16. The one with footy, fish and fireworks

Total distance travelled: 10,949km (+2,051km)

With our various ailments subsiding and permits granted, we decided to skip past Kakadu to make our planned dates in Arhnem Land. This involved hastily purchasing some basic camping equipment in Darwin before driving back to Katherine, where we would put our caravan into storage and load up the car! Space was limited, so packing lists were abbreviated, but we eventually got on the road, heading south towards Mataranka.

The Central Arhnem Road turnoff doesn't have an abundance of signage, and the state of the "sealed" road you turn onto makes it abundantly clear that you're now journeying on a road less travelled. The road very quickly turns to a gravel track, so we stopped briefly to deflate the tires and prepare ourselves for the remaining 600km. Thankfully some sections of the road had been graded recently. The rest was fairly rough, slow-going, so I was thankful we were breaking this trip into 2 days, with an overnight stop at Mainoru Store.

We arrived at the store at 1:50pm to refuel before asking for a site to pitch our new tent. Our hosts informed us that it was a bit early for arrivals(?!), but obliged anyway... we were shown to a beautiful shaded site amongst green grassed slopes, on the banks of a small river. The peaceful setting that was somewhat spoilt by our hosts, who seemed intent on limiting or withholding the use of many of their facilities. Despite this, we whiled away the afternoon, reading in the shadows of the tall trees.

The next morning we surprised ourselves by packing away the tent in the same time we would hitch our caravan, making an early start on the remaining 500km of dirt, rocks and dust to Nhulunbuy. The first section to Bulman was hard work, with an average speed of 40km/h threatening to turn this drive into a very long day. Thankfully it cleared, with the majority of the track in good condition, save for many hidden washouts that almost launched us airborne on a few occasions! We all breathed a sigh of relief when we arrived in Nhulunbuy after just over 6 hours of driving, covered in red dust, but safe and once again in civilisation.

Nhulunbuy is nothing like what we expected. While most of Arhnem Land feels untouched, this town is a bustling seaside community based around a Rio Tinto bauxite mining operation, with all the infrastructure required to support and entertain a population of almost 4000 people. We'd unknowingly picked a great weekend to visit, with the town hosting the local footy grand final on Saturday, followed by Territory Day (aka "cracker night") on the Sunday.

The community here is surprisingly tightly knit for one with such a transient workforce. We were kindly introduced to many new friends by the lovely Knee family, while enjoying wood fired pizzas and cold drinks at the local surf life saving club, overlooking the Arafura Sea. The kids also instantly clicked with new playmates - Josh and Lennie in particular bonded over a love of AFL. Both Acacia and Josh were invited to join in at Auskick the following morning, an invitation that was readily accepted, with the Knee family loaning footwear to make it happen. Playing on opposing sides, Josh kicked 3 goals, but Acacia kicked the sealing goal for her team!

The beaches in this part of the world are a clear highlight (despite the threat of crocs), and we were often able to enjoy entire beaches to ourselves. From the beautiful rock outcrop at East Woody, to the sand 4WD'ing adventure of Little Bondi, to the sheltered Turtle Beach, the options are endless. Unfortunately our time there was not.

Our neighbours at the Walkabout Lodge were mostly amazing... with the exception of a young couple from Western Australia, who got a little over-excited on cracker night. After returning from an impressive music, fireworks and laser festival at the local oval we settled into bed to the sounds of locals releasing fireworks all over town. Being a Sunday night, they all went to bed at 10pm and the town fell silent, until our WA friends returned from the pub. They were clearly over-hydrated, but continued drinking, volume steadily increasing, until 3am. From midnight onwards, they started letting off their own fireworks right next to our (highly flammable) tent! They eventually passed out, much to our collective relief.

Despite our lack of rest, the next day was possibly our favourite, with new friends Dan and Luke inviting me on an early morning fishing trip on their borrowed boat. Our attempts to catch tuna and mackerel

were unsuccessful, but we made up for it with Red Snapper, Black Jewfish, Coral Trout and a small Lemon Shark. A much-larger Lemon Shark got away, but not before performing some impressive aerobatics in its attempts to de-hook itself! Later in the day, we were all spoilt, with our 3 families all being ferried across to the isolated Granite Islands by Dan for an afternoon swim and play, followed by a picnic dinner as we watched the sunset with our new friends. Perfect.

All good things must come to an end, and after 6 nights we packed our tent, said our goodbyes, and ventured back out onto the track to Katherine. Thankfully the graders had been working constantly, so the return journey was much easier. We drove the entire way in a single day and reacquainted ourselves with our luxurious, spacious, yet frustratingly un-airconditioned caravan in Katherine.