11th May 2013

8^th 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.

9^th 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.

10^th 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.