Our target for the day was Daly Waters about 400 odd kms away. Chris and Di had told us you have to be at the pub early or you will miss a camping spot. We arrived at 2.00pm and got the 10th last spot. They can sure squeeze them in. We headed for the pool and had a nice cooling swim and a chat with some fellow pool lizards. Happy hour was from 5 – 6pm so we didn’t dilly dally and headed straight for the bar. It is hard to find words to describe this hotel. Unique is a possibility, but fun is a definite. The bar staff toss you for drinks during happy hour and Stephen had free drinks for the hour which left a big smile on his face. Finally his luck has changed!! During the day we had passed some bike riders from Kyabram and Echuca who were riding from Adelaide to Darwin to raise money for prostrate and breast cancer. During happy hour we introduced ourselves and immediately had a rapport with them. One fellow, Lindsay Cooper, is the school principal from Kyabram Secondary College – does the name ring a bell Sue Mahoney?? Think asst. principal at Niddrie Sec. College. He was spending his long service leave doing the ride. A very nice chap and when he found out I had worked as the Head’s PA at SKC I was his new best friend. He rightfully believes that PAs are worth their weight in gold – his words not mine. We stayed at the pub for Beef/Barra night and were entertained – I think you could call it that – by the chook man. His two chickens sat on the bar while he told yarns and sang songs. Daggy but great fun. He convinced two Italian tourists that the chickens were Wedge Tailed eagle chicks and he was training them for a birds of prey show later in the year. The facilities at the camping ground left a lot to be desired so I forwent the shower until the next day. While we were packing up we got chatting (a lot of chatting seems to occur) with our neighbour. His name was Kevin Jones, a printer from Northcote, also does some work for Treacy – does his name ring a bell Bill Wilding?? It is a big country but someone always knows somebody that you know.
Mataranka and Berry Springs - Stephen and his new friends
A short hop up the road (170 kms) our destination was Mataranka. We were advised that Mataranka was famous for its home made meat pies – buffalo, chilli camel etc. However, we were a little confused and stopped along the way at Fran’s in Larrimah for one of her pies. We were a little late and there was not much left so Stephen had a buffalo pie and I had a Cornish pastie. They were huge so we had leftovers for ‘ron. We arrived at Mataranka fairly early and headed for their very nice swimming pool. This was a lovely park with peacocks roaming around the grass and lots of birds. A chook befriended Stephen and made a comfy little nest beside our mat. We have our suspicions that it also took Stephen’s socks which were in his walking shoes outside the door as they have disappeared forever. Some chooks are just not fussy! We spent two days kicking back and doing some domestic chores, washing clothes, car and van of red dust which we had been gathering over the past week. On our second day in Mataranka Anne went to get the real home made pies but found that the oven had blown up and there would be no pies for at least another week. Lucky we were confused at Larrimah. We spent a couple of hours at the hot springs (Berry Springs) nearby but frankly we preferred the pool which was a lot cooler. We met some more new best friends and passed a number of hours trading travelling stories that night.
Up late again and packed for our trip to Katherine (100 kms). I have been given a new outside duty, winding up the caravan feet. I am obviously getting too good at helping and will have to wind back my enthusiasm
Stephen: Anne is always very enthusiastic at the moving on stage and asking what she can do to help so I have to find little chores for her that with the right amount of “mentoring” she can’t break anything. Winding up the feet is the latest. It's impossible to break the feet. Back to Anne.
Katherine - Butterfly Gorge: Anne looking worse for wear, Stephen after a photo opportunity, Anne missing the ironing so helped a neighbour (our new best friends Janet and Rob in the background)
We booked into the Big 4 Low Level Camping Ground – why low level?? You actually pass over a single lane bridge over the Katherine River to get to the camping ground. The main street of Katherine has its Big Brother Bridge. What a find! We were tentative about booking for too long as it was quite a way out of Katherine. However, it was fantastic and we ended up staying for 4 days. We are mostly rating the parks by the pool. This was crystal clear and big, just what we like. The weather has really heated up and the days are around 32 – 35 degrees. The nights are a little too hot for our liking but we just wack on the aircon. Our first day in Katherine we drove to Katherine Gorge and went on an 11 kilometre walk to Butterfly Gorge, as one does. Five hours later, dripping of perspiration, we got back to the car. I swear he is trying to kill me. Kids, the will is in the safe and make sure no bimbos move in for at least 5 years. Friday was declared a day of rest, well at least the morning was. In the afternoon we drove to Edith Falls. Just luverly. Swam in the upper pools at the falls. When we returned from the falls our regular new best friends, Janet and Rob were parked behind us at the caravan park. They are from Brisbane and we first met them at Uluru, then Kings Canyon, then Alice Springs and now they have followed us to Katherine. They have become our drinking buddies and we have spent a lot of time laughing and telling stories. Stephen is in love with Rob as he was formally a manager of a hardware store. They are quite often seen playing together in their sheds (backs of cars). Rob has a ladder which Stephen has used more than Rob has. Janet is a former nurse. What more can I say. She has a drug cabinet that takes up half the caravan, however there is nothing that can be smoked or snorted – well not that I know about yet. I have to be careful about what I say as Janet reads my blog. We will hopefully catch up with them again in Darwin. On Saturday we went on a breakfast cruise up Katherine Gorge followed by a helicopter trip. There are 13 gorges at this national park and the helicopter flew over them all. The boats can only go to the 3rd gorge. We landed briefly at the 10th gorge and took some photos. It was quite an adventure. On the way back into town we stopped at the museum and watched a video on the 1998 floods in Katherine. The flood didn’t recede for a full week and was devastating. The town folk had to start from scratch as all properties were badly damaged. While I talk about Katherine in glowing terms it should be noted that there is a large aboriginal community here and unfortunately it is not recommended that you stay in town at night. That is apparently the reason that most of the caravan parks are well out of the town. It is hard to imagine that this situation is ever going to improve, no matter how much money the government throws at it.
Edith Falls - Stephen playing at the falls, Snap and jump in as fast as you can, Pretty pictures of water
Katherine Gorge Cruise and Helicopter Ride
Tomorrow we continue up the road to Kakadu. I cannot believe how time is rolling on. I thought you might like some of the Territorian (newspaper) headlines before I sign off:
“Youth stabs girlfriend: I only stabbed her lightly”
“Woman fights off horny emu” - this is true
“Swine flu flies into the Territory” - who says pigs can’t fly!
“Youth stabs girlfriend: I only stabbed her lightly”
“Woman fights off horny emu” - this is true
“Swine flu flies into the Territory” - who says pigs can’t fly!
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