We were only spending one night at the hot springs but there was no way we were leaving without another dip in the warm waters. So after packing things away it was on with the cossies for Chantelle and Brett and down to the water. Fi decided to skip the water and sit on the bank reading a book. Time slipped away a bit and by the time we got away it was near 11am but who cares as we were only headed to Mataranka to swim in more hot springs.
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| Campsite at Douglas Hot Springs |
Near Douglas Hot springs is a place called butterfly gorge which we have put down for the next trip up this way. It's one of those things that everywhere you go you discover other places that you can visit but you would need a lot longer than the 5 weeks we have to see everything.
From Douglas it was a straight run down the highway to Katherine where we re-stocked our groceries and bought a quick lunch before pushing on to Mataranka. We had heard positive mentions of a place called Bitter Springs there which had a more natural setting with the swimming areas, and after our bat episode the last time at Mataranka we decided to try this location. We rang to book a site but they don't take bookings hence the rush to get there and when we arrived about 4 the place was looking pretty full (those grey nomads are quick when they want to be) but we noticed that people were walking down the road to where the springs were. It seems the swimming location was quite a bit further away from where they camp than we thought. So we decided to head towards the same place we stayed before but this time a tarp would go over the top of the camper to avoid the yellow spots that the bats leave behind.
Chantelle didn't forget this place and was wanting to go straight to the warm water, so with flotation vest, noodle, goggles and watever else she wanted to take we where off. Some other kids were down there so before long she had made a new friend and was having a great time for a while before mean old dad told her it was time to go back (with the promise she could come back in the morning).
Monday - Mataranka to Renner Springs
Well guess what about those bats? They decided to stay away this time. It must of been because we bothered to put the tarp up. Not complaining though but Fiona did want to film them on her iphone.
As promised to Chantelle, she got to have another swim in the morning before we headed further south along the highway, but only for a short way as we made a quick detour to visit the cemetery where some of the characters from the book 'we of the never never' are buried. Some were young when they passed away from disease while others lived longer only to have their lives taken by accident eg. one person died aged 68 by drowning in the river.
Next stop was for lunch at Daly Waters again with the slight thought we might camp there for the night (maybe it was all the bras hanging in the bar that attracted Fiona to this place). But once lunch was had we drove past the caravan park near the pub and it was pretty full already, and it was only 2.30pm (those speedy grey nomads again). Those that were there were crammed in pretty close to each other so I'm glad in a way we pushed on, but the pub would have been a great place that evening.
Final destination for the day ended up being Renner Springs. Not the flashiest place going, and camped pretty close to the highway but it would do for the night. It's funny though, in that all the driving you do up here and different places you go, that you often bump into the same people. We were walking to the shop to get Chantelle an ice cream when this lady waved at us who we didn't recognise at first, but the family ended up being those camped next to us in Kakadu who were from Switzerland on holidays. We had a good chat with them and wished them well for the rest of their holiday as from tomorrow we would be headed in different directions.
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| Campsite at Renner Springs |
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| Road train lights under a stary sky |
Tuesday - Renner Springs to Barkley Homestead
As we made it so far down the highway yesterday, we went a bit further south to visit Tennant Creek which is about 25km past the turnoff to head back to Qld. Fiona checked her lonely planet book on the place and found a good spot for morning tea. It called Nyinkka Nyunyu and is a cafe and art gallery place which we would recommend if passing through. Some of the dot paintings they had were beautiful but pricey, so they stayed hanging there but a couple of little things ended up in a bag travelling home with us.
Filled the car up With fuel and next stop was Barkly Homestead for the night. When we passed through here on the way up Chantelle and Brett found a bird aviary where they had a couple of red tailed black cockatoos. There was a sign on the cage which Chantelle asked to be read and it said "caution - cocky bites". From that point on whenever she spotted a black cockatoo she always said 'look, it's a caution cocky bites'. Ah the innocence of youth.
We enjoyed this place as the camp sites were well away from the road and the fact Chantelle managed to find 2 new friends within 3 minutes of getting out of the car.
A sign near the entry to the servo / shop explained that some prices here are as high as they are is because they need to run generators 24 hours a day which uses 500l of diesel each day. Certainly a different lifestyle to what we take for granted in the city.
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| Nyinkka Nyunyu |
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| The joy of the Northern Territory highways |
Wednesday - Barkley Homestead to Lawn Hill
I imagined that this would be a fairly uneventful day as we headed back into Qld and up to Lawn Hill to camp at Adels Grove. The drive across the Barkly Tablelands was into the wind the whole way which didn't please some of the caravan drivers but before too long we were pulling into Camooweal for lunch. Chantelle found a horse nearby which she wanted to pat, so over the road we went to visit the 'pony' as she now calls all horses. Fortunately she hasn't asked for one at home yet.
About 75km down the road from Camooweal is the turn off to Burketown which you take to head towards Lawn Hill. The first part is still bitumen and it's along this road while Fiona was having a snooze when we drove passed our first live snake on the road. A quick u turn and as we pulled up it stopped to check us out before retreating to the safety of the scrub. Fiona said it was the first time she had seen a snake in the wild like that and it was certainly different than what you see in the zoos.
From here the road soon turned to dirt but a lot was still good enough to still maintain 80-100km, although a few things slowed us down like creek crossings, dips and the odd big tumbleweed which was in the middle of the road (see picture).
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| Ummm....ok. Whose bright idea was it to plant this here. |
Well after about 170km of dirt road and crossing the Gregory River twice we were pulling into Adels Grove hoping that they weren't booked out. Fortunately they had spots but there wasn't many left, but we managed to find a good flat spot near the showers. There are 2 camping sections here, one for those with generators or pets up the top area and the other for those who like the quiter life down near the river known as the Grove. Down here it's lovely and shaded and they allow campfires which is always a positive. It was fairly late by the time we arrived so we will be checking the place out tomorrow as well as Lawn Hill national park and gorge.
We did have a laugh shortly before we got to Adels Grove. While driving along the dirt we saw plenty of birdlife including a few large eagles and quite a few large flocks of budgies which would zoom across in front of the car. Fiona joked about how maybe we should become bird watchers and we started making funny bird calls in the car. Shortly after we crossed the Gregory River we could see this guy standing on the edge of the track, and guess what. He had the binoculars around his neck looking up into the tree. He looked like Harry Butler (those old enough to remember him) and didn't even look at us as we passed to say hello. In fact just as we got to him the binoculars went up as he wasn't taking his eyes off that bird. Maybe it was the rare 'crested red breasted tit' that caught his eye. We will never know as that was the end of our bird watching thoughts. Apart from a few more silly bird calls.
Today was also the day we took the last of our frozen meals out of the freezer. For those that don't know Fiona did lots of cooking in the lead up to the trip and froze the meals (18 i think) so that all was needed was to thaw one out and heat it up. Adding it to some rice or pasta or veggies made life so much easier and yummier. Some of the dishes were chilli con carn, curried mince, apricot chicken, curried prawns, beef stroganoff etc.
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| Fiona with the last 2 frozen meals. |
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