Day 13 -Mataranka (near Katherine NT)

We've had a busy last few days.  We went out for dinner in Mt Isa to the Buffalo Club on our last night there and ended up joining the locals for their weekly trivia night.  The only problem was that they were already in their teams and nobody came forward to ask us to join them.  So we were a team of 2 and didn't do too well.  For the last two rounds we were joined by a drunk called Steve who really wasn't any help at all.   We left early the next morning to do the trip up to Burketown on the Gulf of Carpentaria.  There was a steady stream of caravans heading west out of town and we were very pleased to turn north onto an unsealed road and really didn't see anyone else all day.  The countryside was very pretty and as we got nearer the Gulf, turned into wide flat grassy plains covered in cattle.  Perfect grazing land and easy to understand why the early explorers got so excited about it.  The only problem is that none of the properties are fenced and the cattle all seem to either stand in the middle of the road or along either side so we kept having to slow down to avoid hitting one.  One of the main reasons for going to Burketown was to go fishing, but when we arrived we discovered that there were no fishing charters there at the moment.  It's a very sleepy little town and the few people in the campsite were there with their own boats and go every year.  However we were assured that as we were going on to Borroloola, also on the Gulf but in the Northern Territory, we could find Arthur who would take us fishing.   So we set off again the next morning, knowing that there was a strong possibility that when we got to the roadhouse just before the N.T. border, we would be told that the main road (highway 1 ) was impassable and we would have to do a 470km detour to get to Borroloola and King Ash Bay fishing camp.  The photo shows the road before the detour - this is part of Highway 1 which goes right around Australia.  We were advised to take the detour rather than wreck our car and trailer as the roads are still suffering from the late wet season.  It took us 10 hours to do 500kms as we were continually slowing down to open and close gates, drive through water, gullies and washouts as well as avoid cattle.   Picture shows a mob of cattle on the road just after we had stopped for lunch.  We saw no-one else all day and didn't make it to Borroloola before nightfall.

We stopped at a small place called Cape Crawford which is not on the coast and we have no idea why it has this name.  It was marked on the map as having a hotel with camping facilities and we were expecting a funny little old pub with a rough patch of ground at the rear.  When we arrived we found a bright green oasis with a large hotel in the centre.  It's the best camp we have had so far.

As we only had 140 kms to go the following day, we didn't hurry too much to pack up and did a leisurely drive to the King Ash Bay fishing camp only to find on arrival that Arthur had gone to Darwin to have his boat motor fixed and no-one knew when when he was returning.  That was the end of any possibility of going fishing.  However I did trade 4 lemons from our tree at Maleny for a large piece of freshly caught fish from  Heather (my new best friend).  It's in our freezer so we will enjoy it in the next couple of days.  The fishing camp is a fisherman's paradise and can't wait to get home to show Edward the photos.  Most people are there with their caravans or trailers, tinnies, satellite dishes and all mod cons and stay there for months.  There is camping right along the riverbank and it's high above the river and out of reach of the crocs.  The fishing is fantastic (apparently) and the mudcrabs to die for (but nobody offered us any of those).

We decided to leave the next day and head west to give us a couple of extra days in the Kimberley.  Yesterday we drove 500kms, stopped for lunch at the Daly Waters Pub and then continued on to Mataranka Homestead which is in Elsey National Park (where We of the Never Never was set) and famous for Rainbow Springs thermal pool.  We swan in the pool late yesterday afternoon and again this morning - it's very refreshing and is supposed to be great for old skin and bones - can't say we've noticed any difference!  Jim has done a little maintenance today - putting WD40 on hinges and locks as everything is covered with red dust and also had to change one of the trailer wheels as the tyre has a slow leak and we want to have it fixed in Katherine tomorrow.   

We  had dear little wallabies hopping through the campground last night and this morning but haven't really seen a lot of wildlife - a few kangaroos hopping across the road, lots of dead ones on the side of the road and several magnificant eagles gorging on the kangaroo carcasses.  Also black cockatoos and lots of pink and grey galahs.     

On to Katherine tomorrow to visit Woolworths and do another shop, have the tyre fixed and also to spend a day at the Gorge.  (Jeff and Senya - we will be visiting Katherine with you in September as the train stops there for a few hours so will hunt out something good for us to do then).