Umbrawara Gorge and Gregory National Park

Umbrawara Gorge and Gregory National Park

Heading out of Darwin, we stopped at the Aviation Heritage Center where they have a B52 bomber and good informative displays. Then off down the Stuart Highway to Umbrawarra Gorge.
Umbrawarra Gorge is the poor cousin of some of the more famous Gorges in the top end, but as we like to say on the cruise , ''it's special in it's own special way'

From Umbrawarra Gorge

The water in the creek had almost stopped flowing, but still worth having a dip below the red gorge walls. We especially appreciated camping alone.
Next day, we stocked up at Katherine and had another swim before driving southwest to Gregory National Park, where we camped at Bullita Homestead campground.
Gregory National Park was hot and dry but the Boab trees are striking.

From Gregory National Park

Next day we detoured to Limestone Gorge which we viewed from a distance, not feeling like the 8km walk into the gorge proper. We did walk up over the ancient stromatalites – some 20 meters in diameter and others weathered to a nasty sharpness – to a lookout. Also very interesting were the tufa dams on the dry creek – another deposit formed by the combination of limestone and algae.

On our way out of the park, I noticed a strange track which looked like it was made by a shredded tyre, and sure enough, after following it's wobbling path for a few km, we came upon a Czech couple sitting beside a Britz troop carrier with a shredded tire and a flat spare.

From Gregory National Park

With the joy which comes from a disapproved purchase vindicated, I pulled out the big compressor I bought in Boroloola and proceeded to pump up the spare. We followed them out of the park in case it went down again. Two very grateful campers.

We dropped in to the Park Office at Keep River National Park to have a look at the Cockatoo Billabong, but decided not to drive in to the campgrounds. That meant we had a lot of fruit to consume in the couple of km to the quarantine station at the WA border plus a few carrots.