Road to Nitmiluk

By Martin Kari

Nitmiluk, a national park in the northern territory, is on an Australian road leading through Southern Queensland, the Outback, the Northern Territory, the Red Centre, the Top End, North Queensland Tablelands, and back to the beginning in South East Queensland, fourteen thousand kilometers by car closed this tour circle.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press AU
• Release date: May 26, 2017
• ISBN: 9781504308458

Martin Kari

Martin Kari wurde während dem I I . Wel tkr ieg im Jahr 1941 in Kleinschelken/Siebenbürgen- Transylvanien als zweiter Sohn des Weinbauers Michael und seiner Frau Sara geboren. Schulausbildung, technische und höhere Ausbildung bereiteten den Autor besonders in Eigeninitiativen auf sein Leben vor.Born in Transylvania during World War II, Martin Kari's life followed many pathways, starting with his time as a refugee in Germany. Technical and then formal higher education prepared the author for life with a sense of exploration, adventure, intellect and humanity. Having worked and lived on four continents as a global citizen, he settled in Australia with his wife and 6 children. It was only in retirement that he found the time to take up the pen again, proving that it is never too late to take on something new in life.

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Copyright © 2017 Martin Kari.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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ISBN: 978-1-5043-0844-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5043-0845-8 (e)

Balboa Press rev. date: 05/25/2017

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REVIEWS

Having had the pleasure of reading Mr. Kari’s other travelogues, it is clear that he is a writer with a gift of insight, vivid memory and humanity.

It’s like reading postcards from a family friend-you can almost taste the food, see the clear blue skies and feel the humidity. Reading this book is the closest you can get mto sensing the Aussie Outback without physically travelling there.

Wendy O’Hanlon, Acres Australia.

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DEDICATION

I dedicate this journey to my steady life-companion, my wife Arja.

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Contents

PREFACE: Road To Nitmiluk

BEGINNING THE JOURNEY:

South East Queensland, Toowoomba

GOING OUT WEST:

Chinchilla, Roma, Bunya Mountains,

Carnarvon National Park, Charleville

NORTHWARD BOUND:

Birdsville, Tambo, Barcaldine, Longreach,

Winton, Kynuna, Cloncurry, Fountain Spring,

Mt. Isa, Camooweal

NORTHERN TERRITORY:

Barkly Homestead, The Three Ways, Telegraph Station,

Tennant Creek, Barrow Creek, The Devil’s Marbles,

Alice Springs, The Todd River, Ayers Rock, The Mutitjulu Story,

Kata Tjuta – The Olgas, MacDonnell Ranges, King’s Canyon,

Hermannsburg

NORTHBOUND TO THE TOP END:

Ti Tree, Tennant Creek, Dunmarra, Mataranka,

Katherine, Nitmiluk National Park, Katherine Gorge,

Kimberley Region, Emerald Springs, Darwin,

Howard Springs, Berry Springs, The Wildlife Park,

Litchfield National Park, Kakadu, Jabiru,

Nourlangie Rock (Burrunguy), Ubirr, Pine Creek, Termite Mound Country

SOUTHBOUND:

Larrimah, The Three Ways

EASTBOUND TO QUEENSLAND:

Camooweal, Cloncurry and The Royal Flying Doctor Service,

Richmond, Torrens Creek

NORTH QUEENSLAND:

Charters Towers, Townsville, Magnetic Island

NORTHBOUND:

Tea Plantation Visit, Atherton Tablelands, Coffee Works Visit,

Mango Winery Visit, Kuranda, Nature’s Cathedral (Poem),

Cairns and Surroundings, Black Mountain National Park

SOUTHBOUND:

Townsville, Homeward Bound, Sunshine Coast – Back Home

HOMEWARD BOUND:

EPILOGUE

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PREFACE

ROAD TO NITMILUK

‘All roads lead to Rome’ and so they do to Nitmiluk. There are many different ways to reach a destination. So how will this journey lead to Nitmiluk, a beautiful national park in the Northern Territory?

It is a journey into the outback of Australia, where, in this oldest part of our world, nature has, throughout history, left oases of surprises in the midst of seemingly dry, barren country. One of these many oases is Nitmiluk. Others are Uluru, Kata-Tjuta, and Kakadu, all in outback Australia. The journey brings us also to the Top End of the Northern Territory and tropical North Queensland.

We need to go a long way from the continent’s populated southeastern corner to step into the outback and get through to the oases that the continent has preserved in unique isolation. It is always the unexpected which surprises us: land-formations, colours, special fauna and flora, dry creek-beds, hidden water reserves, incredible heat throughout summer and shivering cold on winter nights, bush fires and bright, stinging sunshine from a cloudless sky. Then, when it rains after years, water takes over, regenerating life’s cycles. Most of all, the absence of a dense human population is unexpected, with only sparse communities of Australia’s indigenous Aborigines.

We can still disappear in the outback. Life has always been a real challenge there. As the name ‘outback’ implies, it is mainly ‘out’ of water and ‘back’ from the population centres of the continent’s coastline. Whoever travels into the outback will experience lean periods in its spaces. But there is also recovery, for the one who finds his way through.

Such contrasts can add to an experience. This is what makes a journey special. I have toured other parts of the world, describing them in my biography ‘Journey of a Lifetime’ Volumes 1 and 2. Now you, the reader, are welcome to join me and follow the ‘Road to Nitmiluk’, retracing this great journey.

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BEGINNING THE JOURNEY

SOUTH EAST QUEENSLAND

Being experienced world travellers, and after twenty years in Australia, we (myself and my wife Arja) decided to explore the beautiful but more isolated parts of this great country. We decided to travel the road to Nitmiluk – a national park in the Northern Territory. The children had started to lead their own lives, giving us some time for learning a bit more about this unique continent of Australia, which is dominated by its outback. Fourteen thousand kilometres lay ahead of us before we would return home to Caboolture, just north of Brisbane in South East Queensland.

One of our destinations, Darwin, had its own significance for us as our youngest daughter Gucki was studying music at the Northern Territory University. We wanted to be present later on for her first concert. Another reason to celebrate was my sixtieth birthday, celebrated shortly before our starting date on the 21st July 2001. As long as we aim for something special in our lives, reasons can always be found to support it.

Success at many things we undertake in our lives depends heavily on preparation. The outback is unforgiving and doesn’t allow much room for failure. A strong sense of independence coupled with a good health-status becomes the basis for early planning and preparation. The condition of the car cannot be stressed enough; it is absolutely vital. Travelling by car on your own gives such an adventure a special significance: the greater the challenge the greater the rewards.

Timing of an outback trip is also important; it is best in the beginning or end of the Australian winter (May-June / August -September), when temperatures are not too high and heavy rain is more unlikely. Having said this, in the Northern Territory alone, we experienced, in the winter month of July, a temperature difference of 41 degrees Celsius in the shade through the day and - 5 degrees Celsius at night. Car air-conditioning can help for a limited time, but not for a whole day and night!

A closed hood rack on the car top will not only carry your gear but also help to break the sun’s force, which otherwise penetrates the car’s interior. Water on board is as important as spare petrol for the car. A bull-bar fitted on the front of the car can protect from sudden wildlife incursions onto the road. A good variety of food properly stored away, a selection of tools including a shovel, map material, sleeping facilities (in our case a self-inflatable mattress in the back of the car), fly screens on at least two opposite windows, personal items like a diary, reading material, photo equipment, insect repellent spray and a basic medical first-aid kit should also not be forgotten. A mobile phone will have only limited use as most of the outback was out of the reception area at the time of our tour.

Having attended to all these issues, we were ready now for the big adventure. The driver is as important as the car; a better car cannot replace an unskilled driver. A four-wheel drive is not a necessity for this tour; but it can be useful to have in case it is needed.

Before leaving in early morning darkness, we pinned written instructions on the fridge door for our youngest son Micki. ‘After school each day feed the cats, dogs, donkeys, parrots and don’t forget yourself! Plants on the veranda need watering once a week. On Fridays see the neighbour to help you with the shopping.’ Everything at home was secured as far as it could be. We crossed our fingers as our car with camper trailer behind rolled out of the property gate.

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Camper trailer test at home

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Car accommodation test

In the early hours of the day, the sleeping city of Brisbane was still waiting for the traffic. Going south, the mountains of the Great Dividing Range blocked the coastal area. Ancient rainforest hung on the mountain slopes. Its tall dense leaf-canopy turns the sky into darkness even during the day; lianas swing around massive tree trunks climbing higher and higher. Further up, huge granite formations take over in Girraween National Park, which we left in the south, before heading west.

TOOWOOMBA

The road climbs up to the eagle eyrie of Toowoomba, where first daylight welcomed us to a town just waking up. Crisp, cold air was still all around, but a clear sky allowed the sun to shine through as the day progressed. The city is home to the Carnival of Flowers - a spring festival in September where gardens and parks are drenched in a sea of colour as carefully cultivated plants bloom. Toowoomba’s highland position makes it a magnificent place to live with a more moderate climate than directly on the coast.

Views to the coast are surrounded by rainforests on mountain-slopes. The open country to the west makes Toowoomba the border town to the endless Outback.

Road trains of the Outback stop here; their sizes don’t fit city traffic any more, but in the Outback they are ‘kings of the road’, demanding appropriate respect from all drivers. These road trains travel long distances carrying loads of livestock, goods or crops.

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Sign into the outback

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GOING OUT WEST:

The road to the west opened views far to the horizon; the land with the fields dropped away slightly. In between, old volcanic formations stuck out of the flat land; green eucalypt forests climbed up to the ‘pancake’ top, indicating a prehistoric volcanic crater. As a result of this ancient landmark, the black soil here supports one of the best agricultural areas of Australia.

CHINCHILLA

Further west, the town of Chinchilla was entirely surrounded by fields, in which the yellow and brown colours of the dry winter season became more dominant the further the road led to the horizon. Green fields appeared only where irrigation from underground water was in use. This is a fact not just here, but throughout the outback.

Exact information on long-term water usage is not yet available. Despite the size of the underground artesian basin, it is not known if this level is restored sufficiently through yearly precipitation to maintain supply. Neither is it known what our interference does to the water quality. In Western Australia, seawater entered from somewhere to make up for the lost water pumped out of the artesian basin. This contaminated the rest of the water. Australia has to manage its small water reserves in a specific water-wise way. For this mainly dry continent, the future of the country depends on it.

Chinchilla invited visitors to have a rest at the local petrol station on a fresh green lawn with a table and benches around. The entrance to a timber house was lined on both sides by the typical Queensland Bottle tree. Its tribute to the Outback was the wide bottle-shaped grey-green trunk and the dense leafy green canopy.

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Chinchilla – S.W. Qld

Bottle trees call the Outback their home; they store water in their trunks for years and therefore always look green. They are also drought, flood, fire and sub-zero temperature resistant - a really tough Aussie!

Shortly after we arrived in Chinchilla, a local joined us - a tall, slim, elderly man stopped to water a perfect lawn area with a hose. This lawn was the only one that could be seen along the road in Chinchilla.

Where are you from? You must be city-folk visiting our country. We haven’t had the rain you’ve had on the coast. Look how dry everything is.

But your place looks beautiful.

The artesian water is no good for us any more and soon it will be the same for the crops in the fields. In my eighty years of life, I have never seen the place so dry. Past droughts regularly received a break with the wet summer season bringing rain. Now this doesn’t seem to happen any more. If this doesn’t change, there will be no future in the country any more. No wonder our younger generation moves to the city. The country has always supported the city. What will the city do without this support?

You still have a long way to go from what you say. In our early days we could not even dream about a tour through our Outback.

Anyway, my flowers are begging me for water and I better not let them down. Their colours look so beautiful, don’t they? Have a good trip; look after yourselves and respect our country.

ROMA

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Roma – S.W. Qld

Our next destination further west was Roma. The land is flat to the horizon. A blue sky spans large, freshly fallowed fields. These fields were ready to start the winter crops. Unfortunately, the absence of cloud predicted there would be no rain, which the land needed desperately for a harvest. Agricultural machinery, new and old, sat idle around the railway station, waiting for its part of the work in the endless fields.

The number of houses told of a rather small community, dominated by a number of high rising wheat silos next to the railway line. Queensland-style houses on tall stumps were everywhere. Their unique style allowed the much-needed air circulation during the summer heat. They were less ornately built than many Queenslanders near coastal towns. The timber built houses here had fewer verandas, which was indicative of a tighter financial situation in the area.

After the prevalent cedar forests along the coast had been widely decimated in the past, new cypress plantations were started, especially around Roma. This diversified the local farming activities. Only the older houses were cedar and silky oak constructions, which are termite-proof and last a long time if