We set out today knowing that we had a long days driving ahead of us. I made sure that I was a comfortable passenger making brett stop off at the newsagents first thing to buy the latest woman's weekly. It felt like one straight drive all day and for most of it the road was one straight line. We stopped off at the sign welcome to the northern territory for a milestone photo opportunity. This is the first time for Chantelle and I to tour this state. As we scooted along I saw our first snake on the road coiled up.
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| The road heading west from the border. |
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| Droving cattle on the side of the road. |
With the wonders of modern technology while Chantelle napped in the car I watched a revenge episode on the iPad. Yes I have 7 downloaded to catch up on for while i am away! Around 1.30pm we pulled into the Barkley Homestead to fuel up $1.70c/L a little oasis in the outback. We had a quick lunch on the tail gate of the car which was cold corned beef sandwiches. I love cooking corned beef while we go camping. I cook it in the dreampot and then use it for cold meats for a few days later.
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| Local wildlife at Barkly Homestead. |
More wildlife spotted a goanna sunning himself on the side of the road about 1 metre long. After our long straight drive you turn right and a few km later we pulled into the three ways for our overnight stopover around 5pm. There is a fuel roadhouse at the three ways and camping powered sites out the back. Around 5.30pm three road trains pull into refuel each carrying three trailers of cattle. It was certainly something which you don't see every day. The driver a bloke I'd say in his 40's told us they were headed to a property 40 km up the road (brunchilly station) for droving and fattening up. These truck drivers certainly are modern day cowboys!
I stewed some green apples in the dreampot for desert with custard and they turned out a treat. After diner we let chantelle watch a movie in the camper on the laptop barbie mermaid 2 which she sat glued to watching. Lights out to hear a group of backpackers partying on around a campfire.
Friday - Three Ways to Mataranka
Once again another long days driving. We have bough Chantelle a leap pad explorer to keep her occupied in the car from time to time. Glad we did but it's yet another technological item which requires monitored viewing time in my opinion. Just the same it is fantastic and I'm glad I could convince Brett of its benefits.
On our journey today we stopped off for lunch at Daly Waters once again ate sandwiches made at the back of the car. The pub here is a classic and apparently one of the oldest in the territory. It's very quirky and full of all sorts of things embellishing its bar, walls and ceiling. For example all these bras and knickers are hanging from the ceiling above the main bar.
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| Fiona checking if any of her designs made the grade here. |
We arrived at Mataranka late afternoon and shortly after setting up camp headed off to the thermal hot springs for a dip. They are naturally heated to 34 degrees. I would definitely recommend a dip here. The next morning we did however get woken up at some ungodly hour 5.30am ish to the sound of I'd say 100,000 or so bats flying above the campsite. They were noisy and pooed everywhere leaving lots of yellow dots over our camper ( which we had to clean up).
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| Ahhh. 34 degrees water. No need to dip the toe in to check the water. |
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| 30.5 million litres a day comes out of the ground at these springs. |
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| Locals are so friendly at Mataranka. |
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| Roper River. Water was warm but we didn't swim there. |
Saturday - Mataranka to Katherine
After packing up at Mataranka we went for another swim which was just so refreshing. Before leaving we stopped in to see the replica of the house Jeannie Gunn lived in during her time on Elsey Station in the territory in 1902. She wrote the book "We of the Never Never" about her time coming from Melbourne to live in what was a very hostile land at the time with her new husband (Aeneas Gunn) and the first white woman in the area. Just over 12 months later he died of malarial dysentery and she returned to Melbourne shortly afterwards. The house was the one used in the movie and moved here once finished filming. just down the road from here is the cemetery where Aeneas and others from the station are buried in their bush graves. We will try to stop there on the way back down.
After that we headed out and up the highway to Katherine Gorge. We called into Katherine woolworths around 2pm and oh my goodness it was so busy like Christmas eve. You see the next day was territory day so perhaps that was why.
We stayed at the national park at Katherine Gorge. When it was time for our 5 o'clock beverage I realised that I was out of scotch and decided to buy a udl can and they charged me $10 each can. I was not happy and enjoyed it just the same. No one likes to hand over $20 for two drinks do they?
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| Campsite at Katherine Gorge |
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