Hello South Australia

We’ve left tropical NT and endured a few days travelling south down the Stuart Highway and are now in outback SA. We had a few roadside overnighters until we arrived here at Andamooka and will be here for a couple of days. We stopped just out of Tennant Creek to visit the old telegraph station - which is in really good condition.

We stayed at a campsite at the Tropic of Capricorn marker - when we initially arrived there was only one other person, but by the end of the night the area was quite full. We were comfortable with the use of the picnic shelter, but it was very cold and had to use our heaters in the vans for the first time!

We fuelled up and had a quick pie at Kulgera - the last pub in NT - and were amused by the shoe clothes line!

We detoured along the old Stuart Highway and spent a night at Kingoonya. It was a relief to be away from the endless stream of caravans heading north - and from some of the heavy machinery being transported.

We enjoyed our time at this little place - it used to be quite busy when it was on the Highway, but the new road was built, Kingoonya was bypassed and things moved to Glendambo. The caravan park was quaint with horses spying on us - but the amenities were clean and tidy and owner was very friendly. 

The old school house is being renovated by Leesa with the intention of setting up a cafe. She gave us a tour of the building and it’s quite amazing to see the blackboard writing and pictures so clear - after being hidden by cladding for many years. The aim is to preserve these with a perspex frame. It’s a huge project that’s being undertaken, and we wish her all the best, 

We enjoyed a meal at the pub and a chat around the campfire - we find we learn so much talking to locals and people passing by. 

Driving to Andamooka the scenery was quite barren and here it’s a typical Opal mining town - untidy, dry, not pretty- but we suspect it has quite a charm like other Opal towns. 

I’ll leave off now as we will begin a tour of the town. We trust everyone is well and enjoying life as much as we are! Till the next update, love from the travellers. ❌❌❌❌

Katherine & Bitter Springs

This time in Katherine we stayed at a new camp called ‘Buffalo Hill’ which was really just a cleared paddock with a nice amenity block. It suited us perfectly - especially as we could have our camp fire for warmth and cooking. 

We made use of our time in Katherine - Dennis’s brakes were fixed and 3 of us had haircuts plus we restocked our cupboards and fridges! We also went to the Outback Experience which was great! Tom Curtain’s management of horses and dogs is amazing - it’s not an orchestrated perfect show, but has real experiences showing how they can break a wild brumby to be able to ride it - albeit with a bucking off initially. He was also able to control 13 dogs in an arena just by voice commands - even though some of them were a little exuberant and needed constant reminders of what they were supposed to be doing. I guess getting the dogs to round up 3 goats and have them jump on the horses backs was a fitting conclusion to the show.

This show travels around in the wet season and we believe Swan Hill is one of the venues. Before we left, we popped out to the gorge at Katherine as we were staying near by - we noticed the bats were still there in their hundreds, and the centre has some very impressive displays. 

From Katherine we travelled just down the road to Bitter Springs. 

If you’ve never floated down the springs here with a noodle, then put it on your bucket list! There could be nothing more relaxing and beautiful than drifting amongst the palms, pandanas and gums in beautiful warm clear water. A noodle really makes it better so we’re really glad we lashed out $3 and purchased them - even though we probably will just be carrying them around from now on as we can’t see much swimming on the horizon from here on. We enjoyed it so much, we decided to stay another night and enjoy another afternoon floating down the springs. This park is lovely too - even though it’s big, the sites are huge with lots of trees so we feel we’re out bush. We’ve caught up on washing again, ready for the next leg southwards.

Our decision has been made and we’re going to head into South Australia which means a few days of many kms down the Stuart Highway! Seeing we’ve visited the places along this road, we won’t be sightseeing, just getting to our next destination Andamooka  - which is 2,200kms away from here. I doubt there’ll be a blog for a while. We’re hoping everyone is keeping well - we continually reflect on how fortunate we are to be enjoying good health and to have the opportunity to travel in comfort as we do. We are very lucky. 😊😊❌❌

Douglas Daly region

After leaving Megan & Craig, we travelled a whole 90km to Adelaide River. We stopped for morning tea at the Manton Dam and watched fisheries folk restock barramundi into the dam. The fish were 18 months old and quite a good size. The dam was very pretty with water lillies - it was built during the war to serve Darwin but now Darwin’s supply is from the nearby Darwin river dam. Our time at Adelaide River was peaceful and we enjoyed a beautiful sunset whilst chatting to a couple who holidayed at Boort and were friendly with an ex Murrabit couple we know. We continually find it’s a small world!

From there we came to this Douglas Daly park which is very relaxed and best of all, we can use our fire pit. It’s a very popular spot for campers in tents, swags and camper trailers as there are lots of secluded spots along the Daly

river. You do need to watch where you are walking however,  as Darryl, wearing thongs, nearly trod on what we believe to be a venomous black whip snake! That gave us quite a scare and we watched the path very carefully after that! 

We walked up to a lovely spot called The Arches, and a deep pool but neither are recommended as safe swimming spots - such a shame!

It is fortunate that there’s a beautiful swimming pool that’s very croc safe. 

We took what we believed to be a quick jaunt to nearby Crystal Falls - we didn’t reckon on a very rough dirt narrow track - which gave the Ranger a bit of a 4 WD workout! Of course driver and vehicle performed very well. 

The falls were very pretty and worth the trip. 

Along the way we were interested to see farm land with huge hay paddocks and a crop of young watermelons. We haven’t seen much cropping or agriculture in NT as it seems to be mainly cattle grazing. 

 The weather has decidedly changed with cooler mornings and nights and we’re wearing jackets and have our doonas on the bed again. The days however are still beautiful and warm with temperatures about 30. As we head further south, no doubt it will get cooler - we can’t stay up here forever! 

Today we head back to Katherine - it seems we know that town quite well. Dennis has his van booked in to have the brakes looked at - then we’ll be faced with the decision of heading east or south. 

We hope all our readers are well and keeping warm. Until the next blog, love from the happy travellers. ❌❌❌

Darwin and surrounds

We have found the best camp site ever!! We have a beautiful setting which is quiet & secluded, we have wonderful owners who have gone out of their way to be kind and helpful, we have 3 lovely children to remind us of the ones we are missing - plus we even have 2 friendly dogs who seem to have adopted us - until the family come home! We are at Girraween at the property of Craig & Megan and we are so grateful for their hospitality, their friendship and their tourism tips of what to see and do. 

Using this as a base, we’ve toured around and feel we have a good grasp of this area. On our way here we stopped at Berry Springs for morning tea in their beautiful gardens. The pool is still not open for swimming after the wet season but I have fond memories of enjoying this area on previous visits. 

Along the Stuart Highway we stopped to read the information about the WW2 airstrips - both Darryls and Tops’s Dads worked on these strips during the war so it’s nice this bit of history is being recognised. 

We enjoyed a day in Darwin and we were very impressed with the city. Dennis encouraged us to go into Parliament House and watch from the gallery and it was pleasing to see orderly behaviour and no yelling or rudeness.

The waterfront area is lovely and we should have come prepared for a dip in the lagoon. We visited Cullen Bay and ended up enjoying a delicious lunch at the boat club in Fannie Bay. Our day finished with a tour of the new military museum which was very well done and we could have spent hours there. 

Dundee beach is a very popular destination for fishing folk and we had contemplated staying out there but the common theme was it’s mosquito and midgie heaven so we decided a day trip was better seeing we didn’t want to face itchy lumps again! The beach there is lovely and it was very pleasant sitting under the trees watching the fishing boats - but of course no swimming due to crocs! 

We also popped into Crab Claw and were impressed with the facilities there and having a drink on the deck, overlooking the sea, was very peaceful. 

Our final day of touring was out to The Bark Hut Inn. Along the way we stopped at Fogg Dam where there was an abundance of bird life which Darryl enjoyed. The Bark Hut proved to be an excellent spot for a lovely relaxing lunch and we were especially intrigued by this crocodile - which we initially believed to be fake, but when we looked again he had disappeared, only to pop up briefly. Then we knew he was real! 

This is the turn around point of our trip so a little sadly we pack up tomorrow and start meandering south. Our plans are still very lose and when we reach 3 ways roadhouse, we’ll have to either turn east into Queensland or south into SA. We’ve enjoyed this part of Australia - their life style is relaxed and friendly and we’ve been made feel welcome wherever we’ve been. I’m not sure where we’ll be for the next episode of our travels - but we will no doubt be enjoying another spot. So on signing off, we can’t thank Craig & Megan enough for their kindness. ❌❌❌❌from the Brays & Greenwoods.