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Mount Isa to Darwin
We only travelled 52 km out of Mount Isa due to the lateness of leaving with our new tyres. There is a free camp at WWII Memorial where they could fit a couple of hundreds vans etc. it’s huge. Thankfully there were no near that many the night we stayed. Very flat and plenty of places to have a fire pit. Now if only we had some wood. Never mind. Next time.
Further along the Barkly Highway or The Overlander Way as it’s also known, is Camooweal. 132 km. Don’t blink as you drive through. There is a caravan park there which had about 2 vans there but just 2 km down the road is the most beautiful free camp called Camooweal Billabong. There must’ve been about 60 vans all camped on the banks. Can’t help thinking these towns could do much better if they worked with the grey nomads like coming to them selling firewood and such. Or is it just me cause we still don’t have any firewood!
A rather long stretch of “nothing to see here” and 376 km later we stopped at a free camp called 41 Mile Bore - (we did have a short photo stop at the Qld/NT border). We did meet some interesting people there - a guy who just cruised from Broome to Darwin and insisted on showing us Every.Single.Photo. And there was a guy called Ken Truscott - had Aboriginal blood and could play a mean didgeridoo. He did tell us the real word for it but apparently didgeridoo is “white man’s word”. It was lovely listening to him play as the sun was going down in the middle of nowhere.
Finally we reached the junction of the Barkly and Stuart Highways and when we turned righted and headed the way the sign pointed to Darwin, I started to get excited. I haven’t been on this stretch of road before - David and Dylan did the Cattai to Darwin run a few years earlier and at a MUCH faster pace. It only took them 4 days - it’s been 4 months for us. The landscape changes. It’s not just flat and nothing as I had imagined. There’s hills - we hadn’t seen hills for quite a while - corners - hadn’t seen much of them either - and different vegetation. Out first stop was Banka Banka Outstation. $20 pn with grass - green grass - to camp on! Unheard of! And shade too! There was entertainment every night with an old country singer singing some covers and a couple of originals. He was pretty good. We deduced to stay two nights here and just have a rest day. They had a walk to a lookout and a waterhole. It was probably 5km return but over the roughest country. So many rocks. Makes you think about the explorers and the tough cattle station workers. We’ve been listening to an audio book called “Outback Stations” and it makes you realise how tough these people are.
304 km up the road is Daly Waters Pub. The caravan park is right next door and it’s certainly worth a visit. Dusty? You bet! There is no one is doing doughies like at the Demi Ute Muster so the dust is kept to a minimum but it is the outback - you’ve got to expect it. Another great night of entertainment by “Lou Bradley and Phil” plus the best meal - Beef and Barra - all well organised and beautifully cooked. A very well run event there. So glad we stayed there.
Next stop - Mataranka. 173km up The Stuart. Now Mataranka has about three caravan parks and we chose The Homestead. Glad we did. A short walk to the pools and excellent nightly entertainment. $30 a night powered - glad we chose that too - the air conditioner was delightful. The pool was around 250 metres from our site and fed from a warm spring. The water was a very pleasant temp - cool enough to refresh but warm enough to just dive in. The spring’s flow rate was just over 30 million litres each day. Part of the entertainment on our first night was a bad of 3 old blokes who played everything from blues to Elvis to Slim Dusty and all in between. Then a young bloke called Nathan “Whippy” Griggs came out. Whip cracker extraordinaire. He put on an excellent show. Also at the Park was a replica homestead from the movie “We of the Never Never”. The story of Mrs Aeneas Gunn who lived in the region in the early 1900’s.
Just up the road from The Homestead is Bitter Springs. This is a more natural swimming region than at The Homestead, and once you get over the fear of the Orb spiders in the trees above, it really is a special place. Float on pool noodles as you drift downstream in crystal clear spring water. After a swim here it was back on the road again for Edith Falls, just north of Katherine. We camped at the National Park right at the swimming hole. Just one night - no powered sites $20. Early next morning we took the 2.6 km loop walk to the top swimming hole. Again, once you get over the fact that there are DEFINITELY NO crocodiles swimming here, it was really lovely.
Not too far up The Stuart is Douglas Daly Hot Springs - about 30 km off the highway and then 7km of corrugated dirt (sorry Suncatcher). The best sped to tackle the corrugations is at 80 kph. Keep in mind, David’s favourite speed on the highway is only 90 kph so it was a little nerve racking. These Springs are H O T! In fact, if you put your foot near the bubbling water where it came up to the surface, it burnt! There were places where the normal river course met the hot springs and it was very pleasant. $13.20 for the night unpowered. Very hot at night here. Was wishing for power to put the air conditioner on.
We took the slightly less travelled road to Adelaide River rather than the Stuart, then into Litchfield National Park and Wangi Falls for the night. We were lucky to get in here. The Park was full but the caretakers found a nice little spot for us. Again, you can walk to the swimming hole from the park. It was the busiest place we’ve been to so far. Many day trips from Darwin stop here. The temperature is 34 degrees so the water is a popular place. 24km up the road is Florence Falls with campground. We stayed here 1 night as well and did the Falls and swimming hole in the afternoon. Early the next day it was 5km to Buley Rockholes which is just beautiful. What made it even more lovely was that we were there at 8.30 am so the tourists hadn’t arrived yet. Made for a nice photographic session.
133km north and we’ve hit Darwin. A quick stop at Hidden Valley track to watch cousin Scott race his motorbike. Very, very excited about this town. Darwin races, Mindil Markets, sightseeing and more importantly Julie and Anne arrive. Yah! David has Michael and Angus flying in for a spot of Barra fishing too. Let the games begin!!
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Julie Webster Yep. Not long now . Let the fun begin
Dad Brings back wonderful memories circa 2005