Borroloola and its Hidden City plus we see the ocean again, Whooho!

A water colour of the Caribarrini Water Hole

A Tug at McArthur River Mines transfer Station
with the Gulf of Carpentaria in the background.
We did get closer to the ocean later.

We arrived in Borroloola at approximately 3.45pm after a long drive from old Daly Waters via Cape Crawford. Borroloola is on the banks of the McArthur River. Our original interest in coming to Borroloola, which sits in the SW corner of the Gulf of Carpentaria, was twofold. It is the town closest to the commencement of the Savannah Way. The route we originally planned to travel to Normanton by. Secondly we had read about the “Hidden City” in the Cape Crawford and Borroloola vicinity

Once we read a few blogs on this journey we decided it was not suitable for our vehicle and caravan. So we decided we would have to take the Barkly from NT to Normanton. But because of the “Hidden City” we decided to still include Borroloola on our itinerary meaning once departing there we would drive from Borroloola to the Barkly Station Roadhouse via Cape Crawford to obviate returning to the Stuart Highway and travelling down to Three Ways. We are so glad we did.

Passing through Cape Crawford on the way to Borroloola we came across a helicopter doing flights over the "Hidden City" just near Cape Crawford. At $155 per head we decided that was out of our budget. A young chap in the Cape Crawford Heart Break Hotel heard us talking about it and said, “there is a smaller "Hidden City" on the way to Booroloola in the Caranbirinni Conservation Park, halfway way between Cape Crawford and Borroloola. So, the day after setting camp we inquired some more and then drove back to Carranbinni Conservation Park and once in there we knew this was both very sacred and special. The photos will not do full justice to this special place but will hopefully inform readers of this hidden gem in the NT.

Caranbirinni, Conservation Reserve, is a remarkable reserve protecting a large number within its small area. Featuring different sandstone habitats, such as the spectacular “Hidden City” formations and less dramatic hills and ridges, it also includes examples of woodland, wetland and riverine areas. It has one of the best waterholes we have witnessed in the NT. The waterlilies were just majestical and we spotted an Azure Kingfisher and many Green Pygmy Geese, as well as other birds. It has a bird hide providing stunning views and great bird watching opportunities which we experienced. We chose to do the Barrawulla Loop Walk of 2 Km. A short walk that took us into another world exploring the impressive sandstone spires of the “lost city”. On return to the car park we had a cuppa and a chat to some other lovely visitors to the Conservation Reserve.

We returned to our camp at Borroloola Caravan Park for lunch via the local Hardware store looking for some water filters to no avail. After lunch we proceeded to drive out to the coastal Bing Bong mining lease in the SW corner of the Gulf of Carpentaria. We were told by other visitors in Booloroola it was a loading area for the nearby silver mine. It turned out to be the McArthur River Zinc Mine where they drove bulk soil and ore to this area for loading on to barges, to then ship it off to mainly China for processing. Unfortunately, there was not a ship in but we could see the tug that towed the barges out to the ships for loading of the ore. Adjacent to that area was another mining activity where a company was re-claiming some iron ore left over from another mining operation since closed down. This was being mixed with soil and then shipped out to the Sir Edward Pellew Group of Islands for road making.

From here we explored a side track that took us down to Mule Creek and at last the ocean of the Gulf. I think I can now claim that I have been to every ocean that surrounds Australia, the Pacific, the Southern Ocean, Bass Strait, the Indian Ocean, the Arafura and now the Gulf of Carpentaria. This creek looked so idyllic with a fishing boat anchored there, a great boat ramp so I busied myself getting a rod out and setting it up for a few spinning casts. Just as I got everything ready and big truck appeared and proceeded to off load a container of fresh water for the fishing boat Andrea D anchored in the creek. So back to camp and no fishing.