2011 trip: Darwin and Kakadu

28th July
We arrived in Darwin and stayed at the Big 4 Caravan Park in Howard Springs for four nights.

Darwin seems to have everything. Plenty of heavy and light industry. Shops all over the place. I went to ARB and bought a Bushranger rubbish bag that sits over one of the spare wheels on the van and went to Enzed and had the end of the hose on the air compressor changed to make it easier to use.

Both places were very helpful.

The Big 4 CP was nice. We were put down the back in an area that had larger sites. Thank goodness. The sites at the front of the park were pretty tight.

We had a Whizz-Bang behind us and I had to educate them about minimising the use of their sliding door in the middle of the night when they had to trot off to the facilities.

We went to the Mindil Markets on Thursday night. It was pretty good. We are still bemused by the number of people lining up at the beach to take photos of the sun setting over the water. It's an everyday sight for West Aussies.

Tours were mostly booked out and we had to wait until Sunday before we could get on a light aircraft and go for a flight over Kakadu. This was in a Cessna 210 and we were the only passengers.

It was a little smokey but the scenery was excellent.

This is Ranger Uranium Mine near Jabiru.

We landed at Cooinda and went on the Yellow Waters boat trip. This is a billabong on a tributary of South Alligator River. It was pretty good and we got close to a couple of salties.

 

We flew back to Darwin and arrived home late afternoon.

While Robyn and I did this flight, Ken went on a barramundi fishing trip. Lyn was going to go but backed out when she found that the boat didn't have any shelter or toilet facilities. If you had to go you were expected to hang your nether regions over the edge like everyone else. Just a bit too blokey. A completely understandable decision.

1st August

We left Darwin and drove out to Jabiru on the Arnhem Highway. Ken and Lyn had a helicopter flight booked here and saw much the same as we saw yesterday (another Robinson... yikes!!). I'm glad we did the airborne tour. The view of the surrounding countryside from the Arnhem Highway is non-existant. Just boring bushy trees.

We stayed at the caravan park at Cooinda Lodge which was nice. If you go there, go down to the new section at the back of the park. Better grass, roomy sites with power and water. Excellent.

2nd August

We rejoined the Stuart Highway at Pine Creek and headed south, through Katherine and overnighted at Bitter Springs near Mataranka. We all walked down to the thermal springs and jumped in. Beautiful warm water. Fresh water too, no bouyancy.

3rd August

Continuing south we stopped at Daly Waters for fuel. We passed through here last year on the way from Cape Crawford to Top Springs.

Tonight we stayed at Banka Banka Station (NT Camp 91 in CAW 6). I came away with mixed feelings about the place so the less said the better. 

4th August

At Three Ways Roadhouse we refueled and turned left to head east to Queensland along the Barkly Highway. We stopped and had a look at the Barkly Homestead Roadhouse but didn't need any fuel. We camped out the back last year before heading up to Cape Crawford.

At the end of a long day's drive we crossed the border into Queensland.