Sunday May 27

Here we are safely in Darwin with reliable internet access, so time to update the blog.  I will resist the temptation to go on about the temperature of 29 and how beautiful it is to sit outside, especially after what we have been hearing about last Friday’s rain ‘event’.

Our plan to leave Alice and spend the night camped at Karlu Karlu (Devils Marbles) last Monday worked admirably, although we were astounded how many others were already in residence when we arrived at about 2pm.  Karlu Karlu is truly impressive – haphazard piles of huge spherical boulders scattered by the Rainbow Serpent over a large area and predictably, we ended up with many, many photos.   Here are a couple of the afternoon ones:

Now for a couple of sunset photos . . .

And now for sunrise . . .

On Tuesday we travelled to Banka Banka Station via Tennant Creek.  Again, we arrived at about 2pm, which allowed for plenty of time to relax and explore.  Banka Banka is about 154,000 hectares and was purchased by the Indigenous Land Corporation in 2010 from the Kidman mob.  It will be re-established as a cattle station and become a training facility for young aboriginal people, in the same way as Home Valley on the Gibb River Road (we will be visiting here also).  We had a great walk up to the lookout (see below) and then challenged ourselves (well, one of us anyway!) by walking along the very rocky ridge track to a set of waterholes.

 Wednesday was a longer journey and we spent the night at the Daly River Pub.  Again, lots of people in the park and we succumbed to temptation and had the first of what we hope will be many, wild caught barramundi meals.  Yum, yum, yum!!!!!

Thursday’s destination was Katherine and we decided to stay out at Nitmiluk rather than in town.  Huge changes in the campground since we were last here in 2007 – not surprising really!  One very impressive change was the addition of a large and very pleasant pool and as the day’s temperature had been around 30, a dip after walks was very welcome.  We didn’t do any of the gorge trips as we had all done it on previous visits – just enjoyed the surroundings.  Had visits from Blue-faced Honeyeaters, Great Bowerbirds and Agile Wallabies looking for hand-outs, but we did the right thing and ignored them.  The Woolybutt Trees are flowering at the moment and the bright orange flowers are just glorious.

 Friday’s trip into Darwin was a bit over 200 kilometres, but the road is good and there was very little traffic so it was quite pleasant.  The vegetation became more and more tropical as we travelled further north and the magnetic and cathedral termite mounds which had started appearing a couple of days before became quite a lot larger.  Arrived in Darwin in the early afternoon and set ourselves up in a caravan park at Lee Point, north of the city. 

Went in for a bit of a look around the wharf area before foolishly going into the Casuarina Shopping Centre to get a few bits and pieces.  The place was jam-packed with screaming teenage girls as Reece Mastin was making a special appearance (we had to check to find out who this person was!).  We fled to the quiet of the caravan park, which brings me back to the joy of sitting outside in the warmth.  Will save the account of our Darwin visit until later in the week, when I can do it all at once before we return to Katherine.