Tuesday 6^th August, 2024

We are finally on the move again. We ended up spending the afternoon/early evening at the George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens. It is such a lovely green space. We took another walk around before driving back to the caravan park.

Yesterday morning we didn’t rush and were mostly ready to leave by 10.00 a.m. The mornings in Darwin are usually cool and fresh at this time of year, but when you are busy it is still possible to work up a sweat, which I did.

The Stuart Highway remains a four lane highway for quite a distance out of Darwin. That made for easy driving. We fueled up at a place out of the city. On our way there we noticed a supermarket not far from the caravan park. We had been looking for one on Google Maps, but the closest one we found was in Nightcliff. A reminder to search more diligently!

We had lunch in Batchelor next to a lovely green park. We were in deep shade and were quite comfortable for an hour or so. Our impressions of the place are that it is a pretty village. I read up on the history of the town. It seems that when our father worked at Rum Jungle the mine was quite new. Batchelor was the residential village for the workers. Marie and I lived there with our parents until we were 3 and 4 years of age. Then Daddy needed to go to a hospital in Queensland and Marie and I travelled in the care of the ‘air hostess’ to Perth to be with the grandparents, now living there. The grandparents lived just a few kilometres from Stephen’s family home in what was then Queens Park, but is now Cannington.

When we returned about 7 months later our parents were living in Alice Springs, and that is the town we remember.

Litchfield National Park

Batchelor is now The Gateway to Litchfield Park and thriving, with about four caravan parks, a general store, swimming pool and small, local population. The mine closed in 1971 and is one of the most polluted places in the world, according to the potted history I read. Fortunately, the National Park was established and has become a very popular place to visit.

Our impressions are that most attractions are contained in a much smaller area than Kakadu. We drove through the park slowly to our campsite at Florence Falls. It was very hot, so we waited until sunset to walk to the falls. Very beautiful, one of the best we have seen on our travels. We will go back this morning to take photos in daylight.

On the way here we also stopped at the Magnetic Termite Mounds. They are very different to the ‘cathedral’ mounds of other termites as they face north/south, with thin edges. They look a little bit like large tombstones. I’ll post some photos in a separate post.

Overnight we set up our new fan with the battery I had bought for it, so as not to draw on the van batteries. On the low setting it worked for nine hours straight. I switched it off towards morning as we were a bit cold. The battery was expensive, but I’m glad I bought it now as it has really proved it’s worth.

There are no campsites available in the park for the next week or so. We want to explore more of the places here, so have booked a night in the Batchelor Caravan Park. A powered site, as we are feeling the effects of the heat and it will be nice to be able to look forward to air conditioning at the end of the day.

Sunday 4^th August, 2024

On Friday we met up with cousin Marnie for lunch. She picked us up in her new car and took us to a pub on the beachfront. We had a lovely time catching up on news and getting to know each other again. She took us back in the late afternoon and we showed off our Sherwood.

Yesterday was a shopping day. I wanted to get a fan to help with getting cool air into the bedroom area. The air conditioning worked, more or less, plus the little fan in the dinette helped cool air to get up there. But, it is always partly blocked by Stephen.

I went for a Ryobi Fan and a battery. My hope is that when we are off grid it’s battery, plus the van batteries and our Delta Mini will be enough to keep it running all night. We tried it out last night and found we slept comfortably with the bedroom windows open and the air conditioner off. The humidity increases a lot at night, which meant that the fan was able to keep us both cool. By slanting the fan upwards it hits the roof and comes over Stephen and onto me. He gets it as well, of course.

The next thing was to get some food. I didn’t want to go to the big shopping centre, so we found a small centre not far from Bunnings in Nightcliff. Marnie had warned us that Monday is a public holiday (Picnic Day) and shops would not be open.

We spent time at another beachside location, then went to the Lee Point picnic area and did a walk along the beach to a bird hide. It was a lovely walk and there was no water in the swampy area that it passed through, but I was a bit worried about crocs. We decided to drive down to Buffalo Creek picnic area (where the walk ended, we only went part way along). Buffalo Creek is quite wide and deep and there are crocodile warning signs. Despite this people were enjoying hand fishing and crabbing, washing their fish in the water. There is a boat ramp and we saw a couple of small fishing boats being loaded onto trailers.

Some photos from Buffalo Creek

Then, home to a snack type meal and a bit of TV.

Today we’ve come to the Botanical Gardens. We arrived a little after 9.00 a.m. and met up with Marnie for a little walk and breakfast at the lovely café. We were unsure of what to do for the rest of the day, but decided in the end to stay in our shady parking spot and wait for the day to cool down a bit so we could explore more of the park. We had our normal breakfast of cereal as lunch.

I’ve settled in and I can understand why people like to visit here and live here as well, at least in the dry season. There are ways of keeping cool and if you wait until evening, or walk in the shade, it’s actually quite a lovely and a good place to relax.

We tried out the fan on the house batteries this afternoon. It needs 240v, so this was using it through the inverter. It uses surprisingly little power, with both fans going, plus running the fridge we were drawing about 25w. So, importantly, it will be good for keeping us cool when off grid. I tossed up whether to buy a camping type fan with an inbuilt battery, but I think this is a much better option. It’s a little chunky, but lightweight, and when it contributes so much to our comfort I don’t think we will mind having to stow it under the dinette when travelling.

Tomorrow we set off on our next adventure.

Wednesday 31st July and Thursday 1st August, 2024

We’ve spent a couple of days going out for lunch and keeping close to the beach to handle the heat. The mornings are usually quite fresh, with a good breeze, but shade is important.

We drove to three beachside areas on Wednesday, the Lee Point Beach, another beach with a French Cafe nearby, and a third beach for the late afternoon. Just to get a feel for things.

Yesterday we went back to the Museum Art Gallery and had a look at things we had missed, then had some lunch. Later we drove to the Mindil Beach Markets for a meal and eventually to see the sunset. Someone told us that there would be plenty of parking and we had no difficulties. I didn’t like the drive home in the dark, but we managed it and only missed one turning.

The nights still require some form of air conditioning as it doesn’t actually cool down until about 7:00 am.

Did I mention what we did on Tuesday? 30th July, 2024

We caught an Uber to a bus terminal at the Casurina Shopping Centre where we caught a bus into the city centre. Arriving a lunchtime it was obviously time for lunch and we found a food hall near the Mall. Then we went to the Legislative Assembly, a beautiful cream/white colonial style building with a very nice cafe. We caught a bus back to Casurina where we did some shopping before catching an Uber ride back to the caravan park. The driver was allowed to drive us right to our door.

This caravan is like a small village. Not only do we have an ensuite and laundry, we have our own bin. Today was rubbish collection day and the bins were put out on the verge for emptying.

Tuesday 30^th July, 2024

Sunday was a good day. We celebrated Stephen’s birthday by phoning in to our walking group as they were enjoying their brunch at Kaffiene. The group walks to the café, then back, or drives if they don’t feel up to walking. After a bit of a catchup they all sang Happy Birthday to Stephen for his birthday yesterday.

At lunchtime we walked across to the shopping centre opposite the caravan park and had a lovely roast dinner. I counted a total of six vegetables with pork and apple sauce. We voted it as good as an English pub carvery meal, though usually there are several types of roast meat on offer and it’s carved in front of you. Well done Coolalinga Tavern.

We did some shopping, including buying a cream filled sponge cake as a birthday cake.

In the evening during our Facetime call with Matt we put candles on the cake and pretended that he was helping Stephen blow them out. Stephen and I sang Happy Birthday, with Matt joining in ‘in spirit’ even if it was hard for him to sing.

Of course, yesterday, Monday, was actually Stephen’s birthday. We were leaving that caravan park and had booked a couple of nights at Lee Point Village Resort. It’s a very large caravan park and Lee Point has ocean on three sides, which doesn’t make it cooler, but makes us feel cooler psychologically. Unfortunately it’s beyond the bus routes, but we have options.

It was too early to book into our caravan park so we went to the Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Territory to have coffee and perhaps lunch and also have a look through the exhibits. Starting with hot drinks, of course, on a beautiful balcony overlooking a park and the sea. There were lots of fighter aircraft overhead as there is a military exercise taking place here in Darwin. You can go the airport and watch them take off and land.

The artwork and natural science sections were the most interesting to me. There was also a whole section on the effect of Cyclone Tracy on the city all those years ago.

The café was very busy at lunchtime so we decided to go to the caravan park and have lunch in the van. We have an ensuite site, which sounds posh, but it’s a very basic ensuite with a concrete floor and no separation between toilet and shower and wash basin. Fortunately there is a good drainage system so we don’t wet the entire floor.

We also get a laundry trough which we are using to do dishes, but I can also use for handwashing. As getting things dry is easy in this climate I prefer to do handwashing most days, rather than chasing down a washing machine and having a huge wash.

We don’t have any shade, but otherwise it’s a pleasant section of the park overlooking grasslands and with a good view of sunrise.

As there was quite a saving in cost Stephen booked us into this park for a week. That gives us plenty of time to enjoy being here and catching up with my cousin Marnie. We will be here for Thursday and Sunday nights when we could go to the Mindil Beach Markets for a meal and to watch the sunset on the beach, as is traditional here in Darwin.

Friday 26^th and Saturday 27^th July, 2024

On our first day of travel we went to Mamukala Wetlands. Most of the area was covered in water lillies and had very few birds. A pity because the bird hide was excellent, allowing a great view and with deep shade and comfortable benches. Our next stop was for lunch at the West Alligator Rest Area. We didn’t see any crocs, but the little mud hopper fish on the edge were fun to watch. It was lunchtime, so we went back inside and had our usual salad, etc.

Mamaluka Wetlands

West Alligator River

Fogg Dam

Fogg Dam: the history is interesting. The dam was built as part of a failed project to grow rice in this region. Unfortunately, too much rain in the wet season and not enough in the dry meant it was a resounding failure. But, the resulting wetlands absolutely team with birdlife who don’t seem to be much disturbed by cars driving though.

The rest of the drive to Bark Hut Inn Roadhouse/Caravan Parkwas very long and tiring. We stopped to rest a couple of times, including at the western boundary of Kakadu. We arrive at Bark Hut after 4.00 p.m. and managed to secure a powered site. The idea was that you could choose your own camp spot near a post with power points. Campers had parked higgeldy piggeldy and it was hard to work out where we could camp in reach of electricity. Eventually we found a spot on the edge, on a slope that we were too tired to correct, and Stephen plugged us into water as well as power.

We had a semi comfortable night with the air conditioning running the whole time and set to dehumidfy. We had four bars of 4G, but it was very slow anyway. I though it wouldn’t work to set up the Starlink as south of us had two large trees. But, I did set up in the morning and we had quite good internet despite the trees.

Yesterday we travelled slightly off the Arnhem Highway to Fogg Dam. This has been on our list since we ran into people in Alice Springs who said it was wonderful. It did not disappoint. There is a dam wall that you can drive across to a viewing point. It was the middle of the day but the bird life was still amazing. There were signs prohibiting walking on the dam wall due to saltwater crocodiles, but we used the Sherwood as a bird hide and croc safe viewing platform to stop at the side of the road on the dam for lunch.

We opened up the windows so that we could photograph and use binoculars to view the birds. Stephen felt a bit nervous about having the window on his side wide open. I’m glad that he is now very cautious about crocs, not like when he was younger and decided to swim with the crocs at Katherine Gorge.

We didn’t actually see any crocs, but are aware that they hide just below the surface. One side of the dam had water and the other side was damp, with some pools and that is where most of the birds were.

Then it was time to head back to the main road and towards Darwin. We decided to take the first caravan park that had room, ideally an actual room or cabin. So we are now at Coolalinga Caravan Park about 30kms from the city.

We have very little internet and this morning when we were recovered from the journey we set up the Starlink. I’ve had the router and power block stickied to the Sherwood stove bench, so had to undo the sticky. We seem to have a good signal outside of our back door.

I’ve also done some handwashing and set it outside on our airer to drip dry. We’ve had a family next door using our car port (admittedly we can’t use it) and they were very noisy at times. But, today they have left.

We’ve decided to stay two nights here to get our bearings and decide where to stay closer to the city. We have quite a large room with three beds, a large dining table, a comfortable sofa, plus kitchen and bathroom. Stephen managed to get us a free upgrade to this space. Nothing fancy and the air conditioning is very noisy, but does a good job. We also have overhead fans and were able to sleep without leaving the air conditioning on. It shows the difference with a van in that the inside temperature is usually within a degree of the outside if you don’t either cool or heat inside. Whereas this place stayed cool from the air conditioning running for a few hours.

We do have air conditioning in the van, but are having to run it all night in order to sleep. We will stay in caravan parks with power until we get south enough for the nights to be cooler. It was 24 degrees overnight here, whereas Broome, for example, had the same day time temperature, but cooled down to 15 overnight.

Wednesday 24^th and Thursday 25^th July, 2024

Highlights of the past two days have been visiting Yellow Waters Wetland Park on Wednesday and dropping in at the Visitor’s centre, where we paid our park entry fees, going to Cahill’s Crossing Crocodile Viewing Platform, and visiting the Ubirr Rock art Site. Cahill’s crossing is a bit north of Jabiru, where we are based and the Ubirr site is just a bit further on from there.

It’s been over 30 degrees, with hot, humid nights, so not at all comfortable in terms of weather. It’s also been partly cloudy, which leaves us wishing it would storm and get it over with, however no rain is forecast.

However, we’ve made the best of our time here and in some ways it’s better to be sight seeing in the open air than sitting inside our little Sherwood in the noisy air conditioning.

We’ve also done a huge pile of washing that accumulated since Banka Banka and there is quite a good supermarket here in Jabiru where we’ve been able to stock up on food.

There are still sights to see on our way to Alice Springs and we’ve planned a night in a roadhouse caravan park for tonight as we will definitely need power for air conditioning in this hot spell. It cools down a little bit in the mornings, but too late to guarantee a good night’s sleep.

The wetlands was a very peaceful place to be, despite warning signs for crocs. It reminded us of visiting a similar place in England, with the wide fields and birdlife. You can take boat tours, but we preferred to follow the boardwalk to a small, shallow area where there was lots of birdlife. We saw the buffalos in the distance.

It was whilst we were there that someone told us about Cahill’s Crossing as a place to see crocodiles. The river is tidal and at high tide the crocs like to fish near a crossing.

On our way to Jabiru we followed signs to a couple of places on the way, but it was too hot for exploring on foot, so decided to get ourselves checked in at the caravan park.

Yesterday we did the washing and shopping before going to the Visitor’s Centre. We decided not to stay as there is no air conditioning, although with wide and deep open areas and a slight breeze it wasn’t too bad. We also spoke with someone at reception and got more information, including tide times. We paid our park fees at that point as well.

I really, really wanted to see crocodiles, enought to drive 40 kms to the viewing platform before we even thought of lunch. The viewing spot is well above the water, though many people were perched on rocks near the causeway, despite a sign saying there had been a fatal croc attack there.

I took many photos before realising my camera was set to over expose. Fortunately I caught it and could go back and take photos and videos with the correct exposure. A problem with switching between two cameras, both Sonys, but with different menus and controls. I use the Sony A7R IVa with a 24-240 lens for wildlife and a Sony A6700 with an 18-135 lens for everything else. The smaller A6700 is more responsive and I have to remember to wait a little for the large camera to focus or can get blurry photos. It’s a much more powerful camera with a larger sensor and high mg count.

The river water is muddy and the tidal rush very powerful, so the crocs had to work a little to maintain a position near the causeway. I didn’t actually see them catching fish, but sometimes they dropped out of sight, so perhaps that was after a catch. Or, they were moving in on the people below the platform.

We had bought a chicken and salad pack from the supermarket and found some tables and chairs at an old store which was now selling art and icecreams. There was a constant water spray on plants and that helped us to be a bit more comfortable as we were eating. We had icecreams as well, of course.

The Ubirr Rock Art site was well worth a visit, though I enjoyed the trees and other vegetation as much as the art works. It was only when processing the photos that I could see some of the paintings clearly.

Our caravan park has a swimming pool and bar, we looked in, but didn’t feel the need to stay. It is fairly casual, so attractive in that sense. There were lots of children enjoying the pool.

Monday 22^nd and Tuesday 23^rd July, 2024

After packing up yesterday we headed into Katherine to get water, dump our tanks and do some more shopping. We used our voucher from Woollies to buy fuel with a discount. We drove to Pine Creek where we stopped for lunch made from some of our shopping choices, good ones actually with cold meat and tiger rolls and salad.

From Pine Creek we went to the last free camping spot before Kakadu, the Harriet Creek Rest Area. The creek was dry and we were able to go for a little walk along the dry creek bed. There were about eight other vans of various kinds staying overnight. We had first of all parked in a shady spot next to the bush, but then found it was an ant highway, with the busy little creatures running actually under the van. It seemed sensible to move away from that spot.

We thought we were at the end of cool mornings, but it was lovely this morning and I put on my oodie and track pants for making tea and setting up the Starlink.

It was still about 40kms to Kakadu and we stopped at the entrance for photos, someone kindly took one of us together in front of the sign. Then we stopped at the ranger station, thinking we might get a map and information, but no one was there though the toilets were open.

We had lunch at the camping area at about 12.00 noon. Stephen thought it would be nice to stay there, but I wanted to move on to a camping area near a billabong. And that is where we are for tonight, at Jim Jim Billabong Camping Area. It’s $6 per night per person and there are drop toilets and no bins. We had bins last night, but no toilets.

We went into another campsite near here that had flushing toilets and even showers, but somehow didn’t like the feel of it. There is a notice warning about crocodiles, but Stephen said the rangers do like to try to keep the salt water crocs out of the local waterholes. Still, swimming is not recommended though there is a boat ramp for people who want to fish.

We kept our distance from the water anyway, no wanting to take chances. It’s been very warm since we arrived at about 3.00 p.m. and is still about 30 degrees C. The breeze has died down, which makes it feel even hotter. We will have a cold dinner of leftover rissoles from last night and salad to save heating up inside.

Stephen came through Kakadu when he did his greyhound trip around Australia all those years ago. I do find it interesting, but not as beautiful as the West MacDonnel Ranges. Hopefully, once we actually get to a manned Visitor Centre we can find out in more about the attractions of the park.

Saturday 20^th and Sunday 21^st July, 2024

On Saturday morning we drove to Katherine. First things first, we had hot drinks and shared a breakfast roll at The Coffee Club. Then it was off to Woollies to get fresh fruit and salad supplies as well as a few other groceries. It was extremely busy and we were just coming off the major internet outage, fortunately our card was accepted.

Katherine has a paid water facility and dump point on the edge of town, both of which were useful. Although the campground we are staying at has drinking water we didn’t want to arrive needing to fill our water tank. The water here at the camp is from the Katherine River and our host swears that it is good to drink.

Our purpose was to visit Katherine Gorge. When Stephen was doing his trip around Australia on Greyhound buses one of the things he did was go on an all day walk in the national park here. As it was a hot day he took a swim, having been told that it’s safe to swim with fresh water crocodiles, and he then decided to swim across the river. A boat came along and he had to hide behind a rock as he was naked, didn’t bring his swimming gear with him.

So, I really wanted to see the gorge for myself. We didn’t go to the actual spot where he swam, but from the reception/café walked to a lookout. It wasn’t very far, but involved a lot of steps. We found it challenging, but worthwhile for the views.

Returning to the café we had cold drinks and shared a hamburger and chips. Then it was back to the Sherwood, then driving back to our campsite to rest. We both felt the effects of the challenging walk, but also pleased that we did it.

We’ve enjoyed being at this campsite, a bit expensive at $40 per night with no power or water to our site. But, our host is friendly and made us feel welcome, and the showers are clean and the water is hot. I’ve had two showers here, a bit unusual for me as I usually much prefer to shower in the van. I’ve also been putting on sunscreen for the first time on this trip. We have a lot of exposure and it feels sensible to take precautions, as well as wearing a hat and long sleeved shirt.

We get some interesting colours here at the campsite as there has had preventative burning off, so we have orange leaves and blackened earth as well as the usual colours you would expect. We’ve just seen a sunset followed by a full moon rising.

Some photos from our gorge walk to the lookout. We didn’t see any crocs.

And some photos from our second evening here.

And us at the lookout.

Friday 19th July, 2024

We’ve had a couple of days of travel where we stop at various locations based on our interests. For example, yesterday we had morning tea at Dunmarra, famous for it’s vanilla slices. We had one to share and it was delicate and lovely. Instead of icing on top it had a dusting of icing sugar and the pastry was fresh. When I thanked the staff afterwards one of the women confessed to being the baker. What a good idea to focus on doing one thing very well!

Then, we went on to the Daily Waters Pub, just to see if it was as interesting as we found it two years ago. Lunch was two ginger ales with beef schnitzels, salad and chips, with a side of live country and western music. The musician/singer was quite good, but we were glad when he took a break. We walked around taking photos before heading to our next overnight rest stop.

Alexander Forrest RA is a standard 24hr rest stop, with flushing toilets (tank water) and a separate water tank with tap. It’s not recommended to drink from these tanks, but you can get water for washing up. We had a nice couple in a big caravan on one side, and a young woman in a red station wagon on the other. I was intrigued at how comfortable she made herself for the evening, having a really nice camping chair, a mat, a single burner gas stove and a lap top holder for using her laptop. She had to dress warmly as nights are still chilly at the moment, it was the first time I’ve seen someone in a oodie (big, soft, shapeless coverall garment with a hood). Apart from me, I’m still using mine though they don’t seem to be in fashion on the journey so far.

We set up the Starlink as there was no phone service and it worked quite well sitting just beside the van at the rear.

Today we stopped for morning tea at the Pink Panther Pub/Roadhouse and shared a large coffee. That meant we could use their toilets and take photos without seeming rude. We also chatted with an Englishman who is circumnavigating Australia on a vintage motorbike. He looked quite dapper and the motorbike was all shiny, so obviously hasn’t given into being a bushman!

Then we went to Mataranka, where we went to a different resort from the one we stayed at last time (that was Bitter Springs). The swimming area was much nicer, like a real swimming pool. We could see the spring where the water originates. There is no thermal heating, the water is just warm because it comes from the depths where there is an enormous aquifer. It would have suited us very well compared to the wild swimming style area at Bitter Springs, but we would have still needed to arm ourselves with pool noodles. There is a little water fall at the end of the swimming area and the water goes on through one river to feed the Roper River.

Then we walked to the spring that feeds the pool.

We found the supermarket less well stocked than last time we were at Mataranka, obviously a few days since the twice weekly truck had been through. The toilet needed emptying, so we got fuel and and icecream before tackling that chore.

Then, just about 14kms up the road to our present overnight spot at Stirling Mill. It’s a dusty place, with a few areas for camping, we managed to get a good spot and have made a little contact with our neighbours who are far enough away for us to feel quite private.

We are surrounded by woodlands and termite mounds. Plus we have a decent phone service, so don’t need to set up the Starlink for tonight.