0036 Katherine Gorge to Litchfield NP 26th July

Woke up with a need to find the fuse problem with the interior lights.  As usual during the night, I had semi solved the problem, and decided that a fuse I had noticed in the engine bay, on the lead coming off the deep cycle battery, must be the problem.  So rather than diving into the fuse box located (as usual) in a very inaccessible place down near the pedals guaranteed to give you a stiff neck,  I looked at this one fuse, and although it wasn’t fused, the terminals were pretty scummy, and one part of the plastic appeared to have melted.  Anyway, dug a spare fuse out of my box of tricks, and hey presto – All lights working again !!  Big grin, and made myself a cup of tea to celebrate !

 

Walking over to the ablution block to clean my teeth, I passed a guy sitting at a table having his breakfast, and sitting right beside him was a little wallaby like the one that had been with us last night, front paws on his table, waiting for a nibble !!   Cuuuuuute. 

Found my reading glasses this morning – Smashed to pieces !!  They had obviously fallen on the ground somehow, and then got trodden on and broken.  Thank goodness I carry a spare pair.

 Anyway, packed up, and headed out, deciding to go to Litchfield NP to the west of the Stuart Highway up to Darwin, in the hope that despite the increasing quantities of Grey Nomads /  tourists up here in the warm weather, if we went far enough off road, we would avoid them !!  We had never heard of Litchfield until a few days ago and increasing numbers of people in camp sites had told us that it was fabulous, so we decided to go as it was only a couple of hundred kms up the track.  We did a quick shop in Katherine (boy, what would that place do without the tourists ??), and then the road north was pretty boring (yet again !), although we stopped at the Adelaide River pub because the parents of a good friend of mine with the company I worked with for so long, James Cobb, used to run the place, and also because Charlie, the water buffalo made famous in the first 2 Crocodile Dundee movies, was there – Stuffed – Literally ! – And now located up on the bar !!!  I tied the finger thing, but he wouldn’t lie down like he did for Mick in the movie !!

Just up the road, after avoiding two complete houses being moved down the road, we turned off into Litchfield NP.  There seemed to be a LOT of bushfires around the area – Whether they were controlled burns, or wild fires, I am not sure, but a few of them looked a bit too big to be controlled burns.  Anyway, we slowly worked out way into the park, headed for a 4WD only accessible location in the hope that it would be less crowded. But a lot of people come here from Darwin at weekends (we are only about 120 kms form Darwin), and the one camp site we tried was packed solid.  So off we went down this dirt road towards     ??? falls, and it quickly required 4WD.  Best bit was going across this river – Crocodile signs all around, no swimming, and we switched into 4D and went for it !!  After we had puhed aside about half a dozen really big freshies, we eventually climbed out ontot he bank on the other side none the worse for wear.  But the look on Janet’s face as we drove into the river was worth it – She could not believe I was doing this !!   Ha ha. We eventually got to the campsite, but it too was pretty crowded – About 20 4 WD’s !!   But all the few spots were taken, so we have just set up in the day car park, and will move out before any one arrives in the morning.  We went for a quick walk almost up to the falls 1.7 kms away, but it was a bit rugged and we had to turn back just before we got there, mainly due to the approaching dusk.   After that, a roast chook and salad and a nice bottle of Pinot Grigio finished the evening off nicely !!    We are in a delightfully remote place on this earth that very few people even know where it is let alone are capable (or willing) of getting down the rough track to reach here, the stars are bright in the sky above us, and the dingoes are howling.   Perfect – Know what I mean ?

Night.

Pics here.  https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0036KatherineGorgeToLitchfieldNP?authkey=Gv1sRgCMmJrO7l0-rtmAE#