We enjoyed a very relaxing evening in Tennant Creek. The competitive spirit was in abundance throughout the smite championship (well you would have thought it was, in between the laughing and chatter) and we’re definitely looking forward to the next round in a few days time.

The journey from Tennant Creek to Daly Waters was a mixed one, with the first 100kms far more interesting than the prior 500kms. The roads were windy rather than straight and boring and the landscape hilly, with the flora becoming much greener the further north we came. Throughout this area, termite nests are in great abundance, and I’m not sure why, the further north we came, the bigger they became. The last 300kms for the day settled back to more mundane landscape, very little wildlife, with large cattle stations that are thousands of square kilometres in size along the roadside.

We very much looked forward to our arrival at Daly Waters having heard so much about it, but we couldn’t quite believe what greeted us when we got there. Being out in the middle of this vast country we don’t see lots of travellers, so of course we didn’t expect to be met with a caravan park that was almost full and cars and vans parked on the roadside when Daly Waters is a very small township that basially focuses around a historical pub. The town (if you can call it this) was founded and named in 1861, for the series of natural springs discovered by John McDouall Stuart. Its other claims to fame are that there was a World War II airforce base here, and it was a refuelling stop in the early days for the Qantas to Singapore flight. In fact this was the first international airport in the country. I don’t think any passengers would have been embarking here! However the pub is quite something. It’s the old drovers watering hole, where thirsts were quenched and news was exchanged and today much of the pub is original.

Thongs on the wall – Leonie this is for you!

The walls are adorned with memorabilia, business cards, notes, thongs (for the kiwis this means jandals) and much more. And the food is fantastic. So naturally the pub played host to the Beaumont’s and the Berry’s for the evening, where we enjoyed good food and a drink or two whilst being entertained by a couple of old timers, one country and western and the other with 50’s and 60’s rock ‘n roll.

Steve relaxing at Daly Waters Pub

The camp ground is simple, with not a blade of grass in sight, but this is the outback and all about the outback experience with wonderful hospitality.

On Thursday we left Daly Waters to head north for Katherine, with a plan to stay for three or four days so we can enjoy the many sights and attractions and also relax just a little. Pleasantly there was far more wildlife to see on the trip north, with kangaroos, wallabies, black cockatoos, guanas, eagles and much more. And let’s not forget those termite mounds which increased in size the further north we traveled. Just look at the Mataranka town symbol, the giant termite mound.

Mataranka Termite Mound – Deanne is dwarfed by its scale

Mataranka is about 80kms south of Katherine. Maybe there was a little human intervention with this one! Mataranka is known for its rather stunning natural thermal pools, the Bitter and the Rainbow Springs. Because Katherine also has thermal springs we decided to move on and set up base for the day.

Brian caught up with us again once we arrived in Katherine, so we are now a group of 5. We’ve based ourselves about 12kms from town in a leafy and grassy park beside the stunning Katherine River. And it was soooo tempting to take a dip, given it is warm and still quite humid (despite being the onset of the dry season), but alas with both both fresh and salt crocodiles we could only look and lust.

Katherine River – quite magical but we cannot swim here

However today (we leave shortly) we are spending the day at the Nitmiluk National Park (Katherine Gorge), which has natural rock pools we can enjoy without any risk. And to cap off our day we are taking a sunset dinner cruise through two of the gorges, which should be quite something.