2006/07 Australia trip - Millstream |
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Friday July 21st
We thought this was a pretty isolated spot, but when we went to the nearby Python Pool a tour bus followed us into the parking area. Needless to say, as on bus tours everywhere, their first priority was to find the bathroom. The scenery came next! The pool is a pretty spot at the base of a dry waterfall and surrounded by jungle. We saw no pythons.
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We made our way back towards Millstream, and retracing our steps, only this time we were stopping for both scenery and flowers. The park is called Millstream-Chichester, and we had just camped in the Chichester Range. The other part is centered around Millstream Creek’s entry into the Fortescue River, and couldn’t be much more different. Millstream park is focused on the river. Its Deep Reach campground was damaged in the most recent flood, so we were redirected to the Crossing Pool campground. There, the campground host gave us a spot on the edge of the Fortescue River, looking out over still water and palm trees. He said that he and his wife had recently sold all their household possessions and were now camping out on their acreage down in the Southwest part of Western Australia. They had come north to escape the cold. This part was a common story, and we decided that if all these Western Australians couldn’t take the weather down in their Southwest, then maybe we should 
also skip it on this trip and just stay in the northern parts.
We had a few pairs of corellas roosting in the trees above us, with occasional visits from kookaburras. By now we had realized that although the kookaburras in the north are much prettier with their blue wings, they have no sense of humour, and they don’t finish their calls with that famous hysterical laughter. Their calls begin with the same stutter, but leave you hanging waiting for the laugh.
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Millstream (11.55) |
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Sandie was happy to sit and watch and listen to the local wildlife, but I set off to walk the trail across the river and t
owards the old Millstream homestead. There must have been a great flood this year, as the river bed was stripped down to bedrock in places, with topsoil piled up around the remaining trees. Others were tipped over and piled into each other, a confusing landscape to negotiate. Most of it was now dry, with just a few areas of running water to cross.
When I came back from a long and warm hike the river looked very appealing so I went for a swim and found it was deeper and much colder than I expected, closer to the overnight lows than the daytime highs. This may have been the shortest swim of my life: I was so cold I had trouble climbing back up the bank. The river has freshwater crocs but is too cold for salties according to the locals.
Saturday July 22nd
The night was warmer again, so we made a faster start in the morning. The corellas had disappeared the previous evening, but now they came back in force, a river of white coming upstream just above the water, a beautiful sight. When they arrived they filled every branch sticking out of the water and one by one they’d edge down to the water, take a drink, and then fly up to their roosting positions, cuddle up to their partners and settle down to watch the campers. We’re pretty sure we had the same birds in our trees as the previous day.
Later that morning we drove around the park loop, including a very wide crossing of the Fortescue River, luckily quite shallow as it was running very fast. On the other side of the park are the Millstream Springs at the Chinderwarriner Pool, producing a lot of warm water. These springs are the site of the Millstream homestead, now part of the park. The homestead’s previous occupants had planted date palms amongst the native Millstream palms and added water lilies to the pool, giving it the appearance of an oasis in the desert.