The Adelaide River War Cemetery & Katherine

On the road towards Katherine we stopped in at the Adelaide River War Cemetery. A truly moving experience with an ghostly beauty. We quietly wandered the site, reading the names of many soldiers that had lost their lives during the war, as well as civilians that died during the Darwin bombing, many as young as 16. Reading through a long list of names we found both POWELL & THOMPSON’S, we felt extremely humbled and forever grateful for their sacrifices. There is no way you could leave this site and not feel extremely lucky and proud to be Australian, as we did.

For a short time it was a quiet drive on to Katherine as we both reflected on our visit to the cemetery, but as you know, I never stay quiet long. We arrived at Springvale Homestead where we were to camp for the next few nights. A beautiful place to stay with alot of history. We enjoyed a cup of tea and scones and walked through the old stone homestead (in true grey nomad style). Mostly we used our stay here as a base to explore the Katherine area.

We decided to head out for the day, first stop Cutta Cutta Caves. It compulsory to take a guided tour of the spectacular caves and well worth the extra information along the walk. We slowly crept further and further into the caves admiring the beautiful stalagmites/stalactites that shined a crystal white as if covered in diamonds. We even learned of history of the soldiers coming into the caves during the war and blowing the beautiful formations off for fun, you can still see the results of it today.

I was excited about heading the to the Katherine Gorge but that soon deflated when we arrived. There isn’t much you can do that isn’t expensive there. All activities at the gorge, including flights and boat tours must be booked through one agent when you arrive. Unfortunately we had just missed the last boat tour which was $75 each for 2 hours. Our only other option was to do a flight and we decided to give it a miss. We walked to the boat ramp and I have no doubt the rest of the gorge would be spectacular, however I still can’t get my head around how inaccessible some of these place are, hence no photo's of this one sorry. They are NATIONAL PARKS and we should be free to visit them, so frustrated and with no bushwalks to take us exploring further we returned to camp to prepare for our trip across the border in WA tomorrow!! We knew there would be many more spectacular gorges where we were heading.

Entrance to the Adelaide River War Cemetery

The Historic Springvale Homestead

Litchfield National Park

Deciding for various reasons to give Kakadu a miss this time around... we were bound for Litchfield NP. A short drive south of Darwin we passed through the small town of “Rum Jungle” before arriving at our camp ground. Really... who comes up with these names... imagine living in the “Rum Jungle”. We stayed at the Litchfield Caravan Park just outside the NP due to travelling with the dogs. It was a huge improvement on Darwin hospitality. The manager was very friendly, the grounds were excellent and we had the unpowered area completely to ourselves. They also told us to let them know when we go to the NP for the day and they will keep an eye on the dogs and make sure they have plenty of water. Highly recommend and we really enjoyed our stay. The NP itself is beautiful but like most things the secret is out! We always heard people saying “go to Litchfield, its equally or more beautiful than Kakadu and less crowded.” Not these days.... there is no entry fee into Litchfield, unlike Kakadu, and nor should there be. It was beautiful but busy. The main Wangi Falls area is a excellent place for a picnic, view of the falls and a cold swim in the waterhole, however being so close after the wet season and for risk of crocodiles it was closed for swimming when we visited. Florence Falls was gorgeous and a bit of a hike up and down hundreds of stairs... a bit disappointing when it was so crowded when we got there, presumably because the other swimming hole was closed. Not willing to fight the crowd to get into the water we opted to head for a swim at the cascades. Again beautiful but it seems such a shame to visit these places and have them be over crowded. I can’t forget to mention the very interesting old tin mine ruins and ant beds. We had a great time exploring but Ben was starting to get the Kimberley itch.


Huge Termite Mound



Old Tin Mine



Florence Falls



Wangi Falls

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!

To The North - Devils Marbles, Tennant Creek and Daly Waters!

Leaving Alice Springs for the second time we are heading north to the Devils Marbles for a quick overnight stay before heading to Daly Waters Pub. The marbles weren't as we expected them to be and overall very disappointing!

The Devils Marbles are directly beside the highway heading north to Darwin, and therefor an easy and VERY POPULAR overnight stop for travellers. We arrived reasonably early in the afternoon (lucky for us) to find only a few camp spots available and not a great deal to look at. After witnessing Ayers Rock, Kings Canyon and The Olga's just days before, the marbles were a bit of a let down. The camping area here has no facilities, everyone parks on top of each other and packs up to hit the road the following day... so that is exactly what we did.

Continuing north we got to Tennant Creek, no overnight stop but we decided to take a underground tour of the old gold mine. Of course, Ben has seen enough underground mining but he humoured me and tagged along anyway. The history in this area is rich and very interesting, we put on our hard hats and ear muffs and headed into the underground shaft. Along the 1 hour tour our guide explained how the miners spent days without coming out of the shaft, and rationed water that much that they'd pee in their gold pans instead of using water... not joking! Our guide started up the old equipment the used in the mine and we had a new found appreciation for the mining pioneers.

It was late in the afternoon when we arrived at the very famous Daly Waters Pub. What a great place... I was so tempted to stop and work here! A quick camp set up and off the the pub for a "Beef & Barra BBQ" listening to "Chilli" their local entertainer, songwriter, balladeer, poet, spinner of tall yarns, a champion bullrider and rodeo clown. My god we laughed and I don't think I have ever felt to Australian and proud of it! A truly smashing pub... the way they're meant to be, the walls are covered in memorabilia, bra's, undies, thongs, hats and all sorts of things people had left behind. You could spend hours looking at the things from years passed. I am so disappointed we forgot to leave our thongs behind..... next time!

Lucky for us we were able to chat to some guys at the pub that had just returned from the Roper River... our next stop. I don't think they had much of a clue really... they caught a few fish and told us the road was shocking but nothing could deter us from heading to the Roper Bar and catching some Barra.

The only photo we took at The Devils Marbles

Ha ha... Miner Ben!

Old Gold Mine Shaft

Ben eyeing off some old equipment.

Walking out of the ine shaft.

Jewellery store across from Daly Waters Pub...Interesting.

Daly Waters Pub!

Finke about it!

Those that know Ben well will know that there was no way we could drive back to Alice Springs the same way we had come and of course “I didn’t come on this trip to stay on the highway!”  Finke hosts the annual desert race from Finke to Alice and back again. Motorbikes and desert vehicles. As we weren’t going to be in Alice for the race Ben at least wanted to drive the track, so we did.

From Ayers Rock we travelled back to the east to Kulgera, only 20kms from the South Australian border, visited the geographical centre point of Australia on the way and soon arrived at Finke.What an eye opener. The locals greeted us with a fire in the middle of the street, about 30 dogs roaming around and needless to say we drove straight through and spent a nervous overnight stay about 50km out of town. The Finke Race follows the old Ghan rail track and while the history and ruins along the way are very interesting they are unkept, damaged and littered.

Closer to Alice Springs, along the Finke track we took the turn off to visit Chambers Pillar. The history here is amazing. Explorers left there initials and date carved into the pillar to show they had made it that far and travelled through. If anything, the Finke track made us realise how tough our ancestors would have done it, travelling through this country in a 4wd could be hard going enough, let alone on a camel!

Finally we made it back to Alice for a brief overnight stay before heading north again. I must make a special mention of another 2 places before we go. “Fresh In The Desert” is a fresh produce shop in Alice where you can get anything from Dragonfruit & Camel Ham (as we did) to potatoes and deli items. Worth a visit. The other is the small Italian pizza restaurant which served possibly the best pizza i have ever bought! Yum.

Camel Ham & Dragonfruit

Geographical centre point of Australia!

Driving the Finke Desert Race Track

Chambers Pillar.