24th May 2016

We bid farewell to El Questro with one last swim in Zebedee Springs.

Moving camps and re stocking up on fresh supplies, we keep running into those people we have recently met. That's the cycle, camp a few days, undertake the some of the touristy activities and meet some great people, then we are off again and wonder who we will run into again. Some we are likely to run into in the not too distance future; others head off in other directions. There is just so much to see and do up here and so little time!

Tonight we set up camp in the caravan park at Lake Argyle. This park is well known for the infinity pool that sits on the edge of the grassy cliff overlooking Lake Argyle. We welcome the cool dip off as it continues to be really hot, both day and night. In many ways Lake Argyle reminds us of Lake Eildon back at home, where we spend much of our down time throughout the year. Other than the pool, the only really noticeable difference to us is the red clay banks of Eildon are replaced here with the rocky red cliffs.

25th May 2016

I dig out of the cupboards for the first time the portable washing machine I purchased at home from Aldi's. The novelty of the new toys even gets the boys involved in helping with the washing, let's hope this lasts! It's actually a handy accessory, up until now we have regularly hand washed the smaller things.

The morning passes with the boys trying to fish downstream of where the water runs out of the Hydro Electric plant of Lake Argyle, there are no keepers, a couple of fresh water crocodiles were spotted. The afternoon passes with some swimming and chatting to other campers and trying to psych ourselves up for the long day of driving tomorrow.

26th May 2016

Today it's a 500km drive into Katherine. We are on the road at 0640. We soon say good bye to Western Australia. We have had a great time and would love to be back here again one day soon, wonder when that will be ???

We feel we are making great time, until we get finally get internet signal and the iPad updates itself. We had forgotten all about the time change, winding back the clock 1½ hours, it was on our mind days earlier, but not today.

We arrive into Katherine by approx. 3.30pm. From our memories Katherine has not changed much since we were last here 13 years ago. The only noticeable difference is there are now Macca's and Red Rooster. We see our taxes hard at work at the bottle shops with a Police Officer required to be present at each bottle shop in Katherine (not that we were visiting every bottle shop, we park near one and walk by another!).

For us the main bonus of the time change, crossing the border is that sunset is now 1830 as opposed to 1700 in WA.

27th May 2016

Onwards this morning onto Edith Falls in Nitmiluk National Park (part of Katherine Gorge). We walk into the main pool area and enjoy a swim in the rock pool. The waterfall is running very fast and requires some persistent swimming into the current to be able to reach it. The boys have their inflatable lilo's, we share these and float away with the current. We also have a snorkel around the rock pools and are surprised at how deep they are and the variety of fish present.

As we walk out, we run into the Ranger. He suggests we try and avoid Litchfield National Park over the weekend, as it gets very hectic with people out of Darwin. It's now Friday and we were headed to camp there tonight, so we decide to drive on into Darwin. This also means that we can visit the night market on Sunday that we missed out on years earlier.

I research on Wiki camps as to which van park to stay in. I choose Hidden Valley as the reviews are good, other guests have reported that there are no Mozzies or Sand flies (as the park has sprayed them). My memory of our nights in Darwin years ago was the heat and the Mozzies buzzing all night long and myself being covered in bights. Thankfully, I ring ahead and book a site; they are just on full for the night and we secure an overflow sight.

Dusk tonight, there are no mozzies or sand-flies - YEA!