Our Australian Travels: Alice Springs to Katherine

Alice Springs – Katherine

(6th July)

More roads covered!

After we left Alice Springs we had a number of days of free camping. We have noted it is important to decide where you want to stop, or at least make sure you pull up somewhere early enough to get a spot. At each of the roadway stops we stayed at there were 20 - 30 vans/RVs. Fortunately we had decided early enough that it was going to be too far to move on the next spot and so managed to get parks without any difficulty.

Taylor Creek

Newcastle Waters

We crossed the Tropic of Capricorn and made a brief stop at the Devil’s Marbles (huge granite boulders out in the middle of nowhere) where we had a wander around before heading off and spending a very quiet night at The Pebbles (similar, but much smaller boulders and less of an area). We also made a brief call in at Larimah, which was a major staging point for US and Australian troops during the second World War – there are a number of abandoned airfields that had been constructed prior to and after the bombing of Darwin that we passed heading north from Tennant Creek.

Devil's Marbles

Devil's Marbles - obligatory photostop!

Devil's Marbles

Formation at the Pebbles near where we camped

We spent a couple of relaxing days at Jalmurark campground at Elsey National Park on the Roper River, just out of Mataranka. A very pleasant place to stay with toilets and solar hot water for the showers! David did an 8.2km return walk to Mataranka ‘Falls’ – not exactly stunning, but remembering, it’s the journey, not the final destination that’s the important thing! We also went and had a dip in the thermal pool – things have changed over the 26 years since out last visit! It doesn’t seem quite as large and the small waterfall where David had his photo taken is no longer there. Still a pleasant experience though.

It pays to read ALL signs in the Northern Territory

No swimming here!

The Roper River in Elsey National Park

Some of the many termite mounds we came across since we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn - they vary in colour from bright red, to grey, light brown to black, depending on the soil in the area. There are millions of them in all shapes and sizes.

When we arrived in Katherine we sent a text message to all and sundry and were surprised to find that Len and Margaret were still here. It turns out they had car trouble on the way into Kakadu and after phoning the Auto Assist, were told not to go any further – they were collected and the car taken away (a saga in itself getting it sent to Darwin for repairs) and the van towed back to Katherine (not Darwin as they had hoped). So we managed to catch up with them again – small world when you’re travelling!

We bought a new tap switch to go between the two gas bottles that fits onto the regulator we replaced in Alice – we’d had the smell of gas whenever we camped without power and David tracked it down to the tap. Not being anywhere we could replace it for five days meant we were hoping noone was going to light up a cigarette near us! All fixed now and fingers crossed we don’t have any more problems of this sort.

We took a trip along Katherine Gorge (Nitmiluk) – 4 hours of scenic delights that just don’t come up in a photo (but I’ll include some anyway). This was the three-gorge trip – three different boats with a short walk between them to get to the different gorges. There was also time for a swim, but with a cool breeze blowing down the gorge, only a couple of people (kids mostly) took the plunge. When we were here in 1986 they used to have a whole day trip which included 5 gorges. Apparently they can’t get enough people who are interested in this any more and so it has been stopped – a pity, as it was a really great day. We finished our day by wandering down to the Katherine Hot Springs (didn’t know they existed) and spending a bit of time just relaxing in the warmish water.

Views of Katherine Gorge (Nitmiluk)