Heading North

Leaving Central Australia I was excited to be travelling north to the warm weather. From the West McDonnell Ranges I drove to Alice Springs and stocked and fueled up. The first day I drove about 450kms to Wycliffe Well, I stopped in at the caravan park which is really the only thing there and set up my OzTent and before it was dark there were 2 others, they must multiply. This was also the first night I was able to sleep with just my sleeping bag, not all of the layers I had been using previously. Wycliffe Well has a UFO theme about the place and after speaking to the guy at the counter it relates to when the army used to use the area and there were often strange lights seen at night. I didn't see any strange lights or UFOs at night but in the morning I got up early and saw the reddest morning sky I had ever seen, which made the morning pack up all the more enjoyable.

After packing up I headed north about 50kms where I stopped at the Devils Marbles. This devil had quite a few marbles and it was amazing to see these round boulders balancing precariously on top of one another. Some had even split straight down the middle, almost perfectly. I continued to drive about 700kms to Mataranka. I had thought I'd stop In between but decided it would be better to go a bit further, which I'm glad I did because there was not a lot in between and it was an overcast day which made the driving cooler.

Upon reaching Mataranka I set up the tent and headed straight for the thermal pools which were refreshing even if they were like a warm bath. That night I was joined by a wallaby who could smell my chicken and vege soup. I had cooked my dinner and was waiting for it to cool and as I was a little wallaby kept creeping closer, he was smelling the air and decided he quite liked what he smelled. I sat very still and he came right up and began licking the billy I had used to cook the soup and then the soup can, he was very cute. Here I also saw peacocks, one of which decided to peck some of the bugs off the grill of the car and the first cane toads.

I began the next day with a swim in the thermal pools before packing up and continuing on my way. I didn't leave till 10am and it was already hot and because I was a day ahead of myself I hadn't decided what this day of travel would involve. So I left Mataranka and headed for Katherine (which was much nicer than I remember from my previous trip). I went out to Nitmiluk NP and was planning to do some of the gorge walks but as it was midday and I was feeling the heat I decided it would be best to spend a few days camping there on the way back through so I could get up and do the walks early.

I continued through Katherine and stopped at Edith Falls for a swim and cool off, it was hot. The sun was coming right in the windows and I could feel it burning. This was probably the busiest drive I've had so far in terms if traffic. The roads from Port Augusta north have been fairly straight which, even when they are single lane has made it easy to pass slower vehicles like caravans and road trains. But this section of road was much windier and much busier which meant waiting for overtaking lanes to pass the road trains, some of which were over 50m long. But being able to legally travel at 130km/h on NT roads made the drive that bit quicker. I stopped at Adelaide River for an ice cream before doing the final stretch into Darwin, which I'm sure is cooler than Katherine.

The plan is to do a paid tour from here to Kakadu and Litchfield. Enjoy the sites of Darwin, do some crossfit (it's been soooo long!) and maybe even go and catch a barra. Before heading back to Katherine and then across to the west.