Katherine 10th August

Arrived in Katherine just after 2:00 and we found a coffee club so enjoyed our lunch as not many coffee clubs in the northern territory. After the fix we went about restocking our supplies as getting low on basic items such as fruit and vegetables that we run out over a week ago. Now we had to find somewhere to camp for a few days and after ringing around a few van parks decided on the Mandullo caravan park as it was remote at 12 ks from Katherine on the Victoria highway and reasonable priced. Population of Katherine is 11200 and temperature ranges are; Max temp 24-35, Min temp 14-31. Today temp is dam hot at 36•c. After setting up camp we went for a walk down to the Katherine River which is only 5mins from the van.Warren put the net in for bait.
Saturday 11th August
Had a sleep in,should say we tried but the guy at the back of us decided to water the lawn well after 9:00pm then up the crack of dawn dam whistling the same dam song,sure can't wait to free camp again,don't have to put up with this. Warren checked his pot this morning and sure enough bait for catching Barra. After lunch walk down the river fishing after spending 3 hours with no luck we made our way back to camp. We sat outside having happy hour and cooking curry sausages. We have booked a cruise on the 3 Gorges cruise tomorrow morning @$91 each. Sure it will be a one off at that price. Good night all
Sunday 12 th
Up early catching the 9:00 cruise. Well what a great view so many different colors. The black color in the pictures is caused by the wet seasons continuos waterfalls pouring over the sandstone walls etching out the iron. The photo's I took show the trees all growing on a lean also caused by the flooding each wet seasons. The cruise took 4 hours and they used three different boats as there are three different gorges. You have to walk from the first boat about 800m until you can hop into the second boat so gave one time to just stand and take it all in. Met a couple from NZ that were having trouble with their Maui VW motor home, he said he was unable to start so had to be jumped started to get to the Katherine gorge and the problem was likely battery trouble, Warren tested with multi meter and battery was reading correct volts so not that, after several attempts to start warren finally got it running then tested the charging system which indicated the alternator was charging ok so intermittent fault in starter motor or wiring. I made them ring the Maui 24/7 phone number. Now the van was running they decided
To head back into Katherine to get sorted out. The yellow flower (photo) Is how the aboriginals tell the seasons I.e. When the flower is blooming it's The time The fresh water crocodiles Are Nesting, when the flower starts to fall it is time To head to higher ground as the wet Season is coming.
13th leaving Katherine this morning and heading south towards Tennant creek.

Mount Bundy Station Adeaide River

Mount Bundy Station is located about 110km south of Darwin and 205 km north of Katherine. The distance from daly waters to mt bundy station Is about 100km. We left Daly River this morning about 9:30 said good buy to Rhonda the owner of the Mango River caravan park and found Out her husband was away campaigning for the NT elections that are coming up in a couple Of weeks. He is campaigning on wanting to offer more help for the lost aboriginals with drugs and alcohol issues a major issue in the remote communities. When we arrived back in Adelaide river Warren was talking to a couple that had camped on Bundy Station and highly recommended it and as It is only 3km down the road we decided to Go there. Warren booked into a fishing trip tomorrow afternoon with Alan the fisherman and resident
Plumber.
Tuesday 7th July
We had a lazy morning and caught up on a few things. After lunch Warren was picked up for a fishing trip,arrived back about 6:00 had a few bites and Alan caught a but sadly it was Just undersized so had To go back in. We are both going fishing on Thursday so lets hope for some Better Luck.
Wednesday 8th
Had a quite morning and caught up on a few jobs then went into town and had lunch at the Adelaide River pub. Min had the buffalo burger which was
Very enjoyable. Arrived back in camp then chilled out under a tree with a book I am enjoying Monte Dwyer( red in the centre).he used to read the weather on sunrise channel 7. Met Monte in Darwin market selling his books they are based on traveling around oz also talking to different campers and there story's.Fisherman Allan arrived to make sure we are still on for today. We booked a fishing trip with him this afternoon $30 each.let's hope it's a great afternoon?
Back after going on our fishing trip with Fisherman Allan and another young couple from Melbourne. On our way to the fishing spot with alan, warren, Chris, Christine and myself I told Christen that the woman are ruling today. Well guess what we where the only ones to catch a fish,photo's tell the story.ended up having dinner together. Lovely evening after our hard after noon catching fish no more to be said. Sorry Warren and Chris.
We are leaving tomorrow for Katherine .
The Bird is a rainbow bee eater kingfisher

Daly River 3th August

Arrived at the camping ground and paid our $30 a night for an unpowered site.booked in for 3 nights,set up camp then went back to the causeway to try for a Barra,seen plenty of sharks. Warren seen a couple of barra the only thing I seen was a bull shark just about jumping out of the water in front of my feet chasing the barra. A lot of people we have spoken to have told us it's quite common when fishing from a boat and you hook a barra the bull sharks follow the fish in and you only end up with the head. Warren walked about 2'ks for an evening fish and came across to freshwater crocs about 10 feet from where he was standing ( see photo's) and as he was walking home Along the road on dusk saw a snake which he gave a wide berth. (see photo)
Saturday 4th August
Left camp site just after 10:00 went into Nauiyu super market wanting bread and vegetables/fruit changed our minds after seeing the price. Got the bread and carrots $4:00k for oranges brought 4 only bread was $6:50 a loaf sure is lucky we don't eat much bread. A lettuce $6:00 and that's where it stayed. Warren was looking for good dog food for crab bait but none in the shop and he commented" I guess the locals don't feed there dogs by the look of them" hard to keep remembering i need to show my driving license and i am allowed only 2 bottles of wine in one serve. After leaving there went back to the causeway to try fishing again until 12:20 then decided to head over to the pub for lunch after leaving where we were parked found another road into the bush further so decided to see where it went found a great spot to fish still had plenty of time as lunch is from 12:00 to 2:00. But guess what we got bogged in soft sand 2 ks along a bush track and I mean well and truly bogged down to the axles. After digging and trying for around 3:00 hours in 36 degree Heat I heard a boat coming down the river so I flagged Them down and asked for help to push out the car.
They were local aboriginals and only to pleased to help so with them pushing and Warren and I digging we managed to get the car out of the darn sand. We waved goodbye to the boys and said we Would meet them at the pub and buy them a beer if we were Allowed to by the publican. Permission granted only 1 allowed a beer the other 3 coke . Warren and myself also had a cold beer then then shock their hand and thanked them again. We were sure they were having a good laugh about silly old white fellows getting bogged and black fellows pushing them out. Back to camp to have a shower and freshen up in readiness for tomorrows adventure.
Sunday 5th July
Left camp about 9:30 and drove 10mins into a good fishing spot. Warren caught a Barra about 35cm they must be 55cm,no he didn't kiss the fish before letting it go.I caught 2 trees,shit happens. Warren spotted a fresh water croc sunning himself so I stopped catching logs and got the camera. After a couple of hours we went to the Daly Waters pub for lunch. Got talking to a couple from the UK, She had not see a croc yet, would you believe Warren found the big daddy just drifting across the river while we were waiting for our lunch. She went to the car To get
Her camera and of course the croc had
Gone by the time she got back. No photo for her but I got a great one. After that we left to try the causeway once again for fishing. Warren fished I read as I has caught enough trees this morning. Back to camp and we
Started to pack up as we are leaving tomorrow. Warren and I went to the canteen and had happy hour by ourselves next thing there's another crocodile slowly drifting by. Can't even have a quite drink without seeing one. Well that's all for today and we will see what happens tomorrow.

Adelaide River 30th July

We arrived at Adelaide River just after lunch.found the War Cemtery,very interesting. The post office workers from WW11 bombing that got killed are now buried in Adelaide River war Cemetery,very nice how they have it set out. Then went into Adelaide River Inn. Just had to have a cold drink there,don't know if anyone remember crocodile Dundee movie with the buffalo will he's stuffed and stands on the bar. (photo below)then went on to find a camping spot for the night great one beside the bridge. Well about 9:30 that night we get a knock on the door by the local policeman camping in a no camping area,said we could stay there the night but must move before 9:00am in the morning. Next morning went and booked into the adelaide river show grounds @$12 a night. After having lunch Peta put her feet up and read,Warren worked on the solo panel we brought in Darwin so now it's inside the car roof rack feeding into our waeco freezer.Roy and I went next door into the Railway Museum. The museum is located in the railways precinct that dated back to 1888,when the Palmerston to Pine Creek railway was built in 1887-1889 then June 1976 was suspended and officially closed in February 1981 before it was opened they built a dam by hand using horses 49m above sea level,depth 15 feet and holds about a million gallons. So dam dusty walking down for a shower by the time one gets back feet are black again so have a bucket for soaking the feet. No rain as it's the dry season.
Wednesday 1st August
Well we had to sadly say goodby to our Friends Peta and Roy after been traveling together since about the 20th June.Chinchilla,Kakadu,Darwin, Adelaide River also many placed in between. We will miss you guys. They are heading back to Brisbane and we are going to Daly river chasing the mighty barramundi.
About 20ks in we found a great free camp site just off the road by the river so in we went and set up. Someone had left us some firewood and a fire place was there as well. We set up the van and within a short time we were joined by two more grey nomads with caravans so we lit the fire and sat around having happy hour and a good old natter.Then we all cooked dinner over the fire. Warren saw a water snake in the river when he was putting the bait trap in and he had a fish but no action.After having two great nights around the camp fire with,Keith & Laurice then the last night Terry & June joined us for happy hour. Looking forward to catching up again. Left that camp site about 9:30 and drove about 60k to Daly River Mango Farm caravan park.