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Almost finished!

Again,you need to join the blue lines where the GPS has failed.

Click on picture to enlarge.

There are bush fires everywhere. They were a little scary at first, but they are everywhere and apparently normal for this time of year.

It was just a short drive to Mataranka Springs and we arrived about lunchtime and set up camp. We did some well overdue washing and set off for a swim in the thermal pools. The water was crystal clear and 34 degrees. It still felt a bit cold compared to the outside temperature.

They used to have a smelly bat problem here (isn’t that a Phoebe song) but they have got rid of them by planting water sprinklers up in the trees.

It was a pleasant place to camp, very chilled out, as we were the only campers. All the caravans were away from us on the powered sites. I think we have been really lucky with our slightly off-season travel and there has been hardly any people around.

We finally dragged our shrivelled bodies out of the hot pools, drank some beer, cooked lamb chops with tzaziki for dinner, and then went to the bar to watch the live entertainment. It was a girl singing slightly off key but it was better than going to bed at 7pm.

We departed Darwin and headed for the famed Kakadu National Park, or as I now refer to it as Kakapoo or Crapadu. I don’t know what I was really expecting, but it was boring wetlands, with little or no bird life. A lot of the roads were still closed from the wet season, so we didn’t get to see Jim Jim falls. We did an 80km detour on a dirty rutted road to the Gunlom Falls. They were very nice, but the ones in Litchfield NP were just as nice if not better.

June/July would be the better time to be in Kakadu.

We departed Kakadu as quickly as we entered and made our way to Katherine for the night.

We dusted the cobwebs off our bicycles and set off to explore Darwin. Our first stop was the wharf district where Mike did a tour of the WWII oil storage tunnels. These tunnels were competed just as the war ended so they were never used. They are now getting their moneys worth from the tourists.

We rode along the esplanade and out to Cullen’s Bay. A brochure had mentioned harbour side eating places there so we went to check it out. There was a marina, expensive houses on waterways with boats parked out front, and the harbour side restaurants as mentioned. The place seemed nice enough but it had no soul. To me, it was a cross between Canary Wharf in London and the Pauanui waterways. We decided we didn’t want to eat here and continued on.

We rode along a cycle path that followed the coast. We cycled past Mindil Beach, where they have sunset markets. We were a bit early so we continued our pleasant ride along the coast, past Bullocky Point, Vestys Beach and Fannie Bay for about 10 kms and ended up at a military museum at East Point. We bought a couple of Gatorades to re-hydrate – portapotti blue for me, and urine yellow for Mike. Then we turned around and rode back.

We had showers and hit the town again for drinks then dinner.

That was day two.

My preconception of Darwin was a dusty hick town, full of dusty men drinking beer in dusty outback pubs. It is not that at all. It is a modern town, which had to be rebuilt twice in the previous century. Once after it was bombed by the Japanese in WWII and again in 1987 after it was destroyed by cyclone Tracy.

We blew our budget and stayed in a hotel. Our room was huge and modern. The bed was bigger than our entire sleeping quarters for the last 3 months. Within 5 minutes we had our clothes spread from one end of the room to the other.

The Treetops restaurant at the hotel is supposed to be very popular with the locals and everyone checking in seemed to be booking dinner there. We hopped on the bandwagon and booked dinner as well. When we rocked up for dinner we had a quick look at the menu. It was a fussy menu that used words like “jus” and “confit”. My experience of eating at these places is that the food is ok. I think when you are spending over $100 for a meal; you’d like it to be better than “just ok”. So we cancelled our table and headed out on the town.

We found Mitchell St, which seemed to be the main street for bars and restaurants. Darwin was buzzing. The open-air bars were spilling over with Friday night after work drinkers. The bars had no inside area, just a roof, no sides. It would be fantastic to live somewhere you could rely on the weather being warm all year round.

We found a Thai rooftop restaurant, which also had only a roof, no sides. It also had an outdoor area for smokers. It had a really good vibe. We had an incredible meal, and for half the price that pretentious hotel was going to cost.

That was day one.

It was just a short drive to Litchfield National Park where we went and saw some waterfalls and some poo.

Termite mound made out of termite poo.

Florence Falls:

Tolmer Falls

Wangi Falls

We decided to camp at the Buley Rockhole and spent the afternoon swimming. It was deliciously warm, yet refreshing.

We got up early and headed for Katherine Gorge. We hired some canoes and canoed down the gorge. I was a bit paranoid about crocodiles but luckily we didn’t see any. They have traps all the way along the gorge for salt-water crocs, so they obviously expect them here.

At the end of the gorge we braved the croc infested waters and went for a swim. It was gorgeous (excuse the pun). We had the swimming hole to ourselves.

We splashed and frolicked for a bit then paddled back, stopping at a beach for a rest.

We had a bit of lunch then headed for Edith Falls at the other end of the national park. It is supposedly safe for swimming but the signs warned that salt-water crocs could come in undetected. It was hot so we took a chance and went for a swim, wondering why we were the only ones doing so.

We cooked up a chicken curry for dinner and drank beer. No sunset photos tonight.

We departed the rip-off hole that is Kununurra and headed for Lake Argyle. This is a man made lake and is huge!

We snapped a few photos.

We decided to continue on to Katherine. We saw a big snake with an ugly black head, which Mike had to swerve to miss.

We forgot about losing time as we crossed the border into NT and ended up driving the last stretch in the dark.

We stayed at a really crappy camping ground in Katherine and went to the golf club for dinner. The menu was like stepping back in time to when I was a kid. Shrimp cocktails for starters and all the mains were meat, chips and salad. No hint of Asian or Italian in this restaurant.

I had rump steak and chips and Mike had mixed grill. At least it was a cheap meal.

We departed El Questro and stopped at the Zebedee Springs. This is an oasis of crystal clear thermal pools surrounded by palms. The water temperature is around 32 degrees. We didn’t wear our togs so soaked our feet for a bit.

We got as far as Kununurra and decided to book Dory in for a service. What a mistake that was. It cost us $315, that’s over twice as much as anywhere else!

We stayed the night at a campground by a lake. We were standing by the waters edge when a crocodile came up and visited us. I think he was hoping to get fed. He was just a little one and quite sweet really.

Here’s me, really close and not scared (much). You can see croc in the background

We also snapped another bloody sunset photo! And some reflection ones. (NARP)