Tindal & Katherine

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We have finally arrived at some sort of civilisation on a grand scale. I am able to sit down at a table to type this, which is a bit of a novelty, with a fan going overhead, the dull sounds of Austar & F-18’s in the background, and a washing machine going gangbusters.

On Wednesday we left Lorella Springs & went up toward Roper Bar. It was a good yet dusty drive again with a heap of creek/river crossings, more burnt out & wrecked cars, and finally the stop at Roper Bar. Which was ordinary. So we skipped it & headed to Mataranka.

Mataranka Homestead was great. Reasonable beer at reasonable prices, good amenities & a live band! We got there around 4.30pm as the drive up was around 500km & took the best part of seven hours. The girls & kids went to the thermal spring so Phil & I grabbed a Melbourne Bitter each (what a range of beer!) & set up camp. We had a good pub meal & then spent the next 2 and a half hours watching Rustflower, a husband & wife band that did some great covers & some OK originals.

On Thursday we left Mataranka, eventually as I flattened both batteries & had to charge them for half an hour or so, and made it to Katherine. It is a bit weird seeing speed limit signs that have 130 on them, especially as my truck struggles to do 110kph! In Katherine we saw some interesting sights including the scanning of my ID at the bottle shop to make sure that I’m not a naughty boy. Quite a few people were kicked out by the two security guards while I was waiting in line as they were on the naughty list. Crazy stuff.

We went on to Tindal Air Force Base where we are now staying with Ang & Dutch. They have been very accommodating, putting up with us & our ratbags. We haven’t decided exactly what we’re doing yet but we should be in this general area for around two weeks. It’ll be good not to drive too much as the fuels costs a fortune, we’ve done over 11,000km & the bank balance is terrible. There is some action on base this weekend so we’ll check out some jets & stuff.

Must go & clean out the Maverick now >.

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