Day 33: Wycliffe Well to Katherine

Oops, we underestimated how long today's drive would be. We thought it was about 500kms away, turns out it's about 800kms. That's why you should always take notes when planning an itinerary because it is all too easy to forget bits of important information!

Luckily we had got away early. We left Wycliffe Well at 8am when it was still only 6 degrees.

The long drive gave me time to ponder the trip thus far.

The first thing we learnt, (and we did have a little heads up on this one) when travelling with a van you wave at every other driver towing a van also. We have categorised the different waves as follows:
-The most common is 'the point'; this is exactly as it sounds, the driver lifts the index finger from the steering wheel.
-The 3 or 4 finger wave; this is where 3 or 4 fingers are raised leaving only the thumb or thumb and index finger on the steering wheel.
- The 'How'; this takes on the form of the traditional American Indian greeting of the palm and all 5 fingers raised.
- The wax on; this is the motion taught in the karate kid movies.
- And finally, the overly eager wave; this is the sort of wave you associate with 10 year old girls. We haven't seen many of these but laugh every time we do.

In certain areas we noticed not only other caravan drivers waving to us, but everyone waves. This seems common in the more isolated areas like Kangaroo Island, Uluru and Kings Canyon, and even on the road from Erldunda to Alice Springs.

Darren often gets lost in his thoughts and can neglect to wave so I have to be on my guard as back up waver! Darren generally opts for 'the point' or '3 finger wave', whereas I choose 'the how'.

Other lessons have revolved around our kids.

Micaela is growing up way too fast. Gone is my baby girl, replaced with a beautiful intelligent cheeky young lady getting ready to enter her teens. When we stayed with the Breust's, Alan described how Bec still looks out for her brothers and I can see Micaela assuming this role also.

Ethan is more keen than ever to gain approval from Darren. He follows Darren around helping him set and pack up the van. I walked out of the van when we were packing up to leave Rawnsley Park Station in the Flinders Ranges to find Ethan folding the legs up on the van and teaching Brandon how to do it whilst Darren had gone to the toilet.

Brandon is so cheeky but smart. He continually recites bits of information he has learnt from reading a book in the library. Darren and I just look at each other amazed he even knew anything about the subject matter. But he is lazy with it. He tries everything to get out of walking but has the most energy upon completion (even when he doesn't get a piggy back).

We finally arrived at Big4 Katherine Holiday Park at about 5.30pm and were pleasantly greeted by very friendly staff. The temperature by this stage was 29 degrees so we were extremely pleased to get out of the car.

We were given a choice of sites and was met by Bob who showed us to them allowing us to pick which one we preferred. We chose a nice wide site close to the amenities.

We didn't get much of a chance to have a look around the park but what we have seen looks beautiful. They are quite busy here also.

We have booked in for 2 nights but considering staying a third as we don't think we will get to see enough tomorrow.

Very much to our delight, the winter tubs have been packed under the bed and replaced with the tubs of summer clothes, we are even planning to go swimming tomorrow but not with the crocs, we'll let them have their water holes to themselves!

Our plan for tomorrow is to explore Nitmuluk National park which is the home of Katherine gorge.