Coming across the border so late, meant we had to find camp fairly soon,

The first couple of spots that we had thought might be ok actually made us think that maybe we should have stayed in WA for the night. Our actual target was the Keep River National Park, but the road at the start was so corrugated that we would have been picking up our teeth from the floor after a km let alone 15! The park information bay had a road condition map had not been updated for 6 months so who knew what it was like further in. So we bumped ourselves around and headed back , the other spots we had as back ups weren’t any better.

One was busy and full and the other meant we would have been opening our door onto the actual highway, so we decided to move on another 50km. We ended up at a camp called “saddle bag creek camp”, it didn’t have the best reputation on wikicamps as it was meant to be busy and smelly with disgusting toilets, well they did smell and not the best maintained either!

But we stayed here anyway, along with half a dozen others sleeping soundly despite the hot, dry winds and an occasional waft of eud de toilette. Hanging a wet smoggie (Shemagh) over a line strung along the van in front of the fans, helped us to cool off enough to drift off into the land of sleep.

Next morning was a short hop and if we didn’t find something to do we would be at our next camp by 10 AM, so we dawdled, called into have a look at Gregory’s tree but the road was again too 4wd ‘ish’ for us so we left without seeing it. Maybe we just respect our little bus too much!

Next on the agenda was Bradshaw bridge at the Black horse creek campground,

We went into the campground and down to the river, had a look around, got visited by the purple headed fairy wren, then left, the Bradshaw bridge goes over to the ADF training ground on the other side of the river. You can access the bridge on foot and it gives you a nice view… but its just a concrete bridge after all is said and done

THE NOCKEROOS

Just down the road (on top of a steep drive up to the top of an escarpment) is the Nockeroos memorial to the men of the observer corps in WW2 that patrolled the North West for signs of enemy invasion. Today that role is played by NORFORCE.

People obviously free camp up here and the sunset would be spectacular, with the sun setting over the Victoria River valley. The story of the Nockeroos is worth reading, a small force with a big responsibility in keeping Australia safe during WW2. Their story is in the pictures here.

JOE’S CREEK WALK

Even Jo found it Interesting, then onwards to our highlight of the day, Joe’s Creek walk, a class 4, 1.7km, 2 hour walk along the base of an escarpment, with aboriginal art and awesome scenery. The aboriginal art was great and very distinct, and being in such an area I could not help but take about a hundred photos trying to capture the colour that surrounded us.

The only down side was that there was nowhere to park in shade, and so we had had no choice but to leave Little Bus in the open. By the time we got back it was 40 degrees inside Little Bus and the poor little fridge was humming away frantically trying to keep everything cold.

We hopped in, cranked up the aircon and headed back to the highway trying to cool down little bus as much as we could. Down the road was another walk but we were by now buggered and it was simply too hot so, we headed on towards Victoria River. We called in at the old Victoria River crossing, but when we saw the sign that said “4WD only” we stopped, so I walked the rest of the way in (about 1km) while Jo kept the enging running and the aircon on, I took one photo and then walked out. It wouldn’t have been worth it anyway without 4WD to do the actual crossing.

VICTORIA RIVER

By now it was lunch time and thinking about cooking lunch made us rethink stopping at the Victoria River roadhouse. We parked under a massive fig tree walked in and got a box of hot chips and a big bottle of ice cold ginger beer. Sitting in the shade as we ate, we pondered where to stay. Our planned rest stop was 25km up the road, but when the roadhouse told us it was only $25 a night we decided instead of going on we would just stay here. (same price as the campground but with showers, shade, a restaurant and hot chips!) so now we are parked under a big shady tree, Jo finished her book, had a shower and is half asleep, I wrote this story and then rested while the laptop charged up.

Its now 4:30 and after relaxing all afternoom it’s time for us to sit back and watch the show as more people roll in. A few more setups arrived, mostly camper trailers and 4WDs with boats. Always interesting watching other people set up, makes us appreciatte the simplicity of our Little Bus 

Just on dusk we went for a walk down to the older Victoria River Bridge, walking down a path between shoulder high savannah grass was a little nervy , as we knew that there where some big crocs in the area. Every rustle made us jump, and when we got to the end of the path and came out onto the the old road that was clear and about 5m wide that we could have walked down, we did the Homer “DOH”! Anyway we wandered out onto the old bridge and watched the sun set, reflecting back off the escarpment walls, turning them a brilliant orange-red.

At first didn’t see any crocs but then saw this suspicious looking log floating just of the bank, its nostrils and eyes just out the water. A small freshwater croc, good to see but he never moved just lay in wait for a tasty morsel, like a bird, or unsuspecting small tourist.

That night we slept well, despite a few midges / mossies and funny noises outside we were tucked up tight and slept right through, must have been the walk that had tired us out.

Next morning up early and on the road by 7:30. (6 Am WA time). We went past where we had planned to stay at Sullivans Creek. It ended up that we were glad we had stayed where we did……….great choice!

KATHERINE HOT SPRINGS

From Victoria River we went on into Katherine, enjoying the scenery as it cruised on by and soon we were in Katherine and our first hot springs.

We found ourselves wondering why we hadn’t stopped at the Katherine Hot Springs this last time. The fact that the nav system didn’t have any record of it might have had something to do with that and also it was probably not that well advertised 20 years ago. Being in town and being a Sunday, most people seem to have come down for coffee, a  BBQ breakfast from the food truck and a swim.

Along with all the others we got changed and wandered down, and loved it, three pools to choose from, the water about skin temperature, maybe a fraction cooler. We lazed about with half a dozen others who floated away while more seemed to appear from somewhere upstream, just where they appeared from even now remains a mystery to me. But we thoroughly enjoyed it and planned on going back when we passed through on our way home. Jo floated down giggling all the way.

We had more hot springs to visit and the Katherine town centre itself. Our next objective was to find the information centre, which we did amazed that unlike most WA towns it was actually open on a Sunday.

MATARANKA

From there armed with literature we headed south, yep  away from Darwin, down 107km to Mataranka for lunch (our favourite new gourmet lunch, Phillipino style sausage (hotdog) on a pumpkin and soy bean crusty bread, with goats cheese and zucchini relish…… YUMMM) while we ate we watched Brolgas casually walk along the main street, as if they had done it thousands of times before. After lunch it was out to Elsey National Park for more hot springs and exploring the park. We drove to the end then back and stopped to do the 1.5km botanical walk. Its a great little walk and we enjoyed learning the names of the plants and seeing some weird birds that we hadn’t seen before. There were lots of Butterflies, Water lilies, and the like. By the time we got back to the bus we definitely felt the need for a swim

Now anyone who watches travel stuff on YouTube knows about Mataranka, a thermal pool with a reputation as the place to go. But what I suspect is that a lot of them get the Mataranka thermal pools confused with Bitter Springs, (which I suppose is technically in Mataranka as well). But they are totally different pools and you can’t float down stream at Mataranka thermal springs.

At Mataranka hot springs we parked in the shade and walked past the bar and caravan park reception down the path and into the springs, and then the smell hit us, at first we thought rotting compost or something but no it was the bats, Literally thousands of bats in the trees, clustered under the fronds, all pooping and causing that horrible smell that gets in your nose, makes your eyes water and makes you take those small shallow panting breaths to try and stop smelling it.

It didn’t stop when we got to the water, but we did make the effort and got in, 5 minutes later we got out, not enjoying the smell one bit.

I mean why put up with it if there is a better place just a few kms away (Bitter Springs). Plus it is only 3 small pools more like a rehabilitation hot spa for the elderly or infirm, so we walked back to Little Bus and left.

BITTER SPRINGS

From there we drove back into Mataranka 10km and then down to Bitter Springs, which is the one we really remembered from last time, loved it, had two floats down from the entry steps to the exit steps felt like about a hundred metres. The water crystal clear and no smell. On the hundreds of youtube videos you see, people are swimming under logs and along the water course which you cannot do at Mataranka, so if you are here go to Bitter springs and in all honesty, in my opinion forget about the Mataranka thermal springs.

After all that fun and swimming it was time for camp and new adventures tomorrow. Katherine Gorge, Waterfalls, and more spectacular scenery.

See you then

Al