Lorella Springs NT 14/8/20 - 20/8/20
Our 7 Day journey - After Darwin the next town is Katherine with a population of 10,000 people, The hub of Daly Waters in the last census of 2016 recorded a population of 9.
This trip was just on 2270km round trip (1410 miles)
Finally it was time to head off for a real tour. The destination Lorella Springs Homestead. This was initially to be the first part of our journey to continue onto QLD but at the time borders were still a little unstable. We did not want to risk getting stuck outside of the Northern Territory, so a one week trip was planned with Deb and Ross again on their BMW 1200.
First night out of Darwin was at Mataranka Homestead 431km south. The highlight of the homestead was definitely not the accomodation but the thermal pools that are accessed by a short walk from the campground area. The Thermal pool is part of Elsey National Park, a 13800 hectare park that was made famous by the book written by Jeannie Gunn called “We of the Never Never”. The book recounts Jeannie’s experience living on Elsey Station with her husband back in 1902. The Thermal springs flow constantly at a temperature of around 30 degrees (86F) so though not refreshing on a hot day they are still definitely relaxing.
Day 2
Leaving Mataranka it wasn’t long till we turned off our one major road of the Northern Territory onto the Roper Highway. A single lane bitumen road that can be interesting when cattle trucks are roaring down the centre. Just like with boats, might always has right of way.
The other challenge for the day was fuel. The run from Mataranka to Lorella Springs Homestead was 450km with no fuel stops. With a 31 litre fuel tank the bike has the capacity to do up to 600km but that was yet to be proven on dirt and we knew the BMW definitely wouldn’t make it on one tank, so a little extra fuel was carried in fuel bladders - more weight. Another parallell for sailing. When a boat is overloaded and too heavy on her waterline she will not sail well. Overload a bike and you are going to make your life hard. As soon as there was room in the tank the bladders were emptied and we were happy to say that the BMW took a little of the Ducatis load the next day when their tank was getting awfully low.
We had a good nights camp on the Towns River where the true spirit of a fellow camper was shown. We had arrived with water but not excess expecting there to be water in the nominated campground that came with a bush toilet. Not a tap to be found and the river here was salt water. We knew we could back track inland a few kilometres and refresh our water containers but a kind gentleman by the name of “Bluey” who happened to be staying in the area unloaded several jerry cans of water and a bucket for a bath wash, rather than see us have to take the bikes back up the sandy track. In payment he took up residence at our camp for several hours sharing stories.
Day 3
The next morning after an unexpected visitor for Lee when using the bush toilet we headed out for the run to Lorella Springs Wilderness Park. The day was extremely hot and it was mid afternoon when we took on the last thirty kilometres to the homestead. That thirty kilometres took a couple of hours as the road had recently been graded and the corrugations been turned to bull dust. Feeling very hot and weary we were very happy to arrive at the homestead. An ice cold beverage from the reception fridge had never tasted so good.
Day 4
Lorella Springs is a 4WD natural adventure park. It is a family owned property that covers an area of 4000 square kilometres. Uniquely they have set up the property to be shared by 4WD and fishing enthusiasts. With close to 50 designated camps areas Lorella can accommodate a lot of people without you even realising they are there. There is everything from Gorges, small billabongs to the gulf coastline. We saw multiple families giving there kids an amazing bush experience. Some travellers were return visitors, all were extremely praising of the experience.
For us we were happy to just put up camp under a very shady tree and have our first day off riding by enjoying the nearby thermal pool and the luxury of the Homestead cafe.
To really appreciate how big and how much is on offer at this unique place check out Lorella's Website https://www.lorellasprings.com.au . We certainly would look to pack up the 4WD ourselves and head back for a few weeks of exploration in the future.
The Hot Springs near our camp perfect for a rest day
Day 5
Given time constraints we headed south the next morning, 140km of more dirt to Cape Crawford, but very happy that the early morning start had made the run out of Lorella so much easier. Cape Crawford literally consists of a roadhouse called Heartbreak Hotel 120km from the coastline. It apparently was named after a drover, Lindsay Crawford who discovered the northern most point (Cape) of the Abner Ranges in 1880. As for the name of the roadhouse the story goes that the original owner of the establishment had his heart broken when his fiancée headed off with a ringer and so the name stuck.
Turning west our next stop, 285km later, was at Daly Waters Historical Pub. The Daly Waters Pub is the oldest pub in the Northern Territory built in 1930. Not old in European standards but for our Territory that’s something special. The current owners have capitalised on the history of the building, the bar is littered with memorabilia left behind by people who have had a good time, hearty meals including the signature dish of steak and barramundi are served up, entertainers perform each evening in the open restaurant to a multitude of travellers passing though in motorhomes, caravans or in our case on motorbikes. No tenting tonight we were most impressed with the clean comfortable facilities offered by the pub. Complete with the best feeling hot shower.
Day 6
Leaving Daly Waters we farewelled Deb and Ross at Mataranka as they rode through to Darwin and Andrew and I opted for an overnight stop in the town of Katherine to visit friends.
Day 7
Our last day on this trip proved to be somewhat challenging. Taking the scenic dirt road out of Pine Creek turned out not to be such a good idea. A large slashed tyre resulted not long after turning off onto the dirt road. It took several plugs to repair before we could limp back into Pine Creek. Over the next five hours we would ride, stop, repair and reinflate the tyre. What should be a three hour run home from Pine Creek took seven. Andrew was however by this time well practice in the repair of the tyre and we came to appreciate our small compressor and the need for an endless amount of plugs. Ross headed out of Darwin to collect us with a car trailer but through determination and one last effort Andrew managed to get the repair to hold and we made it home unassisted but happy to know had it not worked we had an exit plan. Thanks Ross.
Happy to be Home
So ended our first true shake down trip. We had completed just on 2267km over 7 days of riding, challenged ourselves in the dirt, worked out exactly what we needed and didn’t need with our camp gear and were now getting excited about the “Big Trip.”