Katherine and Darwin

It's too early for the roadhouse to be open and anyway the adblue bowser is blocked by a road train, so with only a dribble of adblue in the tank we hit the road. An hour later we park roadside at a set of one way bridges where crocodiles are known to lurk and Droney is off on a mission.  “Shit, I’ve lost it!” Ben mutters, droney’s gone offline and is somewhere over crocodile infested waters. I can literally hear Ben thinking about venturing into the long grass beside the river to search for the drone. But instead he calculates the last known position, peers into the sky, makes a few moves on the joysticks and we hear Droney off to the south. With visual confirmation Ben directs him back to the van, another lucky save, but no crocodile sightings. 

The adblue light comes on, we stopped earlier to buy a gallon container of the stuff but there were no funnels to actually get it in the tank, but now we just need to find a way to get it in. So with some kiwi ingenuity I carve up a water bottle and Ben pokes a pencil through to hold the valve open and we manage to get most of the gallon in the tank, teamwork. 

Now we’re busting along in the 38 degree nothingness when it feels like something is trying to push us from the road.  Ben keeps us steady but further along we see a swirl of tumbleweed and again that same intensity pushing us one way then the other - scary. 

5kms out of Katherine we find a peaceful shady campsite where we squeeze between a caravan and an identical van to ours. Campervans are rare here let alone one just like ours. A stones throw from the van is the pool and a bistro, which lights up with fairy lights. Ben and the girls enjoy some delicious looking food here each night.

With nothing nearby we have to assemble the e-scooters to reach the natural hot springs, the batteries are on 50% so we head off hoping  we’re not walking them home. Its about 5 kms: down the road, across the 1 way, onto the path, then follow the river to where it bubbles up from deep within the earth. There are several other people swimming so we can’t not have a quick swim. 

Further along there’s a pop up cafe which is simply two containers with tables and chairs under the tree. We end up here every morning as the food is amazing and its super chill, with a giant turtle for the kids to clamber over.

On our way to Darwin we overnight in a tiny town called Adelaide River. I’m cooking some amazing green curry for tea when I notice a few large bumbling blowflies drifting around me. By the time we’re ready to eat the van is full of them and we’ve no idea where they’re getting in. We sit outside while the fly spray is hopefully doing its job. Later we see Alila through the window looking like she’s winning a game of squash with the flyswat. That night there’s a strong scent of smoke from  a scrub fire down on the corner, it’s hard to sleep as the smell is strong.

 

We reach Darwin and chill here for a few days then we pack our bags and head to the airport. Bali here we come.