The Territory

This is the third night we have camped alongside the same white Toyota Prado towing a camper trailer with Queensland number plates. They are putting in 500 kilometre days too, and, like us, wanting to get out of the heat of the Northern Territory. It's hot, dry and dusty with little to look at when driving. The fashion parade of summer attired termite mounds along the Stuart Highway creates some distraction, but it doesn't last long. This is a big, big country.

After our Lake Argyle excursion we crossed into NT with no fanfare, stopping at Timber Creek (along with every other road user!) for fuel, surprised at the 10 cent price difference between the two service stations right next door to each other. Timber Creek is the gateway to the Gregory National Park with spectacular range and gorge scenery. However, a 4WD is necessary to access all areas and at this time of year the heat chases you back into the air conditioning. We took a very short detour to take a look at the old Victoria River Crossing thinking we could walk down to the river, but it was at least 40 degrees Celsius so we abandoned the idea. Instead we drove slowly over the main bridge near the roadhouse to get a view.

Onward we drove and our first encounter with the camper trailer couple was at King River West rest area, 30 SW of Katherine. No water in this river; just a sand bed waiting for the wet season rains to come. We watched as more and more travellers piled into the small site, skirting around the enormous Winnebago complete with trailer, who I overheard, was from Bathurst. There's not a lot of chatter at these campsites: we are all too hot and bothered by the soaring temperatures, lack of breeze and hundreds of flies and other annoying insects. Once the sun goes down we have to sit in the dark otherwise we will be eaten alive by insects, and the blanket of bushfire smoke just adds to the whole effect.

It's early to bed and early to rise but at least I'm not waking at 5.00am now, as the clocks are forward an hour and a half in the NT and dawn is now around 6.30am. We got into the town of my namesake quite early, purchasing a 12 volt fan to create a little breeze in Delvy. It's been many years since we have had a hot sleepless night so we needed to find some relief, besides hightailing south as quickly as possible. Katherine is a friendly and attractive town; bigger than I thought. As we are on a bit of a mission to get to the East Coast, we didn't stop to look at the nearby national park and the gorge river cruise. We'll just have to return in the more cooler months so we can enjoy the various bushwalks as well.

Turning south we cooled off in the spring-fed mineral rich thermal waters of Bitter Springs at Mataranka, then stopped for a cold one at the Daly Waters pub just for something to do. It is quite kitsch really, bursting at the seams with assorted collections of trivia: bras, business cards, name badges, footy shirts, stickers, notes of currency, thongs....the list goes on. However, this area does have the distinction of having Australia's first international airfield so it does have a bit of kudos. Qantas used Daly Waters as a refuelling point for flights to Singapore, and the pub was built to quench the thirst of its passengers.

At our overnight stop at Newcastle Waters (no water here either) with 16 other travellers and their particular vehicles all lined up in a row, we acquired a hitchhiker overnight. The largest and most colourful stick insect we have ever seen was sitting on Delvy's rear wheel. Gary showed it around the campsite while I cycled the 23 kilometres into the township of Elliott. It was flat all the way and I had to pedal all the way.

Continuing on, fuel stops were at The Three Ways (where the roadhouse attendant accused me of taking unleaded petrol - not sure where she was going with that one!), and then at Barkly Homestead where we paid the highest price per litre of diesel yet: $2.09. Whoa! A sign explained the high price is due to the isolation and that they use a diesel generator to exist. Oh well, as if there is any choice in the matter: we had to fill or we wouldn't make it across the border.

Our final night in the NT was spent at Wonarah Bore campsite; we waved to our camper trailer couple (left of photo) as we drove in.

Compared to WA, the overnight camping facilities are a step down. Often there are no toilets; if there are then they are rather filthy and always lacking toilet paper. Subsequently there are frequent streams of toilet paper flapping about in the spinifex: not a good look. There are no dump points either. Mobile phone and internet service is also lacking in between large towns (and it's a long long way between them too!), hence the delay in this post. In the north west we had service all the way from Broome to Kununurra: perhaps that's due to the mines and their demands to be connected. Anyway, it is what it is.

Queensland tomorrow.


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