We continued north from Katherine, a very boring drive through blackened country, once more due to controlled burning. Mt. Bundy Station for the night on the Adelaide River which is 100 kilometres south of Darwin.
As we passed by Pine Creek which is one of the entry points to world heritage listed Kakadu National Park, the scenery improved with green growth and mountains in the distance. Kakadu will have to wait until another journey as it is such a large area to see and the dogs would need to be in kennels again. We had heard of the giant termite mounds and at two metres in height they are very different from all the ant nests which have been a common sight on our travels. The mounds' thin edges point north-south minimising their exposure to the sun, and keeping them cool for the termites inside. 
Termite Mounds
Resident Guinea Fowls
Mt. Bundy Station is near the township of Adelaide River and once settled we decided to extend our visit to four nights. It's a different set up to previous Stations we have visited as we are camped within the working area. The Station is predominately a 20,000 hectare cattle property and offers farm stays, homestead accommodation, camping and caravan sites. The stockmens' quarters and workers cottages, the holding stalls for the house animals are nearby as well. Lilly a ten month old Brahman calf who is housed in the stalls, is a big sook and very affectionate and she has no hesitation in bellowing her objections to the world; then there is Bindi a 3 year old quarterhorse mare who is very small, chestnut in colour with a white blaze on her forehead, and Nibbles who looks like he has Shetland in his make up and with his round tummy lives up to his name. Nibbles has a reputation of stealing food out of tents as well, and we witnessed his thieving ways when he stole potatoes out of the back of a car next to us. Took our two four legged ones out to the gate for their morning walks and Brie wasn't sure about the very big "dogs" in the paddocks. Naturally being city bred they haven't seen horses before. 
Bindi the Quarter Horse
The working horses in the nearby paddocks are a friendly lot and used for guests trail rides. There was a lengthy discussion between Adrian and one of the owners re quarterhorse lines and breeding and as it happened the horses had similar lines to Adrian's stallion, Billy. There were so many animals - guinea fowl, peacocks, peahens, geese, water buffalo and Ade spied Corella's in the trees (he's the bird man), and a four metre crocodile (salty) and friends patrolling the river bank as the Adelaide river runs through the property. No toe dipping for this girl.
We took a drive out to the Daly River Crossing renowned for its barramundi fishing and boating, and scenic surrounds. Ade describes this as a blokes fishing spot - not for sheilas! Well done Ade - how Aussie can you get!
The town of Adelaide River played a very important role in the military presence during WWII and was the location for a huge military base with thousands of personnel stationed here and surrounding areas. I visited the Adelaide River War Cemetery, a moving experience, which is the third largest war cemetery in Australia, the resting place for some 63 civilians and 434 service personnel.
On our third night we had an unfortunate incident with our Bere. I was taking him out for a necessary walk at 4 am and something spooked him before I could get his leash on properly (for those who don't know, Bere is blind and he never runs). He took off like the wind and then I heard this awful howl and knew that was our boy. Torch in hand I found him in the horse stable so I had to crawl under the fence to get him and yes he had been hurt and was limping badly and totally disoriented. Boy, did I stink. I had rolled in horse shit and the pair of us were on the nose! End of this story is that we kept him totally quiet for the day, he was in shock anyway, and had him to the vet as soon as we arrived in Darwin the next day. He has a badly bruised and swollen wrist and thankfully no broken bones. We aren't quite sure whether he had a meeting with one of the horses or exactly what happened. And, Ade reckoned Jean and Bere were much nicer to be close to after a meeting with soap and water!
Next day, Darwin our destination and the most northern capital and the furtherest north both of us have travelled in Australia.
No comments:
Post a Comment