We pulled out of Kings Canyon early in the afternoon, with the intention of staying at the Henbury Meteorite Craters, a couple of hours down the road on the 100km long unsealed Earnest Giles link road. This road is the shortest route back to the Stuart Highway from Kings Canyon, but is recommended for 4WD only.
We were now about to return north - and head to the Top End. Our minds were looking forward to warmer weather and water holes we could swim in.
We pulled into the dry and dusty camping area at the Henbury Meteorite Craters around 4.15pm - a good time to be pulling up for the night. However the wind was whistling though the campground creating a most unappealing proposition for the evening.
We decided to check out the craters, before making up our minds for the night. The Little Helper indicated his preferences by sitting down in the car park before we even set off... he was over it before we even started.
Jo and the Little Fisherman at the Henbury meteorite craters
The craters were formed when a meteorite broke apart just before impacting the ground. There is a series of craters of various sizes, that apparently were studied by NASA before sending astronauts to the Moon. Unfortunately after our visit to Wolf Creek Crater, these were a poor second, and we regrouped a short time later at the car park with the decision made to press on.
A few kilometres later we pulled back on the Stuart Highway, the major north-south highway. A few kilometres north and we stopped at the Finke River Rest Area. Several other people were set up for the night, and we found a spot to park. The first priority was to cook dinner - however as Jo was cooking the meal about 5 road trains rolled though shattering the peace. I decided this was the last place I wanted to stay for the night, so with dinner cooked, we put it in the Thermal Cooker and pushed another half hour north to the Redbank Waterhole at Owen Springs Reserve.
And what a great spot we found. About 6km off the highway, we found ourselves a fantastic camp near the waterhole on the Hugh River. It was blissfully quiet, and we soon had a nice litte fire going whilst we ate our dinner.
The following morning we decided to take it nice and slowly - and I enjoyed my morning cuppa before the family got up. There is nothing like a freshly brewed cup of coffee whilst camping to set everything in order for the day that follows.
The Jolly Swagman never had it this good.
We pulled into Alice Springs for a short stop to resupply. It is around 1500km from Alice Springs to Darwin - a very long way. Ultimately we were planning on looping through Kakadu National Park before heading to Darwin, but even so, we had three solid days of driving ahead of us.
We had lunch at the Botanic Gardens before returning to the highway - and starting making ground towards our planned camp for the night - Gem Tree.
Gem Tree is about 80km east of the Stuart Highway, and we had heard good things about it, so we decided to go and check it out. We found a friendly campground, spotless amenities and booked ourselves on the real attraction of the place - a fossicking tour.
The next morning Cory took us to a private lease to fossick for Garnets, a beautiful red gem stone. After a quick introduction we were away.
Our little production line was soon in full swing, with dirt being shovelled, sieved and washed in record time. The best part about fossicking here was that nearly each tray processed yielded a little red garnet. This kept enthusiasm levels high all morning as we moved a small mountain of earth.
On our return to Gem Tree, Cory sorted our Garnet. Out of our little pile of garnet, we held about half a dozen stones of sufficient quality for cutting! It was a very pleasant surprise for our mornings efforts.
We could have stayed for another night or three, it really was delightful, however we had an appointment to keep at Devils Marbles. We got on the road after lunch, thinking we had an easy 280km to the Marbles. Unfortunately I had miscalculated, and as we programmed the GPS, it quietly informed us we had 412km to go!!! Oh dear.
Thankfully the speed limits in the NT are what they are (either 130km/h or open), so we put the cruise control on 125km/hr and tried to make up for lost time... For the record our fuel use went up to 17L/100km from our normal 14L/100km, but Rocky handled it with aplomb. Amazing considering we still had half a tree worth of firewood on the roof of the ute as well as the usual gear...
We made it to the Devils Marbles in good time - and were initially horrified at the number of caravans pulled into the 'camping area' aka parking lot. This is a popular spot to stop - and I can well understand why. We were looking forward to sunset at the Devils Marbles - but we also had another surprise waiting for us.
My parents, who we had last seen at Waterloo Station, had spent several weeks in Darwin waiting for their car and camper to be repaired. Their car had flumoxed the local dealer with an electrical fault, and the camper had been poorly put together by the smash repairers after the tow hitch of the tow truck failed running it into a tree. Just when they thought it was all behind them, they had explored Kakadu and were heading south to join us when their car had failed to start... a second time due to the same mystery fault. This time a well placed ear plug, some hose clamps and a bit of ingenuity had seen PaBob bypass the apparent fault. It would seem he has succeeded when all the expensive mechanics and auto electricians had failed. They were on the road - but heading straight for home. After a bit of encouragement they had agreed to meet us at Devils Marbles, 120km south of the Three Ways Roadhouse and their planned route home.
It was great to catch up with them and share the sun setting over the Devils Marbles before enjoying a delicious dinner around the campfire.
Sunset was spectacular
We travelled north together the following morning. We tried to stop at the Aboriginal Art and Cultural centre in Tennant Creek, but it was closed, so we continued on and shared a cuppa at the Three Ways Roadhouse. We said our farewells at The Three Ways, Mum and Dad commenced their journey east towards Mount Isa.
We had considered camping at the Longreach Waterhole near Elliot Waters, but we were there early in the day, and we wanted to make some miles the following day, so we pressed on to the infamous Daly Waters Pub
Australia's first International Airport, and a major base during World War II, Daly Waters has been in decline ever since. It would (should?) have quietly disappeared forever, until some clever marketing to the main travelling demographic - The Grey Nomads created a revival of sorts.
The campground was packed, and everything was grimy and filthy in a way vaguely reminiscent of an a bad Asian bar. Dirty underwear hanging from the roof seemed more tacky than interesting - it certinally was in a class of its own. The food was pretty ordinary but the entertainment was something else altogether.
I had heard a lot of good things about this place, but unfortunately it failed to live up to our expectations. I could forgive the musicians - their music catered to a much older crowd, and the crowd were definitely having a good time, but the grime, poor food and general tackiness of the place left us a little disappointed. We looked forward to checking out the old Qantas hangar at the airfield to see if the historical display there could redeem Daly Waters in some small way.
It didn't. Sadly the hangar had a small display with some interesting stories, but was vandalised and in terrible condition. I'm afraid we won't be hurrying back to Daly Waters any time soon.
We pulled back onto the highway looking forward to making it to Kakadu by nightfall.. We spent another long morning in the car, deliberately passing Mataranka and Elliot Falls turnoffs - we will revisit them soon.
The kilometres passed a little quicker with Mrs G sitting in the backseat taking the kids through some of their schoolwork. Our 'School-of-the-Road' killed two birds with one stone and in no time at all we were pulling into Katherine for a quick shop and lunch.
The best place to pull in for lunch though was the Katherine Hot Springs - and after wolfing down our sandwhiches, we were into the delightfully warm stream.
It was the perfect way to break the journey - and to think we had only discovered they existed the previous day!
After spending a little longer there than perhaps prudent, we returned to the highway and continued ever northward. Thankfully it wasn't too far until we came to Pine Creek and turned right onto the Kakadu Highway.
We soon crossed the park boundary - an exciting moment for all of us. Some people had told us not to waste our time here - renaming the park Kaka-don't, but we soon fell under the charms of this magnificent special place. It really should be renamed Kaka-Must-du.
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