South on the Stuart Highway

Katherine and Mataranka – Wed/Thur 25 and 26 Aug

The evening last Tuesday at Victoria River cooled down a little.  It was pleasant to be able to walk down to the river on the old bridge and feel the coolness coming up from the water.  By the morning it was much cooler.  Didn’t look at the thermometer!

We had a shorter trip then into Katherine and booked in to the Low Level (Big 4) Caravan Park, i.e altitude not status.  We managed to find a shady spot, after requesting a different site to the one allocated.  For most of the afternoon we sat in the shade, or had a swim in the pool.  There was one trip into town with the intention of seeing the cycad museum/nursery which is one of the listed attractions.  It was closed.  Then we drove into the museum nearby which has much to do with aviation early days, but that was just closing!  There was time to buy fuel for the next days travel and a bag of ice, and 2 ice creams, when we got into the main street.

We are now at Mataranka (Thursday 26 Aug) and are staying this time at Territory Manor.  We watched a demonstration of feeding the barramundi that they have here as pets, and a talk about that type of fish.  This was followed by a talk about cane toads, with two live specimens.  They do a bit of toad busting here, getting the guests and kids who volunteer to go out with torches, gloves and buckets in the early evening and catch as many as they can.  They are destroyed later.  Cane toads are certainly a curse.  We were told at Lake Argyle that they have reached the East side of that lake, meaning that they are now found in WA.  Some wildlife have now become aware of their poisonous nature and do not eat them whole.  Some birds turn them over first.

It was pleasant to spend quite a lot of time this afternoon drifting along the creek nearby which is Bitter Springs and also part of the Elsey National Park.  This is a natural spring of clear crisp water slightly heated with turquoise colour tinge in a flowing creek about 3 metres wide and 2 metres deep.  This is part of a similar area as the Rainbow Springs which we stayed near on the way north, at the Homestead Caravan Park, on the other side of town.   Today was 37degC max and at 9:30pm tonight it is still 30degC so our small fan is going full speed while the air conditioning of a large motorhome next to us pumps away.

Friday (we think!)27^th Aug – Roger helped the lady in the large motorhome next to us find out how to put the vehicle in reverse!  She and her daughter have it for 8 days, doing a relocation from Darwin to Brisbane.  Mataranka was their first night.  This is one way of trying out that sort of travel.

We were travelling ‘down’ the map today, and are now at Dunmarra Roadhouse/Station for the night.  The anthills we saw on the way north were still there standing erect amongst the trees like a gathering of little dark people.  The road is mostly straight.  We decided to have lunch at the Daly Waters Pub, having a ‘barra’ burger and chips and glass of cold water.  It was not a long journey, and we arrived here about 1 p.m., so have enjoyed a relaxing afternoon following the shade.  There has been a cool breeze today, so the temperature has been much more pleasant.  We decided not to join the happy hour here this time, in case we won the lucky dip and got to feel in the sack for the carpet snake!  However we did go and watch the movie under the stars which was very enjoyable – “Evan Almighty” a fun movie about Noah building the ark in modern day terms.  During the season here they show a movie each night, and have a choice of 8 or so that are family friendly movies.  The chances of seeing the same one are less that way. 

It’s a beautiful starry night too at 25degC at 9pm and our fan is not required.  We are withdrawing for our diet of bananas – for the month at HCJB we had bananas for breakfast, morning tea, lunch and dinner plus a snack now and again – but now we have only one left and it is very ripe.