Disappointing Darwin, NT.

After 2 nights in Mataranka we were packed and on the road to Darwin. We decided to continue through Katherine and stop there on our way back to WA.

It wasn’t a good start to our stay in Darwin. We arrived at Coolalinga Caravan Park, the only place in all of Darwin we could stay with the dogs. There were 2 other places that only allowed small dogs! You can imagine the earful the poor lady got that tried to tell me “big dogs are more trouble!” Coolalinga was very uninviting and I tried everything to try and find somewhere else to stay... no luck. We set up camp in an overgrown desert like park, 20km from Darwin City, paid an additional $2 night per dog, had rusty water and no power some nights... quite amusing looking back on it.

The hospitality in Darwin was disappointing. While we originally considered staying in Darwin and gaining employment, we soon decided to stay for 1 week and continue to WA. However we still did lots of fun things in that week.

We were able to catch up with friends Leigh and Katrina that now live in Darwin. They took us to the local Ski Club for a Sunday session. What a beautiful place..... relaxed, waterfront, amazing sunset and a place locals frequent. A great night.

We visited the exquisite parliament house with it’s tremendous white structure and grass so green it looks artificial. The Mindil Markets couldn’t be missed, all the food stalls you can think of... but that’s about all it was good for. SkyCity Casino was a winner with a sumptuous and affordable seafood buffet but no luck in the roulette!

Ed & Jodie (Friends from Roper River) had arrived in Darwin before we left, it was great catching up with them over a drink at the Humpty Doo pub. The pub itself wasn’t what  I expected, from all reports I thought it would be more like the Daly Water Pub with memorabilia and a real country feel. However, it fell short and had the ambiance of any other pub.

The water precinct and man made lagoon is beautiful and much like Brisbane’s South Bank but as soon as you head away from the water, boats and sunset there isn’t really much else to see. Although we weren’t wrapped with Darwin itself, it was great catching up with old friends! Leigh and Katrina’s recent visit to Bali inspired us to book a trip of our own and we processed our passport applications before hitting the road again. A trip to Bali was now on the horizon and we had both been offered employment in Kununurra, East Kimberley, Western Australia. So, on the road again!

Darwin Ski Club... Perfect spot for sunday session.

Sunset at Darwin Ski Club

Darwin Waterfront



Darwin Government House. Waterfront.



Mataranka Thermal Pools

It was slow packing up and leaving the Roper River today. The company was good and we were having a great time, but there were other great places on the horizon. We didn’t leave the Roper River until late and were only heading to Mataranka today. A small town between Tennant Creek and Katherine, smack bang on the highway. It was surprising driving into town, it was quiet, clean and tidy, a huge contrast to the road we had just driven. Littered with broken down cars and green cans. Ben is already planning a trip back to claim some car parts... most cars are left roadside because they have a flat tyre or run out of fuel, many brand new... no-one returns for them, within 48 hours they have been stripped of parts and turned onto their roof! It makes my bloody boil.. but don’t get me started again!

Mataranka is famous for the thermal pools and we were looking forward to a relaxing swim. The crocs weren’t too friendly on the river! We stayed at Mataranka Cabins and Camping, a comfortable and dog friendly park. Just 500m away was the Bitter Springs Thermal Pools, a more natural creek with stairs built into it. You are able to drift with the current and get out at different spots, however there was still alot of water when we visited making it a little dirty. We had a quick dip and gave the drifting a miss.

Not far away is the more famous thermal pools accessed through the Homestead Caravan Park. Entry is free and it is on the edge of Elsey National Park. We enjoyed a lovely swim here but it is quite busy. They have built a beautiful pool like area, lined with pebbles and steps for easy access. The water is warm, continually flowing and extremely inviting!

The pools at Mataranka were special but the best part about Mataranka was bumping into Stuart and Ruth again. We had originally met at Ayres Rock Resort and it was great to catch up for a drink further up the road. We swapped stories over dinner and looked forward to catching up again soon! My faith in good Aussie hospitality and friendship has certainly been restored in the last few weeks.

The Roper Bar & Tomato Island

As hard as it was to leave our overnight stop at The Daly Waters Pub, Ben was keen to get onto a Barra! Most people would travel to the famous Roper Bar via the turn off from Mataranka but not Ben. Don’t be surprised....  but of course we took the back road. An unsealed, rough road through stations that took us about 7 hours to travel 350km. That is not a typo!

Luckily, we left Daly Waters Pub early enough to get to the Roper Bar in the afternoon. We had decided not to camp at the crossing itself, but continue along the road towards Borroloola and camp further out on the river. With sun getting low we didn’t travel as far as first planned, about 50km from the Roper Bar we pulled into the “Tomato Island” campsite.

We were expecting a remote and isolated camping experience out here. No people to be seen, privacy, silence.... little did we know. Tomato Island must have had at least 30 other campers, most of them set up for a long stay. There are no facilities and no water but a boat ramp and plenty of room to camp.

As we arrived people welcomed us. We soon found that most people camped here were war veterans and they generally stayed and fished with their wives for the entire dry season. They soon invited us to attend “Happy Hour” where at 5pm every afternoon they all bring their chairs and gather around “The Circle”, sometimes a fire and share their stories about the fish that got away. Monday nights was “Spud Night” and everyone bought their own spuds in foil, tossed them in the fire and cooked their meat on the bbq. It wasn’t long before we realised that “Tomato Island” was more of a community than a campground!

The river here is beautiful and the wildlife abundant. Everyone was catching loads of Cherabin (fresh water prawns) mostly using them as barra bait and keeping the large ones for eating. We didn’t eat any of ours unfortunately and there is a good story behind that! After losing our stash of cherabin to something breaking our pot one of the locals very kindly gave us a 20L bucket full. We hadn’t been catching many fish and people were starting to feel sorry for us! He told us to eat whatever we didn’t use for bait. Ben was out fishing with the 20L bucket over the edge of the boat to keep the bait alive, in a huff and angry that he hadn’t caught his long awaited barra he pulled up anchor and took off forgetting to pull it in. Quickly the rope was snapped off and the bucket of cherabin disappeared! Later that afternoon the locals asked us how we went and said “at least you can eat the left over cherabin”. We didn’t have the heart to tell them we’d lost them all!

We caught a few barra in the roper but unfortunately they had gone off the bite a bit while we were there, but the people sure made up for it. We made some great friends here. We didn’t go without a feed of barra either; the locals looked after us with some beautiful big fillets. It really is such a family here and the welcoming hospitality of the locals is warm and rare.

Although we came for fishing, one afternoon a big boar walked right passed our campsite, can you believe it! I called Ben and we collared the dogs, letting Bear go first. We couldn’t hear a sound and I got quite worried, Bear was on her own as Xena was yet to get her collar on. Finally Xena and Ben were on their way and Bear was holding the boar on her own. A few cuts and bruises but both Ben and the dogs were very proud of themselves. There was a real buzz around the campfire that evening.. finally we had a story to tell.

I know I’ve said it before, but all good things must come to an end. We were leaving “Tomato Island” after 5 nights and heading just up the road to the old crossing. A beautiful area where the water forms 4 tiers of cascades, eventually running off into the river. We decided to camp out here for the night with Ed & Jodie, another couple we had met at “Tomato Island”.  They had told us about the Barra they had caught from the waterholes and Ben was keen to give it another try. Ben finally caught a beauty that we cooked up for dinner that night and we all caught a few more in the morning. More importantly, we formed a great friendship with Ed & Jodie and enjoyed a few drinks around a campfire. Magic!

Back on the road, it was time to say goodbye to new friends and hit the road to Mataranka.

P.S We did cross the Roper Bar in the car... impressive with a lot of water flowing over it. I wasn’t getting out for a photo, too scared the car was going to wash away. Bugger! By crossing the bar we were in Arnhem Land but that was as far as we went.

Wild donkey on our way to the Roper River.

Our Tomato Island Campsite.

Ben fixing his cast net.

Silly Pig!

Finally a Barra worth keeping!