We reach Nillibubbica Rest Area

Turning left at the intersection!! The first time we have been on this portion of road. Nillibubbica Rest Area is another 74 kms south.

Made relatively good time today. We left Marys Pool Rest Area at about 9.00 am after a sleep in. By the time we departed probably 80% of the overnighters had already left so we just ambled south. We reached Fitzroy Crossing in time for lunch – still no iced coffee so we only bought bread and fuel before continuing on to Nillibubbica Rest Area which is about 109 kms north of Broome. Another popular free camp but with us on our lonesome it was easy to find a spot and set up for the night. a big variety of vehicles and travellers made an interesting night. Had our usual couple of wines and a port. Laurie rang to say they were north of Halls Creek.

Onto Halls Creek

Our camp at the Mary’s Pool Free Camp – trying to cool the freezer off – its a balmy 28 degrees

We left Keep River National Park around 8.30. Got checked out at the Kunnunurra Quarantine Checkpoint (there goes our one and only potato) so went into Kunnunnurra to do some fresh fruit and vegie shopping. Everything was shut up tight because it was Sunday. Refuelled and headed to Halls Creek in the hope of getting an iced coffee for afternoon tea. Sadly same rules apply at Halls Creek nothing available except fuel so we kept on going to the free camp at Mary’s Pool. We’re thinking we will have a late start tomorrow as I want to go over the vehicle to make sure everything is working properly.

Keep River National Park

Keep River National Park, the Northern Territory’s version of the Bungles – not even close to a cigar

We travelled into the Keep River National Park and set up in the furtherest campground which had adequate basic facilities. Sadly they built the campground at least 1.5 kilometres from where they should have, which meant an extended trek in the heat. We went to the Rock Art site in the morning that contained maybe four or five low quality paintings that had almost faded to extinction. Against my better judgement, Jenny talked me into doing the Lookout walk in the evenig instead of waiting till morning. Needless to say a 5.5 kilometre walk in 37 degree heat is a recipe for trouble – Jenny survived, just, but I struggled in the heat. We made it back to camp well after the daylight had gone, all hot and bothered. The views would have been better in the morning but the park must bear some responsibility for blatant self promotion. The walks were not within cooee of the quality of the Bungles. Still we enjoyed our night there.

Arrived at Katherine NT

Jenny and the hordes enjoying the warm waters of Mataranka Thermal Springs

Spent the last two nights at Mataranka enjoying the thermal pool. The place was packed, heaps of school kids and old farts! Had dinner at the Bistro and listened to the same old singer and his band as were there two years ago – I swear even his jokes were the same. We’re off to Gregory National Park NT today. We may camp in there for a night to check out a couple of gorges then onto Keep River National Park next to the West Australian border for two nights to view rock art and spectacular landscapes – photos to follow.

We caught up with the Coopers at Mataranka. They are travelling a lot slower than us and we will probably overtake them today even  though they left yesterday. They anticipated taking at least two nights to reach where we will reach today.

Telephone service has been intermittent so I can’t say when I’ll be able to update this next.

Meanwhile we’re having a ball with daytime temperatures now around 30 degrees with cool nights, perfect travelling weather

We’re at Katherine

Just arrived at Katherine after spending two days at Mataranka. We made excellent time to Mataranka a full two days ahead of when we were travelling with our normal companions. Enjoyed the hot pool at Mataranka even though there were heaps of noisy school kids there because of the school holidays. Weather has warmed up now to a pleasant 30 degrees during the day and cool nights. Caught up with the Coopers yesterday and they are slowly travelling in front of us. They left yesterday but we anticipate that we may overtake them today. We’re heading to Gregory National Park to check that out and then onto Keep River National Park which will fill in the next two nights before we head into Western Australia.

The vehicle is going well, with only one minor alteration (my fault I meant to do it before we left but forgot). We cruised at 100 kph on the way up but decided we will drop back to around the 85 kph now we are in holiday mode.

Don’t know when we will have service again, until then keep well.

And We’re Off

The RAAF Boab Quarry in The King Leopold Ranges, a free camp with ample space for big rigs, caravans, motorhomes and campers alike. Its accessed along a well maintained gravel road approximately 6 kilometres from the Highway 1 turn off. We camped there in 2014.

We left home at 6.00am and headed down to Macca’s for our normal once a year  breakfast. There were only the two of us, so we had ordered and eaten breakfast by 6.20am so we hit the road. Pouring rain until Loch then it backed off to intermittent rain until Melbourne. We topped fuel up at Calder Service centre then headed up the Calder Highway. We stopped for morning tea at Lockwood free camp before heading to Sea Lake for lunch. We refuelled at Ouyen and made Lock 9 Free Camp at around 4.00pm, so we were all setup and having a glass of wine by 4.30pm! No co travellers to share the drink though.