The Poles Have Shifted

The magnetic polarity of the planet has gone nuts. This is very clear to me. The Artic Circle has moved, it is now centered over Alice Springs.

It all started back on Wednesday, in Katherine, when the sky fell in. This weird, wet, and cold substance fell from the sky. I don't know what it was, but I high-tailed it outta there. I drove south, as fast as I legally could, 130km/h, until it eased a little and a more economical speed could be sustained.

Emerging from my car some 800 kilometres south, it was sudden and absolute. It was cold. Bloody cold.

Last night in Alice, it was -4.6 degrees at 5.30am. Ok ok, that was the Apparent Temperature Reading - which is always useful to make a temperature sound colder or hotter than it was, nevertheless, it's a real measurement of how the temperature feels. The real one was -0.6. It was cold. The days are nice though, sunny, 18-20 degrees. The nights, 1 or 2 degrees, for the next week anyway.

I have spent the last couple of days organising my next hike, on the Larapinta Trail. I will be walking the 223km trail over the next 12 or so days. Just imagine all the election banter I will miss. Mind you, I've pretty much missed it all anyway. I voted today at an early voting centre in Alice, still not avoiding the leaflets being shoved in my face. Enthusiastic mob.

I spent three hours sorting and packing my stuff, which included organising two food drops. An old man sat in the sun reading his paper, occasionally looking up to peruse my busyness, still marvelling at how I survived last night in a tent.

I saw my first sign pointing to Adelaide yesterday. There was a handwritten one below a big sign north of Alice. Someone had spray-painted "Adelaide ??" at the bottom of the roadside destination sign.

Here's a nice photo from my drive down from Katherine into the Artic Circle. It is the Devil's Marbles. Each rock is a person was frozen to death in the last couple of nights. Truly. Forget the geology.

The Jatbula Trail

"It's a tough track ya know." The ranger was scrutinizing my walking plan for the 58 kilometre Jatbula Trail. Four days seemed reasonable to me, but the Jatbula Trail is a trail that demands that you take your time. This is what I, like many others who have walked it, have learnt on the trail.

Jatbula Trail, Nitmiluk National Park (Katherine Gorge), Northern Territory

The comments book at the kiosk at the end of the walk reads the same, again and again - "It took a couple of days before we worked it out." Rising early - before first light, walking - preferably slowly - in the morning, swimming and relaxing in the shade of a tree in the afternoons. I even got up at 6am once or twice, Graham you would be proud. The terrain is not difficult, it is the tropical heat that beats you into submission. Venturing into the sun, away from the water's edge, you suddenly realise just how hot the afternoon has become.

The Jatbula Trail starts from the Katherine River in the Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) National Park, 30 kilometres east of Katherine, in the Northern Territory. It follows the escarpment across the park to Leliyn (Edith Falls). The campsites are ideally spread about 10 kilometres apart, each beside a picturesque waterfall, creek or rockhole.

In the queue for the ferry at Katherine Gorge, I met two fellow walkers, two women who had escaped their partners and children in Melbourne for a week walking. We looked around for the other seven hikers who would be beginning on the same day, only to see none of them. How odd, we thought. The trail, or so we thought, was limited to 10 hikers starting out per day. We soon learnt though, that this was not the case. We saw no-one else on the trail until the fifth and final night, at Sweetwater Pool, where anyone can hike the four kilometres in from the end of the trail at Leliyn. Perhaps it was limited to 10 hikers on the trail. We had both had trouble booking a place on the trail months beforehand, it certainly seemed to be fully booked.

My four day hike turned into a six day hike. It was so relaxing just to take it easy and relax each afternoon. I spent six days - six hilarious days - with Kris and Kristen, who I had met on that first day, hiking, swimming, relaxing and playing cards on our makeshift picnic rug. We exchanged tales of our hiking adventures, all of us becoming converts to hiking in the previous five to ten years.

Our first campsite, at Biddlecombe Cascades, was the entree of what the Jatbula Trail held in store for us. Water flowed from the escarpment over the terraces into large rock pools. Being swamp fed the water was deliciously cool, warmer than other nearby pools.

Crystal Falls is on a river, seemingly unnamed, so much water is there. Flowing over rocks creating eddies in the many rock pools. The shady trees on the bank offered numerous choices to set-up camp. Glorious riverside camping, the afternoon spent dipping ourselves in the rockpools or relaxing in the shade, as we pleased. The Crystal Falls themselves remained hidden down the valley, the following day we saw the falls plunging far off the escarpment into a narrow chasm below.

The falls weren't hidden at our third campsite, 17 Mile Falls. Walking in, we were treated to a clifftop view of the falls, the water dropping into a large plunge pool below. The campsite was bright and overpowering in the midday sun, but relaxed into the afternoon as the shade crept across it. We spent the afternoon, once again, at the water's edge.

The photos do no justice to Sandy Pool camp. The shaded campsite, set on the sandy banks of a large, deep pool. The Edith River enters over rocks upstream, dissapearing into reeds at the other. The edge, with it's lily pads, hiding the near vertical rocky sides.

It's not all picturesque creeks and falls though. The Amphitheatre is a little oasis on the escarpment edge. A narrow track leads down into the deep, steep sided valley. The sheer cliffs on the three sides, adorned with the ancient of the Jawoyn People. A stream, seemingly emerging from no-where, meanders through the landscape. If it were not for the tropical humidity, cool as the Amphitheatre was, one could mistake this for Tasmania - the tall myrtle trees dropping their leaves to cover the forest floor, dappled sunlight coming through the thick canopy.

The landscape is diverse: savannah, swamps, melaleuca stands, rocky escarpment outcrops. The wind whips through the trees on the turbulent escarpment edge, providing welcome relief to the tropical heat. At 17 Mile Falls, rain and lightning rolled around us, lighting the night sky. It did not rain on us, much to the relief of Kris and Kristen with their mosquito net, their Forcefield against the night's bugs but somewhat ineffective against rainfall.

Now, how much do you think such an exclusive hike would cost. Well, there's the six dollar ferry fare. Then, the three dollar nightly camping fee. Seriously, there are limited options on how to return from the end of the trail at Leliyn (Edith Falls) to Katherine, or to Katherine Gorge. The only services provided are by the several taxi services from Katherine, putting the cost at about $150 to Katherine. There are some rumours that as of 2010 Dysons buses are providing a service for about $100 but I haven't been able to confirm this. Nitmiluk Tours, via Dysons buses, provide an affordable shuttle service between Katherine and Katherine Gorge.

The Jatbula Trail, a unique and seemingly exclusive trail. I have two pieces of for you. Take it easy, get up early, walk slowly. And to ensure you can enjoy what this trail offers, book early.

Download Google Earth KML file

Download kml file to view in Google Earth or adapt to use as a navigational aid in a GPS unit

Stats	Jatbula Trail
	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday
	29/7/2010	30/7/2010	31/7/2010	1/8/2010	2/8/2010	3/8/2010
	Nitmiluk Visitor Centre to Biddlecombe Cascades	Biddlecombe Cascades to Crystal Falls	Crystal Falls to 17 Mile Falls	17 Mile Falls to Sandy Camp Pool	Sandy Camp Pool to Sweetwater Pool	Sweetwater Pool to Leliyn (Edith Falls)
Distance	7.9km	10.5km	9.8km	16.8km	11.2km	4.1km
Start Time	9.08am	7.49am	7.19am	7.20am	7.57am	6.41am
End Time	12.18pm	11.39am	10.48am	12.00pm	10.19am	8.05am
Moving Duration	2h04m	2h45m	2h16m	3h31m	2h11m	1h03m
Stationary Duration	1h13m	1h04m	1h12m	1h04m	10m	21m
Moving Average	3.8km/h	3.8km/h	4.3km/h	4.8km/h	5.1km/h	3.9km/h
Overall Average	2.4km/h	2.7km/h	2.8km/h	3.7km/h	4.8km/h	2.9km/h
Oodometer	7.9km	18.5km	28.3km	45.3km	56.6km	60.7km

Nitmiluk National Park (Katherine Gorge)

Occasionally, although thankfully, rarely, things can go horribly wrong on a hike. No, not an injury, getting lost, or even the much feared snake bite or croc encounter. One can run out of reading material. Even those who have meticulously packed for their hike, including not one, but two books, can be caught short. I completed both my books during the long, lazy afternoons at each campsite.

Nitmiluk National Park (Katherine Gorge), Northern Territory

Maybe not horribly wrong, but as those of you who are fellow book lovers, this isn't a situation one wants to find oneself in. I had tried to fill my days with hiking, picking the furthest campsites with the most difficult trail ratings. As you might know, I waste no time in walking. I completed each day's hiking within four hours. The first day, this wasn't so much of a problem as I only started out at 10am. The second day though, I was eating an early lunch atop the cliff's edge overlooking Katherine Gorge and my night's campsite.

I could have done all the walking in two, not three, days, but I wanted to give my ever-injured feet a break, and to enjoy each of the spectacularly placed campsites on the Katherine River.



The day before my hike the Katherine River was closed to swimmers and canoeists due to a saltie sighting. A canoeist had seen what they thought looked awfully like a saltie, and not a freshie. Two days later, the rangers confirmed it. As is their way, the saltie had moved up the river undetected. It was only a little fella, only two metres in length, but still, it wouldn't pass up the opportunity to have a bit of a nibble on a German or Japanese tourist. It had snuck past the main swimming and boating area near the visitor centre, over the first set of rapids and into the second gorge.

There was no danger to my planned hike, or so I was assured. The croc still had to cross a few more sets of rapids to reach my swimming and camping spots. Even so, the thought plays on one's mind as one swims in the river. These crocs can move about undetected, let's not forget that.

I walked first to the Eighth Gorge, not deviating down any of the side trips from the main east-west track. The network of walks here is referred to as the Southern Walks of the Nimiluk (Katherine Gorge) National Park. It presents many options - one main track leads end-to-end, many side tracks lead down to the gorge and river. Several weeks ago I had walked a day hike into Butterfly Gorge and Pat's Lookout with Beni - at the time we had been limited to day walks as we needed to check daily at the post office to see if the new radiator for the crippled car had arrived.

Butterfly Gorge is not so special. There are butterflies, true, but they aren't of particular interest. The monsoon forest here has been blackened by recent bushfires. The river's edge is somewhat inaccessible. Returning from out walk here, we diverted down another side track to Pat's Lookout and the Southern Rockhole. The lookout has panoramic views over the river from the cliff edge. We also enjoyed a nice swim in the river, not put off by the signs on the opposite side of the river stating, "Warning. Do not enter beach. Croc breeding ground." They were, of course, only harmless freshies.

Eighth Gorge is special. The campsite is beside a large plunge pool with waterfall. The river can be found by following the trickle of water leaving the pool's edge, growing to a creek, before it itself tumbles over the cliff edge to the Katherine River far below.

On the second day, I returned along some of the main track, but this time deviating into Jawoyn Valley. The indig rock art was hard to find, I suspect I found very little of it, but the views and surroundings were pleasant so the detour was well worth it.

Returning to the main track, I took another side track, this time to Smitt Rock where I would spend the afternoon and camp. Naming the place a rock is quite an understatement. The river is split in two by the huge rock formation, it as high as the surrounding cliffs. The campsite sits on the sand banks of the river. I had this campsite, like the previous night's, all to myself. There were no other hikers, and no-one was permitted to canoe up the river to join me. Pity, it was a wonderful place to spend a warm afternoon reading in the shade of a nice gum tree.

Download Google Earth KML file (part a) Download Google Earth KML file (part b)

Download kml file to view in Google Earth or adapt to use as a navigational aid in a GPS unit

Stats	Southern Walks of Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) National Park
	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday
	26/7/2010	27/7/2010	28/7/2010
	Nitmiluk Visitor Centre to Eighth Gorge	Eighth Gorge to Smitt Rock via Jawoyn Valley	Smitt Rock to Nitmiluk Visitor Centre
Distance	15.65km	15.5km	10.8km
Start Time	9.50am	8.10am	7.38am
End Time	2.10pm	12.40pm	10.06am
Moving Duration	2h55m	3h10m	2h08m
Stationary Duration	1h07m	1h23m	19m
Moving Average	5.4km/h	4.7km/h	5.0km/h
Overall Average	3.6km/h	3.3km/h	4.4km/h
Oodometer	15.65km	31.7km	42.1km

Assurances of Secrecy

I've had a few requests for details of the secret camping location in Litchfield. Assurances of secrecy and loyalty. Want to know the details of the eight campsites, a short walk from the carpark, each with it's own private rock pool and waterfall?

Litchfield National Park, Northern Territory

Just forward me the 16-digit number that appears on the front of your credit card. Don't forget that little three digit security code on the back either.

I cant post it here, I simply cannot. I cannot put it somewhere like this, where the great Google in the Sky will spread the details far and wide. I just cannot risk it. As it is, the campsites are popular. I lucked it on the first night. When we returned to camp another night, even though we were early, all the campsites had been taken. You might need to allow for an extra night, one to camp out in the car park first, so you can be standing, ready at the chalkboard, for when the first person vacates their campsite in the morning.

Litchfield

My main interest in Litchfield National Park was the 39 kilometre Tabletop Track. However the park was so good, and the offer of a friend to come down and join me for the weekend from Darwin was too good to refuse, so I stayed on for another three days.

Litchfield National Park, Northern Territory

The Tabletop Track is a loop walk, accessible from several different link walks that connect to car based campgrounds or natural attractions. So even though it is a 39 kilometre walk, one has to walk further to access the track, and further still to take in some of the side trips the natural attractions such as the rock holes and waterfalls. Well, if, and I mean IF, one can cope with walking during the day seeing almost no-one, then walking down a side track to a waterfall which has seemingly just been inundated with several tourist buses worth of people, each armed with an SLR camera and complaining about how tiring the three hundred metre walk from the carpark is.

Florence Falls is one of the more famous sites in Litchfield National Park, perhaps only Wangi Falls rivals it. I did the two kilometre side trip to Florence Falls, the link walk taking me through a humid monsoon tropical forest to the spectacular falls with a large, cool plunge pool. Somehow I quite accidentally managed to get a photo with no-one in it, how I don't know, as I swam another tourist bus load of people arrived.

The following day though, I couldn't bear to repeat the people inundation experience at Wangi Falls, so I skipped this side trip. I did return in the following days though with my friend from Darwin, and there were so, so many people, but it was still good, maybe helped by his tales of visiting Wangi during the Wet. No people there then, just lots of water and maybe lots of crocs lurking around too.

Much of what is easily accessible in Litchfield National Park, including the Tabletop Track, lies in the north of the park. The Tabletop Plateau dominates, the roads skirt around the plateau following the escarpment edge, frequent short roads in to the many waterfalls and water holes. The Tabletop Track likewise follows much of the escarpment, but on the plateau well away from the road and people. While most of the waterfalls are accessible by these short roads, some are only accessible from the Tabletop Track, which is what makes this track so special.



The walking in the savanna was hot, I really should have done the walk over more days and restrict my walking to the cooler mornings. The monsoon forests and many creeks and waterfalls though were so much cooler to walk through, always a nice place to sit and relax, maybe swim.

One campground was particularly special, only a very short walk from a link walk car park, each campsite with it's own private bit of creek, rock pool and waterfall. But if I tell you it's name I will have to kill you. So if you email me or leave a comment asking me, I will need to send a hit man around. And that wont be very pleasant, now will it? I would like to keep the Best Ever Campsite a secret as much as possible, although I shared it with my Darwin friend and I decided I would let him live (he was, after all, rather nice to talk to).

I lost my much loved and travelled hiking GPS unit, an insurance agent slammed into the back of my car on the highway, and I accidentally took too much of what I like to call my Deadly Drug (a medication), but these are all stories for another time...

Sorry, no map from the GPS for you this time. Too bad heh, you won't be able to find the secret campsite unless you come up here and explore it for yourself. Updated 25/05/2011. There are GPS files available for this walk now. They come from http://en.travelnt.com/experience/walking-trekking/tabletop-track.aspx - I reconfigured the XML file as a GPX file and KML file. The path doesn't have a huge amount of points, but should be ample for navigating the trail should you wander off it (really only possible through burnt out areas of wide creek crossings.) I would place a caveat on the area around Walker Creek though, I'm not sure it looks correct, the trail goes from the main trail west to Walker Creek Campsite as a spur trail rather than the main trail passing through the carpark. If coming off the main trail you won't get lost, the spur meets to the carpark to campsites trail near the toilet, at about campsite 6 of 8. Turn left for sites 6-8, right for sites 1-5 and carpark. Download GPX file - for use as a navigational aid in a GPS unit Download KML file - view in Google Earth

View in full screen format The above Google Map shows the official trail file from TravelNT.com Download GPX file - for use as a navigational aid in a GPS unit Download KML file - view in Google Earth

Farmers Union Territory

Oh, half of Darwin is populated by people from Adelaide. Welcome back to Farmers Union territory Jeremy

Darwin

Spent a couple of days chilling out in Darwin: the lagoon, Mindil Markets, some beaches. Meeting some locals.

Darwin, Northern Territory

Spent an afternoon at the Melbourne Docklands style wharf precinct - nice and warm though with a swimming lagoon and lawns. Also the sunset Mindil Markets, lots of asian food stalls and some good live bands. Emdee, contemporary didgeridoo music. I have seen them at the Fringe before and have an album of theirs, good stuff. The Fringe show was more intense, but hey, it's free market music. Also World Fly, a Darwin based trio recently signed to a German label. Enjoyed their chilled out sounds, cello, I love it.

Met some locals, caught up with some friends made on the road. Farewell to Beni, back to Germany. Cool city, hot people, warm climate. Tempting to stay a little longer. I've always thought Darwin could be a nice place to work for awhile, good to see it lives up to expectations.

The beaches though, keep a watch out for crocs and stingers, and undetonated hand grenades from the war: news story from this morning.