Left Mataranka for the 400 km trip to Howard Springs, beautiful balmy morning with a light breeze. Got into our camp Howard Springs Holiday Resort mid afternoon and set up camp. There is an information session on what is available tourism wise in Darwin this evening so we can plan our five or six days in town. Its about 32 º in the shade of the palm trees – easy to get used to.
Still in the Swim
Relaxed morning – a few minor repairs on The Turtle then coffee and phone calls to book us into Darwin – Howard Springs Big 4 Caravan Park. Then we all went down to the thermal pools for a two hour dip. Imagine the scene, a pleasant 27°, dappled sunlight over the pool and laying back in the body temperature water as the world passes by. Of course we all thought of those poor people still in South Gippsland and felt so sorry for them – honest, we did.
Up to Our Necks in Hot Water
Left our waterhole camp by a circuitous route (because the main gate to the highway had been padlocked) and headed north up the highway arriving in Mataranka at lunchtime. Headed around to The Homestead Caravan Park where the usual circus applies – sites not clearly marked and power leads over drive throughs. Found a couple of powered sites and the girls hit the hot spring straight away. Meanwhile Bob and I installed the new smart charger to his battery system and tidied the battery compartment wiring up a bit. The Turtle now charges on 240 volt – happy days
Cruising’ at Longreach waterhole, Elliot
Left camp at 8.15 am for the drive up the Stuart Highway to Longreach Waterhole outside Elliot NT. Sandy track in but a beautiful waterhole to while away the afternoon. I even got the drone out to have a bit of a spin. Didn’t last long because of low batteries but at least its another flight in the log book.
Bonney Wells Again
We stopped in at Alice Springs so that Bob could get a smart charger for his Motorhome (the previous owner had removed the charger – very noble of him). The people from Outback Batteries were extremely helpful, checked all the batteries for free and gave sound advice that didn’t result in needless expenditure. Checkout their site at www.outbackbatteries.com.au
From there we moved on immediately heading to Bonney Wells Free Camp as our final destination for the day. We will have a short day tomorrow.
Towards Alice
We had planned to take the Merrindee Loop back to Alice Springs but we were advised that the track has been badly corrugated in several long sections and that high clearance four wheel drives are required to traverse it so we had to head back out to the Stuart Highway and head north toward Alice. We stopped the night at Mount Polpill Rest Area. In to Alice tomorrow for battery assistance for “Turtle” – Bob and Debbie’s machine
Kings Canyon
Travelled into Kings Canyon today. We did the walk around the base which we didn’t do last time. Unfortunately thetrack has been cut short because rock of rock falls and a sacred site within that area. Still we managed to have lunch in the shade of the Kings Creek creek bed. It was then back to the resort campground for the night. A hot shower at last!
The Field of Lights
We spent the day checking out the Olgas before returning to Yulara for dinner at the Gecko Cafe. We then caught the bus out to the Field of Lights art installation. A stunning display of 50,000 frosted glass long stemmed flowers illuminated by 380 kms of optic fibre that displayed changing colours throughout the field. Simps breathtaking in the mild desert night. We then drove back out to Curtin Springs for our last night there.
Uluru in All Its Glory
We had a fantastic day today. Debbie got to see the Rock in all its glory. It looked spectacular as we drove in as the morning sun highlighted the grooves and holes in it. We went into Yulara to fuel up and do a bit of shopping before heading out to the rock to do all the walks. It was a great day, and even though Bob, Jenny and I had seen it all before it was still a fulfilling day. we stayed for the sunset before heading back out to Curtin Springs. Tomorrow we do the Light show
Stayed with Agnes
We drove through to Agnes Creek Rest Area where we set up camp among the gum trees. A really good camp with another fire. The wind has been painful, strong all day – using a lot more fuel. The joys of travel.