“Out Back” English.

Yes, we are back with a story already!.

Day 1.

From Mount Isa ( see the previous story), we only drove a very short distance to Camooweal almost 200 kliks further on to the west and on our road towards Darwin, but here is where our out back experience begins. After the little town we crossed a long bridge and took a dirt road shortly after the bridge. Here is already a big campsite for free stay just under the highway and directly next to the river. This we just passed by, as we were told to do so. After a trip over the dirt road for about 4 km the river turned into small billabongs because of the current drought. It was here we parked our caravan and car under some old and large Eucalyptus trees. We stayed hooked on just in case if not everything wished to work like it should. After a couple of hours we decided to stay and we enjoyed the nice and very quiet scenery but also all the birdlife around here like; a couple Brolga’s, a lot of small and big cockatoos, gala’s, Pelicans, different sorts ducks (wondered how they taste like), Herron’s in grey and white, two different spoonbills, black and white Ibises, and al sorts of honey eaters. This is like a sort of open bird park. Got talking to some other travelers and by the time we finished our dinner it was 20,00hr and pitch dark with a blanket of stars above our heads. When we arrived the spot was almost empty but by now it was occupied by a lot of “grey Nomads” all along the billabongs.

In the early morning about 6 it was still clear and the stars where still there as well but when we got up and out at 7, 30 there was overcast and it was very windy. Yes, I know it is still winter here. Round about 10, 00 o’clock we took off with a very strong headwind. We both enjoyed our first free stay enormously.

Day 2.

Our plan was to drive up to Barkly’s roadhouse and have a stopover, but the drive went so well and we almost left the wind behind us and the clouds became thinner that we decided to move on to the next point, Three ways.

Our trip became a wonderful one just because we finally got to see the Gouldian finches in their own habitat. First it was only a lonely bird on his own later on even some small flogs. It was a pity that this ended after about 100km past Barkly’s Roadhouse there where the plants and grasses al of a sudden changed. It was about 16.00 hr. when we arrived at the crossing and roadhouse Three Ways. By the looks of things we still had a couple of hours of daylight to go and after filling our tank with some juice we took the gamble to reach Renner Springs and bring our total to almost 600km for the day. When driving out of the servo we picked up a hitchhiker for the next 140km. At Renner Springs there was only one site with power left over which we took because we wanted to charge everything after our free stay again. Even dough the roadtrains passed through our caravan all night I (Ben) slept like a log and Els could not sleep, maybe also because of the hard cold wind who was blowing al night. But the next morning it warmed quickly again for our next drive.

Day 3.

Today our aim was Katherine, because our feeling is that Kakadu is waiting for us and Katherine is the place to start from, but it mend another day with 530 km ahead of us. So an early start and every 2 hours a break and today with the wind behind us. This helps with the fuel consumption a lot, yesterday 1:6 with a headwind, now 1:7,5 with ease and it drives easier as well and less stress on the arms of the driver. Beside that we passed the 10.000 km mark as well today during this trip since we bought the Holden Rodeo in Fyshwick.

All in all we arrived just before 16, 00 hr. in Katherine at the info centre and before 17,00 hr. we were all set up on the Big4 camping just outside of the town. While I am writing this it is only just passed 21,00 hr. and it is very quiet here already , I think most people are asleap . I am not because I have to write my story’s down, but believe you me within 15 minutes I will be on my back as well.

Day 4.

The last day of preparations, for Kakadu.

We did the last bit of shopping, filled the tank with petrol, filled the caravan water tank, and bought a detailed map of Kakadu and Litchfield Park. On top of that we bought a new portable two burner cooker with a separate 3, 3 kg gas bottle, so we can cook outside the caravan from now on and leave the fridge working on gas with the caravan bottle.

The caravan seems ready, the car seems ready and we are ready for our bush trip.

Besides that we did a walk to the Katherine “Hot Springs”, but it was a little too late to jump into the water and even it is a side arm of the river they have warnings for crocs here.

We did not expect it but the internet seems to be reasonable so I will try to put the stories on the blog and maybe some photos.

The next blog want be before a week from now when we arrive in Darwin. So till then.

The Downunders.