In to the Territories

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DAY 222


It’s my Dad’s birthday today, I feel a bit sad today that I am not back in England to see him, especially as it is his 70th birthday, oops, sorry Dad, I think I let the cat out of the bag! Happy Birthday!

We were out of bed later than usual, I think it was 6.30 and everyone was packing up going somewhere, we were doing the same and heading off towards Victoria River, about 200K’s west of Katherine, and by 8.05 we were all packed up just waiting to jump in to the shower.

We said our goodbyes to Weston & Val, Gavin & Mary also a couple of other people that we had really only started to speak to this morning who made us promise to come round and have a meal with them when we are next in Victoria.

We finally pulled out of the camp site at 08.45 and only had to go a few K’s down the road before our first stop, we were going to look around the Old Durack Homestead, the Durack’s were huge land owners and pioneers of Australia.

It was an excellent thing to see especially as I am reading “Kings in Grass castles” about the Durack’s and what influence they had on Australia in the early years, we were talking to the lady who collects the tour money ($3.00 ea), and I asked her how long they have done this, she tells us that they are from Geraldton and said this was their 3rd season, I also asked her if they got many snakes on the property and she said a lot last week there was also a Death Adder on the veranda, she had to put a member of staff nearby to make sure people didn’t get to close, but as soon as she told people to mind themselves they wouldn’t leave it alone and kept crowding in so that they could try and get a photo. It is really too cold for snakes at the moment, so unlikely to see any now.

We were soon back in to the truck and back out on highway 1 heading East towards Katherine, within seven kilometres we drove over the border into the Northern Territory, it was exactly 10.00 am Western Australian time or 11.30am Northern Territory time, we were delighted to finally be in the Northern Territories, after being in the state of Western Australia, which is mind blowingly huge since mid April.

Wow!! the Northern Territories, what was it like? We didn’t have anything to declare at the boarder crossing as they don’t seem fussy on what you take in to NT it is only the other way from NT to Western Australia, so don’t go smuggling spuds in your pants.

We see a monument for the “Beef Road”, however we stop and the monument has been vandalised and the plaque is missing so the concrete obelisk means nothing without its explanation and what it represents.

As you are all well aware of we give each day a “Snappy” Title, on entering the Northern Territories we had so many to choose from today:

Three little ducks - for day 222
8 states - as we have now visited all the states of Australia
All the two’s - for day 222
Time change - for the time zone change,

Plus many more, they were coming thick and fast today, but we could only settle on one.

We stop for lunch at 12.30 at East Baines River, Camps 5 Northern Territories 204, which is technically 11.00 working on Western Australia time and considering we had breakfast at 7.30 it was only 3 ½ hours later.

We had a light lunch and sat in the shade, and then punched on, arriving at Bradshaw Bridge around 2.00, neither Caroline nor myself knew the significance of this bridge but we got out and walked the length of it and took some photo’s.

We have an excellent set of Nikon 10x50 Binoculars and were scouring the banks for any crocodile activity, we managed to see one just basking in the sun, but he was a fair way down the river bank, through the binoculars we thought he was a large salty, we got chatting to some people who were also walking the bridge, and they told us that they had lived in the UK for a while whilst working in Leeds and London. You cannot drive across Bradshaw Bridge you can only walk across it but there is a huge gate at the other end that you cannot go through.

We drive on a few k’s and come across a sign for a viewing point, we took the turning and drove up to a high point that overlooks Timber Creek, we see here that this was an important area in the war when they were protecting Timber Creek from the Japanese Invasion. It describes how lonely and hostile this land was for them, they were out here for months, living off the land and spent most of their time having to search for water when they should have been searching the skies for the Japanese.

We are back on the main highway and come across a chap holding a Stop sign for some roadworks, he comes over for a chat and explains that we will have to wait for 10 minutes while they lay some bitumen. We have no problem with this as I have internet for 10 minutes, so that I can send my Dad a Happy Birthday email, sadly it is still a little too early to catch Mum and Dad on Skype. There is a short traffic queue behind us as we finally pull away.

Back on the road we finally arrived in Timber Creek, we had no intention of stopping over here, but it was a marker on our journey, we checked the diesel price and decided to move on, we have enough to make Katherine tomorrow.

Shortly after pulling out of Timber Creek we see a dog running around in the road, we are not sure what is happening as there is someone pulled up on the side of the road, I see that she has her hands over her eyes, I think she is thinking we will hit it, fortunately Andy missed it, but we could see in our rear view mirrors it was still running around in the road.

Gregory National Park, stunning scenery, we listened to two fellow travellers on UHF who wanted to camp, but as they pulled in there was sign up saying that the campsites were closed, they were none too pleased, it answered our question for us so we moved on further, knowing that Victoria River was going to be the best place to stop for the night.


Arriving at Victoria River Roadhouse, we see a very pleasant looking site in behind the roadhouse, on the banks of the Victoria River with lovely green grass, I book in for one night and ask for a powered site at a cost of $20.00.

As we come out of the roadhouse we see a couple that we have met before, we struggle to place where we first saw them, but realise that it was only recently at Parry Creek Farm, we chatted to them for a while, Ernie originally came from Wittering in Sussex, he came out in 1970 and never looked back, they now live in Perth.

We also bump into Gavin and Mary, we knew that we would probably catch up with them as we were on the same camp site last night, and looking around there were a fair few people that we saw at Lake Argyle.

Just before we went to get some dinner a chap called Harry stopped by, he remembered us from Parrys Creek Farm.

We pop into the roadhouse to get some dinner, we thought we would treat ourselves tonight, but they stop serving dinner at 8.00, we went in around 6.30 and found a table. Andy ordered a Mixed Grill and I ordered a Chicken Kiev.

We got chatting to a Young British chap, Richard, who was working behind the counter, he tells us that he is from Welwyn Garden City, and also knows the road where my Andy’s Sister lives in Welwyn Garden City. Richard has been out travelling for a while now, he should already be in Thailand, but he met a girl so they are travelling together and working to earn some more money before moving on again, they have 7 weeks left in Australia and will then go to New Zealand, they have plans to keep travelling and keep working in order to keep travelling and explore as much of the world as possible.

Dinner is lovely, especially washed down with a gin and tonic, the restaurant is quite busy, the caravan park and the motel look to be quite busy. You sometimes wonder where everyone comes from when you are in a place that is quite remote.

We have no Internet here, Richard already told us that the roadhouse is on dialup. I have not been able to speak to my Dad, I hope that he is having a good day, I am terribly disappointed not to have been able to speak to him on his birthday, but that is the difficulty here, sometimes there is no internet for days, still we should be in Katherine tomorrow so we should have internet then.

By 9.00 we are both in bed, I read for a while but Andy is soon fast asleep, the campsite soon falls quiet.

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Photos

In to the Territories
We "Broke" in to the Northern Territories at exactly 10.00am Western Australia Time, which is 11.30 Northern Territory Time

The Smiths
Weston & Val smith, who were very pleasant and interesting people who we camped by

Durack Grave Stone
The great Author Mary Durack

Durack Grave Stone
Life must have been tough, in this huge country many years ago without any medical assistance close by

Old Pumpkin
An Aboriginal station hand and talented cattle man, "Old Pumpkin"

Homestead
The Durack Homestead

Fanny Durack
Gold Medalist

Water Bag
How they kept water from getting warm

Road Train
Pulling in to the quarantine station in Western Australia

The Victoria River
Taken from the Bradshaw Bridge

Picture N0 9999
Caroline's camera has reset to 0 after taking this picture, as she has shot 10,000 frames

Comments

[TT's]

Snap Snap from Kakadu
Hello fellow travellers - remember us?? We are staying in Jabiru in Kakadu. We will be heading to Katherine but not for a few days. Are you thinking of coming this way to Darwin - be great to catch up and you could meet my parents who have heard loads about you - not just the bad stuff ha ha. You'll be pleased to know we have full internet service here at Kakadu Lodge and its got a really fab pool with an awesome waterfall - we know how much you love to swim! Got a roast we need to cook and you're camp oven would be perfect - we might even share it with you. Hope this entices you to look us up. We're all excellent hope you are too. This is the home stretch for us so we'd love to see you before we go back to freezing Victoria. Love and hugs Trueys xoxo