A fairly big day today, 450 k’s to Banka Banka Station. We stopped off at Daly Waters pub (as you have too) for a drink and a bite to eat. Daly Waters is a small and very unique town, everything in it is quirky. Whilst is known for its “pub” it also had one of the largest outback airstrips during WW2 and it still is today.

Banka Banka is an operating farm (station) and like many in the north, accomodation is the new income earner for stations. Whilst there is no 240V power (the sun makes sure your van batteries are charged), the water is clean and the sites are well grassed. Big plus is the daily campfire at 6pm which we enjoyed with the other Nomads, sharing experiences. You gain a lot of knowledge at these get togethers, from places to see or stay to issues with vans & vehicles. It’s a very pleasant way to end the day.

We’ve had 2 days here at the Mataranka Homestead Tourist Park, otherwise known as Mataranka Springs. We were rather conflicted whether to stay here or at Bitter Springs, which is also in Mataranka but about 7 k’s here from the Homestead. After being at both we were very happy we chose the Homestead.

The thermal pool was close to the park and with the Bar and Bistro, combined with music of a night time you couldn’t ask for much more. One thing we didn’t expect was the crowd, the place has been packed out not to mention the day trippers who also come to the pool. It’s a long weekend here in the top end so I suppose that has contributed to the numbers. With everything turning to crap in Melbourne with stage 4 restrictions, you would not know there was an issue here, if it wasn’t for the COVID signs on display. Certainly a different world up here.

Speaking of different, the park has been full of campfires, the difference being the locals are huddled around them constantly. When we walked down to the pool for our final swim this afternoon, all the campfires were burning surrounded by people and it was still 30 degrees, we were utterly dumbfounded. Also different was the class of red wine from the bar, ice cold glass from the fridge and the wine was also from the fridge and just as cold.

We have really enjoyed our time here, had 4 swims in the thermal pools, 3 here at the Homestead and one at Bitter Springs. One of the best memories of the trip so far.

Tomorrow we head south to a station stay at Banka Banka about 100 k’s north of Tenant Creek and then Tuesday we turn east before crossing the border into Queensland on Wednesday. Our time in NT has been rather brief but we covered what we wanted to see and more.

To our family and friends back home in Melbourne about to go into stage 4 lockdown, we are thinking of you. All I can say is “Be Brave”!

We’ve spent a couple of days here in Litchfield National Park, staying at the Litchfield Tourist Park. Which was its own oasis, very green grass with lovely shaded sites, the perfect follow on to the Oasis Caravan Park in Darwin.

Litchfield has some lovely swimming holes and fabulous water falls (even in the dry season) with many walking trails throughout the park. We had been here before, about 10 years ago but only for a quick stop, so we were keen to come back for a longer stay and we’re glad we did.

I have to say it does seem strange swimming in places with an abundance of danger signs with regards to Crocodiles. Mainly fresh water ones which are deemed safe to humans but “salties” are known to habitat the waters as well but mainly in the Wet season when most of the swimming holes are closed.

Tomorrow we’re off to Mataranka Springs and the Thermal pool there. One thing is for sure with all these fresh water pools, we are keeping clean. Although the bloody red dust still manages to infiltrate everything, both human and non human.

Things are really hotting up back home in Melbourne, so to our family and friends do what is required and stay safe.

Had a bit of a rest the last couple of days but still managing to get out and see a few things. Tuesday, Steve and I had a day out visiting the Aviation Heritage Centre, the Darwin War museum, The RFDS (Royal Flying Doctor Service) Centre and many other sites to do with Darwin’s WW2 and aviation history, whilst our vehicles were being serviced. The highlight had to be the RFDS Centre with the Virtual Reality film’s on the bombing of Darwin and a mercy flight in one of the RFDS’s PC12 Air Ambulances. The VR films were simply great, going to have to get myself one of those VR machines!

Today we dropped the caravan off for servicing and hopefully a fix to our alignment problems. Then into town to stay in a hotel for the evening, the first night in 7 months since we have slept in a bed that did not sit on 4 wheels!

Whilst Susan had some pampering in the Spa in the hotel, I met up with Steve and Vicki for lunch and then into Crocosaurus Cove for a bit of close up action with some Crocs! Crocosaurus Cove is in the city centre of Darwin and I hope the buggers never get out. There are some big and nasty types in there and the Crocs are pretty bad too!

After the Crocs it was down to Stokes Wharf for a drink and dinner. It was our last night with Steve and Vicki as we leave Darwin tomorrow for Litchfield National Park, whilst they are staying on for a few days before heading back home to Adelaide. Other than a short gap between Kununurra and Darwin we have been together since early March. It’s been a great trip, sharing all the adventures and also the misadventures together. Safe travels home guys!

Pretty quiet day today. I played golf this morning (see CRAPP below) and then we ventured to the city for dinner at the Darwin Waterfront. I have to admit its very pleasant sitting out outside all the time eating dinner. With temperatures still in the high 20’s and low 30’s at dinner time, its very pleasurable particularly sitting beside the water. Although I’m sure its a bit different in the middle of the wet season in high humidity.

The waterfront near Stokes Wharf has many bars and restaurants overlooking a swimming area and wave pool in a green parklands setting. It’s a large swimming lagoon with its own sandy beach, its one of the few if not only safe swimming beach in the area, no Crocs or Stingers in there! Only a few days left in Darwin before we head south, Steve and I will be doing all the military museums tomorrow and then Wednesday we’ll be in the city centre whilst the van is getting serviced. We’re staying in a hotel on Wednesday night, picking up the van Thursday morning, so it will be the first night in nearly 6 months that we haven’t slept in the van. Looking forward to not hitting my head when I go into the ensuite.

Now for what you really want to hear about, my CRAPP (Course Report & Personal Preference).

My course of choice here was the Darwin Golf Club. Unfortunately I could not get a game in the club competition over the weekend as the Darwin Open was on and I could not get a guernsey in that either. So I played a social game with a couple of members. One was not to keen to play with me when I informed him I was from Melbourne. After I assured him I had not been in Melbourne since early February, he then agreed but I think me being a Richmond member (he had a Richmond Tigers golf bag) really got me over the line.

The course is a semi links style with a parklands feel and was in pretty good nick considering the amount of golf that had been played over the weekend. Also there hasn’t been any rain in Darwin in months, so the course was surprising green but then it was their main comp for the year so you would expect good conditions. So here is my ratings:

Design 14 out of 20

Condition 15 out of 20

Cost 18 out of 20 ($30 for 18 holes was great value)

Visual Appeal 12 out of 20

Facilities 6 out of 10

Ambience/Appeal 6 out of 10

Total score out of 100 is 71. It’s a nice course, strong in a number of areas but the Visual Appeal did let it done somewhat. It did not really grab you when you first set eyes on it but its still one of the highest ratings on BBOT so far. It will probably be a number of weeks before I get a chance for another round, most likely in Cairns. So look forward to my CRAPP in a few weeks time.

Had a trip on the Adelaide River today to see the jumping Crocodiles. They basically jump out of the water to grab the chicken that is on offer to them. The Adelaide River is chockers with Crocs, so there was no shortage of them coming to the boat for a look and a feed.

The sizes range from the young ones at about 1.5 metres to “Dominator” at 6 metres, reputed to be the largest Croc in the world in its natural habitat. They are really fearsome creatures up close the the sound they make when they snap their jaws close is awesome. They gave many of us on the boat a good look, thankfully they decided to stay in the water and not jump up at us, only the Chicken that was being feed to them. Although there were a couple that shied away from the Chicken and gave a good stare. One was looking at Susan and another made a lunge for the tour operator.

Brutus is a 90 year old male with no teeth and he certainly rules the roost on the river. Brutus has no teeth and only 3 legs but he is still the King. Goldies a younger male at about 4.5 metres was trying to get the bait but when Brutus came up behind him there was a scuffle and Goldie took off. Amazing seeing two huge dinosaurs having a “Blue”, as our guide said that doesn’t happen everyday.

The female Croc’s grow no longer than 3.5 metres but the males keep growing to they die, hence Brutus and Dominator at around 6 metres and they are over 70 years old. Unfortunately at that age they lose their teeth, as is the case the Brutus and they eventually die of starvation. It was an exciting trip and also amazing how quick the big Crocs are.

We finished off the day at the Mindil Beach markets and the sunset over the beach. When the sun finally sets, everyone claps, its a unique experience only in Darwin I believe.

Can’t believe its only 5 months to Christmas. After the last couple of months enjoying high 20’s, low 30’s it feels like we are still in March, not July. I’m sure to everyone back home in Melbourne its been a bloody long time, especially now your in Lockdown 2. Hopefully things will improve soon.

We’ve been in Darwin for a few days now, having a little break. It can be tiring travelling and staying in places no more than 2 or 3 days, so where having about a week here, getting the van and Cruiser serviced whilst here. Fortunately we’ve been here before, so there’s not a big rush to get out there and see everything.

We enjoyed dinner on Stokes Wharf the other night, very similar feel to Boat Quay in Singapore, sitting right by the water, warm night and many Asian food shops to select from. Also had a bit of a drive around the city, Darwin is much bigger than I imagined. My previous visits have been fly in and stay in the CBD basically so to dive around the extremities of the town was good.

I’m going to hit the Aviation and War museums next week and I’ll get another game of Golf in on Monday, so look out for Ray’s CRAPP (Golf Report and Personal Preference, for those who have forgotten). Susan is enjoying being in the one place for awhile and taking it easy. We plan to head south from Darwin next Thursday after the servicing are finished. Litchfield is the first stop and then Mataranka Springs. We’re going as far south as the Devil’s Marbles which is about 100 k’s south of Tennant Creek. Then turn around and come north again turning right, just past Tennant Creek and heading east to QLD.

So until next time, keep safe everyone!

A rather eventful day of travelling today. About 45 km’s north of Katherine we encountered a serious road accident that had blocked the Stuart Hwy to Darwin for over 4 hours. We had about an hour wait and the vehicle queues both north and southbound stretched for many km’s. Most of us were out walking around whilst we waited and the vehicle behind us was an undertaker, taking a body to Darwin for a Post Mortem. Fortunately he has the refrigeration unit going as it was around 30 degrees at 1100. I wasn’t retail you of some of his stories but lets just say we had an interesting discussion.

Once we were thru the accident site it was off to Adelaide River for lunch and a quick trip into the War cemetery (continue the theme). But before that we had to drive thru a small bushfire that was on the side of the road, certainly enough smoke but the was an abundance of flames along the road edge as well. If we were back in Melbourne the road would have been blocked and the firies out attending to the fire, not here though!

The Adelaide War Cemetery contains the graves of the servicemen and women and civilians that were killed during the 1st bombing of Darwin by the Japanese in WW2, on the 19th of February 1942. Additionally it contains others killed in war in the South West Pacific theatre too. All up Darwin was bombed by the Japanese 64 times. It has special significance to our family as our father “Tommy” was here on that fateful day and for many more of the bombing raids by the Japanese on Darwin. He used to tell us he and his mates would be in the caves on Fannie Bay during the raids and watch the zero’s come in overhead to bomb the RAAF base. The Cemetery is a Commonwealth War Graves cemetery and therefore expertly looked after, its a memorial in its own right.

We had a full day in Katherine and we spent it on the Gorge cruise thru gorges 1 and 2 of the Nitmiluk National Park and then a dip in the Katherine Hot Springs. Nitmiluk is aboriginal for “Cicada Land” and there are parts of the gorge that aboriginals will not go themselves but they do allow others to visit.

It was a interesting cruise, very different to the ones in Kununurra. We had to walk between the two gorges and this walk was very interesting as it allowed us to see aboriginal drawings on the rock faces that had been dated at 8,000 years old.

We finished the day off with a dip in the Hot Springs, which was very refreshing. It was not as hot as I thought it would be but still rather warm if you compared it to the pool in the park. We were told that because it was the dry season resulting in less water flow the temperature was not as warm.

Heading off to Darwin tomorrow. We are going to stay there for a week and use it as a base, whilst we get the Cruiser and Van serviced. We are basically half way thru our trip, both distance and time wise, so we’ll get both the van and car ready for the second half of our trip. We have covered just on 15,000 km’s so far, so my estimate of 30,000 will be pretty close.

Whilst we are enjoying warm and sunny weather and basically free of COVID restrictions, we forget about what our family and friends are going thru back home in Melbourne. So we are thinking of you all, please follow the guidelines so you don’t contract it and hopefully some sense of normality is not too far away.

Yes, after an enjoyable 5 months we made it across the border into the Northern Territory (NT). A quick free camp last night not far from Victoria River and then we travelled up to Katherine this morning.

Already we have noticed a difference, particularly buying alcohol. I had to go thru 3 security checks, including a policewoman standing in the store just to buy a bottle of Bundy. The only thing I didn’t have to tell them was my underwear size.

Only in Katherine for a couple of days, will be doing the Katherine Gorge trip tomorrow before heading north again on Wednesday. Called into the Information centre and they had an interesting rug on the floor (see photo below). We’ll have to be on our mettle here in the NT, what with alcohol security and Croc warnings everywhere, should be an interesting few weeks in the NT.