Katherine to Daly Waters - 278km

Yesterday I travelled 139km and stayed at Warloch Rest Area overnight which is 37km South of Mataranka.  I filled up at Mataranka, and, enticed by a sign which said the local Mataranka beef and onion pie was the best in Australia, I bought one for my lunch.  It was so delicious I was wishing I could buy a couple to put in my freezer.  It was obviously home made with big chunks of beef and a lovely puff pastry lid on top.  So different from the factory made pies and it was so filling that I didn't feel like eating dinner last night.

I hope to check out more gourmet delights when I get further down the highway.  I am told that the camel and date sausages made by a butcher in Alice Springs are delicious and that people come from far and wide to buy them.   I'm looking forward to trying them, and hopefully by then I will have room to store some in my freezer.

When I checked my speedo after checking in to the caravan park here in Daly Waters I found that I had travelled 139 km today - exactly the same as yesterday.  Ever so slowly I'm travelling further south.  Its still hot, but the further inland I travel the nights are are gradually getting cooler.  It's going to drop to 13 tonight.

Daly Waters Souvenirs next to service station.

Aussie humour!

 Main Street Daly Waters.

Souvenirs again.

Service Station - You have to ask at the pub for fuel.

Daly Waters pub.  Across the road from service station.

Main Street Daly Waters.

Termite mounds everywhere.  This one is about 1 1/2 metres tall.

 

 

Katherine

Well, the cooking is done.  The freezer is full.  I've washed my sheets and put them back on the bed.  Folded and put away the rest of the washing and swept out the van.  Thank goodness for air conditioning.  I could never have got everything done without it.  I've topped up the water tank, so now all I have to do is empty the toilet cassette before I leave tomorrow morning.

I will be heading down the Stuart Highway, and although I have over 3500 miles to go before I reach home, because I am heading South I feel like I am on the final leg of my journey.  I would like to arrive home the first week of September, so if I have the urge to speed up my travels, I will have to remind myself of how cold it is in Melbourne.  Hopefully the worst of the cold weather will be over by the time I arrive home.

Bridge Creek to Katherine - 171km

I drove into Katherine this afternoon and on the way turned off the highway and drove through the small mining town of Pine Creek.  I went for a wander around the town before driving up to the old gold mine lookout.  Boy!! That was a hairy drive.  A good test for the van going up a short but very steep bendy road.  Too bad if someone was coming the other way.

The lookout was a bit run down which is a pity because there was a lovely view over the old Enterprise Pit which is now filled with water.  The Pine Creek Gold Field shut down in 1995 and Pine Creek was diverted into the pit which took 14 months to fill with water.

I have decided to stay in Katherine for two nights because I didn't get my cooking done as intended.  It was so hot I decided to wait until I could have the air conditioner going, so tomorrow will be my cooking day with the air conditioner working flat chat.

I'm looking forward to heading off on Monday.  I have heard so much about Alice Springs and Coober Pedy and I am looking forward to visiting.  I still have a long way to go, so I'm hoping by the time I get to Alice Springs that the nights will be a little bit warmer.  Looking at the temperatures they have been getting, its not unusual to drop to zero.  A bit too cold for my liking.  Talk about going from one extreme to the other.  The constant hot weather gets a bit much sometimes, but I hate the cold with a vengeance.

Windmill in main street of Pine Creek.

Enterprise pit now filled with water.

   

Bridge Creek

I had the best sleep last night.  For the first time in weeks I actually slept in the bed instead of on top of the bed.  It was so nice snuggling in under my doona.  I think the temperature dropped to about 14 degrees, but with the windows wide open at either end of my bed and with a cool breeze blowing it felt a lot cooler than 14.

However, once the sun comes up it doesn't take long for the temperature to rise and even though it is only 10.30am it is already in the high twenties.

I rang VAST this morning and asked them to change my satellite signal from WA telecasts to Victorian.  With the changing time zones as you travel around Australia it can be very confusing.  Sometimes I can't figure out the time  let alone what day it is, and watching WA shows on TV at night make me even more confused.  I am still in a different time zone to Victoria so I will probably still be confused, but as I am heading that way I thought it would be nice to catch up on what is happening in my home state.

I bought the ingredients yesterday so I am going to prepare a few meals for the freezer today.  Creamy Thai Chicken is first on the list followed by rissoles - a great standby to have in the freezer.  A beef curry will follow and to finish up I will make rice salad - quick, easy and very yummy and goes well with the above meals.  I also want to make a pasta salad, but I can only fit so much in my small fridge. Simple quick and easy meals are the way to go when travelling.  My fridge is only 90L but it is amazing how much I can fit in - even a container of cut up watermelon and various fruits.

I was looking forward to buying some exotic fruits while travelling in the tropics, but I have searched without success all across the top of Australia.  Every supermarket or fruit shop I have been into sell exactly the same types of fruit as the stores in Victoria.  They are also as expensive.  $2 for a passionfruit and $4.98 for a pineapple in Darwin.  Apples and bananas are also not cheap and vary in price.  

As I was travelling from Humpty Doo yesterday I made a small detour to visit Manton Dam.  Years ago it was Darwin's main water source, but today it is used for recreation - swimming and skiing (not sure about crocodiles though).  The photo doesn't do it justice, but it was so pretty with water lilies blooming everywhere.

 

Bridge Creek

I'm back at Bridge Creek tonight and hopefully there will be no more bush fires to contend with this time.

Driving south down the Stuart Highway the bush fires were evident all around with thick black smoke rising above the treetops.  There was a huge fire burning in Litchfield National Park.  I think the fires must be a fairly common occurrence up here in the Northern Territory.

I will probably stay here tomorrow night before heading back into Katherine on Saturday, where I will stay again for a couple of nights before heading off on the final leg of my journey down through the centre.

At this stage I am planning on arriving home around the first week in September, but once I start getting closer it will be hard to resist the urge to put my foot down.  I really miss my family and can't wait to see them.

Humpty Doo

Today I started heading South from Darwin, but I didn't get far as Humpty Doo is only about 40km South of Darwin.

The caravan park I was staying in was in the suburb of Virginia which is about 30km south of Darwin, and this morning I drove into Darwin to have a good look around.  I found a parking spot at Bicentenial Park which is on the edge of the city overlooking Darwin Harbour.  I then donned my walking shoes, put Oscar on his lead and joined the hundreds of other tourists who are currently in Darwin and wandered around the city and along the shore line.

There are some lovely old buildings and the shoreline is magnificent with a great area set up for swimming with a protected man made beach and a separate wave beach all set in lovely picnic grounds.

I sat and enjoyed the comings and goings whilst having lunch, before heading back to the van to decide where to head for the night.   I still hadn't made up my mind where I was going to stop for the night when I stopped at Humpty Doo to see if I could get a hair cut.   As luck would have it I only had to wait half an hour, and I was told by the hairdresser that I could park for the night on some vacant land across the road.  There are a couple of other vans here as well, so I won't be alone.

There is even a Woolworths in the small shopping centre so it has worked out really well.  This afternoon I defrosted my fridge, and before I leave tomorrow morning I will buy the ingredients to make a few meals so I can restock the freezer again.

View across Darwin Harbour - smoke from bushfires in the background.

Looking towards city from Bicentenial Park.

View of harbour foreshore.

Another view of foreshore.

Government House.  It sits on edge of cliff overlooking harbour.

Parliament House.

View from van across to Humpty Doo shopping centre.

Darwin

I have had a lazy day today and stayed put in the caravan park all day, but it seems I can't stay away from bush fires.  There is a total fire ban in Darwin today, and this afternoon there is a smoky haze covering the sun which is giving out a weird orange glow.   There is a strong smell of smoke, but I'm sure the fire is a long way off.  Unfortunately the scare I had a couple of days ago has made me feel a bit anxious when I smell smoke.

I don't like this caravan park very much.  It is bursting at the seams with holiday makers and vans are packed in like sardines - any wonder I prefer to free camp, apart from the expense.  Tomorrow I will spend the day sightseeing before returning to the park for the night then head off again the following morning.

Bridge Creek

With the bush fire still very evident I had a restless sleep last night.   As day turned to night there was an eerie red glow with the fire still smouldering and tree trunks slowly burning, but the worst part was the smoke.   Without any wind to blow the smoke away we were surrrounded by a smoky haze all night.

Thank goodness there is a nice breeze blowing the smoke away this morning and it is nice to smell fresh air again.  I have had to wipe down all the surfaces inside the van this morning because somehow the ash managed to find its way inside.  Horrible stuff to clean because if you try to brush it away it smudges.

I'm heading off this morning and should get to Darwin early this afternoon.  I've booked myself into a caravan park because there is no free camping close to Darwin.  With the show on all week and school holidays as well, it will probably be a lot busier than normal.

Bridge Creek

Had a very anxious afternoon.  Sitting relaxing when all of a sudden it sounded as though thousands of fire crackers were being let off in the bush on the other side of the highway.

Turned out to be a bush fire being driven by strong winds and heading straight for us.   I was so frightened I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest.  With thick smoke and ash blowing all over us it was really scary.  Thankfully the wind changed direction just at the right time
and the fire continued along the other side of the highway, but not before scaring everyone a few more times with the wind changing direction several times.

There were about ten caravans and motor homes here at the time and we were all relieved when two water tankers turned up.   The fire is no longer a threat, but still smouldering.

Bridge Creek

I'm staying here for another night and have booked in to the Oasis Caravan Park from tomorrow for three nights.  It is about 20 minute drive into central Darwin.  I was lucky to find a vacancy because the Darwin show is on all this coming week.  There are several vans camped at this "24hr stop" because they can't get a caravan site until the following week.  Fortunately for me, my MH is small so I can fit into spots where caravans can't.

I seem to have picked a very busy time all along the top since I left Broome, because I struck the Kununurra Show, the Katherine Show and now the Darwin Show.

It will be another day of sitting in the shade with a cold drink today.  It's 11am and almost 30 degrees already.   It's a hard life!!

Katherine to Bridge Creek - 171 km

After four lazy days at the Riverside Caravan Park in Katherine and enjoying the luxury of air conditioning, I have now moved further North on the way to Darwin, stopping for the night at      Bridge Creek rest stop.   There is a nice mild breeze which makes it very pleasant sitting outside, but it is still hot inside the van so I think I will be sleeping with the fan on.   Early in my travels I bought a cheap little fan for $10 which plugs into the USB port of my laptop.  It runs all night without flattening the battery and it has come in very handy on the hot nights.

 Tomorrow I will make my way into Darwin and, with a bit of luck, find another reasonably priced caravan park to stay for a few days while I have a look around.  I will make the most of it while I can, because it will be back to free camping once I leave Darwin and start heading South.

I’ve been thinking of my dear old mum today.  She would have been celebrating her 99^th birthday if she were alive.   She passed away a few years ago but, sadly, I lost the mum I knew and loved to Alzheimers nearly twenty years ago – such a cruel disease.   

I was chatting with another solo granny recently who had been traveling with her father until he died earlier this year, and it made me think how much I would love to have had my mum travel with me.  I am sure she would have enjoyed this life.  

I have just been chatting with a couple who, until a couple of years ago, lived around the corner from me but now live in country Victoria.  I have found the saying "it is a small world" to be so true many times over on this trip.  I have met so many people who live in my area.  The couple I was just chatting to have been to Darwin and are on there way South again, so they gave me all their maps and brochures on Darwin.     

Kununurra to Katherine - 4 days and 590km

Friday 12th July  -  Kununurra to Lake Argyle  -  76km

Wow!!  That was my reaction to Lake Argyle - 1000 sq km of beautiful blue water.  Lake Argyle is about 35km off the main highway, and as if the scenery driving in isn’t enough, you come over the rise and see the lake in the valley below and it just takes your breath away.  I stayed at the Lake Argyle Resort and Caravan Park for the night on an unpowered site for $15 which was quite cheap.  I was parked on the cliff top overlooking the water below and had use of all the facilities including the infinity pool which was set into the side of the cliff.

I was fortunate enough to be there at the right time for the weekly Saturday morning pancake breakfast.  For $7 you can wander over to the restaurant with your own plate and cutlery and help yourself to all you can eat pancakes and cups of tea.  Being my usual gutsy self I couldn’t help myself and ate enough for both breakfast and lunch – probably dinner as well!

I didn’t go on any organized tours or boat rides – just too expensive for my budget, but I did have a good look around driving up to the lookout and then driving across the Ord River dam wall and down into the valley below where I sat and had lunch.  

I would have like to stay a bit longer, but with a large swelling gradually spreading up my leg from an unknown insect bite, and only enough antihistamine tablets to last three nights, I decided  to continue on towards Katherine.  Last year I had a severe reaction to midge bites in North Queensland and had to seek urgent medical attention, so I definitely didn't want a repeat.

Saturday 13^th July  -  Lake Argyle to Saddle Rest Stop  -  109km        

Nice spot at the base of a mountain.  Pulled up, set up my chair, table and floor mat, and sat in the shade for the afternoon. Thankfully the swelling on my leg hasn’t got any worse.  Met a young French chap who was cycling around the world.  He had only just started his journey around Australia having started in Darwin about 2 months ago.  I love chatting to the various people I meet when stopped at the various camp sites.   People are always so friendly and have so many interesting stories to tell.

I should be exercising more each time I stop, but it is just too hard in the heat.  I am surprised at how hot it is.  Being the middle of winter I thought the temperatures would average around 25 – 28 degrees during the day, but most days it gets well into the 30's – not that I’m complaining.   Relaxing in the shade with a good book and a cold drink is much more fun than shivering in the cold back home in Melbourne.

Sunday 14th July  -  Saddle Rest Stop to Sullivan National Park Bush Camp  -  224km

Much the same as yesterday.  Sat in the shade and chatted to other travellers.  

Today (Monday 15th July)  -  Sullivan Bush Camp to Katherine  -  181km

I arrived in Katherine about lunch time and had intended to shop for groceries as well as head for the post office and pick up a parcel I was expecting.  Big surprise.   Busy, Busy, Busy.  With the town preparing for their annual show this coming weekend there were people everywhere.  The post office has a special window box that opens on to the footpath where people line up to pick up packages, etc.  There was a long queue so I went back to get Oscar because it was too hot to leave him in the van, and I had to wait for 35minutes in the queue.  

Feeling extremely hot and bothered I decided to give grocery shopping a miss and headed for a caravan park down the road.  I booked a powered site for two nights, backed in, plugged in the power, turned on the air conditioning, stripped to my undies and collapsed on to the lounge.  Ahhhh......bliss!  When the sun goes down I will head outside and have a look around in the cool of the early evening. 

View of Lake Argyle from top of dam wall.

 View of the valley on the other side of the dam wall.

View of dam wall from road below.

Picnic area in valley below the dam wall.

Infinity pool at Resort overlooking Lake Argyle.

Another view of pool.

View from my van where I was parked on cliff top.

I was parked next to a shrub with yellow and orange flowers that had the most beautiful scent.  The honeyeaters were constantly fighting over the flowers.

View of infinity pool at sunset.

Small trees with beautiful yellow flowers dot the landscape along the highway.

Saddle Rest Stop.  View from van door early afternoon.

Same view at sunset.

Kununurra

This morning I did some grocery shopping and then some sightseeing before returning to the caravan park to sit in the shade to try and escape the 35 degree heat.  I can understand now why the aborigines spend the day sitting under trees around the town.  If this is what it is like in the middle of winter I can imagine what it must be like in summer.

Tomorrow I will be leaving Kununurra and heading for Lake Argyle.  Unfortunately I don't think there will be any relief from the heat and it will probably get hotter as I continue to head in a North Easterly direction.

The next big town I am heading for is Katherine.  Hopefully when I get there a parcel will be waiting for me at the post office.  I felt like having some crochet to do on the cooler nights, so yesterday I ordered a patten and some wool on line and arranged for it to be sent to Katherine. 

View over Kununurra from Kelly's Knob lookout.

Bungle bungles in the background.

My shady spot to escape the heat.

  

Mary Poole Rest Area to Kununurra - 479km

Sunday 7th July.  Mary Poole Rest Area to Leycesters Rest  -  209km

After camping by the Mary River on Saturday night I had a very windy drive on Sunday to Leycesters Rest which is on the Ord River.  I had a break at Halls Creek before continuing on.  With a gusty wind for most of the way it was a struggle to steer straight, but thankfully by late afternoon the winds had eased and it was lovely sitting in the shade as night began to fall.

I love to lay back and look at the stars at night.   They are so beautiful out here in the outback – so bright and so many of them, you feel as if you could reach out and touch them.

Monday 8th July.   Leycesters Rest to Dunham River  -  180km

I enjoyed the drive to Dunham River.  Gum trees are now a part of the landscape as I head East and the highway is flanked on either side by magnificent rocky mountains as I head towards Kununurra.  

Tuesday 9th July.  Dunham River to Kununurra  -  90km 

It was a short drive to Kununurra today and after a look around the town I decided to take a break from driving and book into a caravan park for a few days.  The hot weather was starting to wear me down a bit and luckily I managed to get one of the last powered sites available in Kununurra.  It is so busy here.  The local show opens this coming weekend so people are arriving from miles around.  The local shows are always huge events in the outback.   After sitting in the shade for most of the afternoon I am now sitting in the van enjoying the luxury of air conditioning.  It was 34 degrees today and is expected to be in mid thirties for the rest of the week, so I will take advantage of the air conditioning while I can.

Monument to "Russian Jack" in main street of Halls Creek - a famous figure who in 1885 wheeled his sick friend in a wheelbarrow for 300km looking for help.

Main Street of Halls Creek.

 Ord River at Leycester's Rest - most of the rivers up here are dry apart from a few puddles.

Brahman bull wandering along river bed at Leycester's rest.  They come quite close which can be a bit daunting, especially when sitting in the shade reading and suddenly looking up to see one standing just a couple of meters away.

Parked under a nice shady tree for the next few days in Kununurra.

  

Ellendale Rest Area to Mary's Pool Rest Area 260km

Yesterday I travelled 180km after leaving Ellendale and stopped at Ngumpan Cliff Lookout for the night. It was a beautiful spot with spectacular views over the valley below.  I was intending to stay for a couple of nights, but it was very windy this morning so I decided to drive 80km further down the highway to Mary's Pool rest area.  

This is a beautiful spot with lots of trees.   It is a designated 24 hour stop over, but there are lots of caravans camped by the river that have obviously been camped for several days.  

Another beautiful day today - about 28 degrees with gentle breeze.  

Scenery along the Great Northern Highway.

Ngumpan Cliff Lookout.

Mary's Pool.

Derby to Ellendale rest area - 170km

Today was an interesting drive to Ellendale.  This is termite country and there are literally hundreds of thousands of termite mounds dotted across the countryside.  There are also a lot of boab trees along the highway.  They are such fascinating trees - I wish they grew in Victoria.

The weather is perfect for travelling at this time of the year.  Apart from some humid weather recently in Broome when it rained a couple of nights, the skies are now cloudless.  The daily temperature is about 28 degrees dropping to 12 to 15 degrees at night which is great for sleeping.

Broome to Derby - 220km

I did my washing before I left Broome yesterday morning and then travelled 106km to the Nillibubbica Rest stop.  As soon as I got there I hung my washing on the clothes line which attaches to the side of the van and it dried in no time in the breeze.

This morning I travelled 114km along the Great Northern Highway and arrived in Derby late morning.  First of all I visited the old boab tree jail which was supposedly used for holding aboriginals well over a hundred years ago, then I headed for the pier and had grilled barramundi and chips for lunch while I gazed out over the mud flats towards the mouth of the Fitzroy River.   Derby experiences some of the highest tides in the world and I intend to return later on to watch the tide come in – well worth seeing according to the locals.  The main street of Derby is quite unusual with boab trees lining the centre medium strip. 

Along the Great Northern Highway it is not unusual to see cattle grazing along the edge of the road as there are no fences to keep them in.  It is difficult to see them as you drive along because of the thick scrub, but the side verges of the highway are cleared to about 5 metres either side which makes it easier to see them when they come out of the bush ahead of you.  

I had to slow down to avoid a big grey Brahman bull which strolled across the road in front of me this morning, but a couple of kilometres further down the highway a chap towing a caravan wasn’t so lucky and he hit one.  It had only just happened before I passed and his wife was hysterical.  The poor animal appeared to be still alive.  A couple of other travellers had pulled up to help so I didn’t stop.  It was very distressing.  I usually cruise along at about 85km per hour, but I drove even slower after witnessing that.   

Derby is about 50km off the Great Northern Highway so I am staying in a caravan park tonight before heading. back on to the highway tomorrow.

Boab tree prison.

Termite mound.  The landscape is scattered with them.

Boab tree prison again.

Derby pier.

Looking from pier back to shore.

Looking from pier out to sea.  The tide is out an mud flats as far as the horizon.

Another view of pier.

Main street of Derby.

Three photos of giant boab tree.

First one taken late afternoon.

Sunset.

 Sunset.