Today we covered 570 kms which for us was a long drive. We woke up at 6am and started to pack up before we had our breakfast and showers. Thankfully it had been a relatively cool night at 22 deg and we slept quite well.
It was another beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky, though we knew it was going to be another warm one with the temp expected to be in the mid 30’s.
We left Jabiru in Kakadu at about 8.15am and set off for Pine Creek about 200 kms away heading in a SW direction. If you can imagine driving for two and half hours without stopping or even touching the brake pedal or accelerator.
I just put it on cruise control and steered which wasn’t very demanding as the road was relatively straight.
The scenery was quite much of the same, though they had been doing a lot of back burning and we could see the black clouds of smoke in the distance and evidence on the roadside of still smouldering bush along with the distinct smell of the burnt bush. It was a sight as it just looked like all the leaves having fallen to the ground which gave the appearance of a brown carpet . The only thing you just had to forget about the clear blue sky, the bright sunlight and of course the 34 deg temperature.
We left the Kakadu Nat Park and the Kakadu highway and drove into Pine Creek to have a break and fill up with fuel again. We weren’t going to risk running out as sometimes there are no services (fuel) for up to 250 kms, though they do warn you when this is going to happen. However we are now carrying an emergency extra 20 litres on the trailer, just in case!
It was then off to Katherine and back on to the Stuart Hwy for another 91 kms before heading west on the Victoria Hwy to Timber Creek where we planned to stop for the night.
Driving through the Victoria area and the Gregory National Park was a complete change of scenery with fantastic ranges and hills with great rocky outcrops pushing up into the sky.
More cattle around with various station gates leading off from the highway. The roads are much improved with all them now having been made into two way and no longer single tracks of bitumen. This makes it much safer to drive and the road trains, (which here are up to 55 metres long having about 4 trailers); pose less of a problem when you encounter them. We did overtake our one and only road train the other day as for some reason it was only travelling along at about 80 kph.
A typical road train at 53 Mtrs long
You have to ensure you have plenty of straight road ahead as you need at least a couple of kms to get pass them. It was quite scary to say the least and seemed to take a long time to overtake it.
We had another break and something to eat before arriving at Timber Creek at 4.30pm. We checked in and set up the trailer and then headed off to the river creek that ran through the rear of the camp ground to see the crocodiles being fed. These are fresh water water crocs and we saw at least 5 that came up to be fed jumping up and snapping at meat being dangled on a line from the bridge . Though they were only about 2.5 mtrs they still give you the shivers when you realise how lethal they can be.
We remarked to each other that we hadn’t seen the people next door from the camper van and after it became dark we became a bit concerned. It wasn’t until eight o’clock before we heard them
and we went out to say hello and say we had been wondering about them. They told us their story of how they had been about 40 kms up the Victoria River on a crocodile viewing trip when the boat, an aluminium type with a canopy that takes about 12 began to take on water. Needless to say they didn’t have any problem getting everyone to bale as fast as they could until they were either rescued or made it back to shore. Well they made it and the tour operator had to get one of the passengers to drive the 12 seater bus back to the caravan park as he had to try and salvage his boat. To finish off the passenger who was driving then got lost as they had a problem finding their way back in the dark. Despite this they though it had all been a great adventure and something to tell their grandchildren.
A Boab tree, one of many throughout the area.
We enjoyed a quiet evening after along with another great meal and a few drinks.
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