Day 98 / 2014 - Katherine to Darwin

It can only happen in the Northern Territory. We decided to wash the car and caravan in Katherine as there is no water restrictions on use but the moment we put the water on the car the fire authority decided it would be a good idea to burn off the grass / bush right next door to the caravan park. Here we are washing the car with lots of black ash falling from the sky much to the amusment of the ground staff.

Katherine Low Level Caravan park is huge and at his time of year not a lot of vans our nearest neighbour was a few sites away. Quite opposite from the time we were here last in 2008 when it was quite full. There is a great bistro and pool area and the water was quite warm in the pool this seems like a good time of the year to be in the top end if you like a warm swim.

Alas all good things must come to an end and it was time to leave and head north. Our next stop was Edith Falls campground about 60km further North of Katherine. We had been there in July 2008 but it was too cold to swim in the plunge pool. Arriving we booked in for 2 nights once paid you can then choose your own site. There are campspots of different sizes suitable for small tents and large vans. There is no power but there is a water tap not to far from each site where you can fill your water tanks from. Driving around the various loops we finally found a site that would take our size van. We actually had some shade from trees which is great for shelter but not so good for solar panels on the roof. Fortunately we had our portable solar panel which we could move around to get the best sun.

Edith Falls is a beautiful place there are a couple of walks of various lengths one which takes you up over the back of the falls to a number of upper plunge pools where you can take a refreshing dip. The walk is about 2.6 km part of it goes up a steep slope with another steep slope going down at the other end. The main plunge pool is a short walk from the campground and easly acessed via a set of steps into the water. From there if you feel adventurious you can swim over to the falls or around man made island of dumped rivver soil and stone. It was a little disconcerning that a crocodile trap had been set just down river past the bridge but we were sure this was for more of a precautionary purpose.

After the two days it was time to move on our next stop was Hayes Creek another 100 km north. This was more of a nostalgia stop as this is a park we really liked stopping here in 2008. We wanted to see if much had changed an were pleased not much had although the trees were a lot taller and more of than last time. Hayse Creek is a cheap caravan park you could stop over when you are looking for a place to just stop and do nothing.  

 Next day leaving Hayes Creek we headed north for Berry Spring's Tumbling Waters Caravan Park. travelling through we stopped at Pine Creek and went into the Inn. We had camped at Pine Creek in 2008 and visited all the sights but had missed Charlie the water buffalo mounted on top of the bar at Pine Creek Inn. Charlie starred in Paul Hogans Crocodile Dundee 1 and 2 and lived at Pine Creek in a padock opposite the Inn and was a celebrity with many visitors. When he died they were unsure what to do with him and decided to have him stuffed and mounted on the bar as a tourist attraction.

Arriving at Tumbling Waters we booked in this is also another place you can choose your own site the best area was down near the back where tall palm trees lined each of the sites. We had a struggle getting the van in as the access road is quite narrow and we had to back down as the other entrance had become to soft to drive on due to the rain. The park has a nice pool and a bistro area we spent a lot of time in the pool. They do run activities on certain days such as the outdoor theatre or crocodile feeding but the main attraction near the park is the Territory Wildlife park.

Like other wildlife parks the Territory Wildlife Park is themed on habitats in the top end tropics. There are a number of areas such as woodlands, wetlands, aquatic life, monsoon s, etc... You can eith walk the trails or catch the train or do a mixture of both you should allow a whole day. We liked the Birds of Prey flight deck where a number of the wild birds are viewed in an open environment in other words no cages where the enticement of food brings them out to display their hunting skills.

Leaving Tumbling waters we headed towards Darwin and booked into the Free Spirit Resort which would be our home for the next three months. Because of our length of time here we really didn't have a lot of sites to choose from due to the gas works there are a lot of semi permanents. We ended up on a site which had a lot of room but unfortunately was pretty much in the full sun for most of the day. Choosing a site for a long period of time is not easy you don't want to end up under a tree where you end up with a lot of plant rubish all over your van but you also want some shade during the day to cool the van off.

Our challenge now is to find some work to help top up the travel fund. At the moment I am finding it hard to get motivated to look for work although Anne has been keenly sending off applications and putting the word out she is looking for work.