The road to The Daly River was sealed and in good repair, so we made reasonable time. Pulled into the Daly Pub, only to find that the camping area had been closed and it looked pretty ordinary. I was asking Mark if there were any other spots he had seen on the map, when the local Police officer came on the air and suggested we head off along the dirt road for a few klms and take the Mango Farm turnoff to their caravan park. The road was in good repair but the talcum powder bulldust was like a solid sheet as it billowed behind me. Needless to say, it got in and lay in drifts in every ridge in the van and car – mostly outside, thank goodness.

The park is located in a shady spot, under 100 year old mango trees, around 30-40 metres high. They had their own boat ramp and pontoon system for tying up boats. They also hit the news a week ago, when a large resident croc which was taking a liking to the ramp and the small tinnies, was trapped and re-located. It was so hot and humid though, as it is around Darwin and Litchfield. Mark and I manhandled his boat off the roof racks and carried the motor and gear down to the ramp. Launched the boat and I had hold of the mooring line as he tried to start the motor. It was serviced a few days before we left and it didn’t want to go very well or idle at all. Frustrating to say the least. I also noticed water coming in from one of the welds, so more problems. Pulled it back out on the ramp, keeping an eye out for crocs, and the crack was plugged with epoxy ‘chewing gum’. Wonder of wonders, the motor fired up and ran smoothly as well. Mark motored around to the floating pontoons and I drove his car back to the campground. It was about 42 degrees and 98% humidity. Sat in the van with the aircon on until we cooled down a bit. Lots of mozzies too. Next morning, Mark and I went down to the boat and found it had only taken a litre or so of water, so we headed off downstream.

Lots of hazards on the river, with submerged trees, rock and sand bars and a variety of things which could damage the boat or motor. We saw a few decent sized crocs and a shark, but failed to catch a barramundi. Others in the park caught their three each, but only on live Cherubins. We didn’t have the time to set nets to catch these big ‘prawns’ but probably would have eaten them ourselves if we had caught some. Back home for lunch and then a short run in the afternoon before putting the boat back on the car, prior to our departure next morning. I was trolling a lure behind the bat, when I got a hit from a fish. It left the water at speed and combined with the speed of the boat, it snapped my 15lb line in about 3 seconds. Shattered, I reeled in the loose line and was about to tie another lure on, when Mark spotted a large barramundi “tail walking” across the surface, back to where I had hooked it. The fish was shaking its head and my lure flew from its mouth, to float on the surface. We motored over and retrieved it, but that was it for us.

Saw a few more saltwater crocs and pulled the boat out. The night was cooler but still too humid for comfortable sleep and we woke to thick fog the next morning. Off to Litchfield.

We arrived at the Wangi Falls campgrounds around 11.30am and were lucky to get a couple of adjoining sites. It was very hot setting up, as the thermometer showed 42 degrees in the shade and there was no breeze. Whew! After some icy water from the Fridge, we got changed and walked the 300m to the falls and plunge pool. It was cold at first but so refreshing after a minute or so. We swam over to the falls and I managed to sit under a portion of it.

The water is so powerful as it hits you and the main section would knock you off your feet if you tried to stand under it. The motor homes and vans were coming in a continuous procession now, and with no spots available, were pulling up anywhere. People were parking across day use parking areas and setting up tents and campers. One big Winnebago pulled into ‘our’ driveway and went off at Wendy, saying that we were taking up all the space. Wendy pointed out to him that the camping sites were clearly marked, had posts to delineate them and that we had already paid for the sites. He yelled out that he had paid as well, and backed out, almost hitting posts. He had to have two goes at it. Unbelievable. Today, 18th June, we are looking at driving some of the 4wd tracks to some of the hard to get to sites and waterfalls in this glorious park.

First thing, we drove out to the Bamboo Creek Tin Mine walk, where the ruins of the old 1940’s mining lease can be seen. Hard times during that era. Next, we drove to Florence Falls where we climbed down the 135 steps to the valley floor to see the lovely falls and plunge pool. Too chilly for a swim, although lots of people were doing just that. We walked along the Shady Creek path back to the car park, seeing many birds and scenery. Then on to the Buley Rock Holes, where we actually did go for a swim. It was hard to leave the crystal clear, cool waters to continue on. Next stop was the Tableltop Swamp, which had lilies in abundance and a few species of birds. It would be better later in the afternoon, but we had a lot more to see. Next stop was the lofty Tolmer Falls lookout. It isn’t possible to walk to the bottom of the falls here and I would not like to climb back out in the oppressive heat. Back to camp for lunch and another drive out for other places.

We drove out to the 4wd track towards the Blyth Homestead and Tjaynera Falls. The track was corrugated but not too bad. Only a kilometre in, we came to the first water crossing. Only half way up the wheels, it proved to be easy. We saw many magnetic termite mounds and changing scenery on the 20klm run in, deciding to go out to the Reynolds River to drive across the 70m crossing. Mark and I both did it twice, but the water just failed to crest over the bonnet of the cars. Still fun though and Beryl didn’t seem to mind it at all. We backtracked and drove out to the Tjaynera Falls, which is said to be the most spectacular in the park, but the long walk out there in the heat and mosquitoes hardly made it worth the effort. Not as good as Wangi Falls in my opinion. It was getting dark as we made the last call in to the Blyth Homestead. Our last water crossing was made in the dark as we found our way back out to the highway and the campground.

We left the following morning and decided to stop at Katherine again, as we needed to do some washing and the idea of a hot shower was appealing. We arrived there about 2pm as we had a late start, talking to another ‘nomad’ who was in the park and camped beside us. She was a 69 year old woman, travelling on her own. She had sold her house in W.A. some 5 years before and bought her caravan and car to begin travelling. She was a character and a nice old lady. She had gone to church in Tennant Creek, where we are planning to stay later in the week, and commented that there were on 7 people in attendance. She had a lot of camping equipment on the roof of her Prado and told us it had been on there the past 5 years, unused. We stopped at Mataranka for morning tea and found it depressing to see the aboriginal people just sitting around in the park, hanging around the pub and roadhouse, just existing. We don’t know the answer to what we perceive as a tragic lifestyle for them.

I am still amazed by the number of vans on the road. We drove south to a beautiful place, Longreach Waterhole, just out of Elliot and stayed there overnight. Lots of birds and not as crowded as the rest area some 30klms north. This area had so many caravans in it, that you wouldn’t have been able to drive into or through it. What a joke! In contrast, we had klms of waterfront to choose from and only a dozen or so caravans in there. The downside, though not at all bad, was the 12klm rutted dirt road into the place.

Woke up to a stiff little breeze and 6 degrees temperature. Quite a contrast to the 40 degrees only a couple of days before. We had to punch into the S.E. breeze all the way to Tennant Creek and the fuel consumption was terrible. I got 250klm for 82 litres of fuel used.