Sunday 16th August

This morning we drove the 50 odd km back out to the Kakadu Highway. We continued along for about 60km before heading into Maguk (Mar****) on the Barramundi Creek. We walked for 1km through the shady monsoon forest. The rocks we had to scramble over only went for about 200m and were much easier than yesterday. The waterfall and the huge clear plunge pool were beautiful. Wen and Col stripped off and went in for a refreshing swim.

Back to the cars and made our way to Katherine where we restocked our supplies of beer, food and fuel before continuing along the road towards Mataranka.

We booked into Bitter Springs Cabins and Camping for a couple of nights. Wendy and Col went to the springs and had a swim while Joe and I stayed in camp catching up on some domestic chores.

By the time the sun went down the four of us were putting on jumpers for the first time in a long while. There was a chill in the air that we hadn't felt for so long. It was going to get down to a low of 11 tonight. Brrrr

Monday 17th August

It was a chilly 9 degrees when Joe and I got up at 7 this morning. We all had a very lazy and relaxing morning in camp. Joe, Col and I went for a walk to Bitter Springs to check the place out and take some photos.

After lunch, Wendy and I went into town to visit the supermarket and the post office.

Then the four of us went to the springs for a swim. The sign said that the water was 33 degrees but I don’t think it was quite that warm (thank goodness). Joe and Col both took their goggles and snorkels and enjoyed their time exploring.

When we got back to camp we spent quite a bit of time looking at the map trying to work out where we were heading tomorrow when we leave.