Day 29 - Butterfly Springs to Katherine.

We took a leaf out of our friendly camping neighbour's book by taking a swim after packing up the dusty tent. From here we headed north, in our bathers, to Roper Bar. As we packed up Justin noticed some concerning cracks in the toward. Oh joy. 180 km of corrugated, sandy, rocky roads, a few river crossings thrown in, with a camper trailer that might remove itself from the car. My suggestion that 20 kmph was the top speed may have been a bit of an overreaction, but I was prepared to do it. Luckily Justin took the wheel, or we would still be driving to Katherine, three days later.

This is a letterbox in an airfield for the nearby cattle station. You lift the cow's tail to post the letters.

 

We passed another uncontrolled control burn.

 

The rivers here are really beautiful. It must be cruel In the summer, the need to cool off and having to look at these tempting rivers, knowing that swimming almost guarantees a crocodile some lunch. I'm starting to relax about the whole crocodile issue as there are idiots walking into the rivers for us. Beautiful decoys, thanks ever so much to the nameless fishermen.

 

Tomato Island is particularly beautiful, but you'll have to make do with this photo. I wasn't getting any closer to the water for a better vantage point.

 

Once we got to the Roper Highway, with the trailer intact and the towbar unchanged, we turned right to go to the Roper Bar Store.

 

What a strange place, see above. They serve a local Aboriginal Community, so they were well stocked in food, clothes, shoes, prams and child car seats. Like many small places out here, Justin had to ask for the fuel to be unlocked for him, and the air.

 

We kept heading east for a short way to see Leichart's Crossing over the Roper River. This road only goes to Ngukurr, the Aboriginal settlement the store services, and out to the gulf of Carpentaria. The crossing is similar to the layout of Cahill's Crossing that we have to negotiate later in our trip. We met a really nice couple in a caravan from Middle Park that felt the same as we do about risking lives in crocodile infested water. I happened to mention our towbar issues, and they gave us two places to try to get it mended. It always pays to stop and chat out here. They recommended the Mitchell River National Park off the Gibb River Road. The rest of the drive was uneventful, thank goodness.

 

We pulled into the first place on the left in Mataranka, seen above as recommended by the Roper Bar couple. Willy's Autos. It was after 5.30 when we arrived and they were still open and looked busy. Justin asked if they could look at our towbar tomorrow, but he looked at it straight away. We made arrangements to bring the car back tomorrow for welding. It was great news that the towbar can be fixed rather than needing replacing.

 

We decided to stay in Katherine rather than Mataranka, and out at the Gorge at Nitmiluk Gorge Campgrounds. We called to check there was room, and arrived just on dark. We'd been told to pay at the pool if it was still open, as we would arrive after the Visitor's Centre closed. Well, we parked where we wanted to camp then headed to the pool. There was a band playing, a sparkling blue pool and a casual bar and meals set up. Not to mention the balmy temperature and the palm trees. So, given it was now after 7.30pm, we decided to eat poolside. We ordered chicken skewers and chips for the girls, Phoebe tried out a crocodile skewer as well. Justin and I ordered Barramundi and salad, and the girls swam while we waited for our meals. This is Glamping in the extreme. The chips were perfect, golden brown and super crisp. Thanks for sharing girls!

 

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