We left Tennent Creek behind us as we head up towards Darwin. On the way we stopped at the free camps at both Newcastle Waters and King River. We did a quick food shop in Katherine before heading out to Pussycat Flats at Pine Creek. We stopped here before as we left Tumbling Waters at Berry Springs last time and worked out that that was eight years ago.

We stayed two nights at Pussycat Flats, catching up on washing and cleaning while enjoying the passion fruits on the vine behind our van and the friendly happy hours in the evenings. Chris also watched this year's first State of Origin game here.

From Pussycat Flats we made our first trip into Kakadu National Park. The previous times we have been in the Northern Territory there had been unusually "dry" wet seasons so not good for the waterfalls. As many people say "Kakadon't" in reference to this national park, we had yet to ventured in. This time however, with a good wet season behind us, we are determined to see and explore this world famous National Park.

Driving into the park, our first stop is Mardukal bush camp about 5kms south of the Cooinda Lodge Resort. A great little campground in a beautiful setting. We always prefer a natural setting over the conformity of a conventional caravan park any day and this didn't disappoint.

We had booked onto the Yellow Water River sunset cruise and after enjoying a lazy day we drove down to the river to join the cruise. It looked to be busy with people everywhere and four boats at the jetty. As we all boarded though, we saw only three boats were going out. We headed off up river and looked across the wetlands. It was strange to see what looks like a grassy landscape to be told the water underneath was nearly as wide as the eye could see. We saw lots of bird life but surprisingly not the many magpies geese that we had expected. We were told by our guide this was because they are all hidden in the long grasses, nesting at this time of year. We also saw water buffalo and wild pigs along with the many crocodiles we had hoped to see. The highlight of the cruise for us was when we saw a large crocodile with a buffalo's leg in it's mouth. (No sign of the rest of the buffalo) We watched as it thrashed about, tossing and snapping down on the leg. This attracted the other crocs and they swam in to try their luck at getting a piece of the meat. Our guide assured us this was not something you see everyday so we watched for a while before then heading back to the jetty. We missed the sun setting because we had watched the croc feast for so long but still managed to see the sky turn on a beautiful show of colours for us as our cruise came to a close.

Next morning we left our peaceful bush camp and headed to Kakadu Lodge campground at Jabaru. On the way we called into both the visitor centre and the cultural centre. We set up our van at the lodge and went to explore some of the park from there. Ironically, with this year's good wet season and it being so early on in the tourist season, most of the waterfall walks were still closed. This was for safety reasons, making sure all the crocs were out of these areas before they open to the public.

We drove around and did a couple of small walks before heading to Cahill's Crossing. This place is known for the crocs that lay in wait along the road for an easy feed of fish. Apparently the best time to see this is at high tide but we were there between tides and the water was still rushing over the road. We saw crocs on the rocks and in the water and more amazing, the people who thought it was a clever thing to be there on the road fishing! My money would be on the crocs in the race to survive.

We left the crossing and called into the Aboriginal art centre before driving to Ubirr, doing the walk around the aboriginal rock art and then up to the lookout. The climb to the lookout was well worth the scramble over the rocks to see the spectacular 360 degree views. (This amazing spot was made famous in the movie Crocodile Dundee.) Along with so many other people, we waited for the sunset and watched the changing colours of the landscape. Only the thought that it would be dark soon and we still had to get back down made us want to leave this spectacular place.

The next morning we are off to the airport for our flight over Kakadu. It was an hour long flight and we were told we flew about 170 kms, over the Ranger Uranium Mine, the majestic rock formations, the amazing landscape and the winding East Alligator River. Our pilot also told us that Kakadu National Park is about 1/4 the size of Tasmania.

Although so much of the park was still closed to visitors, we do feel like we have had a good taste of what the park has to offer. The river cruise, the flight and the Ubirr lookout were definite highlights but I can understand why some people say "Kakadon't. There is a lot of distances between places, a lot of the landscape is similar to most of the NT and if you don't see the park from the water, the air or that incredible lookout. It's just a lot of driving to yet more bush walks.

Leaving Kakadu behind us, we stopped one night at Barkhut Inn. It's not often that the bathroom facilities rate a mention but these ones here were something to see. Looking like an old tin barn on the outside, the inside was very new and modern with the use of stainless steel beer kegs for the cisterns, showers, wash basins and urinals. We also checked out the shop with the resident baby croc before enjoying a lunch in the restaurant.

Leaving the next morning and with a quick Woolies stop at Humpty Doo we then make our way to Tumbling Waters Caravan Park. We're eager to catch up with old friends and get back into the laidback feel of the place. Apart from a new swimming pool, the place hasn't changed much since we were here last.

We catch up on all the gossip with old friends and news of the other travellers that we remember from here who don't come anymore. Some where age has caught up with them, some with dementia and some have died. Sadly a sign of the years passing too quickly.

We enjoy our days reading, swimming in the pool, bingo on a Wednesday morning, going out to the occasional lunch, Sunday dinner at the restaurant and of course all the communal happy hours with old friends and new. Then there's the trips out to Dundee and Wagait Beaches, swimming in the warm water at Berry Springs Nature Reserve and a trip into Litchfield National Park when as we were heading back to the park from there, we had to stop at the railway crossing for the Ghan making its way toward Darwin.

We drove into Darwin to Stokes Wharf for lunch and then to visit the RFDS museum. Like Alice Springs, they were showing the virtual reality films of the pilot and nurse on route to Adelaide with a patient on board. It was good to watch them again as we saw so much that we had missed before. There was also another film we were interested in seeing. This one was of the bombing of Darwin and a reconstruction of the events of that day.

Leaving the Wharf we made our way to the Mindil markets, another must do when in Darwin. We were here early so not too many people yet. We chatted with the guy while he made his paella that would be so popular later and promised to be his first customer of the evening for the seafood option. We then wandered around the market, tasting other foods as appetisers while the paella was cooking.

We enjoyed Territory Day with fireworks at the Berry Springs Recreation Ground. It was a chaotic evening with fireworks going off in all directions but as we've seen in previous years the fireworks set off by individuals were as impressive (if slightly more dangerous!) as the organised display. I hate to think of how much money went up in smoke that night in the Northern Territory.

Another evening we had dinner with friends at Seafood on Cullen, a seafood buffet restaurant in a beautiful setting on the beach front. We enjoyed the sunset while having our fill of the great selection of dishes. We came away feeling uncomfortably full enough that we needed the stroll to watch the big fish swimming under the wharf.

Our time at Tumbling Waters has now stretched from the three to four weeks that we initially said we'd stay, to the six weeks we did stay. Unfortunately we also managed to pick up the Covid virus so had to self isolate ourselves for a while. That meant an end to socialising and swimming. While Chris felt ok, I haven't found it easy to shake the virus off. We are now testing negative but I still feel tired and for some reason, my balance is not good.

It was a strange experience as we left Tumbling Waters and we couldn't say our proper goodbyes but walked around, keeping our distance at the happy hours the evening before. It was Wednesday morning as we left and with the bingo on at the restaurant, we drove past and tooted the car horn receiving loud cheers, good wishes and good byes.

No longer needing to self isolate but still being sensible, we head towards Pussycat Flats for one night before getting to the Katherine Farmstay where we are now.

A few weeks back we booked the Katherine Outback Experience and thought that we may have to cancel because of Covid. It turned out we didn't as we just rearranged our travel plans a bit. The show went for two hours and we were entertained by Tom Curtin and his young English helper, Vanessa. They showed us how they train their horses and dogs, and even the goats got a look in. Theses animals are all being trained to go on to work on properties and the patience necessary for this training was obvious as we watched. Tom assured us this is not a performance for us but is exactly what he would be doing even if we were not there. Tom himself is an accomplished musician, with a range of CDs of his own composition and the winner of two golden guitar awards. He and his family also do a great job of raising awareness and money for the "Dolly's Dream" charity, named after a young girl who took her own life because of bullying.

On Saturday we went to the Katherine Show, an annual event with the Friday being a public holiday in Katherine. We walked around the grounds through the sideshow alleys and the food stalls looking for the attractions we normally associate with country shows. We did find the show jumping and the art and photography displays along with lots of stalls advertising and selling different things. What we could've find were the things like wood chopping, animal judging, jam, pickles and cake competitions etc. which was disappointing.

We watched the cattle mustering for a while and were eventually lucky enough to snag a couple of chairs to sit on. We were surprised to see there were no stands or specific seating options anywhere and with my back, I found the standing around or sitting on the ground for long periods quite uncomfortable. After we watched the mustering we got something to eat before we found the rodeo arena. We had assumed this was in the area we were already in but no, we needed to move to the other side of the grounds. And yes, when we got there it was already crowded and again no seating unless you brought your own which the locals all did! We stood and watched the youngsters on the small bulls and horses for a while before deciding to call it a day and go back to our van. It was going to be a long night and disappointingly, my back wasn't up for that. Chris was happy to leave at this stage too.

With yesterday being a busy day of washing, cleaning and shopping we are now ready to head across to Western Australia. We are planning a couple of stops before we hit the border and go through the quarantine inspection station where we will be checked for any fresh fruit and veggies, (or lack of) in our van.

Western Australia here were come!