Savannah 3 - River King

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August 5th 2017

Published: August 5th 2017

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snikpohKS

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Savannah Way: Hells Gate - King Ash Bay (McArthur River)

The next day was more of the Savannah Way - lots of river crossings, corrugations, bulldust and red dust - fun stuff. Navi still doesn't know where we are and is very confused about timing. We just ignore it most of the time and use it only in towns (where it finds itself) - I may have to invest in Ozmaps (recommended) for future...

King Ash Bay campground was recommended to us (by a few different people) instead of staying at Borroloola caravan park as planned. It is based at the fishing club about 50km NE of Borroloola on the McArthur River. We arrived at about 1:30pm and setup camp, planning to be here for a couple of nights to allow for a rest day (and some more exploring). The campground is focussed on fishing (they even provide tide charts on check-in) and almost everyone has a boat. They run up the river each day, 35km to the mouth of the river, for the best fishing. The campground is pretty crowded but reasonably quiet during the day (everyone is out fishing). There is fuel and a small grocery store

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available, and a Bar & Grill for dining (which is also the only place you can get phone reception).

This morning we went for a drive up to Batten Point (end of the road), where three rivers meet. The road goes through aboriginal land and they allow camping along the river for only $50 per week - what a bargain. I wish we had known about this before we set up at King Ash Bay - it would have been much quieter and more peaceful on our own. We had a look at some of the campsites and fishing spots (for Kevin). This will be on our 'come back' list - it would be nice to spend a few weeks relaxing here. Just need to watch out for the crocs 😊. Kevin spent some time fishing (it's what you do here) and was happy to catch two batfish.

Both the car and the camper are going well and are coping with the rough roads. Mobile network is patchy (mostly non-existent), and we will be out of network area for most of the time over the next few days as we make our way slowly towards Darwin - via