​Timber Creek 5 July 2017

Needs no explanation I reckon. All I will say is that sunsets in the outback, over water or plains, are glorious on their silence.

Not another sunset! While we were camped at Timber Creek we took a sunset cruise downstream on the Victoria River. It's the biggest river in the Territory and as it has wound its way through mountain ranges over the Millenia, it has gouged deep gorges creating impressive escarpments. I don't know how old it is but I do know that it is around 600km long and empties into Bonaparte Gulf named by French explorer Baudin - yes named after THAT Bonaparte family.

Along the entire length of our 70k trip down stream, we passed huge salties protecting their patch of water and shore. We saw quite a few freshies too but these are much smaller. The big ones go after cattle who come down to the river to drink. It's hard to imagine how they'd manage but they grab the poor beasts by the nose and drag them under.

Can't remember its width but it's pretty wide! And tides, which can be up to 8 metres, cause a tidal bore. The crocs surf on them - or so the saying goes. Floods are so enormous here it's difficult to comprehend. One year the water reached the hand rail on the Bradshaw bridge - which doesn't mean much unless you've seen the height of the bridge.

That is the Bradshaw Bridge in the distance. It's very high. One year the water rose to the top of the handrail

The area north of the river was 'discovered' by a chap called Bradshaw who opened up the whole East Kimberly area for grazing. He sold it for a kings random to the army so now that area is off limits.

Check out this bus! It's a 1970s obsolete model still chugging along. We traveled in this to the boat launching place 10 k down the road at Big Horse Creek. All part of the character of the place.

There's such a rich history up here and immense wealth from grazing and mining as we know. Minerals which we rarely get to hear about. It's a fascinating place.

The might Baobab tree. It's closely related to the Africa Boab and thought to have originated there rather than from Madagascar.

This is boab country. They're everywhere plains and escarpments. This is a example of their fruit. ~12 x 8cm hard shelled and covered in olive green velour. Inside the fresh is white and pithy tasting of citrus I'm told with seeds which when cracked taste like almonds.

Boab fruit - not pretty but said to be high in vitamin C. The aboriginals made a drink out of it. The seeds taste like almonds - I tasted them,