8th May 2013
We are at Katherine. This morning we drove
out to the famous Katherine Gorge and participated in a cruise up two sections.
This is the second time for both of us and I think we took the same amount of
photos as the last time, in fact I am sure it was better than last time as
there is a lot more water flowing, all very spectacular. Since picking up David
at Uluru we have spent time at Kings Canyon where Nancy broke bones in her
foot, Kings Canyon is a must for any one travelling in this locale. From KC we headed
for Alice Springs having a couple of free overnight stops on the way, one at
Finke River Crossing and although you are only just a little way off the
highway (50m – 100m), with monstrous road trains hurtling by weighing in excess
of a 100 tonnes, they don’t seem to disturb you once asleep and we noticed that
only one or two pass by during the night.(bit of Irish). Our second night was
24kls off the highway on a rough dirt road at a place called Rainbow Valley
where the rock formations were magnificent particularly at sunset.
Catch-up:
At Alice Springs we stayed at the Macdonnell
Range Big 4 Caravan Park, (highly recommend this one). Two nights there while
Nancy’s foot injury was x-rayed, assessed and plastered, then out to the
Macdonnell Ranges for a couple of nights. Although we checked out several gorges
and bush walked a few we eventually camped in the national park at Ormiston
Gorge where the scenery was sensational. Here we did two hikes one late
afternoon for 1 ½ hrs. and a biggy in
the morning before the heat was too intense, to and through what is called the
pound walk, a bit over 4 hrs solid hiking and some good climbing, sensational
views and landscapes through wild hard country. This natural pound is a valley
of about 3-4kls x 9-10kls surrounded by high escarpments and ranges feeding
into what becomes Ormiston Gorge, a boulder strewn river bed cut between
towering faces of quartzite cliffs and creating one single access to the valley
therefore appropriately called a pound. Needless to say Nancy was pretty grumpy
stuck back at the caravan with the heat and flies and her foot in plaster. Back
to Alice where Nancy was finally assessed by the specialist and gained her moon
boot.
Another two days all up and we proceeded up
the Stuart Highway through more uninteresting countryside. Stopping at a free
camp we discovered our fridge wouldn’t work on gas so I filled the generator
with petrol and ran it half the night until it ran out of fuel. As a precaution
I chained it to the wheel of the caravan and shut the window on that side so we
could only just hear it and slept like a log. Two vans nearby never noticed it
running, (I had warned them) but an English lady about 500m away came down in
the morning as we were packing up and expressed her thoughts about my
inconsideration and if I had let her know the night before she could have worn
her ear plugs!!!! So I just apologised and thanked her for letting me know how
noisy it was so I could bear it in mind in future. (What could she say, there
was no argument and the poor thing just about had steam coming out of her
ears).
Next night was spent at Banka Banka Station
where there was no power but we could run genes until 8.00pm and I was able to
get three large frozen bottles of water and used the fridge like an esky. The
next night was spent at a rough old caravan park attached to a servo at a place
called Dunmarra here they generate their own power, we must have been at the
end of a long power line causing a massive voltage drop plus it was as hot as
hell and every man and his dog ran their aircons consequently our fridge malfunctioned
and the freezer thawed out, we had to dump all of our frozen food.
Daly Waters was our next stop, this is a
famous old pub that is considered a must on every travellers stop list. This is
one of those pubs that has old panties, bras, thongs hats and you name it
hanging in the bar from previous heavy sessions, fortunately (or
un-fortunately) our pub time wasn’t as dramatic and I suspect previous
backpackers to have been the main contributors. Beef and Barra BBQ dinner and a
bit of pub entertainment, was a good night and a great change. We used our tank
water here as the local water is high in calcium but at least we had mains
power and the fridge performed ok but still not on gas. Here’s a first, I actually
went for a swim in the pub pool, in fact we all did just to cool off. Sitting
in cooling water under shade cloth felt almost as good as having a cold beer,
until happy hour and then I realised just how good a cold beer on a hot day
really is. So this was only the second time on the trip that I have allowed
myself a cold beer and out here with the heat it could easily become a habit.
Leaving Daly Waters for Katherine we called
into Mataranka and spent some time relaxing in the warm but refreshing mineral
springs there. Then on to Katherine and the obligatory Katherine Gorge cruise that
is a must and a second time for us. Once again we were taken by its grandeur
while enjoying an informative commentary by our knowledgeable guide, later in
the day we walked a short distance from the caravan park to a natural thermal
spring where we again refreshed in crystal clear water and dappled light from
overhanging shade trees.
While at Katherine I got onto a gas fitter
who came to the caravan to try and fix our refrigerator. One hundred and fifty
dollars later we had a new regulator and connections but the fridge still
wouldn’t work on gas. “It must be an electronic problem and out of my
jurisdiction”, said the gas fitter, then added. “The regulator was stuffed and
would have caused you more problems shortly anyway”.
I have been told by several sources that no
one will work on three way fridges in NT as they are such a pain in the bum and
Dometic are not represented in the Territory, so I rang them in Melbourne for
some advice but after spending fifteen minutes on a mobile phone dialling one
for this dept and three for that etc only to be finally told “All our operators
are currently busy, bla bla”. I just gave up.
I then phoned a caravan repair guy in
Darwin who had been recommended to me and have booked him for next week to do
some necessary R&M on the van, especially brakes that need to be adjusted
or even relined, sometimes the van doesn’t want to pull up in a hurry so the
Toyota has to do all the braking. Nancy wanted to know why they needed doing
again after having them adjusted in Mount Beauty Vic. Why do wives have to be
so insistent and know all the facts, like what was wrong with. “It’s just a precaution before we head down
the west coast”. No, I had to end up admitting I drove a hundred kilometres
from Adelaide Hills with the caravan park brake on, yes I actually made a
mistake and I have been reminded several times.
With a bit of luck the repair chap in
Darwin may be able to help get the fridge problem sorted as well.
9th May 2013
Today we travelled to Jabiru in Kakadu
National Park and booked into the Kakadu Lodge and Caravan Park for three days.
Another caravan park we would be happy to recommend, well set out and plenty of
room, power and water and for a change we were on good grass instead of hard
rocky ground.
10th May 2013
This morning we did a half hour flight over
Kakadu in a small plane, another must do activity and it was in perfect flying
conditions. What an amazing place.
