KATHERINE to KUNUNURA (Western Australia) via DARWIN

Day 23, Saturday 16-May-2015
KATHERINE to DARWIN 307k (3822k)
17.4 L/100k, 136.9 c/l
Although Darwin was not in the original plan we had time and decided to change our plans and go, we booked some sites at the Discovery Caravan Park in Winnellie which is just opposite the Darwin Airport / RAAF base with planes of all sizes, and no curfew for the RAAF, a bit annoying some nights but other than that it was a pretty quiet stay. The park does not allow campervans or tents so it is mostly us grey nomads who don’t party too hard and are all in bed by 8.30pm.
The drive to Darwin is fairly straight through bushland and grassy plains and the weather was clear blue cloudless skies with temperatures in the low 30’s for our week’s stay, there was also a bit of humidity, so once we had the vans set up we headed to the pool where we met an interesting English couple, they had bought their

motorhome from England for their 12 month stay in Australia.
Day 23, Sunday 17-May-2015
A quiet morning in camp then at 3.00pm we drove over to the Mindil Beach Sunset Markets, about 10k from us, they don’t open until 4.00pm but the guy camped behind us recommended that we go early for a car park, once we parked the car we walked along the beach front to the Sky Casino for some $4.00 Schooners. Refreshed we walked back to the markets for a browse, there were a number a market stalls including everything from clothing, jewellery, souvenir’s, art plus the largest section the food market, we grabbed something to eat and sat down on the grass for Dinner then went onto the beach with a couple of thousand other tourists to watch the sunset into the Timor Sea.
Day 24, Monday 18-May-2015
A treat for the ladies today with a trip to the “Casuarina Shopping Centre” this is a major centre and has everything under one roof, we

did our shopping and browsing, fish and chips for lunch then back to camp to repair a broken winder on the caravan window.
Day 25, Tuesday 19-May-2015
John and I went to see the Aviation Heritage Museum which is beside the airport, just across the road from the caravan park. The museum has a great undercover display of aircraft including the star of the collection a B52 Bomber plus Sabre Jet, Mirage, Wessex Helicopter, Spitfire and many other aircraft as well as a history of the bombing of Darwin during WW2, the girls stayed back at camp to give the washing machines a work out but we made up for it by taking them to the “Seafood on Cullen” all you can eat steak & seafood buffet, the restaurant is on Cullen Bay and once again we were able to watch a magnificent sun set over the ocean.
Day 26, Wednesday 20-May-2015
We travelled into the Darwin waterfront today and walked up past the beautifully restored old Court House and Goal, the wind a rain was

so strong during Cyclone Tracy that it washed the mortar out from between the sand stone blocks causing parts of this heritage building to collapse. Our walk continued up past the old and new parliament houses and through Centenary Park on Darwin Harbour, then up in into the Darwin CBD and Smith Street Mall where we had lunch at a small café.
After lunch we walked back to the waterfront precinct where we had our car parked and then drove down to Fisherman’s Wharf to buy some fresh seafood. It was another hot and humid day and we spent the rest of afternoon in the pool at the caravan park.
Day 27, Thusday 21-May-2015
Some last minute shopping then back to the pool the cool off, Dinner was Moreton Bay Bugs, Sea Scallops with cheese cake, ice cream and vanilla custard.
Day 28, Friday 22-May-2015

DARWIN to VINCE CONNELLY CROSSING via KATHERINE 359k (4269k)
18.4 L/100k, 136.9 c/l
Travelled back to Katherine today to pick up John’s new glasses which he ordered last week, my own glasses also failed on the drive back when one lens just popped out, so I tagged along to OPSM. My glasses just needed a replacement screw and the lens refitted, a 5 minute job, the optometrist told me that it’s the big changes in temperature in and out of the car that causes the screws to work loose.
We pulled over just outside Katherine for lunch and the continued west along the Victoria Hwy for another 54k to our overnight stop at Vince Connelly Crossing, only a small roadside camp with toilets and dump point, seven vans including us just about filled it.
Day 29, Saturday 23-May-2015
VINCE CONNELLY CROSSING to BIG HORSE CREEK 235k (4513k)
We continue west along the Victoria Hwy, the country is flat with grassy bushland until we start getting near Victoria River where the highway weaves its way through spectacular red rock escarpments then returns to the grassy bushland. A bit after 11.00am we arrived at Big Horse Creek National Park which is about 10k past the town of Timber Creek, the park backs onto the Victoria River with the Big Horse Creek running alongside the park and into the river. We plan to stay here for 3 days and because we arrived early we got the pick

of the camp sites, by 5.00pm the camp was filled to capacity with about 25 caravans, a couple of them parked on the boat ramp track, there was a colony of Great Bowerbirds called in to see if we had any food for them and we had to put plastic bags over the car mirrors to stop the Pee Wee’s attacking them.
Day 30, Sunday 24-May-2015
John and I were down at the river before the 7.05am sunrise to try some fishing, we were there for 2 hrs, a couple of bites but nothing landed, we were fishing off the boat ramp and also had to keep an eye out for Crockodiles, the weather is a bit cooler here, in the high 20’s. We returned again a sunset but no luck.
Day 31, Monday 25-May-2015
John and I were down at the river again before sunrise and this time I caught a small Archer Fish on bait, a bit small to eat so we threw him back. John had 3 traps set which attracted some fresh water shrimp,

the small ones we kept for bait, the larger ones make good eating if you get enough of them.
Day 32, Tuesday 26-May-2015
BIG HORSE CREEK to KUNUNURA 227k (4751k)
17.4 L/100k, 136.9 c/l
We set out west again along the Victoria Highway, stopping at Saddle Creek rest stop for morning tea, we saw a few familiar faces and a new Ford Territory with a Van which had broken down, suspected water in the fuel tank, the woman was sitting under the shelter having a cuppa while her husband had hitched a ride to the quarantine station on the border to get help. We continued our journey across the border into Western Australia where everyone has to stop a the quarantine station, they inspect the car and van for fruit, vegetables, nuts and honey which you are not allowed to take into WA. Our Kununurra destination was the Hidden Valley caravan park and even though we had booked a week ahead they could not organise a couple of adjoining sites for our vans, the woman at reception was pretty hopeless at organising anything. It was 38 deg, where is the pool we asked? Its down the back she said but the weather’s not hot enough for swimming – we did anyway.
Day 33, Wednesday 27-May-2015
The caravan park backs onto the Mirima National Park and has a couple of walking tracks, we left camp at 5.30am and walked the tracks as the sun rose over the rocky escarpments on the way up to the lookout, there were information plaques along the track identifying particular plants and trees and what the Aboriginals would use them for, such as food, medicine, didgeredoo, and various hunting weapons. In total the walk covered 5.2klms and we were back at camp before it got too hot. During the day we went into Kununura to find a camping shop to get a couple of compact camping chairs then the supermarket for long life groceries for our Gibb River Road tent trip, then back to camp and the pool.
Wednesday evening we went out to the Hotel for a cold beer and a hot pizza to watch the State of Origin, Go Queensland by 1 point.
Day 34, Thursday 28-May-2015
Today we went out to “The Hoochery” which is a local distillery that makes port and spirits, at $156.00 for an 800ml bottle of port, it was a bit rich for us, we moved along to the next tourist spot “The Sandlewood Factory” they have a squillion acres of Indian Sandlewood growing here which sells for $100,000 per ton, a very interesting place and the ladies bought some nice moisturising cream.
After the tourist spots we went out to Ivanhoe Crossing, the road was closed due to a fair bit of fast flowing water, we found a shady spot and threw a line in but no luck with any fish, when we got back into the car the outdoor temperature was showing 42deg.
Day 35, Friday 29-May-2015

We left camp at 8.00am for Lake Argyle and the Ord River Dam, great views from the lookouts over Lake Argyle which is 18 times larger than Sydney Harbour, the main wall is only small to hold back such a large amount of water, 600 metres wide x 68 metres high. Once we finished our signtseeing we made our way down to the lush green of the Lake Argyle Resort for morning tea, there were lots of caravans there and it is famous for its infinity swimming pool, the pool is on the edge of a mountain overlooking the lake, there is no visible edge on the lake side of the pool, just water.
From Lake Argyle we kept heading East into the Northern Territory and to the Zebra Rock Mine, the Mine is owned by Husband, Kim and his Wife, Ruth, there is also their 2 y.o daughter Opel and Safari Leader Max.
We had fish & chips for lunch there, Ruth is the Cook, freshly caught Silver Cobbler (delicious), then John and I did a trip out to the Mine

with Ruth and Opal in the old Bull Catcher Toyota, the mine was an uncovered slab of Zebra Rock, amazing stuff.
When we got back to “reception” Ruth gave a tour of the gallery explaining the types of rock in the area, she is an Environmental Scientist, used to work for Rio Tinto and knows her geology, Pam and Marilyn bought some nice Zebra Rock pendants.
We booked to go on their Wetlands Sunset Cruise which was run by Max, 10 people including us travelled 7 klms on a rough dirt road in the bus to the boat, we cruised out through the wetland towards the lake, Max explaining the different species of birds and pointing out the freshwater crocs, when we got to the main lake he stopped the boat, we could see the fish swimming around us, “Where were our Rods?” Max broke out the Esky so that we could enjoy some cold beer, wine or soft drink then made a high speed dash to another wetlands which led into a creek, we pulled up to the bank and miraculously Max found a table under a tree and produced an

assortment of nibblies to go with our cold drinks. Our trip continued back towards the Lake but this time the sun was setting, it was just magnificent watching the colours of the sunset and its afterglow over the wetlands for the next 45minutes, it was dark of course by the time we got back to the mine, Ruth was cooking up another batch of Fish & chips and we had a 70k trip back to camp, many thanks to Marilyn who took on the responsibility of designated driver.
Day 36, Saturday 30-May-2015
Everybody up early for a 5.30am walk into town and back (3.85Klms) before it gets too hot, the girls were booked in for a 8.30am appointment for haircuts and stuff before we take off in the tents, John is re-cinfiguring his car for the trip, I’m catching up on the trip diary and then we are heading for the pool again.
Day 37, Sunday 31-May-2015
A quiet day in camp sorting out our stuff for the Gibb River Road trip
Day 38, Monday 1-June-2015
Today was a public Holiday in Kununurra, nothing much open today
Day 39, Tuesday 2 -June-2015
I started the day with a hair cut, last minute shopping, pick up our WA parks passes and pack the cars ready to leave for our Gibb River Road tent trip next morning, at about 3pm we received an email from Garry and Gwen to say that they had just arrived in Kununarra, we replied to let them know that it was our last night and we were going for a Pub dinner, we met them at the Kununurra pub and caught up with all the trip news, their travelling companions Nev and Pat were still in Darwin following Nev’s brief hospital visit.