It Was One of Those Trips You Dream About!
Travelling across the top of Australia from Broome to Cairns. A truly adventurous journey we wanted to mark the experience in a special way. So at the beginning of our tour we dipped a bottle of water into the Indian Ocean off Broome with the intention of carrying it with us to Cairns where we'd return it to the sea.
Remarkable Memories of the Top End
There were so many people wanting to join us on our quest, a second trip had to be scheduled - back the other way. Both tours were amazing adventures, leaving the travellers with remarkable memories of the Top End.
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The build up to the Wet Season was incredible with captivating scenery and fascinating wildlife. There was extreme heat and rough and dusty tracks, but the spectacular waterfalls, the magnificent sunsets, or the cruise through spectacular gorges waiting at the end of each corrugated road seemed to smooth the potholes of our adventure.
Surprisingly Friendly
We saw mangoes, mountains … and Mount Surprise! Now that’s a
frontier town. A pub, cabin park, school, a couple of shops and …
that’s about it! But even though Mount Surprise is tiny it’s got a
friendliness you won’t experience in big cities.
Joe and Jo run Bedrock Village (our accommodation) in Mount
Surprise. Joe brings out his battered old guitar at night to entertain
us around the campfire. In the morning we ask Jo where we can buy some
tomatoes? She says, “buy ‘em?! Come down the back and we’ll pick ‘em!”
Driving
into Karumba (where the outback meets the sea) across the grassy plains is yet another Top End
experience. I’ve never seen so many brolga’s! Everywhere you looked
these beautiful mauve birds were grazing on the plains. Occasionally
someone would ‘discover’ a jabiru among them.
Sunsets in Karumba are Indescribable
How can you describe perfection? Sitting in the ‘dining
room’ of the End of the Road Motel in Karumba, enjoying a bbq dinner
while watching jabiru and pelicans feeding in the shallows as the sun
set into the waters of the Gulf.
The two tour groups managed to meet briefly in Cairns where we all shared a motel at the end of the first tour - the beginning of the next. The stories being told by those who had just done the tour were whetting the appetite of the second group, eager to set off on their adventure.
Join us on our Next Across the Top Tour
Another Across the Top Tour is scheduled for departure in July 2010 . Only one trip this time though, travelling from Cairns to Broome.
You can also watch the video on YouTube or you can see more photos at the Across the Top Photo Album.
