At Nitmiluk Caravan Park, just opposite us, were a couple of tour buses which arrived late yesterday. They are on a 17 day trip from Alice Springs to Darwin going via the Tanami track and the Gibb River road - not a bad effort for large buses. We found out that the buses have specially modified suspension to cope with the Gibb River road and Tanami track.
The passengers had to put up their own tents (one each) and set up their own sleeping quarters. Now that's quite a job every night and then pull it all down in the morning, back on the bus and off to the next destination. I'd reckon they all need a big holiday after doing this for 17 days.
We are travelling in much greater comfort and our bed is comfortable and always ready.
We left Nitmiluk National Park early this morning for the 30km drive back into Katherine where I dropped Ilse and Andrea at the supermarket while Alexander and I went onto the Fishing Tackle shop to procure a few essential items needed for our food gathering and hunting efforts.
We were driving out of Katherine by 9am heading further south towards the cold but not too far as we don't want too much of a temperature shock.
We arrived at Mataranka before lunch and immediately proceeded to set the crab net we got at Katherine. After lunch we rigged our fishing rods and walked down to the Thermal Springs. The springs run into a long and deep natural channel where we could very clearly see the bottom. Pandanus Palms lined both sides of this channel and the whole place just looks liked a little tropical paradise.
The water temperature was a bit over 30°C and very pleasant. We spent a long time in the water and on occasions got a little whiff of rotten egg gas which emerges from deep below the earth and vents out in the surrounding mud. The whole area just oozes out water everwhere.
On our way back to the caravan we made a little detour into the bush and up the bank of a billabong where we chucked a few lures and enjoyed the environment as this is the first place in a long time where we have no threat from Saltwater crocs. Freshwater crocs are in this area but we didn't see any nor did we find any evidence of their presence.
The kids spent the rest of the afternoon playing with friends they had made and we were chatting to other campers, chucking lures and checking the crab net.
Neither the crab net nor the fishing netted a catch so we had our last bit of Barramundi for dinner.
We can certainly notice how far South we have already travelled - as soon as the sun sets the temperature drops. I'm not looking forward to returning back to winter.
No comments:
Post a Comment