Roma to Sydney

24 Nov – A leisurely start to the day as we have decided to stay another day in Roma. We biked around the town on a series of cycleways before it got too hot. Some interesting sights including a big bottle tree. Spent some time in the afternoon in the small camp pool and ended up in the air-con watching the Supercars at Newcastle. Outside for drinks with an electrical storm and a couple of drops of rain.

25 Nov – On the road early for a 195kms drive to the next town, St George. We were now on the Great Inland Way. The country had changed and was dry and barren. We spent much of the time dodging dead kangaroos driving from one side of the road to the other. Just to mix things up, there were quite a few live ones deciding if they would dash across the road. We have no roo bars and hitting one would be a disaster. At St George we found a camp (with a pool) and had a quiet afternoon. There were thousands of galahs in the trees beside us and at drinks time the camp manager used a stock whip to scare them away. A huge electrical storm developed followed by 15 minutes of heavy rain.

26 Nov – The country became more barren and desert-like for our 235kms drive to Lightning Ridge. More roo dodging and we even had an emu try to outrun “Andy”.  The road surface was also rough until we crossed the border from Queensland into NSW. The road then improved. Lightning Ridge is known for the mining of black opals. We swam in the camp pool until a staff member advised us that a dust storm was on the way and it would get unpleasant outside. The dust was not too bad but we were glad to be inside with the air-con.

27 Nov – I take back what I said about NSW roads being better. The south was very rough. We stopped at the Coonamble Showgrounds for lunch. I had not been happy with some bushes in the front suspension which we had checked in Townsville and had got worst with the bumpy roads. We phoned ahead to Dubbo and jacked up for them to be looked at so headed on for another 150kms to Dubbo. The suspension place ordered the bushes and they will be installed tomorrow. We checked into a camp for 2 nights. A cooler day!

28 Nov – The suspension fix place rang and booked us in for 2:00pm. We rode our bikes following the banks of the McQuarrie River into the town which is about Ashburton size. Walked the main street and looked into the Old Gaol. It took the suspension place 1 hour to fit the bushes which seems to have had limited effect.

29 Nov – We left Dubbo and drove 150kms to the city of Orange. The country was very pleasant but dry, rolling farmland. There was a smoke haze however, as there is one bush fire north of us. The suspension was considerably better. We booked into a camp and after lunch rode our bikes to the information centre and went into a modern museum where there was a display of photos of 1920’s criminals. Fascinating!  A walk down the main street where Val bought a dress and back on the bikes to the camp. The temperature is much cooler and there is a cold front coming.

30 Nov – Only a short drive to Bathurst where we wanted to drive around the motor racing circuit at Mt Panorama. The circuit is deemed to be a public road when no events are on. Bad news! We drove into the carpark and there was a meeting in progress. It turned out to be a national time trial day where cars of all types try to better their times to progress thru their various classes. The good news was the day was free and we could walk anywhere thru the complex. We watched from above the pits for some time before hopping back into “Andy” and driving to the top of Mt Panorama, where the twisty circuit crosses the top of the mountain. We watched from various points including the “Dipper “, “Skyline” and the “Esses”. There were plenty of very fast cars trying their best and some very brave drivers! At around 3:30pm we drove back into the town of Bathurst, surprisingly close to the circuit, and camped in the show grounds.

1 Dec – Before leaving Bathurst we drove thru the main street. Dubbo, Orange and Bathurst are historic inland cities and although being different sizes, are very similar with some lovely old buildings. We drove 60kms to our final stop before heading home tomorrow. We chose Lithgow as we can catch a train to Sydney. The afternoon was spent with laundry and cleaning. As we had finished all our food, we walked 1km to some take-away restaurants and ended up getting a classic chicken roast from Red Rooster. Later we heated it up in our microwave and it was surprisingly great.

2 Dec – A very cold morning! We signed up for our storage and packed everything up. A taxi to the Lithgow train station and a 3-hour trip to the Sydney International Airport. It was a great trip thru the Blue Mountains and Katoomba and into the smokey city of Sydney. A nice meal and a glass of red wine before our flight home. It has been a great trip thru the NSW and Queensland hinterland.

Charters Towers to Roma

15 Nov – Shopped, LPG and fuel before leaving Charters Towers and driving south down the Gregory Developmental Road where we stopped for lunch at a bridge (no good for o/n stop) and continued on to the only civilization at the Belyando Crossing roadhouse. The camping area was closed as a mining company has taken over all the sites. We were allowed to park overnight in the shade. Beer with the locals. Interesting lot!!

16 Nov – An early start to avoid the heat. The road steadily deteriorated the further south we drove. We stopped for lunch at the nice little town of Clermont and then continued on for another 60kms to a smaller town, Capella. The camp had a beaut pool which we made the most of!! 39C today. Happy hour with the locals again. The camp manager was away and several of the locals were looking after the camp.

17 Nov – We decided to stay another day here and set off for a walk around the town before it got too hot. There was a great statue commemorating the “Light Horse Brigade”. Back in the pool and shade for the afternoon. The temp topped 40C.

18 Nov – Just a short drive to Emerald. This town is on the Capricornia Highway which we used to go west 2 years ago. Another huge circle completed on our map. After a quick shop and some phone calls we went off the main road to Lake Maraboon. This is a man-made lake but is nearly empty due to the drought. The camp overlooks the lake was with yet another great pool. It seems that we are going from pool to pool but with the temps in the high thirties who can blame us!! The camp is almost empty but must be very popular over the winter. The sport seem to be catching Red Claws, a type of fresh water crayfish.

19 Nov – We went for a walk to the lake before it got too hot. The lake is only 13% full and reminded us of Lake Mead in California/Nevada. Back to the camp and the pool for the rest of the day. At around 4:00pm the place starts to come alive and we were joined in the pool by a few. It seems they are either out on the lake or asleep in their air-con during the heat of the day.

20 Nov – On the road south by 7:30am and had a nice cool run of 230kms to Carnarvon Gorge National Park. Another great drive thru beautiful country, a mixture of bush, cattle ranch land and farming. We left the main road and drove 40kms into the National Park. The N.P. camp is closed for the season, so we booked into the Takarakka Bush Resort. One of the reasons we picked this route south was to come to this gorge, which was recommended to us. There was no pool, so we cooled off in the river which flows past our campsite. There is also a pool with Platypus in, which we have yet to see. At 5pm we went to a talk on the gorge which we will explore tomorrow. At sunset we had thousands of Little Red Flying Foxes flying around picking a roosting place for the night. It is comical watching them land in the trees as their feet are right at the bottom of their bodies. They grip onto a branch and then fall upside down.

21 Nov – We left the camp site by 6:30am and drove to the start of the track up the Carnarvon Gorge and were walking by 7:00am. There is a main track that follows up the gorge for about 6kms and there are side tracks leading off this to various scenic spots. We chose to walk right up the gorge and do the side tracks on the way back. 

Our first point of interest was the “Art Gallery”, an area of Aboriginal Art on a limestone cliff. Interesting as these figures were much newer (6,000 years) than the artwork we had seen on the west coast (30,000 years).

The next side track lead up into Wards Canyon. This was a beautiful, very narrow canyon.

A longer track climbed up to the “The Ampitheatre” via some steel ladders. A narrow slot opened out into a spectacular hidden valley with high cliffs all around. We were getting a bit buggered by this stage but carried on to the “Moss Garden”, another hidden waterfall with beautiful moss hanging all around. The last 3kms back to “Andy” were a bit of a battle with sore knees and feet. We had walked 17kms!!! Back at our camp we limped to the river and cooled off.

22 Nov – Our plan was to do another shorter walk before leaving the Carnarvon Gorge, but our bodies thought otherwise so we drove out of the National Park, back to the main road, and on to the small town of Injune for the night, where we stayed at the local racecourse.

23 Nov – A later start continuing our trip south and a short drive to Roma. This is a reasonable sized town servicing the farming area. After shopping we found a camp with a small swimming pool. Our plan is to publish this blog and walk up to the town for a meal tonight.

Townsville Area

4 Nov – Early start to the airport for our flight to Townsville via Brisbane. No screens so 5 hours of reading our Kobos. We caught an Uber to the storage place where “Andy” was waiting for us. Put the bikes on the back and then discovered the cranking battery was flat. Had to take a house battery out and jump start. No problems. We shopped before heading into Townsville city and the same camp that we stayed last trip at Rowes Bay. It was fairly hot (around 33C) so we enjoyed a cool off in the camp pool after we had set everything up. Dinner outside with the sunset around 6:00pm. A good long day with everything achieved. Bed was good!!

5 Nov – A good sleep and not too hot at night (around 22C).  I took the bikes off the back, pumped up the tyres and we rode along the cycleway to the Strand, the main Townsville beach. This is a great area and has a “stinger net” where we could safely swim without the fear of being stung by the jelly fish. We had a great morning with a couple of swims and reading in the shade of the palm trees. Back to the camp where we spent the afternoon at the camp pool, cooler than the sea!

6 Nov – Our trip this time is to re-position “Andy” from Townsville to Lithgow, just outside Sydney, so that we are in a position to head south next March. We have 4 weeks for this trip, so we have plenty of time. We headed north out of Townsville and drove 120kms to Ingham and then turned out to the coast, past the smelly smokey sugar refinery, to Forrest Beach. We camped in a large domain right by the beach with another stinger net. Unfortunately, the swimming in the stinger nets is only good a couple of hours either side of high tide.

7 Nov – Into our togs early for a swim (high tide) and a sit under the Palm trees in the shade. After lunch we walked around the small town and back along the beach, paid our camping fee ($10/night) and bought an ice-cream. Another campervan came in around sunset and we chatted with them.

8 Nov – Much cooler in the night and even had to pull up the doona! We headed back into Ingham for shopping, (stuff we forgot on our first day) check the tyre pressures and buy some plywood to fix the house battery locker. We drove 50kms south and then followed a rough road into the Paluma National Park and a camp at Big Crystal Creek. The creek forms a beautiful fresh water pool, called Paradise Pool, 100m from where we are camped. We tried the pool out. It was clear and cool with many fish swimming around. Just the ticket to cool off in. Quite a few mossies around at sunset!!

9 Nov – The weather is very unusual according to the locals. It should be cooler but much higher humidity. Today the temperature went to 37C but as it is dry is quite bearable. Being Saturday, all the locals have arrived at Paradise Pool for a picnic and a swim. We spent some time cutting and fitting the plywood, bought yesterday, to form a new base for the house batteries. We walked up to the pool to cool off and read in the shade in the afternoon before returning to the pool for another dip later in the day.

10 Nov – Swimming in Paradise Pool by 10:00am. Lots of families already there. Packed up and drove back out to the coast at Balgal Beach and found a site straight over from the beach and a grassy reserve. Low tide, so there will be no swimming in the stringer nets during the day. We sat in the shade of the trees overlooking the beach with a nice cooling on shore breeze. Temp a pleasant 29C.

11 Nov – Out of bed and straight into our togs for a swim at high tide. The water is at bath temp. After breakfast the reserve, which is also the local war memorial, was set up for a Remembrance Day Service. At around 10:30pm people started to arrive, so we sat under out awning and watched the service which included the singing of the NZ National Anthem and every possible local organization laying wreaths. We both have been bitten by some small insect giving very itchy welts. The Camping area filled up around dinner time and we even had an Asian family squeeze their caravan in next to us, with much yelling of instructions, at around 10:30pm just as we went were going to sleep.

12 Nov – Another pre-breakfast swim. We left Balgal Beach and headed south back towards Townsville for a last beach stop before going inland. This is another free camp right on Saunders Beach. No stinger nets here but some people braved the possible stingers and croc for a swim. We settled for reading in the shade and the cooling sea breeze. Later, when it was cooler, we walked along the beach and the small town.

13 Nov – We drove back into the outskirts of Townsville and after a quick shop (more insect repellent and anti-histamine) we headed inland following the road towards Charters Towers and stopped at a mango orchid where we could camp for the night. Very nice sitting under the old mango trees. At sunset thousands of fruit bats flew over us headed to their overnight roosting trees.

14 Nov – We drove west up the hills to Charters Towers. We stopped here earlier this year on our way to Townsville. As the forecast was for 39C and Val had a load of washing we went to a camp just short of the town. The camp had a great swimming pool and we spent the afternoon swimming and reading. As we had power, we ran the air-con and the interior is nice and cool. Tomorrow we start our trip south on the Gregory Development Road and it will be a few days before we get to any towns. We have been watching and listening to the news and so far, our trip will be nowhere near where the major bushfires are. We will be well west of them. This could change though!!

Homeward Bound

Sat 3 Aug – Filled water and left the Katherine Gorge for the short drive back into Katherine where we shopped and then drove 100kms to Mataranka and a camp at Bitter Springs. After lunch we walked to the Springs. This is a hot water spring which flows down a river. The idea is to hop in with a noodle and float down the river for about 300m and then walk back along a path. No noodles so we just swam down the river. At the top end the water temperature is about 30C and slowly gets cooler at the bottom. We did 2 trips. Very unusual!! A bit like the warm lazy river at Hanmer.

Sun 4 Aug – Our drive back to Townsville really starts today with a 415km drive, so we got away to an early start. (less wind and cooler). Val drove the middle stint which made it much easier for me. We were driving south down the Stuart Highway and stopped for the night at Renner Springs Roadhouse, backed right onto the highway. Fortunately, hardly anyone drives at night including the road trains.

Mon 5 Aug – Pancakes for breakfast as we have a slightly shorter trip today. (323kms). We stopped at Three Ways. This is where the Stuart Highway meets the Barkly Highway. We had now completed the western circuit of Australia. We turned east onto the Barkly Highway and are now on roads we travelled last year. Our overnight stop was at the Barkly Roadhouse and we stayed here almost exactly a year ago when we were going west. This is a great roadhouse, always busy and a lively atmosphere. We had a good meal and enjoyed a two piece band singing some great songs.

Tues 6 Aug – Back on the road east for 400kms. Val again drove the middle stint over some rough Northern Territory roads until the border into Queensland and Camooweal where we had lunch. We also had a ½ hour time change. Our overnight stop was at a rest area 60kms short of Mt Isa.

Wed 7 Aug – We are now about the same latitude as Townsville and the temperatures have dropped at least 5C to around 11C in the early morning. The road was very rough and bumpy and we discovered this was due to the floods around this area. Most of the roads after the hills around Mt Isa and all the way west to Hughenden had been underwater. No wonder the tar seal was rough. We stopped at a free park beside the Julia Creek. It was a great spot and we decided to take a day’s break. Happy hour under a tree with many of the campers.

Thurs 8 Aug – A rest day! Hopped on our bikes and rode into the town of Julia Creek. There was a good information centre with very interesting stories of the history and the geology of the area. Another great happy hour.

Fri 9 Aug – The road today was even worse than before. We spent a lot of the trip at 70kph dodging the pot holes, ridges and slumps. Fortunately, we have covered the majority of the trip and stopped for the night at Hughenden at another free park. A camp draught was happening in the show grounds over the fence. Lots of horses and cowboys. We walked in to find out what it was all about. A competitor (on horseback) had to separate one steer out of a group and then try and guide the steer through a series of gates, all timed. It went on for three days. This was day one. We watched for about an hour! There were 250 competitors in the open grade alone. The day’s competition finished at around 9:00pm and we were amazed to here on the P.A. that the competition would commence at 6:00am in the morning.

Sat 10 Aug – We were woken at 5:30am by the P.A. announcer getting the day underway. It was a bit cloudy and cooler as we drove on much better roads over the great divide and on to Charters Towers and a camp.

Sun 11 Aug – We spent some time walking around the historic town of Charters Towers with its lovely buildings. It was a rich town due to the discovery of gold. It was a bit like Kalgoorlie. It was only a short drive down to the coast to Townsville. We had not seen the sea since leaving Darwin. Our camp was at Rowes Bay where we will stay for 5 nights before flying home on Friday. We walked along The Esplanade and The Strand following the beach and the parks. Lots of families enjoying the beaches and swimming in the large Rockpool.

Mon 12 Aug – We drove out of the camp and checked the storage for “Andy”, all good. We checked that the people fixing our windscreen had the right one. (All on insurance). Managed to buy a replacement running light (lens fell off on the rough roads), and a small food shop to get us thru to Friday. Back at the camp we washed “Andy” and the bikes and installed the new running light. That pretty much filled in the day!! Quite chilly today (23C) due to a cool change from down south. NZ temperatures could be a shock!!

Tues 13 Aug – We spent the morning tidying up some of “Andy’s” paint work and getting rid of some surface rust much to the amusement of our fellow campers. The end result was very good for a couple of amateur spray painters even if we say it ourselves. In the afternoon we biked along The Strand and into the CBD. Townsville is another Aussie city with a great sea frontage.

 

Wed 14 Aug – Out to the windscreen place by 8:00am to have our cracked windscreen replaced under insurance, thank goodness. This crack has been here for 6 weeks and slowly getting bigger. In the afternoon we walked along Rowes Bay where our camp is. It is a beautiful golden sandy beach with Magnetic Island in the distance. Unfortunately, it has been low tide while we are here with no swimming possible.

Thurs 15 Aug – We spent most of the day cleaning and doing laundry ready to go home tomorrow. Cooled off in the pool. Later in the afternoon we caught a bus into the city. We walked along the main streets. All very quiet and lots of empty shops. We ended up going into the Cowboys Leagues Club for a drink and a meal. It was very busy. Caught an Uber back to camp.

Fri 16 Aug – We did the last checks and drove 14kms to our storage place. Covered the windows and put the bikes inside and then caught an Uber to the Townsville Airport. A 3 hour flight to Sydney and then on to Christchurch arriving early Saturday morning. Since leaving Perth 16 weeks ago, we have travelled 9,200kms with no problems. Well done “Andy”!!

The Top End - NT

Wed 17 July  - We left Katherine early and drove 40kms up the road and then turn east for another 20kms into the Edith Falls National Park. Checked in and waited with all the others to be let into the camping area at 10:00am. We got a great site with sun on “Andy” until 2:30pm for the solar panel but nice shade for us. It was a very short walk to the Lower Pool with the Falls at one end. The swimming was great, with warm water and no crocs. There were nice shady lawns to dry off on. Booked another night and bought ice-creams.

Thurs 18 July  – Followed an easy climb to the upper pool and another waterfall. Stunning! Again the swimming was great and I even ducked under the waterfall. We returned to the lower pool via a more challenging track and had some more swims. We booked another night and signed up for pizza night. At 6:00pm we walked to the café and sat listening to a great duo singing and enjoyed a delicious pizza.

Fri 19 July – Our plan was to follow a much longer track to another pool. As soon as we climbed out of the camp the cellphone went crazy. Some bad news! Mary had had a serious brain aneurysm and was in Dn hospital. Not good news with no hope of recovery. After a few phone calls to Alan, Claire and Nicola we decided there was no point in flying home. Paul and Lynne were on a month-long trip to Europe and as Mary wanted a memorial service, time was on our side. This event could have happened any time in the last 9 years of our travels. We continued our walk and had lunch at Long Pool before returning to the Upper Pool for another swim. One last swim at the Lower Pool. What a great little National Park! At sunset we did a bit of planning of our route and timing.

Sat 20 July – North towards Darwin for 200kms and then another short drive to the small town of Batchelor where we stopped at a great camp set in the bush. We needed water and a dunny dump as tomorrow we are heading into yet another National Park. Haircuts and a swim in the afternoon. Val is spending some time on the phone communicating with ‘rallies’ and friends. We need to stay in phone and internet range.

Sun 21 July – We drove 50kms into the Litchfield National Park and to a camp at Florence Falls. We put on our togs and climbed down the 135 steps to the waterfall and pool. What a dramatic pool with cliffs all around and 2 waterfalls dropping 50m into it. We thought the water was quite warm, but the Aussies were moaning at the temperature. Back down the steeps again later in the afternoon for more swims.

Mon 22 July – Packed our lunch and followed a track to the Buley Rockholes. These turned out to be a series of pools in the bush where you can swim in the clear water. We swam in a couple and had lunch before following another track back to the Florence Falls for a last swim around the waterfalls. Back at camp we got the sad news that Mary had passed away and Val spent most of the time on the phone and internet. With only Alan in Dunedin he has being doing the hard hours!

Tues 23 July – Only a shortish drive of 120kms into Darwin. We stopped and shopped before arriving at our camp where we will be for the next 4 days. Managed to leave all our fruit and veg behind. Bugger! Too far to go back so wrote it off. We cooled off in the camp pool before Graeme and Marylyn Johnston arrived with their friends Murray and Sharyn. They had hired campers and will spend 4 weeks in this area. We have re-planned our trip and will still go into the Kakadu area before heading east to Townsville and fly home. It will not be too rushed as Lynne and Paul still have another 3 weeks before they return from Europe. Drinks with the Kaiapoi folks.

Wed 24 July – An early start as we have “Andy” booked in for a service at 8:00am. The garage is not far from the camp, so we walked back and returned at 10:00am and still had to wait 1 ½ hours for it to be completed. There is no way you can talk these service centres into just changing the oil and filters, so the bill was a bit of a shock. All good however for another 10,000kms. After lunch we caught the bus into the CBD and wandered around. Darwin is a very modern tropical city. It was the first time we had seen the sea since Broome. Back for a swim.

Thurs 25 July – Drove to East Point and parked ‘Andy’ in the shade. We rode our bikes following a cycleway for about 16kms along the waterfront. Some lovely views of the various bays and beaches. No swimming however, as there are many crocs in the Darwin area. Back to ‘Andy’ and the Darwin Military Museum where we spent an hour looking at the exhibits and the fascinating story of the bombing of Darwin by the Japanese during WW2 with a great A/V presentation. We did not realize the bombing went on for nearly a year. The 9” gun and associated tunnels and control rooms were also interesting.

 Back at camp we swam, and changed into our good duds, and caught a taxi with Marylyn, Graeme, Sharyn and Murray to Stoke Hill Wharf for a dinner cruise on the Spirt of Darwin. Drinks and canapes cruising past the city with a beautiful sunset. Buffet dinner to follow. A real treat and nice to share with the Kaiapoi folks. The Darwin Royal Show is on next door and side show alley is just over the fence. The noise of the rides and the screams of the riders is very loud!! Fortunately, it all went quiet at 10:00pm.

Fri 26 July – We spent the morning with laundry, cleaning and booking a couple of cruises for next week. The show got underway around 11:00am. In the afternoon we rode to The Chemist Warehouse (sorry Claire) for some cream for Val’s midgey bites which look nasty. Back at the camp we spent a couple of hours and the second pool further away from the show and with some nice shade. Noise on our site so we went back to the Kaiapoi folk’s site for drinks.

Sat 27 July – We said goodbye to everyone, shopped, fuelled up, got LPG and headed east into the Kakadu National Park where we stopped for the night at the Aurora Resort. It was 34C so we opted for power (aircon). Swam in their lovely pool and listened to the ABs v SA 16 all draw.

Sun 28 July – A short drive thru the Park and north to Ubirr and a N.P. camp at Merl. This is the furthest north we will venture, and we are about 400kms further north than Cairns on the east coast. It was a short walk thru the bush and the great rock outcrops to Cahill’s Crossing. This is a ford across the East Alligator river, the border of the Arnhem Land (restricted entry for us white fellas!) This is a great place to view crocs and we spied a huge one sunning itself on the banks of the river. On very high tides, the salt water pushes the Barramundi up the river and the crocs line up on the ford and have a feast. Not the right tides for us however. 

The fishermen stand knee deep on the ford and fish for the Barras ignoring the crocs. Very brave or foolish. We biked 3kms to an Aboriginal Art Reserve where there were amazing rock drawings on the walls of the caves they had lived in. Very fine detail as they were at least 30,000 years old. We also climbed onto a rocky outcrop overlooking Arnhem Land and the wetlands. An ice-cream at the border store before checking on the crocs and biking back to camp. Another walk and check of the crocs in the evening. We saw crocs every time we checked out the crossing.

Mon 29 July – Drove out of the camp and checked out Cahill’s Crossing for the last time and headed south to Jabiru for fuel and on to Cooinda Lodge for the night. As we were too early to check in we went to the Warradjan Aboriginal Culture Centre. The displays were good and told the stories thru the eyes of the tribe members. At our camp there was a really great pool and we spent the afternoon swimming and reading in the shade.

Tues 30 July – A REALLY EARLY start to the day (out of bed by 6:00am) as we are on the sunrise Yellow Water cruise. A very short bus ride to the waiting boats (4) and we cruised off into the mist hanging on the water. It was quite eerie as the sun rose and slowly dispersed the mist. Birdlife everywhere with our guide/driver pointing out the various species. Some very rare. The boat was half full, so everyone could move around. This is all a wetland with huge water lilies lining the banks. As the sun warmed, up the crocs started to move out of the water and onto the land and we saw some huge ones 3-4m long. We could nose right up to them and they are quite scary up close. We also saw a few water buffalo. They are introduced and are a pest as they effect the drainage of the wetlands. It was a great 2 ½ hour trip and we enjoyed a free breakfast on our return.

Wed 31 July – We managed to convince ourselves that the free breakfast was for anyone staying at the camp and lodge so walked over and had another. We drove out of Kakadu National Park and 150kms down the road to Pine Creek. This is where the Stuart Highway meets the Kakadu road. We walked up to the Railway Museum and watched a fascinating film of the restoration of a small steam engine which was in a shelter nearby. The small resort had a great swimming pool and we seemed to have exclusive use of it.

Thurs 1 Aug – Drove the 90kms south to the town of Katherine and then 30kms into the Katherine Gorge where we booked in for 2 nights. In the afternoon we braved the heat and walked Baruwei Loop. The first park was a climb out of the gorge and onto the rim which we followed for 2kms with views down into the gorge. After a lookout we descended back into the gorge via metal steps. A great 5.5km walk and we enjoyed a swim in the camp pool on our return.

Fri 2 Aug – We were booked on the 9:00am boat to cruise 2 gorges. The first gorge was very pleasant with rock walls and a lot of vegetation. At the end of the first gorge we walked over a rocky area before boarding the second boat. This gorge was much more spectacular with vertical sandstone cliffs on each side. The guide/boatdriver was very good with an informative commentary without the bullshit you often get on these trips. All in all, a great 2 hour trip. Back at camp we relaxed and had a swim.