Heads or Tales: A taste of the outback

A miniature horse with a new foal called Fig Jam, Nigel the black Brahmin bull who demands a tit bit, a peacock proudly leading his harem and a clutch of fussy guinea fowl up a tree, single file, to roost for the night …

I never expected to find these at Mt Bundy Station, a 20,000 acre working cattle property, at Adelaide River about 112 klms down the Stuart Highway from Darwin.

Nick and I hired a campervan in Darwin, loaded up with enough food to last us five days, and headed south.  We arrived in the heat of the day and happy to find our camping site under a huge shady tree, the seed apparently brought from India about a hundred years ago.  We set our table and camp chairs to take in the view of the horse paddock, competed with the flies for our sandwich, snoozed a little before braving the icy waters of the swimming pool and met some fellow campers who invited us to “happy hour”.  BBQ tea was next on the agenda and then an hour or so enjoying the cool and the cosmic wonderland overhead before retiring.  And all through the night, hearing plop, plop, plop on the roof.  Our shady daytime haven had turned into a nighttime latrine.

Mt Bundy Station was leased in 1911, 834 square miles that took in parts of Kakadu and Litchfield National Parks, to buffalo hunters.  In the 1970s and 80s the property carried 30,000 buffalo and 20,000 Brahmin cattle and relics of this exciting era can still be seen.  Today, Mt Bundy is a top travel spot in the Northern Territory.  The original station buildings now offer great accommodation facilities, 20 power sites plus acres of room for caravans and campers.  Take a morning or sunset 4WD tour, or saddle up and have a guided horse trek around the property.

For the next couple of days, we toured Daly Waters and Litchfield National Park, a Mother Nature’s water park, featuring spectacular waterfalls and swimming holes to enjoy – croc free.  Back at the station, we fed Nigel and a buffalo family, who polished off anything edible, made a fuss of the horses and station dogs and yarned to all and sundry.

The highlight was our 4WD tour of the station.  Scott, who wears the most battered and well-worn bush hat I have ever seen, drove us up hill and down dale, through paddocks dodging termite mounds and low branches.  Fortunately (not really), we didn’t run into any buffalo.  A purple and blood red sunset found us sitting on top of a hill, wine glass in hand, sharing a platter of cheese and bikkies.  My mind drifted and I could almost see black stick figured dreamtime spirits of the people who roamed across these plains over the past 50,000 years.  I felt spellbound by the timelessness of our ancient country.

On our last day, we explored Adelaide River, population 190, but countless tourists and truckies pull in here for a rest break on their journey and maybe buy something at the local markets in the park.  What a fascinating place.  There are still relics of the Overland Telegraph Line from the 1870s in the Railway Museum.  And you can have your photo taken with local resident, Charlie, the famous buffalo Crocodile Dundee hypnotized to the ground.  Unfortunately, Charlie died in 2000, but he’s stuffed and now resides on the bar.

Our biggest surprise was the role Adelaide River played out in World War II, where it became the frontline of defence against the Japanese and a major military base for 30,000 Australian and US soldiers.  On Mt Bundy Station, concrete floors still survive of the US Navy Signals Unit to warn of incoming submarines, on one of the hills.  Remnants remain where the US Air Force had numerous hidden airfields where they repaired the damaged bombers.

We visited the Adelaide River War Cemetery, where not only the bodies of fallen soldiers lie, but also some of the citizens of Darwin who lost their lives during the bombing.  It’s a beautiful and peaceful place with an almost tangible aura of sadness and loss hovering around the gravestones.

An unforgettable experience – a tantalising taste of our great Outback.