Darwin NT to Broome WA trip July 2017

Graeme Willis
Jul 10, 2017 · 18 min read

Saturday 7th July we fly to Darwin, pick up our car and check into the hotel.

This is the first flight for both of us since the aborted Malaysian flight a few weeks ago. An uneventful flight allbeit a little late departing Melbourne.

Darwin was hot and dry about 30 degrees and a far cry from Melbourne weather. We had lunch down at the waterfront which is a relatively new development of a Conference Centre, Apartments, Restaurants and Coffee shops. There is also a large water complex with a wave pool and a large enclosed swimming area.

We then headed off to the Flying Doctor Museum at Stokes Pier. The highlight there was a 3D virtual video of the first bombing of Darwin harbour during WW2. Not to be missed if you are in Darwin. So to complete the theme we then went to the Military Museum as East Point which was also interesting with a history of what happened during the war. One thing I did not know was NT was handed over the Armed Forces during the war and Darwin was evacuated for most of the war time.

Sunday 9th July

We headed off to Litchfield National Park a drive that takes about 90 minutes from Darwin. While we had been to Darwin several times before we have never been to Litchfield NP. A very large National Park and some great walking trails and scenery.

Florence Falls Rock Pools
Wangi Falls Litchfield NP
Tolmar Falls

Later on Sunday back in Darwin, we visited the War Museum at East Point Darwin. A very good history of Darwin during World War 11 and well worth a visit if you have any interest in history.

Sunday evening, we went to the Mindil beach market along with about 10000 other people. The Beer raft festival was also on which added to the attendance. Lots of stalls, entertainment and food. We had our dinner on the beach watching the sunset. The market is on Thursday and Sunday nights from the end of April to October.

Mindil Beach Market

First thing Monday we had breakfast with Andrew & Steph from Adelaide down at the Waterfront. They are visiting Darwin at the same time. It was good to catch up with all the news from Adelaide.

To complete the trifector of Museums we went to the Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Territory. This is an excellent Art Gallery and has a great account of Cylone Tracy which flattened Darwin in 1974.

Later in the afternoon we met with our guide for the bird trip — Inala nature tours see attached link for more details

Darryel Binns is our Tour leader and we had a quick visit to the Botanical Gardens, where we saw the following flora and birds along with many others birds.

Bush Stone-Curlew
Rufous Owl & Australian White Ibis

We then went to the Mangrove board walk area.

Mangrove area from the board walk with the tide coming in.

Monday 10th July

Today was spent in and around Darwin with the Bird tour group.We started off at the Botanical Gardens again and the went to East Point and the Mangrove area. Later in the day we went south of Darwin to Palmerson.

Weather hot and humid. Some photos from the day.

In order Black Butcher Bird, Whistling Kite & Double-barred Finch
Eastern Great Egret
From the Botantical Gardens
Red-headed Honeyeater
Little Pied Cormorant & Masked Lapwing
New billion dollar Gas Liquiefication project and sunny Turtles

Tuesday 12th July

Our trip today was from Darwin to South Alligator. A fair bit of time in the car, but we stopped at Fogg Dam for a reasonable time. Fogg Dam is a massive water way, which stays wet all year round and attracts bird life.

Native Plants Yellow flower is Kapok, then Pandanus and the Wooly Iron Bark.
Female Shinning Flycatcher, Mud Skipper, Willie Wagtail & Water Dragon

Wednesday 13th July

We travelled from South Alligator to Cooinda (Yellow Waters) stopping at Nourlangie Rock. Mostly driving and birding. We went on the evening cruise of Yellow Waters, which is a series of Billabongs of the JimJim river. We have done the cruise before about 5 years ago, but it was an early morning cruise. Both are just fantastic. The whole area is just teeming with wildlife. Some pictures from today.

Sunset from the cruise boat on Yellow Waters
Some good Crocodiles — In that you can see them!!!
Australasian Darter, Comb-crested Jacana and Green Pygmy-Goose with a Pied Cormorant looking on.

Below is a White-throated Honeyeater looking at the Restaurant and then the menu for his evening dinner?

Some of the landscape along the way

Aboriginal Rock paintings at Nourlangie Rock

Friday 14th July

We travelled from Yellow Waters to Pine Creek where we are staying the night. I must say that I did not notice a creek. No doubt it appears in the wet season and then looks more like a river than a creek. We went back to Nourlangie Rock and climbed to a lookout point which provided some good scenic photos of the surrounding country side.

Then onto Pine Creek for lunch and an hour’s rest. Some quick photos of Pine Creek

Pine Creek Railway station and park!
And flowers to complete the picture

Saturday 15th July

From creek to creek via a river. Today we travelled from Pine Creek to Timber Creek having stopped at Victoria River for lunch, a distance of 380km all sealed road. We arrived just in time to see Collingwood win.

Some photos from today.

Female Hooded Parrot, Male & Female Hooded Parrot and a Red-backed Kingfisher all taken at Pine Creek.
Gouldian Finches

The Gouldian Finch was on the endangered list, but I think it may have been relaxed of late. Anyhow they are an attractive little bird and rare to see, so to get a good picture as well was a bonus.

Golden-headed Cisticola

Again happy to get these photos of the Golden-headed Cisticola as it pops up and then down again into the long grass.

Katherine and the Victoria Highway
Victoria River Roadhouse
The last red Flower is the Rosella plant which apparently makes a good Jam.
Purple-crowned Fairy-wren
Buff-sided Robin and Baobab tree at Timber Creek
Blue-faced Honeyeasters

Blue-Faced Honeyeaters outside the Timber Creek Hotel having a not so cold Victoria Bitter.

The first thought bubble should read “I will keep watch” and the second one “Is anyone watching?”

Sunday 16th July

We stayed in Timber Creek today and went out in the surrounding areas. Weather seemed to be much warmer today around 32 degree.

Photos from today below.

Timber Creek- Photos on the right from the lookout — photos on the left from the Town itself
Grey-crowned Babblers
Masked Finch and Mistletoebird
Victoria River
Little Corella, Red-winged Parrot & Rufous-throated Honeyeater
Black Kite. Lost count on how many of these birds I have seen.

Mild afternoon we headed off into the National Park again. The highlight was seeing a flock of 100 to 150 Gouldian Finches. They settled into a Gum tree and other than about 10% of the flock they just disappeared into the foliage.The photo below of the Gouldian Finches is another sighting.

Male and Female Cockatiels, Female Pictorella Mannikin & Gouldian Finches
Timber Creek landscape & Wild Brumbies

Monday 17th July

Today we travelled from Timber Creek to Kununurra. It was a long drive, but we gained an hour and a half crossing the border into WA. Our first stop was at Bradshaw Bridge which crosses the Victoria river. On the other side of the river is a restricted area which is a military zone that stretches all the way back to Darwin some 300km. Plenty of Finches, Mannikins, and Fairy Martins.

Crimson Finch
Chestnut-breasted Mannikin
Yellow-tailed Mannikin
Chesrnut-breasted & Yellow-rumped Mannikins
Fairy Martins, Crimson Finchs,Yellow-rumpted Mannikins & Chestnut-breasted Mannikins
Black Kites up close
Purple-crowned Fairy wren, Hoary-headed Grebe & Rufous-throated Honeyeater.
The Grotto near Kununurra, & Parrys Lagoon near WyndhamWA.

Tuesday 18th July

Today was spent in Kununurra and mostly on Lake Argyle. We went on a lake cruise with “Lake Argyle Cruises”, which was just fantastic. An early start leaving the hotel at 5.00am for a 6.00am departure at Lake Argyle. The Cruise started with Breakfast moored in a Lagoon with wildlife every where. Lake Argyle is still almost full and its roughly 20 times the size of Sydney harbour both in terms of amount of water and the water surface. It is said that it is home to 25000 fresh water crocodiles and 26 species of native fish. I can recommend Lake Argyle Cruises if you are looking for a cruise on the lake, nothing was too much trouble. A link to their web site is attached — http://lakeargylecruises.com

Today the photos will start at the Non-Birding section!!!

Bull with a company of Cattle Egerts, Golden Orb spider and Rock Wallaby
Unknown Flower, Spiders Web that completely covers a tree and Unknown Spider.

Now a selection of landscapes

And now the Birding section. Attached is a selection of the 44 difference species we saw on the cruise.

From the top :-

Australasian Pipit, Black-necked Stork,Comb-crested Jacana, Little Pied Cormorant, Sandstone Skrike-thrush, White-bellied Sea Eagle, White-browed Crake and White-quilled Rock-Pigeon.

Late in the day we headed off to Lily Creek Lagoon which is a large lake in the centre of Kununurra.

Last throw of the dice as the Bird tour finishes tonight at dinner.

We saw a number of birds that we had already seen today, but we did see a Baillon’s Crake and a Blue-winged Kookaburra as below together with shots of Lily Creek Lagoon.

Baillon’s Crake at Lily Creek Lagoon near the jetty.
Blue-winged Kookaburra
Lily Creek Lagoon — Kununurra

Val & I will continue onto Broome staying at Fitzroy Crossing one night and then back home on Friday.

The Inala nature tours Birding tour lead by Darryel Binns has just been great. We have seen birds that we would never have seen if we were by ourselves. The accommodation and food has been very good given the limited number of offerings from Darwin to Kununurra. Darryel is a very good birder who could spot birds from afar and quickly identify all birds upon request. He was also a lot of fun and made us all feel very comfortable, with plenty of laughter along the way. In all we travelled 2150km starting at Darwin and finishing in Kununurra in our little white Van (from Bargain Rentals) that was licenced to seat 11 and with only 5 of us we had plenty of room.

Again like the Lake Argyle Cruises if you are thinking about a guided birding trip, Inala nature tours have been first class in my view. The following link is to there web site with further details : —

Wednesday 19th July

Today was the long drive day from Kununurra to Fitzroy Crosssing some 650 km. We pick up the hire car and departed Kununurra about 8.30am. We had our farewell dinner last night which was an opportunity to recounted the trip. In all 175 different species of birds were seen on the trip. Our accommodation in Kununurra was the Lake Resort on Lily Creek Lagoon, very nice and friendly owners and staff.

The following photo were taken almost from our front door of the unit.

Sacred Kingfisher & White-breasted Woodswallow

The drive from Kununurra to Fitzroy Crossing, along the main highway, was more interesting between Kununurra to Halls Creek, than from Halls Creek to Fitzroy Crossing.

Some of the landscape below

Kimberley Landscape after Halls Creek

We are staying at the Fitzroy River Lodge, which is on the banks of the Fitzroy River.

A couple of photos upon arrival.

Frangipani,Pallid Cuckoo & Peaceful Dove

Thursday 20th July

Today was a drive from Fitzroy Crossing to Broome.

Before we left Fitzroy Crossing we went on a river cruise at Geikie Gorge National Park. We took the first cruise which was 8.00am which lasted an hour. Very very spectacular, perfect weather warm but calm. Some of the photos below. Today I used three different lens — a Sigma DG 150 to 500mm, a Canon 18–55mm and a Tamron wide angle 11–18mm

Fairy Martins Nest Building

About half way from Fitzroy Crossing to Broome we came across a recent accident where a road train had rolled the last of its three trailers which contained a milky substance. Not sure if anyone was hurt. The cabin of the truck was not damaged and could not see any other vehicle involved.

Apologies for quality of photo needed to adjust the aperture

Friday 21st July

Flight home today, leaving a top temperature 0f 31 in Broome to a top of 14 in Melbourne!!!

An early morning walk down by the Mangrove area in the town saw an Female Red-Headed Honeyeater having a tidy up for the day.

Female Red-headed Honeyeater
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