Again difficult finding accommodation close to Darwin but we got lucky with this place. Brilliant caravan park - plenty of shade, superb restaurant and cheapish! Stayed 2 nights allowing Steve to take car into Nissan in Darwin. Found the problem but likely to take 6 weeks to fix - required part not ini Australia! Plans to carry on regardless - wot a trooper! Heading off to Kakadu tomorrow for a week and then Cobourg Peninsula. Unlikely to have reception so no ...

Spent 3 days in Litchfield and covered a lot of ground. First 2 nights at Florence Falls. The Plunge Pool was a brilliant place to swim as was the Buley Rockholes. We didn't expect the hordes of people at Buley, but found a perfect spot downstream( sans people). Reached the Lost City (weathered sandstone formations that resemble the strangest things), Blythe Homestead where pygmies must have lived and swam at Tjaynera Falls which required lengthy water crossings...

Leave Darwin for Litchfield NP tomorrow. Shopped at Casuarina for 5 days in the bush. Headed off for the footy at Marrara. It's a pretty big event in Darwin and had a great atmosphere even before we did a streak. Sadly there was no TV coverage in line with their policy! Sad that the Dee's couldn't bring home the bacon (or even a trotter) but a good night was had. Have enjoyed the week in Darwin but glad to be heading bush again.

It's Thursday and my turn to have the car serviced. Basically just an oil change but getting them to check out whether obvious damage that might be a problem during rest of trip. There seems to be a small leak in radiator but is manageable. They also able to patch hood catch so I can check underneath without having to rewire it shut each time! We have our permits for Cobourg Peninsula from 18 July so all we need to do is fill in a couple of weeks!

Territory Day celebrates the day they became self-governing. Fireworks are on sale for private use (there are billboards everywhere flogging fireworks) but it seems can only be used on TD - so it will be interesting. Our plan was to get an early park in the city by 3.30pm, check out Mindil markets and watch the beach concert and the fireworks display from the beach. The plan worked but the scale was wrong - there were 10 to 20 thousand people on the beach but a...