Hydro’s Round OZ Tour

Northern Teritory

Day 21, July 31^st

Burketown to Borroloola – 496kms

The day started well at the Morning Glory Cafe, where many tourists and locals were waiting for the 7.30 opening.  Steve got the first order in and we were loaded up with coffee and Bacon and Egg Rolls .. not sure what the morning glory was about. Then off we go. We passed the last camp of Burke and Wills (119) and Russ said this is of historical importance we should turn around and check it out, we have time .. we didn’t. This was where Burke said there’s a river and it goes into the gulf, time to turn around. They only had 30kms to the gulf. Steve said let’s go, we’re burning daylight again. The road was intermittent bitumen and red dirt with lots of road work, but all rideable. We rode into Hells Gate and checked out the airport which was the petrol station and cafe as well. A plane landed and and a side-by-side picked up one person’s luggage. We then rode a nice track to the NT border. WTF .. the road changed immediately to corrugation and sand. We persisted for 50kms and Russ’s neck started hurting because of the weight of the helmet and the constant bumping of the corregage. He said to Steve we need to have a break, and Steve said 5 minutes only. We have 200 kms and 4 hours of daylight. Russ said what are you, Elwood Blues. So, on we went, the sand was persistent, and we can only cover 20km/h through it.  River crossing after river crossing, unbelievable!  Steve had it sorted, if he thought Russ could do it alone he would wait at the other side, but he thought he couldn’t wade back in croc-infested waters to assist Russ on crossing. We were 100kms out from Booroloola and another F… river crossing. This time a hobbit type character who was camping by the river leapt in to assist. Russ said to Steve he is in my path and Steve just said, “aim at him, he will move”. So Russ aimed at him through the crossing and made it over, just missing his feet.  He then tried to engage in conversation, but we didn’t understand the Middle Kingdom language so Steve said, “Good on ya” and we moved forward.
With 100km to go, we hit sand again. 20km/h, Russ’s neck was on fire, he was even thinking about the C word now……camping!  Steve said if we don’t make it into town that will make tomorrow impossibly long.  Russ said, “I understand the concept”.  More sand and corrugage. Steve was on the intercom saying soothing things, but Russ said, ” your Jedi mind tricks won’t work on me”.
With 50kms to go the sun went down. Steve had to go into guidance control to bring Russ into a safe town landing coz he didn’t want to pitch a tent. We got to 42kms out which is a marathon which encouraged Russ because he could probably run it.  Then Steve counted down the Ks by 5’s.  The sand traps were still there in the dark. Steve stepped up the guidance by instructing Russ on what gears to use and where the booby traps were.  We got to a half marathon out and Steve counted down the single Ks.  “You can do it Russ!”.  He started talking dinner and said, “if we don’t get in by 7.30 there’s no dinner at the Capricorn Grill”.  Russ said, “at this point I’m happy with 5-minute noodles”.
Suddenly with 5 kms to go we hit bitumen. There is no better feeling at 7.15pm in the dark in the middle of nowhere to feel a firmness under the wheels. Russ released the death grip off the handlebars, and we cruised into the Capricorn Grill at 7.15. They would only serve one bottle of Chardonnay with food which clearly wasn’t enough for the trauma we had been through. The Korean waitress was not interested in our story .. found our digs for the night and an early night.

Day 22, August 1^st

Borroloola to Roper Bar – 387kms

Russ woke up slightly discombobulated from the day before but didn’t want to show any chinks in the armour.  The problem was he couldn’t find one glove, which is a sign of a chink in the armour.  Steve said “it’s got to be around somewhere .. you arrived with both gloves”.
Steve was insistent on leaving asap as he was expecting similar conditions from the day before and didn’t want to deliver instrument landing instructions to Russ again.

It was a run which Russ would have signed up for if he knew what he what he was signing up for, unlike the previous day. It was a nice ride through the Lineman National Park.  The road was hard packed .  Nice ride to Butterfly Falls where Steve had a swim with all his riding gear on and insisted it had to be posted to friends and family.  Russ obliged by taking photos.
A bit like yesterday the second half of the day was so much harder and the corrugage and the sand came back in buckets.  Russ thought he had it sorted but came into a sand pit and even a man of his skills couldn’t cope with 10cms of sand and had to throw the bike on the ground. He knew Steve would come back to bail him out , and he did 5 mins later. We then wound our way into Roper Bar.  Ok, what a place; we didn’t know how to check in.  The motel was a series of pre-fab dongas from the 1970s.  Recently sold for $600k after a dog attack in 2024 .. Steve located a resident who contacted the manager with a long phone conversation. Russ had the ensuite accom which had an operating shower which he allowed Steve to use when he came running to his donga with his shampoo and conditioner.  We went to the bistro which was an extension to a container with flashing lights. The chef said they weren’t licensed but we could buy beer from his private stock of Great Northern mid strength. Russ did his best negotiation, but it ended up being $50 for 6 cans. Steve said that was a good deal given we were in Mad Max country. We tried to pay for dinner but no would take our money .

Day 23, August 2^nd

Roper Bar to Katherine Gorge (Nitmuluk National Park) – 326kms  

A relatively easy day today. We said our goodbyes to the inmates at Roper Bar and Steve rode the bar across the river. He said there was some significance and would video first and research later. Unfortunately, the pump wasn’t working for petrol so we dumped our reserves into the tank 5 litres for Russ and 9 for Steve. At the previous day’s consumption we would come up short by 20kms as it was 175kms to Matararanka. Luckily only 35kms of dirt and then we coasted in high gear at about 90km/h and extended our range to the petrol station. Stopped in at Katherine for supplies and coffee and then checked into our cabin at the Gorge and a well earned Chardonnay.

Day 24, August 3^rd

Katherine Gorge Explore – 12 kms walked

Slow start today.  The toll of the recent days is showing as the let down effect takes hold.  Got up late and got breakfast at the well equipped visitor center a short walk from our cabin.  We are being blessed with cooler than usual days with 7-8 degrees in the morning to 26 in the day and very low humidity. We walked the Burawei loop walk with views over the gorge.  Had to sidestep quite a lot of mountain bikes on the second half as a big triathlon hosted by the Katherine multi-sports club was in full swing.  A few hundred people at least from Katherine and Darwin. 
We decided we had earned a special dinner so Russ booked us into the Cicada Lodge 5-star accommodation’s very pleasant restaurant.  While the entire Katherine gorge including the boats and canoes are seemingly all run by friendly Argentinians, we had a lovely pair of waitresses from Spain and Vietnam for our meal.  Paired a couple of nice wines and then it was watching half a movie on SBS before hitting the hay.

Day 25, August 4^th

Katherine Gorge Explore – 12 km Kayaked

We awoke quite cool again. We can’t figure out how to change our air conditioners to heating mode so just get up in the night and put on more layers.
We have a kayak booked for 8am and it is very cold while we wait for the sun to come into the gorge in shorts anticipating the paddle in the sun to come.  You cant paddle or swim the first gorge as it has a creek joining it where salties can potentially come and go as they please.  So they ferry you up to second gorge with a rock barrier to pick up your paddle craft. It was explained that gorge 2 and up are safe with just freshwater Crocs.   This is ensured we were told by a NPWS 6 week crocodile survey at end of the wet season. We pondered the questions that might be on the survey… If you have the chance will you kill a human? a) hell yeah! b) hell yeah! c) all of the above!

We paddled the first couple of gorges executing the portages over the rocks.  We decided just to walk up and sight shorter gorges 4, 5 and 6 before making our way back to our ferry to ensure we weren’t late and to conserve energy.  Couple of pretty BIG ride days to come up to east Arnhem.
Had our afternoon nanna nap after some basic service on the bikes and then a chardonnay on our cabin deck before dinner by the pool. 

Day 26, August 5^th

Katherine Gorge to Mainoru Store – 280kms

Today was the day we change tyres and start up the track through Arnhem Land. We rode down to Katherine in freezing conditions (7 degrees) and arrived at the bike shop frozen. Two hours later after the tyre change we took off, but Russ noticed his odometer was not working so back to the bike shop .. they had put the front wheel on backwards.  While waiting for rectification Steve’s front tyre popped letting out an almighty wheezing sound.  Luckily the store manager was standing right there talking with Steve and was as stunned and embarrassed as anyone. They had pinched the inner tube with the rim. The only way they could bring it into the workshop was with a forklift. So one incompetence on Russ’s bike saved Steve blowing a tyre on the freeway from another incompetence.

We took off gingerly in case of other booby traps they may have set. All seemed fine and we headed down the sealed road for 183kms to Beswick. Then we hit the dirt. The corrugage was very prevalent but at least not much sand (according to Steve). 50kms in, Russ said to Steve “I don’t have 1400km of this left in me”. So we had a mid-road conference and made the call for Russ to return to Katherine while Steve powered on to Mainoru Store. Steve was playing out scenarios in his head of what if Russ gets a flat on the way back, what if he drops his bike. Not going to happen on my watch! Russ said relax, like I will when I get back on the sealed road.   Steve was able to confirm Russ’ safety using the satellite communicator to text him ensuring back on the sealed road safely.  We are stupid, but not fools.

After parting ways with Russ, Steve rode on to Mainoru Store.  If you are doing the 700km central Arnhem road, it’s the place you stay over and get last fuel before the remaining 480km to Nulumbuy/Gove.  Arrived on a pleasant afternoon – warm but dry and had enough time to settle in and walk to the amazing tropical waterhole on their creek for a swim before dinner.  Only fresh water crocodiles in the waterhole they assured me.  Dinner has to be preordered 24 hours ahead and tonight was very good spaghetti bol prepared by a couple of backpackers from Italy. They even had a basic red wine to wash it down and the environs were really very pleasant .. best dongas yet.  Was entirely plausible that Steve would not see Russ again on this tour but he’s a hard man to keep down and a few texts over dinner and he had flights booked to Gove.  Game on!

Meanwhile Russ checked himself into a hotel in Katherine. No donga for him tonight! . He booked a flight to Gove leaving Darwin in 2 days time. So the schedule won’t change except he will be driving a Ute in Gove vs a bike.

Day 27, August 6^th

Part A Mainoru Store to Gove/Nhulunbuy (Steve) – 481kms

With the agenda recovered .. Russ flying into Gove ..Steve pulled out of Mainoru Store in the dark at 6:50am for the 480km run on highly variable dirt into Gove.  A very solid 8+ hours into the sun the whole way.  Definitely not as crazy as the Savannah way to Borroloola and no real river crossings but still requiring constant concentration for the entire time to pick a path and dodge plentiful rocks.  There were some small fires on the side of the road which normally would be a sign to evacuate in other states but here in the NT lots of places are cold burning a lot of the time.  Steve was excited to encounter four water buffalo on the road … we’d seen there elephant sized turds on the road plenty of times but was great to tick off another of the big 5.
With no breakfast (it was served at 8 .. too late) the food of the day was four handfuls of peanuts which fueled Steve into Gove without issue.

Part B Katherine to Darwin (Russ)

Russ took some time to reorganize stuff. Posted all the camping gear home .. eliminates that option, didn’t have to think about the c word again .. plus all the cold weather gear. The bike is now 10kgs lighter. Took it easy on the 3 hour ride up to Darwin and checked into the airport hotel, an inspired move as they will look after the bike and riding accoutrement while Russ is in Gove.

Day 28, August 7^th

Gove/Nhulunbuy Explore – 4WD to Giddy River

Russ arrived by air at 8.30am and learned that the Garma festival guests still had all the utes out on rental. A local asked if he wanted a lift to town which was readily accepted. Found the motel and Steve chilling out after his epic ride yesterday.  Steve had been busy, securing the only Ute available today and booking various activities.  We walked to the Ute hire and Steve encountered the second puncture on tour as a four cm splinter went through his Croc and into his foot. His scream sounded like Russ when riding on sand. Took the Ute out for a test on an 80km run.   It is mine spec so has the flag and stripes on it.  Took a side road down to Giddy River which was ridiculously rutted and carved out, but our mine spec’d jalopy worked perfectly.

Off to the Boat Club for dinner.

Day 29, August 8^th

Bremer Island Day

Despite Singo saying the fishing better be good coz there’s nothing in Gove, we took a boat trip out to Bremer Island, a particularly quirky resort on the north side which was tres laisse faire.  Everyone was super chilled. Described in reviews as friendly staff, strong cocktails and great food .. they have a French chef .. and swimming is encouraged  “as crocodiles never come to this side of the island”.  So we experienced all of the above. Margaritas followed by a sleep on the beach, a swim and then a great lunch overlooking the view. Great to not be on the move for a day. PS no crocks spotted while swimming.

Day 30, August 9^th

Gove/Nhulunbuy Explore – 4WD Beaches

Taking advantage of the mine spec’d Ute we took off to Little Bondi Beach.  The last kilometre was designed to keep day trippers away. We crossed our fingers that there wasn’t anyone coming in the opposite direction as we slid down the sand bank with two slots for wheels as we conquered the close vegetation, blind crests and deep holes. We were very proud of ourselves until two girls turned up behind us in the Ford Everest and jumped straight into the croc infested waters in their slim bikinis. We both turned to each other and said “we are not worthy”.  Did the walk about, but this was about fishing today so after an hour at Little Bondi we stopped in at Turtle Beach and then McCassens where the rod came out for the first time.  Steve said he had to use the heaviest lure as he didn’t want the onshore wind to flick it back at him. Russ just looked blankly.

After some valiant attempts at reeling in some rocks, Steve capitulated to the wind gods and packed up.

We are now in the rhythm of Gove and arrived at the Golf Club in the alcohol serving window 12 – 2 pm. We are doing a reccy to see if dinner is available as the Boat Club is closed for a wedding. We feel like we know everyone in the bar…..oh yeah we do, there’s the guy that Russ talked to at the airport, there’s the guy that Steve hired the Ute from, there’s the skipper from the boat yesterday. There’s not many places to hide in Gove. We are taking the opportunity to post the last 5 days now as it will be a chilled afternoon washing and packing for the last leg for Russ and Steve’s 700km return dirt ride. We will meet up in Kakadu in 2 days time. 

Day 31, August 10^th

Gove/Nhulunbuy Rest Day and Flight to Darwin for Russ

Day 32, August 11^th

Gove/Nhulunbuy  to Mainoru Store – 480kms

Steves return down the Central Arnhem road was mostly a case of rinse and repeat.  Left while still dark for the 8hr ride back to Mainoru Store.  Luckily the bakery opened at 5:30 so got to eat and have a coffee before taking off. Met a nice wild pig in the road, a ton of Skippies and 3 water buffalo.  Pulled into Mainoru store and the staff remembered me. Had preordered hamburger with the works for tonight.

Russ meanwhile was exercising his option of riding from home “RFH” and spent the day at his second home, the Darwin Airport Hotel, managing some life admin in between a cheeky Chardonnay in a real glass.

Day 33, August 12^th

Mainoru Store to Jabiru (Kakadu National Park) – 560kms

Steve rose early at Mainoru Store and set off in the dark at 6:30.  But not before Craig from Darwin asked if Steve would mind having his photo taken with his “rig”.  130km of shitty dirt on the Central Arnhem Rd before finally hitting bitumen at Beswick .. feels like riding on carpet .. and then onto Katherine and up the Kakadu highway to our lodge where Russ waved Steve in having arrived a short time earlier coming in from Darwin.  The smell of Chlorine, Bleach and any other disinfectant in the room was like perfume to the senses after the Dongas we’ve been in. Russ also produced some fine chardonnay from his esky pannier.  Dinner by the pool and life was good.

Day 34, August 13th
Kakadu National Park Explore – 287kms

Got up ready for Bagels that the Caravan Park reception advertised would be available at 8am. They weren’t, “come back at 10”. Steve said “we don’t have time for this shit”, so off to the Aboriginal art centre, the only game in town for a coffee.

So what to do. We’re off to a waterfall. Kakadu is so spread out we road 100km to go to Maguk Falls. The last 10km was on dirt and it was a reprise or executive summary of every dirt road Russ has ridden in the last 31 days. 1. Graded road (9/10); 2. Small corrugation (8/10); 3. Large corrugation (6/10); 4. Small corrugation with sand on top (4/10); 5. Large corrugation with sand on top (3/10); 6.  Road covered in deep sand except for tiny pathway through (2/10); 7. Road entirely covered in deep sand (0/10)

Lucky it only took 25 minutes!

Beautiful gorge and waterfall. We did a 1500 m walk to get in and had a swim .. even Russ coz it was warm enough. The two Italian families who woke us up at 5 am were well established in there. It must have been the second gorge for the day for them.

Steve was now on a mission to get to Cahills crossing for high tide.  He had calculated it would take Russ 25 mins to get off the dirt and then we had enough time to hit the high tide and see the crocs fishing for Barramundi.  Despite Steve saying repeatedly that he was going to “baby” the DR to get it around the whole country, that didn’t count when there were crocs to see. At least Russ could keep up on the sealed road, and we utilised the NT limit of 130km/h to get to feeding time.

Steve was not disappointed. Crocs aplenty with one snapping up a good size Barra. But wait there’s more. A road train took to the high tide crossing ..the crowd were obsessed .. Steve even managed to video the event. It was quite anticlimactic to ride back to Jabiru where we were staying.

We were winding down with a Chardy Russ had imported from Darwin in his Tardis when we met SpecialAgentNancy.com.  Lovely woman who rides around the world by herself when not working.  She was into birds and looking for Curlews that we could hear making the same scream Russ makes in sand.

Day 35, August 14^th

Jabiru (Kakadu National Park) to Darwin – 266kms.

Today was an easy day. It was like the last day of skiing .. you just want the hand the rentals in without injury!

Steve had organised an emergency drop of oil in Humpty Doo but decided to take his back wheel off to check the bearings as well.  Russ just checked out.  He wasn’t going to add any value either way but was called upon for muscle support when the jigsaw puzzle of wheels, bearings and brakes come together in a cluster.  First beads of sweat were seen on Steve for the whole trip.  Wheels on, and wheels up we took off only to hear Steve exclaim “my back brakes not working”.   Russ said, “is that an issue coz I haven’t used mine all trip.” Steve said, “I’ve let you down Grasshopper”.   So picked up brake fluid and Steve changed the rear brake line which he’d brought as spare in the motel car park while Russ went to get essential supplies at Cellarbrations.   After some medicinal Chardonnay we went down to the waterfront to a fantastic restaurant with Irish and Italian servers who stroked our egos after Steve told them of our daring do’s over the last 10,000 kms.  Here endith phase one.

From this point Steve will talk in the first person, as there is no point talking to “self”.  Russ is handing the bike to a shipping agent and is not too concerned about the arrival date of the Tenere in Sydney but we wish Steve all the best for the rest of the trip around Australia and the implementation of the camping paradigm which wasn’t allowed under the Russ era. 

Day 36, August 15^th

Darwin Explore and Russ Departure for Sydney

Rest Day for Steve. flight day for Russ

Day 37, 16^th August

Darwin to Florence Falls Campground (Litchfield National Park) – 230kms

Having had the last supper with Russ at his time share in the Darwin Resort Hotel Complex last night I was solo from hereon.
Pointed the bike for Litchfield National Park and headed off.   It’s not that far from Darwin and I was doing the Litchfield loop counter clockwise so I would finish the day at Florence Falls Old 4wd campground.

Soon enough I was at Wangi Falls and with a short walk into the water I went.  This was going to be a day of waterholes.
A bit further around the loop and parked at the trailhead for Tjaetaba Falls 3.4km return.  Hiked up to the top of the falls and a very cozy pool looking out over the landscape with just a few people. 
Next was Tolmer Falls Overlook 1.6km return.  Great views over Litchfield landscape.
Next was Buley Rockhole – this one was super popular and has many Rockholes  cascading down in steps.  Tried out all the pools to find my favorite.
Finally got to Florence Falls campground and set up the tent. A nice walk of 1.4km return for swim in beautiful pool below a pair of falls.  Lots of quite decent size black fish nibbling toes.

Florence Falls camping to Gunlom Falls Camping   304km

Decided to retrace into Kakadu where Russ and I had just been to add one falls to the list.  Gunlom falls had reopened the top pool after 5 years with extensive views out over the park.  It was 37km on dirt to get in with a bad initial stretch and then quite tractable.  It also has a spacious campground below looking back at the falls where I set up for the night before doing the short steep trail to get to the top of the falls.  There were several beautiful pools up there and I just sat and moved between pools for 4 hours or so enjoying the view and chatting to folks

Day 38, 17th August

Gunlom Falls to Edith Falls 176

Broke camp early while cool and rode the 37 km of dirt back to the Kakadu highway.  A pretty short ride all bitumen to Edith Falls campground in the North end of Nimuluk Park – the same as we’d previously visited Katherine Gorge in. 
Set up and embarked on 13km return walk on a beautiful rustic hiking trail to see all the pools and swim in each on the way up and again coming back to stay cool.
Despite the heat, since Darwin the humidity has been much lower.  Very grateful.
Bottom Pool right near campground is huge.  Need a noodle to get to falls on that one which I didn’t have.
Next up Upper Pool with fantastic rock surrounds and a good waterfall. The trail is very organic and rocky .. and scenic.
Next the Long Pool … looked a bit croccy to me even though it’s been surveyed and there was no one else swimming to improve my chances.  Got the shot and got out.
Finally, a gentle cascade into the Sweetwater pool.  Here there were a dozen hikers having there last night on the Jatbula trail having left Katherine gorge 5 days before and ending at Edith Falls tomorrow.
Met a biker named Michael riding around. He mentioned Canarvon Gorge and I said we’d been there early in trip and met the Two Moto Kiwis in the Ural with side car.  He said so did they so we were obviously there at some time