Thanks to Dale for joining us for a few weeks in the Top End. While we did not manage to get Dale to Broome, we did really enjoy spending time with him. It gave me a break from listening to Marty’s endless chatter.
We finally left Batchelor on Sunday 11 September and travelled down the Stuart Highway to Katherine for 3 nights. On the Monday we were able to explore Katherine Gorge in Nitmiluk National Park by going on a guided boat tour. There are 13 gorges in the system, with many examples of Aboriginal rock paintings many thousands of years old. The Katherine River was the cultural and spiritual foundation for the first inhabitants of the area, the Jawoyn people, providing food and water. The gorge is also famous as the site of the final scenes in the old Aussie movie “Jedda”.
Katherine also gave us another chance to relax in the natural spring fed crystal clear pools of the hot springs on the banks of the Katherine River.
After leaving Katherine we had a lovely picnic lunch under a large shady tree at Victoria River.
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| Picnic lunch Vitoria River Roadhouse |
Our next overnight stop was a short drive west from Timber Creek, a free camp site at Policeman’s Point Lookout offering views of the Victoria River winding through rugged hills and ranges. This was our last t night in the Northern Territory, it was wonderfully peaceful we spent the evening watching the sunset over the river. It was extremely peaceful as there were only two other campers.
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| Sunset over the Victoria River |
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| Policemans Point, this is the view we enjoyed for the evening |
In the morning we were up early and headed for the Western Australian Boarder. A litter further down the road we stopped to see the campsite of the early explorer Augustus Charles Gregory’s north Australian expedition. The expedition dates were carved into the tree, October 1855 and July 1856. Then it was onto and over another State Border, but not before we were searched of any kind of quarantine regulation contraband. Then on to Kununurra for a few days.
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| Gregory’s Tree |
What we will remember of the NT:
Aboriginal Australia displayed with its good and bad points
How relatively cheap NT is as a tourist location
Constantly travelling with smoke as the burn-offs took place throughout the Territory in preparation for the wet season
Barramundi is just a fish.
A bloody wallaby
The magnificent water holes and gorges
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| WA/NT Boader |
