Northern Territory.



By WA hope to see you again

 To all the friends we'd made in our 'short' travel through this (hidden) beautiful state, let this be a warning to you....."We'll be back"
Your state has given us so much fun, laughter, frivolity (is that still allowed??? Ha ha!), so many friendly faces, places to stay with beautiful sunsets, breathtaking sunrises, mangroves,lagoons, how shall I forget the shells?? that I transported to Melbourne in one bag to leave at my future daughter in laws, the rest under our bed, thank goodness they still yet (!) don't smell, fishing for Daniel, plenty of fish for sumptuous dinners, falling stars across skies that lit up with so many stars, amazing sights of sealife, wildlife, flora and a lot that had not yet been seen to say the least.



A refreshing swim in the thermal pools at Katherine

 We crossed the border early in the morning thinking that we may have to stop for a quarantine check.  Not to worry it's only when entering WA.  Photo taken and the road ahead onto Timber Creek for the stopover for the night.  We were told about Horseshoe campground but arriving there early in the afternoon it was obviously thought of as a good choice but it was full which meant that we decided to head further on a little more to Sullivan campground just after Victoria River.  Again here it looked as if we would probably be the last occupants to stop but no there were at least another 4 vans that managed to squeeze in for the night.  An early night for us, I think, as we were beginning to get itchy feet knowing that we wanted to be in Darwin perhaps a day or so sooner than originally planned.



This is lovely

 We'd reached Katherine next morning by about 11.0am, a few phone calls that we needed to make to friends that had called, left messages but couldn't reply to as coverage was poor.  Shopping done, petrol tanked we headed off to just the outside of town for some lunch before making our way down to the town's thermal pool.  Here we relaxed for about an hour just enjoying the warm temperature of the water, some friendly conversation with other visitors, before taking a walk along the footbridge which literally took us to an amazing sight of where the water comes from out underneath the hill.  The clarity and cleanliness of the water was beautiful... We wish we could have taken a swim here.



Nice and deep!

 Our next stop was going to be at the dam just before Pine Creek, but realising that it was late afternoon again with the grounds having room for 8 units we decided to try the Pussy Cat Flats Turf Club instead. Bingo! what a great spot. For the night it was only $8.50 per person, power and showers why not stay.  This of course was Pine Creeks horse racing track.  The bar opened at 4.00pm whereupon some of the locals came by to enjoy a drop or two.  We decided that we were too tired and withdrew early but upon rising early next morning decided that another full day on the road we weren't really ready for again.  That afternoon we did go to the bar and join a couple of ladies who were travelling together but each had their own campervans.  We had a great chat with them before heading off to take care of dinner.
I think we will perhaps stay here one night on our return from Jabiru, Kakadu as we head back south towards Katherine after visiting Darwin.



Crystal clear thermal spring pool

 A couple more nights on the road before making our destination to Darwin.  Another free stopover brought another couple of nights by the fire.  The last couple of nights we had noticed had been much cooler seeing Daniel wear his polar fleece and ugg boots and me donning a track suit top probably for the first time in a long time.  We'd met with some people who were travelling up from South Australia on their way to Darwin having come up through Alice Springs where not only had the weather been around the 12 degree mark during the day but they had also been at the mercy of a mouse plague running a muck in their campervan. Eventually ridding themselves of the vermin having left Alice.

A bright early start next morning with smiles beaming as we made our way up the Stuart Highway with final destination after 5 months on the road to Darwin!





Time for a coffee break at Pussy Cat Flats

It sure is getting better.....3 months now

Bridge Creek Rest Area ..our last stop before Darwin