In our haste to publish the last blog, we forgot to mention that this was our forth time at Camooweal. There would have been no more than thirty caravans, motorhomes etc and this is the quietist we have ever seen it. We feel like we have missed the migration north. But it was nice and peaceful.

Jimmy Barnes joined us on the next leg of our journey in DABUS. He kept us entertained with all his tales and made us laugh. It was fabulous to be in the company of a great aussie icon.

Leaving Camooweal we travelled west to Three Ways, arriving in Northern Territory by 9.30am. Our clocks go back 30 minutes. Luckily we fuelled up Camooweal with fuel, as the fuel price at Barkley Homestead was $199.9 for diesel. At Three Ways we headed south into Tennant Creek to get some gas and fuel. Our stop for the night was Attack Creek, again we have been here several times before, but now there is only one road north to Darwin. It has been our longest days travel yet, driving 530km for the day.

We had to say goodbye to Jimmy just prior to Attach Creek as the novel "Working Class Boy" hadn't finished downloading and we don't have any phone reception now to finish the book. When back in phone range Jimmy will join us once again.

Thursday we had a cruisy day travelling north 334km and stopping the day at Daly Waters Pub. New owners have taken over the pub in 2017 and they have made some great changes to the pub and the campgrounds. All the campgrounds have had crushed rock put down, taps have been installed and new amenity blocks are being built in the campground across the road from the pub. A dump point is now around in one of the back streets.

The changes to the pub itself, was an extension out beside the pool and another back room, so heaps more seating for customers.

Alan was excited, as they had stopped making the stubby holder he likes and when we arrived he found they have gone back to the older style with the top stitching. The entertainment started at 5pm with a kids show, the pub was really busy, so we opted to enjoy happy hour back at DABUS and catch up with a few phone calls. On arriving at the pub at 6.30pm there was not a seat to be had, so we enjoyed a couple of drinks and dinner in the new section. We ordered off the main menu and didn't do the Barra n Beef, as we have done every other time we have been here. Both mains were fantastic.

After dinner, we enjoyed the entertainment, and as we were walking out, one of the entertainers stated 'their off to get lucky' and then a third person (guy) walked out behind us and she said 'looks like it's a threesome'. We were back at DABUS quite early, as our first time at this pub we certainly had a ball and partied late into the night. We must be getting older and more sensible.

On the road by 9am and once again Jimmy finished his tales, we arrived at Mataranka and headed out to Bitters Springs. This is one of our favourite places in the Northern Territory. The main entrance was very busy, but we had two peaceful floats down the springs.

Our next destination is Munbililla, Tomato Island. Alan had received at phone call from Clive, that Phil had lost his phone overboard into the Roper River. The Roper River is a crocodile infested river, so there was no retrieving of the phone.

In Mataranka, we went in search of a phone for Phil, and was extremely surprised to fine the One-stop shop stocked heaped of phones. We did think we'd have to do a mad dash into Katherine to purchase a phone, so armed with the new phone and a couple of bottles of port, we headed out of Mataranka towards Roper Bar.

Again we were playing a game of cat n mouse, as the road out was a single lane road. We were heading into 4x4 territory, so these drivers certainly didn't slow when they saw us. We stopped the night at Roper Valley East campground, here we met a cyclist riding from Broome to Cairns, via the Savanna Way. Some people are either highly motivated or just dam right stupid, you wonder what makes people set themselves such challenges.

This campground was just before we hit the gravel road. Heading towards Munbililla - Tomato Island Campground, within the Limmen National Park, we had about 85km of s***ty, corrugated roads. After one of the regular stops to ensure DABUS was holding up, under these road conditions, Alan noticed water leaking out on the passenger side. Yeap, the water tank had moved forward with the pressure of the corrugations and popped the new fitting. We drove until all the 100 litres had drained out and then Alan sealed the pipes, to ensure no dust got into the tank.

Finally arrived at the campground, were we caught up with Lesley and Liz. The guys, Clive, Phil & Phil (all friends from home) arrived later after being out fishing. Phil had caught a nice Barramundi. We enjoyed three nights out there with everyone, going out checking the pots, croc watching, fishing (but to no avail) and enjoyed NT day with fireworks and a communal dinner with great company.

The day we were leaving Alan went out fishing with Phil and Clive, with a few undersize barra and few good size barra being hooked but not retrieved into the boat. As we said our goodbyes, we were dreding driving out onto the corrograted s***ty road. But on our way out we stopped to check out the closed Roper River General Store (which is due to re-open in the next fortnight) the Roper Bar (which is the river crossing into Arnhem Land, and permits are required to enter) and the relics of the old Roper River Police Station.

The 85km of corrigated dirt/gravel crap road took us, two and a half hours driving, stopping, checking DABUS, driving, stopping and rechecking DABUS. But yeah, finally after rattling and rolling, we survived the drive.

We arrived back at Mataranka at 4.30pm and really needed de-stress time, so it was off to Bitters Springs, once again to enjoy another relaxing float. Before we hit the road a wine glass and a pepsi can came out, we enjoyed the drink whilst commuting to our destination 10km north of Mataranka, Sterling Mill Camp. As we had arrived to this free camp quite late (5.30pm) we were extremely lucky to obtain the last site.