Caravan around Australia

A rain free hot day is forecast for Katherine today with the max temperature expected to reach 33 C. However, the low humidity at this time of the year makes it quite bearable. We will be in Katherine for the next 5 days and the forecast looks pretty similar for the whole period.  Whilst it was a short drive, it was a long day. We arrived at our caravan park, about 3 km out of Katherine, before 12 noon. It is a large park, and has grass !  However, the road off the highway, leading to the park was notv quite what was expected. The road sign said we were headed to the Low Level Nature Park. The road soon narrowed to a one way bridge across a river weir that looked like it had serious flooding potential.  A very low level  one way bridge across the Katherine River The site they originally allocated us, was a bit of a shocker, with large tree roots over the area where the van wheels woulds be, making levelling the van a bit of a nightmare. I asked for an alternative sit...

 Unlike yesterday, there were no horses to greet us this morning, but we get a visit from a few peacocks.   Facilities here at the park are good, so Carole takes the opportunity to get a load of washing on. One adventurous camper near us headed off with a fishing rod this morning, but returned empty handed. Our plan this morning is to go and investigate the other thermal springs in the area, Bitter Springs, which is at the North end of town. We also had a look at the caravan park which was our other alternative to here. The springs are a good walk from the caravan park, but there is a visitor car park about 250m from the springs. A well defined track leads to the springs they cover a much larger area than the thermal pool near our park, and the spring flow is a bit over double the supply to the spring where we are staying. You can float downstream with the current for a limited distance. The setting is also very natural, and there appear to less people here, but there are a fe...

Before departure this morning, we had a few 4 legged visitors, a couple of donkeys also joined them. They were much more interested in inspecting the outdoor kitchens of the pop top vans.  It is a very short drive today, only 173 km, and not a lot to see along the way. There were some very rough patches on the road where flood damage has not yet been repaired. Speed reductions down to 40 km/hr were needed to negotiate them. This area is famous for its thermal springs, located in Elsey National Park. There were two options of campgrounds close to the thermal springs, Mataranka Homestead Resort which is a short walk from the Mataranka Thermal Pool, and Bitter Springs, North of town. We chose the former, as from reports it was in better shape after the severe flooding earlier this year. It is a big park with a large pub, restaurant/beer garden, and many caravan and camping sites. You cant book, so we just turned up at reception, paid for 2 days and were given a rough map and the oppor...

The caravan park emptied out pretty quickly this morning, we were among the late departures. Maybe they know something we don't. Quite a lot of people said they were heading to Daly Waters ! We plan to top up our diesel at Renner Springs, the roadhouse where we decided not to stay and opted for Banka Banka. On arrival there we think we made a good decision. There is just the roadhouse which has seen better days, and little else. Renner Springs Roadhouse  By the time we arrived at the town of Elliot, it was time for a cup of coffee there. The BP roadhouse there was very tidy, had cheaper fuel than Renner Springs and the coffee was good.  Arrival at Daly Waters Pub was at just after 1pm, and there  was a queue of caravans down the entry road. You cannot make bookings and it is first in best dressed. There was a big line up at the bar wanting to book a powered caravan site, and fortunately for us, they have a lot of capacity. They just cram the vans in wherever there is a sp...

 This morning we head towards th Stuart Highway junction and turn North to Banka Banka Station, our camp for tonight. We had contemplated driving further to Renner Springs, but it didn't rate well on Wikicamps, so we opted for stopping earlier at Banka Banka, which had very positive ratings. Before departure, we had an early morning visit from some guinea fowl, that appear to wander at will around the caravan park. They look pretty well fed  Once back on the road, we has 190 km of not much before we arrive at the 3 ways, The junction of the Barkly Highway with the Stuart Highway heading North/South. There is a roadhouse at the 3 ways, so we drop in for a cup of coffee. There is a caravan park out the back, and a pub inside the roadhouse.   Again at this road house we noticed the concern operators have about customers filling with fuel and running off without paying. We first saw it yesterday at Barkly Homestead, where you had to go into the cashier and surrender your...