Happily, I woke up this morning feeling much better than what I felt yesterday, and it was at a much more reasonable hour of the morning that we arose. Our acclimatisation to the cold nights is a continuing process however, with the mercury dipping to a positively cold 12^oC during the darker hours. It sure makes for a deeper sleep however, with no need to try and close the ears to the constant thrumming of the air conditioner or fan. That said it was the sound of a different type of breeze that caused our awakening this morning.

Waking to the whistling noise of a strong squally wind outside, I was thankful that I had decided to leave the awning rolled up. Despite the gusts, it was a most perfect morning. The sun was shining brightly, filtering through the canopy of foliage shading our campsite, while the cloudless sky was that hue of blue that can be best described as vivid. Yep, things were looking up.

We had nothing planned until Bec was due in town for an appointment at 2:00PM, so we unhurriedly prepared ourselves for an afternoon out. That included taking the dogs for another walk down by the river, which I have been able to identify as the Katherine River. A highly original moniker that begs the question, what came first? The river or the town?

As we trod along the hot dusty path set a little ways back from the river, the dogs happily sketched up the dirt as they ran back and forth, from one side to the other, sending up choking clouds of dust. We did a circuit today, coming back to our own site through the caravan park. This gave us a chance to see the rest of the park, and whilst there is very little here, it is a fantastic little location.

The Beast among the bushes at Manbulloo Homestead.

There was a time when I would have baulked at staying at a park with so few facilities, but I now eagerly search out this kind of place. It’s hidden little gems like these that you find out about, more through word of mouth than glossy advertising brochures, but they are indeed worth the effort to uncover.

The fancy parks are great, if you are intent on sitting by the pool all day and in the bar all night, while the kids are dropped at the recreation room to play computer games or table tennis. To boot, these fancy sorts of parks also generally cram as many vans as possible, into the least amount of space, so that any semblance of privacy is lost, and then charge you a premium price for the convenience. Manbulloo Homestead, as well as several of the other parks we’ve stayed at, are more like bush camping grounds, with the bonus of having access to power and water. The sites are large enough on which to spread out, the people seem friendlier and the rules are more relaxed, creating an atmosphere of camping in the scrub amongst like minded folks.

Back from our wander, and everyone fed and watered, it was time for Bec and I to head into town. We’re only about 15 minutes out of the central area of Katherine, but we have a stop to make on the way. There’s an odd little place called NT Rare Rocks, about which any quantity of quality information is tough to come by. Driving up the gravel driveway of what looked to be no more than a rural residential property, we honked the horn as advised by the signs. By the time we alighted from ‘The Beast’, a crushed and beaten Akubra wearing old-timer had come out to greet us. Beneath the distorted brim of his hat was a weather worn face, perpetually brown from the exposure to the beating sun and creased with wrinkles. His voice belied his age, or had the sun made him age more than his years? I couldn’t say, as he said “G’day” and threw open the doors to his little show room for us. All four walls of the small shed, as well as a display table running down the centre of the room were covered in all manner of apparently collectable rocks and stone. From lumps of untouched rocks, to highly polished and formed specimens, there wasn’t a spare inch of room left in which to cram any more stone, and it all had a price. None of it appealed to us, so after spending what we considered to be a polite duration of contemplating the pieces, we bid our host farewell and continued on our way.

Stopping in town, we parked ‘The Beast’ then wandered up and down the main street. It is only a few hundred metres end to end, with nothing of note or interest to slow us down for more than a few minutes here and there. It was evident that personal hygiene doesn’t rate too highly amongst the locals here though, as an overbearing stench of foul body odour wafted towards our nasal passages from nearly every person we passed as we strolled along the sidewalk.

At 2:00PM I left Bec in the good hands of the massage therapist for an hour, while I headed back to ‘The Beast’. Staying out of town, our Internet reception has been slow to non-existent, so I used the time to get online and upload some new pictures to Flickr.

After meeting up with a freshly massaged and relaxed Bec, we performed the necessary evils of grocery shopping before stopping for a late lunch. Our plan had been to make use of the Katherine thermal pools on our way back to the van, but it was already getting later in the afternoon than we had envisaged by this stage, and we were both eager to head back to the van.

We therefore made the decision to make our way succinctly back and spend some time with the dogs before dinner. They were excited to have us back, and even more so when we offered them the chance of another walk.

By the time we got out with them, the sun was setting, turning the sky a luminous pink, and sending the temperature plummeting again. So cool was it that Bec found the need to don a jacket to fend off the chill.

After dinner and ready to relax for the night, Bethany had other ideas. She’d been coughing a little since eating her evening meal, but it wasn’t until she lay down across Becs chest that she unleashed a vomitus outpouring that evidenced her lack of masticating action at dinner time. Naturally, this saw Bec and I needing to perform another unplanned changing of the bedding, not to mention the associated washing. Not exactly the bedroom action I had been thinking about!

Until next time, stay safe, have fun and don’t forget to write.