick rock rapids. Tourists jump on one of the flotilla of motor vessel and tour upstream on sightseeing trips.

We jumped right in with the tourists, paddling our way upstream. The Gorges were spectacular, especially from water level and at our own pace. Apparently there were resident freshwater crocodiles present, but we didn’t see any. The saltwater crocs were actively trapped and removed from the system, but I still felt very uncomfortable swimming in the gorge. We made it up to the top of the 2^nd Gorge for lunch and a swim before cruising back to our campground.

The start of the walk involves a 2 minute ferry ride across the Katherine River to the northern rockhole. Only 10 people are allowed to start walking each day, so we introduced ourselves to the group of 40-50 year olds who’d be sharing the trail with us.

And so we began the pattern that would repeat itself, with little variation for the next 5 days. Get up early, walk across the generally uneventful plains to the campgrounds by lunchtime or early afternoon. Go swimming. Sunbathe. Read. Swim again. Have afternoon snacks, swim some more. Explore up and down river. Dinner. Sunset. Bed.

Though the walking wasn’t particularly interesting, there were still some subtle and curious variations in the foliage. However, once the sun got higher, I had to agree with the assessment of one of person in the log book. “The track itself is H.D. B (Hot, dry and boring), but the campsites and swimming holes are sublime.”

Along the way, there were several areas of Jaowyn Aboriginal Rock Art, which made for interesting diversions from the HDB walking.

The campsites and the rivers were indeed brilliant. The water was quite tepid in most of the pools and we generally spent most of the afternoon in just swimmers and sunhats. Exploring downstream revealed huge pools, waterfalls, canyons, rock formations and little fishes. There was plenty of sunbathing, swimming and reading to be done, making for a really relaxing 5 days. It was kinda like a beach holiday, where you walk to a new beach for a few hours each day.

In the evenings, we’d join the other group for fun conversations over dinner. The nights were very mild and only once on the whole trip (before dawn one morning) did I reach for a thermal layer. We took one sleeping bag to use as a duvet. It would usually get pulled up after midnight when there was bit of a drop in the temperature, but you could easily get away with just water and food on this trip.

On our final day, we had multiple swims on the way down the banks of the Edith River to Lielyn, where we’d organised a shuttle back to Katherine with Dyson’s bus company. Our pick up was a little late and turned out to be an ‘Aussie shiela in a great big Ute’. It was a bit of a squeeze in the single cab for the 3 of us, but it was only a 30 minute ride back to town. On her recommendation, we got dropped off at ‘The Katherine Club’ for a couple of beers and some Air conditioning to while away the 4 hours before our bus departed.

Back in Darwin at 9.45pm, we showered, re-sorted our gear in time for a midnight airport shuttle and 2am departure. Back in NZ, we were both stuffed, but rather satisfied after a very different two weeks away.

Larapinta Trail, Northern Territory, Australia

Pip and I organised a two week, mid-winter escape to the Northern Territory. We flew into Alice Springs, via Auckland and Sydney for 6 days on the Larapinta Trail. Rather tired from little sleep and early starts, I didn’t make it to the scheduled camel races, but I did manage to try a Camel Burger in town! Alice wasn’t too inspiring, with lots of very drunk Aboriginals causing trouble at all times of the day. It really was a sad state of affairs; we were warned not to venture out at night. The Lone Dingo outdoor shop had everything we needed, as did the supermarket.

Though we brought extra water containers expecting to have to carry large amounts of water between campsites through the desert, the Red Center experienced heavy rain and flooding! Alice received more rain in the week that ended on day 3 of our trip than the whole year previously. So much for the desert...

11 Jul 10

It had been raining on and off since we arrived and this morning was no exception. Our Alice Wanderer transfer service arrived nice and early, driving us through the rain to be deposited at Ellery Creek Big hole. Sheltering from the down pours I began to wonder wether we actually had tough enough gear for the conditions we were facing. At least it was warm though and when we began walking the rain stopped though the cloud remained.

We wandered through the desert in full bloom. Wild flowers everywhere punctuated the incredibly green landscape. I’d been expecting red dirt, rocks and sand, not flowers and greenery..

The track climbed up to a small pass in the Heavitree where we surveyed the vast nothing in front. From the map, the Chewings range was 8km away, over very gently undulating nothingness. Paralell to the ranges, the GAFA continued as far as the eye could see. Very strange indeed.

Descending to the plains, we strolled through strange scrub toward Rocky Gully, our camp for the night. On the way we had lunch in a dry river bed, got rained on frequently and were buzzed by huge ‘Budgie Swarms’ that coloured the sky green and sounded like a low flying Helicopter..

Rocky Gully wasn’t a particularly inspiring campsite, but it did stop raining and we were able to enjoy the company of some fellow walkers round a wee campfire.

12 Jul 10

The morning dawned clear and our local walkers announced ‘that will be the last cloud you’ll see this trip’. But by mid morning, mid level cloud returned and looked threatening at times. There were views now, back to the Heavitree range and onward to the Chewings. The terrain undulated a little more than yesterday, with a few small climbs and knolls to traverse, but generally the land was very flat. The temperature rose considerably and we did a bit of hiding under withered trees to try and beat the heat. There was even the chance for a skinny dip in one of the new (normally dry) rivers!

At Hugh Gorge campsite, we found a nice patch of sand on the river flat and did some sunbathing. However, just as we began making our desert, the first drips of rain fell. The rain came and the winds began to stir as we called it a night.

13 Jul 10

My poor little Tarp Tent struggled through the night. Rain fell in sometimes very heavy showers, with associated strong gusty winds. The single skin sil-nylon kept most of the water out, but the leaks did get my sleeping bag reasonably sodden. Our spirits were also pretty dampened, with little sleep due to wondering wether the poles would snap, getting splashed with drips and thinking how the Hugh Gorge must be flooding by now…

Eventually it was light enough to get up and start the day. Sodden gear was stuffed away and grumpy hikers chomped through breakfast. All packed up and ready to go, we crossed the now quickly flowing Hugh River to seek refuge under a very small trail shelter with a solo hiker from Belguim. This guy did quite like to talk, moaning about the rain in the desert, but between grumbles we gleamed as much info as we could about the route through the gorge. I was considering just taking the ‘chicken route’ round the flats on a 4WD road, but after more consultation with the Belgian and then with Pip, a decision was made to have a crack at the Gorge.

I was well pleased we did.. The Hugh Gorge was wonderful, with soaring Quartzite walls, and short narrower slickrock sections. Intially we were wading up to waist deep in the Jaffa coloured waters, but soon had to carefully select our crossing point and raft up against the flow. In a few spots, we had to scramble up the canyon walls and traverse above deep looking pools. As the gradient of the gorge increased near its head, there were two quite tricky crossings of the deep, fast flowing river. We were very glad that the rain had eased to occasional showers by now..

At Hugh Gorge Junction we paused for a hot brew and to try to dry out the Tent in a brief respite from the rain. Though as we climbed away from Hugh River toward Rocky saddle, the drips stopped and the sun tried its best to come out.

Fringe Lilly Creek was a delightful spot to camp, nice flat ground, sheltered from the wind and right beside a beautiful cliff face. Our afternoon was spent drying out our gear in the bouts of sunshine. We were very glad to get that chance…

14 Jul 10

The sky was perfectly clear today, with a cool breeze to prevent us overheating. We ascended the Razorback Ridge, with incredibly wide views in all directions. The immeadiate area in the Chewings range was rough and complex, which contrasted vividly with the flat, almost featurless plains just beyond the range.

Over the tops, the wind was quite chilly, so we hurried off down towards Spencer Gorge. The descent gully had lots of fun scrambles and climb downs, almost like a mini canyon trip. Spencer Gorge itself was more open than the Hugh Gorge, with very little water and plenty more giant boulders to negotiate.

Tonight we camped at Stuarts pass, in the shade of Brinkley bluff to another perfectly clear night.

15 Jul 10

The fine weather continued as we climbed up towards the summit of the bluff. The wind kept us cool though as we climbed up the south face to the panoramic summit. Up on top, there was plenty of evidence of previous campers and if we’d been less weather shy, we might have made camp here. The views were just phenomenal. The Chewings range was like a linear mountain Oasis in a desert of flat scrubland. You could see the plains to the limit of visibility in most directions; most impressive.

We enjoyed a good long lunch on the summit, until we were joined by a guided group, which had some ‘interesting’ members. Soon we scurried on, along the long, gentle descent down the spine of the range, with incredible views all around.

Our amended plan to avoid camping on the summit of Brinkley Bluff saw us arrive this afternoon at Standley Chasm a day early. Icecreams were well received and an early night very much appreciated.

16 Jul 10

Leaving most of our gear at the Standley Chasm Kiosk, we strolled up to the tourist section, took our photo, then disappeared upstream beyond the warning signs. “Death or serious injury may occur if you proceed beyond this sign”. Beyond the sign lay not death for us, but in a short but very very sweet slot canyon. There was a little bit of scrambling involved and a bit of wading, but it was well worth the effort. It was definitely a basic canyon, rather than a tramping route, with narrow walls and some delicate climbing moves.

Above the canyon, we lazed around in the sun for most of the day, strolling back to Standley Chasm in time for another ice cream before our ride home. The bus stopped at Simpsons Gap on the way home.

We were a little rushed getting sorted prior to nightfall, but on arriving at the backpackers, found that we’d been upgraded to a local motel round the corner… Swweeet!

17 Jul 10

Today was spent strolling round Alice springs waiting to fly to Darwin. We visited the Royal Flying Doctor Service, The Alice Reptile Center, an Aboriginal Art Gallery and several shops during our day. And then we’d left the desert and were on our way to the tropics…

Porters 2

Pip and I returned the following day for some on field skiing..

Mostly icy and mostly windy, but still clear with some patches of nice snow to be found

Porters Backcountry

First tour for the season!

Toine, Nicky and I had awesome weather today, though the snow conditions were poor to reasonable. Porters Field had lots of ice on the sunny aspects, with a bit of reasonable packed powder in the shady aspects.

First run was off to the south of T3, into Powder Bowl. We then skied and climbed to Alison's peak. Toine dug a snow pit to assess the West aspect (loaded from previous easterly storm). We found some solid windslab with plenty of internal stress. There was a moderate to difficult failure and shear at a full depth ice layer, which made us a little uneasy.

Instead, we skiied the NE aspect of Alisons, being rewarded with some great turns.

The skin out turned into a very firm bootpack/crampon about 100m short of the saddle; a bit of a surprise!

Great day out with good people :)

Toine skins out of Powder Bowl.

Nicky on top of the Craigieburns

Slogging out of the NE Alison Peak bowl.

Back on the ridge

Chucky's Last run