Travelling south

Sunday 8th Feb

Well, we eventually managed to prise ourselves away from Darwin today.

Karen had an emotional last day at work on Friday and still harbours regrets that she didn't get everything done so her team wouldn't have to do anything (at least in an administrative sense) for the next six months. I am not that kind - the sooner they get to grips with things the better they will appreciate her work in the past!

It was also quite a wrench leaving behind the friends we have made. I will miss seeing Paul and Lorry and Scotty while we will both miss seeing Elaine and Steve (thanks for dinner last night once again!). Karen will, being a woman of course, also miss catching up with half the female population of Darwin and there is no way I am going to list them all. You know who you are!

Anyway, we set off into the cool of a Darwin morning. Not that we thought it was actually cool until we hit the deserts later on, but in hindsight it was a perfect morning.  We breakfasted at Emerald Creek (love that shady deck there as well as the surprisingly good coffee) and then stopped in Katherine to refuel and get a coffee with one of Karen's colleagues in Katherine (Teresa Cummings

 - it was a pleasure to see you again) before wandering down the Stuart Hwy at a leisurely pace to stop at the Daly Waters pub.

38 degrees through the evening does not make for a pleasant time, but the a/c works well and we slept soundly.

Monday 9th Feb

The morning was pleasant until the heat started to bite at about 8am, but we were just about ready to hit the road by then and we headed off into the heat haze of the Stuart Hwy again.

The scenery had already changed from the forest of the Top End to the lancewood stands of the area south of Mataranka, but soon after we left Daly Waters it changed again into the flat plains of this magnificent cattle country. 

All the way down we had been commenting upon just how lushly green the country was after the wet season rains, well on these cracking clay plains the plants change again to be dominated by grasses with Mitchell Grass being a dominant species. It is quite striking at this time of year with its tall, tall green stalks topped by a golden crown of seed head. Magic to see.

However, aside from the occasional lizard basking on the road and the bird life there was just not a lot to comment upon so we just kept trundling along until we reached Tennant Creek where we lunched and then the Wauchope pub where I write this.

It's a nice pub with the staff really wanting to do anything they can to make us feel comfortable, but as we are about the only people staying there I am not too surprised.

It is just 8 or 10 klms south of the Devils Marbles and they are a sight not to be missed.

40 degrees here with the added bonus of flies everywhere. This is of course why my plans to visit the Od Policeman's Waterhole in the Davenport Ranges took a dive - getting out into somewhere remote like that in 40+ degrees is neither safe nor fun so it will have to wait until the next time.

Hmmm

Tuesday 10th Feb

Well we left the Wauchope pub after a pleasantly cool night. It dropped down to 21 degrees overnight and we had to snuggle down under the sheet! Lots of baby grasshoppers hatchings (our morning swim was marred by hundreds of these critters in the pool mean that there will be a plague of them very soon.

No surprise when you think of the amount of rain we have had and just how lushly green the country is here right now. Yep, it is green grass everywhere in what is supposed to be a desert!

We are in Alice right now. Just like everywhere else we are the only people in the van park.

Van park? yes, we want the security as the locals here are prone to nicking anything they can.

Wednesday 11th Feb

Update. Remember I said that the locals were thieving bastards? Well last night we were woken by someone trying to open the door of the van at about 3.30am. They ran off as soon as they heard us but it seems that someone else had their money, phone and other stuff stolen last night . These little thieves can move silently it seems as those people didn't wake up.

The cameras at the van park showed two 16 year old (or thereabouts) lads who presumably came from one of the local town camps sneaking about the place.

Makes you wish you had a gun.