Kakadu

After Katherine we travelled to Kakadu National Park, we were able to camp on the edge of the park at a roadhouse which allowed dogs, no dogs in the National Park of course. We arrived there on Northern Territory Day and thay had Happy Hour and a sausage sizzle plus Fireworks.... fireworks were fun, two blokes at the bar jumped into the ute loaded on the fireworks, drove to the other side of the fuel bowsers and set the display going, of course one went the wrong way and set all the dry grass on fire, they did get the ute away and the fire out before any disaster.......

The caravan park manager directed us to a rock pool 6 kms down the road, not on any of the maps, it was a short 4wd drive in and short walk, lovely place, very peaceful, no one else there

Our first day at Kakadu we spent at Gunlom Falls, the worst gravel rd I have been on, really corrugated and we saw a least 5 caravans on this road..... The falls were a disappointment we were told it was down to a trickle because there was no wet season this year, but hard to see the trickle. We decided to take the walk up to the top where there were Infinity Pools. It was a hard climb up but we made it, lovely up there, worth the climb.

The next day we decided on an easier day and drove to Cooinda and Yellow water, this is the wetland area of the park, also breakfast and sunset cruises operate from here,  Cooinda has resort type accomodation as well as a caravan park, we enjoyed a coffee here, on from there we went to Nourlangie where the rock art is situated, by then we had done about 130ks, we carried on from there to Jabiru making that about 150ks we had travelled, Jaibiru is a small community just outside the park and it has a Bakery, so well worth travelling the distance.  Another area we could have visited was Jim Jim falls but there again only a trickle of water and a two hour 4wd track to get there we decided to give that a miss.

Kakadu Park is big, lots of distance to travel, lots of walking tracks, rock pools 

Road into Kakadu

Walking track to Rock Pool

Lovely Rock Pool, no swimming, could be a croc.....

Gunlom Falls, no trickle

Our walk or rock  climb to the top

Looking down, you can just see the car park

The Infinity pools, not far to go now 

Well worth the climb up here

Brian went for a dip, funny I thought his bathers were blue, not seen the green bathers before, that's right his bathers are in the car....

Can you see the lost Grandad with his hat on

Hiding behind the tree

Wetlands area, Yellow water

Aboriginal Rock Drawings

And end if our trip the bakery and a pie each, Brian went back for a pastie before we left and I had an icecream

Katherine

After our stay at the pub we travelled further north to Katherine a town about 300ks south of Darwin, we had a shop at Woolworths, you have to pay to go to the toilets in the Shopping Centre, Security guard sits at the entrance to toilets and collects $1, also trolleys cost a dollar but a black fella follows you back to your car and offers to take your trolley back so he can have the dollar, he asked for more money as he was hungry but hard hearted me said no extra money.......drove on a bit to Pine Creek but decided against camping there so back to Katherine and camped at a Homestead caravan park about 9 kms out of town. Shady sites, plenty of room. We decided we needed a few days in one place so booked 3 nights. The first day we spent cleaning.... The van needed a good wash which Brian did while I cleaned inside, then we did Bentley and then the car, weather warming up by then so time to rest and have lunch, after lunch drove to town and had a coffee at Coffee Club, and look around op shops.

The next day we decided to head out to Katherine Gorge only 30ks out of town, took a walk up 160 steps to the lookout, not to bad a walk and after enjoyed a icecream at the cafe.

Glenys and Tom friends from Albany arrived in the afternoon and we spent a nice afternoon catching up, they have come up the WA coast and had lots of info on places we plan to visit 

Bentley was really pleased to have a bath and be clean, not sure he looks pleased ......

Our campsite, van and car so clean

Katherine Gorge, old bloke and his dog ready to paddle down the river

We walked up to the lookout, great view

A lonely canoe, looks so small from up here

Walked back along the river

Brian, Glenys and Tom and Bentley of course

Our next stop is going to be Kakadu.......

Daly Waters Pub

After our stop at the Billabong we had a couple of over nighters at rest areas and pulled into Daly Waters Pub about 10.00 am Friday morning. The pub is well known for great meals and entertainment, the caravan park is next to the pub, and most people are just staying one night so you book in and then you are shown to your "site", which means you park nose to tail with other vans, four in a row, there is power, limited water, shady trees, we were third in our row, and by the end of the day about 8 rows and then vans parked around the fence, motor homes fitted in and wait, there is an overflow area....... With all those vans you would think it would feel cramped, but no there was plenty of room and every one was there for the same experience, so friendly really good crowd. 

Barra and Beef night so we booked our meal for 6.30 and just enjoyed the feel of the place, even managed to get some washing done! 

Entertainment started around 5pm with Happy Hour and the meals started at 6.30pm, I had the Barramundi and Brian had steak and Barra, once your name was called you picked up your meal and then there was a great salad bar, really fresh, no photo of the meal, sorry, we just ate, it was fantastic. This pub is in the outback, few hundred klm from a town and 900ks from Darwin, a great place, lots of young staff, some backpackers working their way around Australia.

We are third in our row

Now we are somewhere in there

Inside the pub, something on every wall, money, t shirts, bras, undies...... I didn't leave anything

See the Bra's and Undies

Lots of number plates, an Albany and Denmark on this wall 

Entertainment was good, Tom Maxwell was a country singer and Stevie was mostly 50s music, we like the country music the best

Busy busy, there is a lost Grandad in there...... He has his hand up waving 

Busy cooks

Enjoyed a bottle of wine with our meal

Lots quirky signs

And the next morning we all moved out, we were one of the last to leave, probably just befor 10am and as we drove down the road vans were arriving and it would all fill up again...... I thought the staff were great, really friendly and welcoming 

We had another overnight stop and then arrived in Katherine. We are staying just outside at a homestead caravan park, very relaxing and after the overnight stops we have had we need a few days in one place, so more washing this morning and then washed the dog, the van and finally the car...... 

Moving on to the Northern Territory

After reaching Cloncurry we spent time stocking up on supplies and asking around about Metal Dectectors as we think we would like one, non in Cloncurry but we will keep on looking.

It was Brian's Birthday the day we arrived in Cloncurry and we splashed out on a bottle of bubbly and headed out to a campsite just out of town at Corella Dam, we were just doing an overnighter but it was so peaceful we stayed 3 nights...... We met a young family travelling around Australia, their two girls were Ada and Emily aged 8 and 6, friendly, Ada came over to say hello to Bentley, who was on his best behaviour and allowed her to pat, she then said I'll bring my chair over, so over comes the little pink chair and there it stayed..... With Ada and Emily popping over, chatting, taking Bentley a walk with us, bringing marshmallows over to the campfire and singing campfire songs. Brian taught them Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes and they taught us their version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star...... Lots of fun, when they left they gave us a big hug and Emily said I smelt just like her Grandma and I said is that good and she said Yes... I had a shower that morning so I am taking that as a complement.

After Corella Dam we drove through Mt Isa to Camooweal  approx 215ks  travel, at Camooweal we crossed the Georgina River and down to the Billabong to camp, lovely spot, very busy but found a spot by the Billabong.

Tonight we have travelled further west and crossed into NT and have camped at a road side spot, well back from the road, lots of vans, no phone, Internet or TV....... 

Our camp at Corella Dam, Cloncurry

Emily on the left and Ada helping us take Bentley a walk, I think Mum and Dad were glad of the break....

We spent time cooking

Egg and bacon breakfast

Bread

Chicken, with Ada getting in the shot

That chicken was yummy, had roast veggies too, all cooked in the Weber

Looking back from the dam into the campsite

Sunset at the dam

Our camp at Camooweal Billabong

The Pelicans came in for a feed

And then the Spoonbils followed

Brian set the table for a candle lit dinner, it was a lovely mild evening and we ate outside.

There was a sunrise over the Billabong but no photo, I laid in bed with a cup of tea and watched the sky change colour.......