After our 2 hour no hassle flight back to a hot and sticky Darwin we decided to sleep in the airport carpark as it was too late to drive anywhere and this carpark is as good as any other. Once back at the car we discovered that the fridge had been invaded by ants due to some cheese being left in it while we were away. It took an hour to clean it up and spray the back of the van. While the spray was doing its thing we went back into the airport for a coffee and a cool down. What with the rain, the heat, the security guard asking if we were ok I never slept at all that night but at least it was free. What I did discover was that the airport had showers so that morning we went in search for them and success a nice free shower.
Today is my birthday so we are off to see the jumping crocs in Adelaide River, this is only an hour out of Darwin so once the show was over we are off to Katherine for the night. The jumping crocs was a great river experience, basically the guy hangs a large lump of meat over the side and a croc appears and boy can they jump. The cruise lasts an hour and we saw quite a few crocs in their natural habitat which is good even though they were baited to perform for us.
We drove onwards to Katherine where we camped just outside town and at the back of the camp was a hot spring but due to the heavy rain the river had flooded it so a no go area.
From leaving Katherine all along the route were hot strings or thermal pools but all were flooded except the one at Mataranka. What a beautiful place, the pool was heaven and the walk to it was like a jungle and thousands of Little Red Fox Bats lived there. So I'm in this pool in a jungle setting and the bats are flying all around me, crazy. Due to our stop at the pool we were still driving at 7pm when we came across a outstation called Banka Banka, like a working farm that lets you camp in one of its fields. The place had loads of frogs and as I ran the tap in the sink one jumped out nearly gave me a heart attack.
So we reach the cross roads on the Stuart Highway, Tennant Creek is a smaller version of Alice Springs so not a great place to stay. 100km out of the town are the Devils Marbles, which are amazing huge bounders across a massive area, a must is your in that area. So 100kms back into town and the swimming pool for an hour to cool off before we hit the road again. On the way out of town we called in to see Lake Mary Ann, this is a pretty place but too many drunk Aboriginals there for as to stay. While we were there we did walk across the bridge that was covered with massive spiders, not sure what they were but who cares they are spiders.
That night we stayed at a road house which I hate as I think they are a rip off but this one was ok, had a nice pool and we had a great meal in there restaurant and watched the ladies tennis final.
Was up really early as it was so hot we couldn't sleep so at 5am we were jumping in the pool to cool off. We had 240km to the state bolder then 420km to Mt Isa and we arrived at 1.30pm so did well with that long drive. Like always we head for the information center where we found out about the tour at the School of the Air which is a school for kids that live in the outback. A teacher is in a room with a computer and she has about 8 kids on air, a bit like Skype and that's their schooling.
So moving on across the country towards the east coast we now reach Julia Creek another small ranching town but what it does have is a small campsite with a huge pool next door so we couldn't resist a dip that afternoon and the next morning before we hit the road again. Cane frogs are everywhere and this is more and more regular now, they are a pest in Australia and you are encouraged to kill them as they kill anything that eats them.
Our next little town is Charters Towers which is slightly larger, also had a pool but it was closed which was a shame as it was mega hot. We stopped in the famous Holden Cafe which is like a mini museum to Holden cars and also a cafe.
Finally we reach Townsville on the east coast, we found a nice site at the far end of town and near the beach. There is view point on top of a hill in town which we drove up and walked around the edge of it so you get a 360 degree view of the town. As we arrived in town quite early we had enough time to explore and to go for swim at the beach. We walked to the enclosure to be told the beach was closed due to a 4 meter salt water crocodile was in the bay and they were trying to catch it. We went for a nice meal as it was Sally's birthday and then heard that the croc had been caught around 8pm Our van is booked in for its service the next morning so while that was being done we headed for the shopping mall and wasted a few hours. Townsville is a lovely coastal city and we could of stayed longer but as we were now heading north we knew we would be back in Townsville later on our return journey.
