We were faced with a much milder climate overnight than the last few evenings, no doubt brought about by the dreary grey blanket of cloud that encompassed us. The moisture in the air was also palpable to the extent that we were forced to endure the constant whirring of the air conditioner again, in an effort to keep the warmth to the exterior of the van. Regardless of our preparations, it was still the stodgy heat that interrupted our repose this morning.

Our itinerary for today had called for us to motor 60 odd kilometres out of Katherine, to visit the northern end of Nitmiluk National Park and Edith Falls, where there was the worthy promise of an inviting plunge pool in which to have a dip.

Waking, still feeling somewhat under the weather, and with the knowledge that I have a big day behind the wheel in front of me tomorrow, I vetoed our plans, preferring to stay in the local area. I am still sorely disappointed that my continuing illness, whilst not incapacitating, has saw us have to miss a couple of our planned attractions here in Katherine. The optimist in me however just sees this as a great excuse to return to the region another time, maybe during the wet season to see the grandiose flows of the river through the gorge.

So with our plans for a day out annulled, we moved onto plan ‘B’. This started out with me doing some further research on our upcoming destinations and figuring out at which roadside camp we will be likely to pull into tomorrow night. We have a few options for where we can bed down tomorrow, but we are hoping to put as much distance between us and Katherine as possible, leaving just a short hop into Kununurra the next day.

It was already early afternoon by the time we dressed and headed for town with a short list of what we wanted to do. First on the to do list was another swim at the thermal springs. We figured that if we weren’t going to get to have a swim beneath the cascading water of Edith Falls, we would make do with a casual plunge at the hot pools. Far from being the tranquil hydro-therapy that we had visualized, the springs today had been overrun by a gaggle screaming children. Add that to the garbage that had been abhorrently left laying about that wasn’t present yesterday, and the area was disappointing. If we’d not enjoyed ourselves here so much yesterday, I couldn’t see myself being able to recommend the springs to anyone. But for the negatives, we still waded in the restorative waters for an hour or so, before continuing in to town.

Back to the thermal pools.

As it is our plan to leave reasonably early tomorrow, this will be our final visit to Katherine, so we needed to stock up on groceries for our onward trip. This was more difficult than it seemed, as we were unable to purchase any fresh fruit of vegetables. The border crossing into Western Australia has some very restrictive quarantine laws, which will see us having to discard any fresh produce that we have left after tomorrow night. We managed to buy enough with which to create a suitable menu for the next couple of days though, before heading for home.

Cruising. The main street of Katherine

In readiness for a quick get away in the morning, I carefully backed ‘The Beast’ up to within an inch of the caravan draw bar, to make for an easy hitching up process. Then having unpacked our goodies, Bec reminded me that the toilet cassette needed emptying. Emptying the toilet had been on my mental list of things to do, but GNS saw me leaving it off of the written list. Thus, the cassette had remained in-situ at the van, rather than accompanying us into town where the nearest dump spot is located. Despite all of my ranting and cursing, there was nothing else for it, but than to make the trip back into town to do the deed. Not a happy chappy was I.

Finally back again, and with ‘The Beast’ again positioned nicely for an easy get away in the morning, I could make a start on dinner. In a further effort to negate too many chores this evening, I had decided to cross over to the camp kitchen and acquaint myself with the free barbeque to fry up the elements of our steak sandwiches.

Two things struck me as I readied my ingredients by the barbeque. Firstly, what is with blokes of a certain vintage (IE: Old) who consider that anything cooked on a barbeque plate needs to look like shriveled up chunks of charcoal before being considered culinary masterpieces? Such was the case, when I got to the camp kitchen to find the barbeque already in use, as a guy was prodding and poking at a couple of unidentifiable, char blackened chunks of something. He let them sizzle for a further 5 minutes, the burner turned to high, before sliding them, with an audible and solid clunk, onto a waiting plate with a parting comment of: “Well, if they’re not done by now, I guess we’ll just eat them raw.”

Secondly, as I spread out our onion, steak and a few slices of sweet potato, I was asked, and not for the first time: “Gee, are you feeding an army?” It is generally to the accompaniment of dropping jaws and mirthful grins, that I reply that there is only the two of us. Judging by the two shriveled chunks of charcoal that the last bloke removed from the hotplate, big eaters must be in the minority!

One sandwich down, one to go.

Following our dinner of steak sandwiches, which were delicious and filling thank you very much, it was time to start working them off. And what better way to start, than jumping into bed and watching some sport on TV. Go Melbourne Storm!

Before I go tonight, just a reminder that we will be roadside bound tomorrow night, and thus an update can’t be guaranteed. Actually, I can provide a guarantee of sorts, in that there won’t be a blog post published tomorrow. Stay tuned for when we arrive in Kununurra, where I ought to be able to get on line and catch you all up with our adventures.

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