Day 26: Katherine to Timber Creek

 A ideal stop off  on the way to Kununurra is Timber Creek, just over half way between the two. Today's drive is around 280 km over generally good road , although there were some significantly flood damaged sections requiring speed limits of 40 km/hr. 

Our only stop along the way was at Victoria River, where the landscape is dramatically different from the surrounding area. The Victoria  River is the longest river in the Northern Territory flowing 560 km from the Gregory National Park to the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf in the Timor Sea. Large red rock escarpments dominate the horizon, the road becomes quite hilly and all of a sudden, you arrive at Victoria River Roadhouse.

Rocky escarpments appear as we get close to Victoria River

The river appears on the right hand side

I went for a short walk down to see the river whilst Carole organised a coffee from the roadhouse. Like all of the roadhouses, there is a caravan park out the back with quite a few powered sites and unlimited (it seems) unpowered sites. It is around midday and there are not a lot of vans in the park, in fact it looks like there are more parked outside waiting for fuel or getting a feed.

It is immediately clear that mobile reception might be a problem here

There is one van in the unpowered section

To get to the river, there is an access road that looks like it was the old highway. The old bridge must have spent a good part of its life under water when you see how high the new bridge is.

The Victoria River taken from the old bridge

Walking back up the old road to the Roadhouse

Enjoying a cup of Victoria River Roadhouse instant coffee.

With only 90 km to go to get to Timber Creek, we decide we will have lunch when we arrive there. 

Timber Creek Travellers Rest Roadhouse is a substantial setup

You have to pay for your site at the convenience store in the roadhouse and then drive further into the caravan park where you will be guided to a site. It was a similar process to the Daly Waters Pub, and was filling fast.

Settled in to our spot for the night

After lunch we went for a walk to see Timber Creek, which the park backs onto. It is a haven for freshwater crocodiles, so swimming is banned.

Unfortunately fishing in the creek is also not allowed. It looks like a place there may be some fish.

We will miss the crocodile feeding by the large Boab tree as it isn't on today

Walking back to the van, we stopped to talk to another couple who we had met briefly at the caravan park in Katherine. We ended up settling in for a cup of tea and a few hours chat. They are from Rosebud on the Mornington Peninsula and are more or less heading to the same places we are, with a diversion along the Gibb River Road (without their van), so we will most likely see them again along the way.

By 6 pm, the Timber Creek Hotel is gaining some thirsty caravaners. We are eating in tonight to try to devour vegetables etc that we cannot take into WA tomorrow due to their biosecurity rules.

After dinner the  noise level from the pub increased markedly and it was then I remembered that the second State of Origin game is on tonight. We are parked under a lot of shady trees, so starlink is not an option, therefore we are off to the pub to see the game.

There are a lot of Queenslanders on the road and very few from NSW  that we have met so far, so the crowd could be a bit biased. It is only a short walk to the pub and it is packed.

Queenslanders have filled the front seats

It wasn't a great result for NSW. At least the third game will now be worth watching with the scores so far 1 each.

Our van lighting up the park