Hi all. Well I hope you have all recovered from your week from hell. Believe me, they could use the water out here.
Day 29 – Banka Banka Homestead to Daly Waters – 304.8klms
After a lovely overnight stay we headed to Daly Waters on the recommendation from many travellers and friends. Well what an unusal little place about 9klms of the highway. We got away early from Banka Banka and therefore arrived at Daly Waters early giving us a pretty good choice for a spot to set up for the night.
After setting up we headed down to the infamous “Daly Waters Pub” and indulged in a Barra Wrap and of course, a beer for lunch. We were soon joined by a few of the people we had meet from Banka Banka who had stopped for lunch on their way through to Mataranka.
The Daly Waters pub was built in 1930 and its past the pub has witnessed murders, shoot outs in the main street, cattle stampeding through town and the odd drunken brawls. People now leave their mark by hanging up bras, leaving business cards and flags from many countries.
The old junk yard was an interesting place to visit and after enjoying an afternoon scan, we dined at the pub for dinner and entertainment.
Day 30 and 31- Daly Waters to Bitter Springs – 171.2 klms
So we decided to stay at Bitter Springs instead of Mataranka and it is not a decision we regretted. Our camping spot was right on the creek and the hot springs a shot bike ride down the road.
Again wet got away early, no idea why, still just winding down. However, this seems to be working in our favour as we seem to get the pick of the camping spots.
These thermal springs were just not a hole to sit in but a 500 metre waterway fed by an underground spring that gently flows down a watercourse lined with cabbage palms. The water was crystal clear and trule amazing. I could not believe the warmth of the water and how refreshing it was after all the red dust.
We also ventured for a short walk down the creek from our van late in the afternoon and spotted around a 2 metre fresh water crocodile sunning itself on the bank on the otherside of the creek. Very glad he decided to stay on the opposite side.
Day 32 to 35 – Bitter Springs to Katherine – 110.3 klms
After leaving Bitters Springs, oh yes, early again. We travelled into Katherine. Whilst Katherine is a bigger town than most we have been in since Broken Hill, it is still “small” for a major town.
We moved onto our new camp site in Manbulloo Homestead. Manbulloo Homestead is located about 13klms outside of Katherine and is located on the banks of the Katherine River. Unfortunately it is not a river in which one is not allowed to swim due to the presence of crocs. Still mainly freshwater ones but after the wet the salties are also known to be in the river.
We spent the afternoon stocking up on supplies as we had not done a shop since Cloncurry. We also needed to stock up on the alcohol side of things which was an adventure in itself. No alcohol is sold until 2pm, you must produce id to the policeman on the door and advise where you are staying whilst in Katherine. On purchasing you again need to produce your licence which is scanned to see if you show up on any “naughty” person register. So different but obviously a precaution which is required.
We spent a day out at Edith Falls and I managed to get George to do a 2.6klm bush walk up to the upper, middle and lower pools. The Edith Falls is a series of waterfalls in the Nitmiluk National Park. The falls actually descend from an elevation of 176 metres above sea level and range in height between 8 to 12 metres.
We the walk was challenging but being the troopers that we are, we managed to complete it and topped the morning off with a picnic lunch near the lower pool before heading back to Katherine.
We have again run into friends we have meet along the way back at Manbulloo Homestead and spent the afternoon chatting with Joe and Margaret from Ingham in Queensland.
On our last day in Katherine, we spent the morning catching up on paperwork, washing, cleaning and general tidy up before heading up to Katherine Gorge for our afternoon boat cruise up the gorge. This definitely turned out to be money well spent and better left to the pictures.
Well week 5 down. There are only 47 to go! Could be in the NT until then who bloody knows. Can you southern states get your act together as the western state won’t let us in until you do!!
Onto Kakadu Week 6.
