Darwin

Enjoying lovely days of around 30c here, we are staying about 23klms out of Darwin in a nice park and have got a shady grassy spot. After the last couple of weeks in gorges and at waterholes we are back to museums. The Aviation Museum was first destination and we were asked were we seniors (the cheek of  the guy)....... we said....... well we could be ............ he charged us accordingly..............we are going to be seniors for the rest of the trip when it comes to entry fees  !!!

 This is a B52 bomber that was donated by the Americans to Darwin Aviation Musuem , it was restored in America and renamed "The Spirit of Darwin" . This type of aircraft still operates in updated versions.
Off to the oil tunnels tomorrow ................looking forward to that one (not)

Berry Springs

Mark thought that it was about time he got his fishing rod wet, so we headed off to Mandorah pier after some reliable info from some of the old fishermen in the caravan park. After a long afternoon sitting on the pier being entertained by the locals back and forward on the ferry to get their supplies from Darwin , this is what the fisherman had to show for the afternoon (see below)

But you should have seen the ones that got away !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dinner at the pub was a good option , Barra burgers , considering we had nothing to cook it was a good choice.Great pub on the water , good company , Sue & Tony from SA, good food, cold drinks .

Berry Springs ........... lovely warm thermal springs , but unfortunately it was Territory Day today and every man and his dog were at the springs, there is a very accessible water fall but we had no chance of getting anywhere near it . We settled on one of the other pools but were soon joined by a group we named the  "cackling cast of cocoon"  astride their various coloured noodles , we had spotted them at another pool and avoided them, but unfortunately they floated down to where we were.

What was surprising was the number of fish that were in these pools, we were surrounded by them, unfortunately no fishing here.
Just got back from a fire works display at the local school, before the professional display the locals let off their fireworks , you can buy any amount of fireworks here. It went for a couple of hours and was quite spectacular.
Off to Darwin tomorrow , plan to stay put for a week.

Litchfield National Park

We had a nice grassy spot at the caravan park near Litchfield National Park, this was happy hour with Sue & Tony from SA.

This is one of the Magnetic Termite Mounds, the landscape in this area is dotted with these, not all as large as this one, it looks like paddocks of tombstones.

Many beautiful spots to visit and waterholes to swim in Litchfield.

Florence Falls, Buley Rockhole, Tolmer Falls, Greenant Creek and Wangi Falls.

This last photo is taken from the top of the waterfall at Greenant Creek, we swam at this waterhole and could sit at the top of the waterfall , which was about a 40 metre drop .

Mataranka - Katherine - Edith Falls

Packed our winter gear away after Mt Isa , the weather has been getting warmer the further north we travel , for the last week it has been high 20's to low 30's .

We stayed at the Nitmiluk National Park about 30 klms out of Katherine at the  Katherine Gorge. The  three gorge tour which took four hours was spectacular and we saw many crocodiles on the banks sunning themselves.

There were thousands of bats at Katherine Gorge and throughout the caravan park, at dusk they would fly around screeching, they were really smelly and we were often showered from above which made eating out in the open not very pleasant. The awning on the caravan needed a good scrub before we packed up to move on. The photo below was taken as we were heading down to the gorge for the cruise, that is not foliage on the trees but bats !!

Next destination was Edith Falls , we didn't know much about them but once again stayed at Nitlimuk National Park caravan park at Edith Falls, it was really a lovely location , no power but very organised caravan park , it was like you were in the middle of the bush.

There were some good walks and refreshing swims at the waterholes, the water was so cold it took your breath away , the current was also very strong and very slippery rocks , so all in all quite a challenge, but well worth it.

Barkley Homestead - Cape Crawford - Daly Waters - Mataranka

Have been out of Internet range for a couple of days so I have some catching up to do.
Barkley Homestead was our next stop after Mt Isa, which took us into the Northern Territory,
lots of klms surrounded by wide open spaces.

We decided not to go to Tennant Creek but instead travel to Cape Crawford via the Tablelands Highway which is mainly a single lane of bitumen so when the road trains came through you moved right off the road to give them space. At Cape Crawford we stayed in the camping grounds of the Heartbreak Hotel, which were nice grassed sites,it  was very cold that night.

From Cape Crawford we travelled to Daly Waters along the Carpenteria Highway, also one lane bitumen with quite a bit of flood damage under repair. We stayed at the Daly Waters Pub campgrounds, it was a full house, they pack the caravans in one after the other, it is amazing , this pub is in the middle of nowhere but they put on a great night , with a steak or barra BBQ, lots of salads and provide entertainment with a fairly daggy 60's singer with a guitar and backing tape and a terrific bush poet/comedian.

Mataranka was our next stop,the caravan park is just a short walk away from Bitter Springs which is a natural mineral spring which is about 35c, a great spot . We hired noodles from the caravan park and float from one end to the other.

Off to Katherine tomorrow.

Mt Isa

Arrived in Mt Isa early in the day and spent most of the day restocking and washing, We were a bit over looking at museums etc so we spent the day shopping, washing and cleaning the dust on the outside of the van. It was nice to see the sun , cold overnight , down to 2c but lovely day 22c.

We had a look through the underground hospital today, it was dug in 1942 after Darwin was bombed, as the government thought that Mt Isa would be a target as most of the lead for ammunition came from the mines from this area. It was used until the end of the war and then was abandoned , covered over and left with all the equipment etc until it was accidentally discovered by a developer in the 70's , it was once again left until a group of volunteers restored it 1998.

                                          They obviously couldn't do much for this guy.

We had a look around Lake Moondarra this afternoon, it is the water catchment for Mt Isa.
Our plan for tomorrow is to travel for most of the day heading to Tennant Creek, we will probably free camp.

Winton to Carisbrooke ( cattle & sheep station)

Our first experience taking the van on a dirt road, Carisbrooke is a working cattle station that conducts tours (expensive tours) and has camping facilities. As you see by the photo we didn't have a lot of company but it ended up quite a good night we had a fire and spent a bit of time with a couple that are working in Mt Isa and take off on trips on their days off.

We also had the company of this little creature in the photo below, he wouldn't leave us alone , we think that he liked the warmth of the fire, we think he could be a bush rat.

We went out to Lark Quarry during the day to see the prints of the Dinosaur stampede, it was amazing, the prints were found in the 70's but the site has only been protected and preserved in the last 5 years.

The paleontologists believe the a large meat eating Dinosaur came to the waterhole and caused the stampede as he was heading one way and the smaller dinosaurs were running the other way.

We left caribrooke station and headed towards Mt Isa , we decided to stop for the night 60klms before Mt Isa at a free camp as it was getting late in the day, we were there at 4 o'clock but obviously other campers stake there spot much ealier as we ended up close to the road, so fairly noisy with the road trains thundering past. It's 9.00 pm and we are the only one with a light still on (about 20 campers)

Not sure about this free camping , no facilities, no tele , no heating, it might be more appealing when it's a bit warmer.