Butterfly Gorge to Daly River

WW2 Air Wreckage at Fenton Airfield

The Arches Waterhole

Butterfly Gorge

Day 131

Alan and I decided to drive to Butterfly Gorge about 17km away as we heard it was a lovely walk and swimming gorge. The others are heading to Daly River and we will meet up later. The drive to the gorge was lovely and the walk not too strenuous. We had been told to swim through the first pool and climb up a series of rocky pools and falls to reach the most gorgeous pool at the top. The effort was so worth it but unfortunately we didn’t have a waterproof camera so no pics of this beautiful peaceful place with no one else around. We reluctantly headed back to the car and then back to pick up our trailer and on to Daly River to meet with the others. There is only limited mobile service so we had to hope that they had left some sort of message to let us know where they had decided to camp. On the way we stopped in at The Arches Waterhole for a swim and then to Fenton Airfield, a WW2 heavy bomber airfield which had suffered 2 heavy attacks by Japanese Aircraft and remnants of wreckage and the old bitumen runway still there to look around. We found a large piece of fuselage in the bush but there are probably lots of smaller pieces scattered around the overgrown bush. We drove to the Wooliana campground where the others were and which was beautiful and grassy and clean and right on the banks of the Daly. There are a lot of fishermen staying here and many have their own tinnies tied up to the little jetty heading out for up to 12 hours at a time trying to catch the elusive Barramundi. Apparently there were lots to be caught in April and May but they haven’t been catching as many lately. Bait is a a cherub which is a large freshwater prawn caught in a crab pot and the numbers of these being caught lately have dropped off too so not much chance of us getting to see or taste any barra here . We enjoy sunset drinks on the jetty doing some croc spotting and watching the evening activities on this magnificent river.

Katherine to Edith Falls

Around the campfire at Douglas Hot Springs

Enjoying a dip in Katherine Hot Springs

Day 129/Monday 6th July

Looked around Katherine, went to the thermal pools which were small but not too crowded and just warm. Stocked up on groceries for our trip north to Daly River and Litchfield Nat. Park.and visited a museum where I bought a lovely aboriginal painting from a local artist.

Day 130/Tuesday 7th July

Drove to Edith Falls and had a swim in the icy cold water then headed to Douglas Hot Springs for a warmer dip. There was a campground here and we decided to find a spot to stay and enjoyed an afternoon relaxing in the springs which were up to 40 degrees in some spots. We managed to collect a bit of firewood and enjoyed a nice campfire and barbq dinner.

"The Talking Stick"our latest entertainment on the road

Al,Carole,Les,Rosemary,Don and I at the gorge

Carole and I on the boat

Katherine Gorge

carole and Les

Don and Rosemary

Day 128
We have decided to do a cruise this afternoon on Katherine Gorge at 1pm so after a Sunday morning barbq brekkie( Not sure if this gathering with friends for meals is going to help my waistline!!) we get out our very very dusty bikes and ride to the nearby hot springs for a little dip in the warm pools. We get back in time for scones with jam and lashings of cream which have been lovingly made for us by June.... now I know I am going to have to get a new wardrobe of larger sized clothes!!! We drive about 30km to the gorge for the cruise and enjoy the afternoon doing up to the 3rd gorge and enjoying a swim in the lovely clear water before driving back to the CP. We have happy hour around the camp and have adopted a nightly routine which Carole and Les’s daughter Kim and family use, of holding a talking stick and each person tells the worst and best thing that has happened to them that day. As you can imagine it is very hard to find a bad thing that has happened when you are on holiday in such a lovely country, so there is a lot of hilarious made up things ranging from me not getting a promised diamond ring because St. Kilda beat Geelong today to Don’s toiletry bag which has so many compartments and zippers that it is like Canberra( you can see what you want but can’t get in there) and Rosemary “accidently” thinking that it was topless bathing today at the gorge( not sure if that was the good or bad thing) and Les just says something relating to his mother-in-law for both good and bad!!! We are going to have fun for the next couple of weeks as everyone tries to find the good and bad happenings each day!! We are going to have dinner at the bistro here in the park, its roast and barra night and a nice change for a night off for the cooks!! It is freezing cold again but at least the days are warm so can’t really complain.

We meet up with The Maslen's and Dickinson's in Katherine!!

A beer in hand ,updating the Blog in the Gregory River National Park

Day 127
We have decided to head to Katherine as we are meeting up with Maslen’s and Dickinson’s tomorrow and arrive at about 1pm with no booking for tonight at the Low Level CP. There is a “full” sign at the gate but on checking there is just “1”site left and we will have to move tomorrow when we have a booking with the others. We set up camp are surprised to see Les and Carole and Rosemary and Don arriving and they have also decided to get here a day early but had phoned ahead so no problem with securing a site. I think it will be like this all the way to Darwin with having to book parks ahead. We have really enjoyed the carefree attitude so far with finding a camp spot each night but the southerners are here in full force! Carole’s mum June and hubby John are also here in their van and we enjoy happy hour and a barbq dinner while catching up on 4 months of news of families and home. It is cooling down and we have to dig out our winter woollies.

Arghhhh!!!! Not Timber Creek!!!!

Keep River National Park

The garage in Timber Creek where our car was stick for 5 days waiting for repairs

Day 126
We get up early but now with the time difference it is not sunrise till about 7:30 so we are going to have to start to use our alarm clocks again. We pack up and drive to the Garrandalng campground and do the 2km walk from there. It is much more spectacular and we are not sure if it’s because it is not too hot yet or it is a nicer walk. We head east to Timber Creek and Al is teasing me that we will stay here but I am getting all hot and bothered even at the mention of the name.........Timber Creek is a popular fuel/halfway stop for many caravanner’s but our memory of the town brings back fear-provoking thoughts. It was about 16 years ago and we were travelling through here with a group from the 4wd club and our new Landcruiser broke down stranding Al and I and our 3 little girls here for several days waiting each day for the bus from Katherine to arrive with the spare part. To cut a long story short there was not much for us to do and it still causes our family to shiver with fear at the mere mention of Timber Creek!! We quickly fuel up and get out of there after taking a few photos to show the girls how little this town has changed. We are heading for Gregory River National Park about 60km away and find a lovely camp at Bullita Homestead campground. There is much pastoral history here since about 1920 and the old stockyards as well as the homestead and station buildings have been kept in some order when the National Parks took over after 1977. We take a short drive to a gorge but due to severe flooding last wet season the walk in to the gorge is closed. We get back to camp and decide on a swim at a spot near the camp with shallow running water. Croc signs are all around but we see another couple bathing there so it should be safe...we hope anyway!! Another mild evening and get the fire going for dinner after sunset.......... and when the swarms of flies go to bed!!!

Finally in Northern territory

Ord River view from Dam Wall

Unusual rock sculptures in Keep River National Park

Lake Argyle Dam Lookout

Day 125
We got an early start and checked out the dam and as we had watched a DVD on the construction of the dam wall and Lake yesterday was interesting to see it up close. Drove to the NT border and had to turn watches forward 1 and half hours, so had morning tea not long after brekkie, but I tell Al you have to get onto local time fast and forget about where you have been!! We turned into Keep River National Park and went to the Jarnum campground at the northern end of the park. This is not one of the more famous parks but we had heard it is very pretty. Campground is nice and we have a fire place. We decide to do a walk from the campground about 2 hours but it is very hot when we do it and it is not quite as pleasant as if we had walked earlier or later in the day.

Lake Argyle

Sunset over Lake Argyle

Swimming training in the middle of the lake

One of the other "swimmers" in the lake

Day 124

Al dropped me off in town and he went on a farm tour for a couple of hours. I found a panel beaters and got some maintenance done on my hair and had some quiet time. Al found the tour really interesting as he had been keen to see this area since it was first developed with the opening of the Ord River scheme in the early 70’s. The guide gave an insight into the past, present and future plans for the area and it must be an important area as he found out that KRUDD was making a visit the following day splash some money around for future expansion of the irrigation area. We headed out of town about 70km to Lake Argyle and although very busy we managed to get a nice camp spot in the CP. We were picked up at 2:45pm for our sunset tour of the dam. It was incredible to see this massive expanse of water which is 21 times bigger than Sydney Harbour and Australia’s largest freshwater lake. It is so large in fact that it’s hard to believe it is a lake with many islands and rocky outcrops dotted around the water. We spotted lots of wildlife and a few freshwater crocs, but only small at about 3 metres when the skipper said it was time for swimming!!!!??? Al decided that as he had a cold he wouldn’t go in but encouraged me to take a dip. It was out in the centre of the lake so I swam in the glorious afternoon with several other passengers and with no sight of any dark shapes swimming by. After watching another beautiful sunset we motored back to our camp.