Uluru - Australia's Heart

Hi everyone, today I am going to take a little side-trip from my Half Lap of Australia.
and take you to the beating heart of Australia, Uluru in Central Australia. 

Litchfield National Park, Northern Territory - half lap of Australia, Part 5

Hi everyone, this week we continue north from Katherine and Adelaide River which we visited on my last blog post about the Northern Territory leg of our 13,329 kilometre half lap of Australia.  

Our next stop was town of Batchelor and the Litchfield National Park in the top end of the Northern Territory.  It was only a relatively short drive from Katherine, 287 kilometres, and even with our stop at Adelaide River, we arrived around 1pm. 

The town of Batchelor is about 97 kilometres from Darwin and about 20 kilometres from the edge of the Litchfield National Park. We booked into the Litchfield Tourist Park which is located 14 kilometres from Batchelor and only about 4 kilometres from the entrance to the National Park. You can also camp at one of the bush camp sites in Litchfield, however these don't have power and only limited facilities.  We were more than happy to pay a little extra for power, shade, facilities and swimming pool. They also have a restaurant.

Hunting for wild orchids, Western Australia

It seems to be a shame to miss the wild orchid season while I keep you in the Northern Territory on my half lap of Australia so for this week I am going to drag you away from my travels and back to the south west of Western Australia where the wildflowers are blooming. If you missed it, I did share a few local wildflowers back in September.

Katherine & Adelaide River, Northern Territory - Half Lap of Australia, Part 4

Hi everyone, and welcome to Part 4 of my Half Lap of Australia. 
This week we will travel from Western Australia into the Northern Territory, and visit Katherine and Adelaide River on our way to Darwin, the capital of the Northern Territory. 

We had not visited this part of the Northern Territory before, so this is all new territory to us. You can see a rough map of our trip through the Northern Territory on the map below, the main locations showing with a red dot or red print. 


Leaving Lake Argyle and Kununurra (last week's blog post) we crossed the border into the Northern Territory 63 kilometres from Kununurra. From there our trip takes us to Katherine, Adelaide River, Litchfield National Park, Darwin, Kakadu National Park, Mataranka, Daly Waters, Karly Karlu (Devil's Marbles), down to Alice Springs in central Australia, before reaching the Northern Territory/South Australian border. 

We left Lake Argyle at around 6.00am which incidentally is 7.30am Northern Territory time. We had lost and hour and a half crossing the border. The time difference and that we had 510 kilometres to travel today to our next stopping place, Katherine, was the reason for the early start. Also we were travelling over new ground, so there were gong to be places we wanted to stop and look at. My diary records that the sun was already "a burning red ball above the horizon, lighting up the rocks red and shimmery across the long grass." 

Kununurra and Lake Argyle, Western Australia - Half lap of Australia, Part 3

Hi everyone, welcome back to my half lap of Australia. 
Last week I brought you up the coast of Western Australia free camping 3,513 kilometres (2,183 miles) from Perth to Kununurra.and the Kimberley.

This week we are in Kununurra and Lake Argyle right up at the top of Western Australia near the Northern Territory border. You can see Kununurra on this map. 

 We had been to Kununurra twice before, in 2009 and 2016 and we chose to stay again at the Discovery Holiday Park Lake Kununurra which as the name implies, is on the shores of the Lake.  Very strangely, and I don't know why, I don't seem to have a photo of our caravan site in Kununurra, so here is a picture of the Lake. It is a shady caravan park with good amenities, close to town.

Half Lap of Australia - Part 2 - Free camp Perth to Kununurra

Hi everyone, welcome back to my half lap of Australia. 

A couple of weeks ago I brought you the first installment - a brief overview of our recent trip through Western Australia, Northern Territory and South Australia - a half lap of our Australian continent.  

This week I am taking you up the coast from our home 2 hours south of Perth to Kununurra - a distance of approx 3,513 kilometres (2,183 miles) - the green line following the North West Coastal and the Great Northern Highway on the map opposite, and our camps marked with a red line.

It's a long way and you need to allow about 6 days to do this distance comfortably. And incredibly you can free camp all the way! 


Here is a sample of a great downloadable map from Main Roads Western Australia to help you plan your trip, outlining the designated 24 hour camp sites, and rest areas and what facilities they have ie toilets 

Not all road side rest areas are equal - so it pays to do your research and work out how far you want to travel each day and where you want to stop.  

Please note: If you pull into a designated "truck bay" you need to ensure you have left room for road trains, some of which have 3 trailers and are over 54 metres long. Long haulage truck drivers rely on these truck bays and don't take kindly to caravaners taking over their overnight stops. 

 

September wildflowers in Western Australia

I love September because it is the time for wildflowers in my corner of the world - the south west of Western Australia. I always say there is always something flowering in the Australia bush, which is true, but in spring in September the bush really comes alive with colour and an array of unique wildflowers found nowhere else in the world. 

I know I promised last week to bring you more of my recent travels - half lap of Australia, but because we have been on three wildflower short walks this past week in my area, I just had to share. 

Opposite is Western Australia's floral emblem -  the green and red Mangles Kangaroo Paw - Anigozanthos manglesii

Half lap of Australia

Hi everyone! I'm back! If you are wondering where I have been the last couple of months we have been travelling a half lap of Australia - starting in the south west corner of Western Australia, north up along the Western Australian coast to Kununurra, across into the Northern Territory to Darwin at the top of Australia, around Kakadu National Park, then down the centre to Alice Springs and Coober Pedy in the dry centre, to the south of the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia, before returning home across the Nullarbor -  13,329 kilometers in 7 weeks and 3 days, 16 caravan parks and 11 free camps. Phew!  You can see a rough idea of our trek on this map which I have marked in red.

The Boab - Western Australian icon

The Boab - Adansonia gregorii - icon of the Kimberley, Western Australia 

See more at: The Boab Tree - blog from 2016

Thank you so much for stopping by. I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week. 

I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!

   

All Seasons

MosaicMonday at Letting Go of the Bay Leaf

Our World Tuesday

Pictorial Tuesday 

ThroughMy Lens 

Image-in-ing
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global hosted by Randomosity.

The Lovin' Life Team over at: Deep Fried Fruit

Hello there! I love reading your comments. If you scroll down to the bottom you can comment too! I would love to hear from you.

How Far Does the Hand Reach - "The Peace cloth" - world wide eco printing collaboration

I have been experimenting with eco-dyeing for a couple of years and I have blogged about it a couple of times before here - Eco-dyeing - the magical absorbing art

but it has been my absolute privilege to recently be involved in a global eco-dyeing project - How Far Does the Hand Reach - "The Peace Cloth" - which has been exhibited in  Norwich, England recentlhy as part of a bigger exhibition, Botanical Signatures, by Maria Clarke-Wilson. 

103 eco-dyers from 28 countries around the world contributed silk squares eco-dyed with their local plants, and these were sewn together by Maria according to their location in the world into this huge piece you can see in the pictures below.