What magnificent country! Huge red escarpments, green vegetation (gums, boabs, Kapok trees - yellow flowering spindly trees, that are just beginning their leafing-up and fruiting stage) and lots water gouged creek beds accompanied by the largest river in NT – the Victoria River.
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| First sighting of boab trees, at Big Horse Creek Campground |
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| Kapok trees |
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| Victoria River |
We camped at Big Horse Creek campground, adjacent to the banks of the Victoria River out of Timber creek (but not too close, in case the croc we saw basking on the bank came to visit!! We pulled up in a nice shady camp spot, out the back of beyond – with about 100 other campers, the odd generator “whirring” away in the background and the eco-toilet only smelling a bit “nasty” in the evening as the breeze dropped.
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| Big Horse Creek, tributary to the Victoria River |
Campground Life
We came west to get some peace and quiet.
The sun shone warmth on our shoulders …and the bobbly bottle trees stood sentinel
The red dust rose, and settled …as the generators hummed to life
The river lapped at the banks …and the tinnies sputtered and churned
The lizards scampered and skittered …as the dogs chased and yapped
The sunset cast a golden glow, as the shadows lengthened …and the cockies swooped and screeched
Dusk moved in and the leaves swayed in a cooling breeze …and curlews screamed their mournful cry
The stars twinkled and lit the night sky …and the crickets chirruped and chirped
The people sighed and quietened to sleep …and the snores echoed in the silence
The dawn rose over the river, meandering through the bush …and the bird chorus sang out
The sun shone warmth on our shoulders …and the billy boiled as children’s laughter rang out
Ahh …how peaceful, yet how full of life!
Author Anonymous
There have been a few authors that have obviously found time in the “isolation”, to put pen to paper. The other literature related point, I noted with interest, was the gateway to Bullo River Station, the station previously owned by Sara Henderson who wrote “From Strength to Strength”, among other things. This station, now owned by Sara’s daughter Marlee, has been put on the market due to the loss of income from the ban on live exports to Indonesia. There are a lot of NT and WA stations doing it tough through this circumstance.
Various faces of the Victoria River - Policeman's Point nearTimber Creek, and by sunset. In the mid 1880's ship/barge loads of stores etc for stations used to come up the Victoria River from the Gulf and be offloaded at Timber Creek. It was still a long, hot journey from stations to collect these goods.
This was “Durack country”, as evidenced by the memorials to the Durack family around the district. They were some of the initial cattlemen who settled in the area from Timber Creek and around Lake Argyle (actually, under Lake Argyle now!). Their story has been encapsulated in the book “Kings in Grass Castles” and “Sons In the Saddle”, written by Mary Durack. These I must borrow from the library when I get home.
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