🙂 Stunning Scenery!
🙁 Loads of crocs!
After leaving Cairns and the Atherton Tablelands we spent a night in Charters Towers before heading North … it was a loooong drive! At one point we stopped as there was a swarm of locusts literally covering the earth like a blanket – phenomenal!! It sounded like stones hitting the underside of our van! Finally arrived in civilisation and stopped at a one horse town called Mount Isa which is a copper mining town. Cooked a meal and bed.
Up at crack of dawn to drive as far North as possible. We refuelled at Camooweal as no petrol for 270Km … van had no power. Found a local mechanic who refused to look at the van so we limped back to Mount Isa in 3rd gear. Back to our campsite where we had a swim to calm our nerves, dinner and bed.
Paul did what he could on van but that wasn’t working so we limped into Power Automotives who agreed to look at it and we gave the go ahead to remove the engine. We strolled into town and had a Chinese. Cinema closed so wandered back to garage – all exhaust valves were burnt out!New valves had to be ordered from Brisbane and would take a few days!! Booked into a dodge motel with a half empty swimming pool. Chris, owner of garage gave us a lift with our stuff….ate Chinese leftovers feeling depressed!
Up early after Trent injured himself on bed… went into town and watched ‘Terminal Velocity ‘ at cinema. Did school with Trent. Paul wrote to Supplier who still owed him money. Found Mills & Boons books at library and read them all. Dullest few days… finally the parts arrived and the engine was reassembled. Our credit cards would not work at garage so had to cash in Travellers Cheques to pay the $630.
Headed north and finally got to Daly Waters – the pub there serves as a Pub, Police Station. Post Office, Museum and Shop! Filled car and jerry can with petrol. Paul had a beer and rum and cereal for breakfast! LOL. Ladies clearly liked to leave their bras here! Friendly barman gave us a $50 cash advance too.
Drove to Mataranka where we swam in a crystal clear thermal pool …
Drove from daly Waters to Katherine. National Park is located in the Katherine region, approximately 320km south of Darwin.
There are 2 main sections to the park:
- Nitmiluk Gorge to the south
- Leliyn (Edith Falls) to the north.
It’s a 90km drive between the 2 sections. Visit the Nitmiluk Centre to get information on walks, canoe hire, boat tours, camping and more. Entrance to the Gorge sector of the park is 30km northeast of Katherine via a sealed road. This diverse and spectacular landscape of Nitmiluk is where Jawoyn people live, work and continue to share their culture with the community and visitors.
Booked a cruise as canoeing is not open for another two weeks. The Abos in this part of the world are tragic – drunken sad and lost. Cooked a curry – saw kangaroos. Woke up really early and boarded cruise – spectacular! Turtle came up for air.
Had a swim at Edith Falls.
We drove to Douglas Hot Springs and saw crocs in the creek next to us – stank of rotten meat!
Camped at Adelaide River – made raclette – delicious! Left for Litchfield National Park.
Go to: Australia
