Week 19: Daly Waters NT - Nhulunbuy NT

 Stats Overview:

Km's Travelled: 1167

Km's Hiked: 5

No. of Campsites: 4

The Adventures

We have had another big week of adventures in the NT. We are finding the more we explore the Territory the more we fall in love with the place - it is just so beautiful! This week has seen us well and truly left the desert behind so we can finally start enjoying the warmth of the tropics. (I may never leave!)

We started our week with a very short drive from Daly Waters to the nearby township of Mataranka. These days Mataranka is famous for its thermal springs, however, it was first known as the location for the highly acclaimed book "We of the Never Never" written by Jeanie Gunn which tells her story as the first white lady to live in this part of the NT (then a large scale cattle station) back in 1902. For us, not knowing the book - although we did watch the movie, the highlight of our time at Mataranka was spending many hours floating down the thermal creek at Bitter Springs, enjoying the warmth of the water. The water is the most vibrant and clear water we have ever seen, and it was great fun being able to see all the way to the bottom while we were floating. After a while, we didn't even notice the rotten-egg smell from all the sulphur that comes up from the spring. Although it was always easy to pick out the people who had only just got into the water!

After Mataranka, we started our trek to Nhulunbuy, which involved us having to tackle the Central Arnhem Road which is notorious for its challenging road conditions. We decided to do the trip over two days, and we were glad we did, as it took us over 9 hours to drive the final 450kms to make it to town! We have never been so relieved to see a sign for a township before and, when we had locals call us up on the radio to congratulate us on arriving in town with our caravan, we knew we had done a good job...either that or something really stupid! Having said that, we got a lesson on the perils of remote travel when we started our journey on the Central Arnhem, as we had to stop and assist another driver who had blown two tyres and didn't have enough spares to get him the last 100kms to Katherine. We were able to test out the Starlink as our emergency communication set up and, using that, were able to assist our new friend to organise a tow truck to get him to Katherine. However, we were most impressed by the vehicle he had tackled the road in - a fully loaded, Holden commodore station wagon towing a loaded box trailer! We spent the entire rest of our drive to Nhulunbuy saying "I can't believe he got his Commodore through this!" as we hit section after section of corrugations, gutters and washouts. Territorians are definitely a different breed!

We are currently in Nhulunbuy where we have been spending our time checking out some of the local beaches and exploring the town. This place is honestly so beautiful and I will never be able to feel any sympathy for Will again, when he has the audacity to whinge about coming up here for work! Little Bondi has definitely been the favourite beach we have seen so far and, as it is so hot up here, it was a real struggle to not swim in the water as it looked so inviting! However, even though some people have reported it as being a safe place to swim, I was too worried about stingers and Will too nervous about crocs, so we sweltered on the sand in safety instead. We have heard from some of the locals that there are some fresh water spots that are safe to swim in so we are hoping to check them out before we go. Otherwise, we are now spending our last couple of days here relaxing and enjoying ourselves, while simultaneously bracing ourselves to face the Central Arnhem Road again, so we can make our way to Darwin.

Kodak Moments

Will trying hard to get signal at one of the NT's signal booster stations - Stuart Highway

The water in the thermal pool is so beautiful, albeit smelly!- Bitter Springs

We floated down the creek too many times to count - Bitter Springs

Apparently this 100m whip can be cracked - Mataranka

Whips on fire! - Mataranka

The barra were too good for us to catch - Roper River

Taking in the view to help break up the drive along the Central Arnhem - Jurassic Park Lookout

The waterlilies are in bloom in the NT - Mainoru

It is so tough having to look at this view from our campsite every day - Gove Boat Club

Will getting into the swing of things - Macassans Beach

So many beautiful beaches to explore in Arnhem land - Turtle Beach

This is what paradise looks like - Little Bondi

We spent a lot of time looking for crocs in the crystal clear water - Nhulunbuy

How inviting does the water look - Little Bondi

Just a little washout in the road... we decided to walk the last bit- access to Turtle Beach