Blogs from Katherine, Northern Territory, Australia, Oceania

Well, our window, unfortunately, isn’t fixed because an incorrectly sized window was sent in error and much as we have thoroughly enjoyed our time in Alice we decided to get a piece of Perspex cut and have duct taped it in place. We are now heading north to Darwin where we have arranged for the correct size window to be delivered there. Once again the roads are more or less straight and we are honestly just cruising along and singing along to some old favourite songs with no-one but ourselves to hear our very “out of tune” wailing! Tonight we are at a camp by the side of the road with several others and as it is so warm and with no city lights to spoil the sky, we sat outside watching the stars which are ... read more

Ihr Lieben, nachdem wir also den Weg von Sydney nach Cairns geschafft hatten, die Loecher im Dach unseres Campervans repariert und das Regenwetter hinter uns lag, wir viele wunderschoene Dinge gesehen und erlebt hatten, war es Zeit, in das grosse Abenteuer zu starten: 4500 km von Cairns nach Broome, und der Grossteil davon durch Australiens wunderschoenes Outback! Am 21. Maerz haben wir uns auf den Weg gemacht: verabschiedet wurden wir von Queenslands Kueste bei grauen Regen und Wolken. Sagte ich gerade noch, dass das Regenwetter hinter uns lag? Naja, eigentlich schon, aber Queensland war halt traurig, dass es uns an das Outback verlieren wuerde. Vormittags haben wir uns noch Townsville angeschaut, das in starker Konkurrenz mit Cairns ist. Mein Fazit: Townsvilles "The Strand", der Gegenentwurf zu Cairns "The Strand" ist auf jeden Fall die schoenere Strandpromenade, ... read more

Drove from Mary River to Katherine, Stayed over night at Katherine and the next morning took another boat trip to see the Katherine Gorge. Saw a crocodile in the water, again warm enough for them to stay in the water rathher than them needing to come out of water to sun themselves. The boat guide gave us good advice on how to tell fresh water crocodiles from salt water crocodiles. The fresh water crocs are smaller and have a more pointed snout, and the sure way to tell is that if you get in the water (not recommended) the smaller fresh water croc will swim away, but the larger salt water croc will swim towards you. The "salty" is actually an esturine crocodile that can tollerate salt water but does live in fresh water. After Katherine, ... read more

20th November, 2012. We tried to sleep in, but the morning warmed up to quickly. Despite waking up early, we had a lazy start after a big day yesterday and didn't get back on the road until after 10am. We had a picnic lunch under a tree at Timber Creek before continuing on towards the Western Australian border. Before arriving at the border, we came across Gregory National Park. The view of this area was simply magnificent. The mountain cliffs had markings which resembled water erosions and then, we spotted trees with fat trunks, covered with longs branches and green leaves. These 'boab' trees are simply very attractive. Upon arriving at the WA border, we stopped just before the checkpoint and consumed all our fruit. At the checkpoint, the quarantine officer found some fresh tomatoes in ... read more

12th November 2012, Woke up to another hot day. Had breakfast and went for another dip in the pool to cool off. We packed up Pedro and headed into town to buy more supplies. On the way back, we stopped at the Katherine Hot Springs. The Springs were warm and shaded and so relaxing. In this heat, sight seeing was not high on our agenda, so we decided that we would see Katherine Gorge tomorrow. We headed back to the campground and I started on an early dinner with lot's of ice tea!!! After dinner, we relaxed in the pool until nightfall (that was so good!!!!)... read more

We arrived at Nitmiluk National Park in time to set up and have a late lunch. It was very hot, 40 degrees yet again. We chose a site next to the swimming pool so kept cool with frequent visits to it. We knew Ali would be arriving sometime after 6:30pm. Between visits to the pool we kept an eye out for her as we had no mobile coverage to communicate with her and the office was closed. She finally arrived around 7:30. We had a hilarious night catching up which was punctuated with jokes and wild laughter. We probably had few people rolling their eyes, if they could hear us over their air-cons. Saturday we canoed the Kathrine Gorge. It was awesome and really the only way to truly appreciate its unique beauty and features. It ... read more