Knock, knock, knocking on Darwin's door

We’re finally in Darwin after a seeming eternity of travelling from Mt Isa.

It’s a relief to be able to rest for a while, not that we’ve been particularly under the hammer.

Darwin Harbour viewed from near Parliament House.

We have found it exhilarating and humbling to experience the vastness of the Queensland and Northern Territory outback.

Our old Pajero deserves a good pat on the bonnet for towing our van thus far – around 3,000 kilometres from Cairns and nearly 6,000 kilometres from Sydney, without a snort of complaint.

View of Darwin from an East End park.

We’ve been through a lot of flat countryside; we’ve seen savannah and bush, but no desert; the stops along the way are full of history; and we’ve met some delightful fellow vannies.

We have been amazed at the number of caravans, motor homes and campervans on these outback roads.

They would represent 90 per cent of the traffic – the other 10 per cent would be road trains, to which we have given a wide berth.

Fifty-five metre road trains at Dunmarra. Note the army tank aboard the middle train.

Caravanning is such a big industry I’m surprised at the paucity of facilities for them in this day and age.

Roadhouse rage

The investment in some rigs is enormous with many retirees cashed up and rarin’ to spend (not like us working to a tight budget).

The roadhouses, which are independently owned monopolies, and on which you are dependent for fuel, rip you off at the bowser while providing only the bare minimum in terms of amenities.

I could go on but won’t get off the track (so to speak).

Our first overnight stay after driving on the Barkly Highway from Mt Isa through Camooweal was at the Barkly Homestead (the less said the better).

Next day we drove 200 km to Tennant Creek, a mostly Aboriginal town, on the Stuart Highway that links Adelaide with Darwin. We would love to have stayed but decided to press on for an overnight stay at the Dunmarra roadhouse just south of Daly Waters, to be closer to Darwin.

When we arrived in mid-afternoon it was 44 deg in the shade and still 38 deg at 5.30pm. There was nothing for it but to have a cold shower and a beer.

Our next leg took us to Katherine, but not before diversions at Daly Waters and Mataranka.

Our van parked near the old Air Force hangar at Daly Waters.


Daly diversion

Daly Waters is a threadbare curiosity today, but is famous for where the explorer John McDouall Stuart in attempting to cross Australia in 1861-62 found his first waterhole; for its establishment as a key post of the Overland Telegraph Line in 1872; and as a World War II Air Force base.

Carol at the historic Daly Waters pub.

I found the old hangar which is now a museum particularly interesting. During the War the place was a hive of activity, was visited by General Douglas MacArthur and hosted all manner of aircraft including B-17 Flying Fortresses, Mitchell and Hudson bombers, P-40s, Wirraways, Kittyhawks and Spitfires (if you’re into aircraft).

Mataranka is a lot more lively and we simply had to spend a couple of hours there to experience the famous hot springs and inspect a replica of Elsey Homestead, subject of Jeannie Gunn’s book We of the Never Never, which I’d finished reading a few weeks previous.

Elsey Homestead of 'We of the Never Never' fame.

The hot springs are simply amazing: the water bubbles out of deep limestone cavities and into a creek so you are bathing in constantly running, crystal clear, pristine water.

I bought a small painting of a fish done in oils from an Aborigine for $10 which I thought was infinitely better value than the $12 barra burger bought for lunch at the springs.

Carol enjoying Mataranka's hot springs.

Four days fun

It was on to Katherine, where we stayed four days in a very pleasant caravan park before making the final journey to Darwin.

Katherine is a great little town, with a large Aboriginal population and lots of activity generated from nearby Tindal Air Force Base. It too, has delightful hot springs that we sampled.

South-north rail line linking Port Augusta with Darwin.

The highlight was a boat tour of spectacular Katherine Gorge, which is supposed to be full of freshwater crocodiles, but we didn’t see any. We did see bats and tiny Fairy Martin birds fly in and out of their beehive-like mud nests on the ceiling of the gorge caves.

Springvale Homestead.

We went on a long walk in the heat to visit the Springvale Homestead built of sandstone by Alfred Giles in 1878 after 19 months of droving 12,000 sheep and 2,500 cattle from South Australia.

Giles was a smart: he’d previously worked on the Overland Telegraph Line and recognised the potential for grazing.

Life must have been pretty tough for these pioneers. You can’t imagine how hot it gets in the afternoons and spring has only just begun.

Peacock at Adelaide River.

En route to Darwin we took a 67 kilometre scenic route from Pine Creek to Adelaide River, a lumpy and bumpy ride, but taking us through fields of giant termite mounds.

What was more interesting was finding the caravan door wide open when we stopped for a photo. Someone (I won't say who it was, but it wasn’t me!) opened it before we left Pine Creek for a coffee break and forgot to shut it.

We were most relieved to see our $1000 Waeco fridge in the doorway had not fallen out.

Rock-hard giant termite mound near Adelaide River.

More about Darwin in our next blog. We await the arrival of Kay (Carol’s sister) and Paul from Brisbane, and Pam (Carol’s cousin) and Peter from Cairns, with whom we plan to visit Kakadu and other exciting places.