Katherine,
Mathison and Timber Creek
Monday
morning and 90kms south to Katherine, we didn’t fuel up at Pine Creek so we
were a little low!! Well we managed to get into Katherine and filled up that
cost us $104 we were low! Once here and back on cell phone communications Helen
called a few Caravan Parks but no luck for tonight. Eventually she got us into
the Big4 which is a little way out of Katherine so we decided to visit the
supermarket first and stock up with more supplies. We would buy much as we were
heading to Western Australia where there is big quarantine laws and we wouldn’t
be able to take many fresh vegetables or fruit.
We
parked the caravan and Ute on a large grassy area alongside other caravans and
walked over to the Woolworths supermarket. Richard noticed that the BWS liquor
store didn’t open until 2 p.m. so suggested we did the food shopping and then
eat lunch here and wait until 2. This Woolworths must be the busiest store in
the Northern Territory it was worse than the London Tube on a bad day. Not
enough staff….Helen made a note that she will email the Woolworths CEO and give
him a piece of her mind! We must have queued for an hour to get out with the
groceries.
Next
stop was the alcohol shop, after a bite to eat we went back into the small
shopping mall and saw the queue of people trying to get in for their supplies.
We forgot about the policeman asking for our ID and wanting to know where we
are going to drink out purchases. Darwin didn’t have the policemen on duty in
their alcohol outlets! Whilst buying our supplies a woman called out to
Richard, it was Lee and her husband Hedley who we had met back at Tumbling
Waters, they were staying at the Big4. We arranged to catch up this evening, if
they could find us!
Our
pitch at the Big4 was a drive thru site so we didn’t unhitch, it was OK for the
night. Lee and Hedley duly found us and we had a couple of hours together, they
were leaving in the morning too but heading east to Queensland, really nice
people.
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| Big4 Katherine |
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| A very busy Big4 |
Next
morning we didn’t go too far just to a free camp called Mathison creek. It took
us quite a while to get there as we got stuck behind some Military vehicles
their speed being 60kmp. We arrived and got into a fantastic spot with a very
nice neighbour. Some more Military vehicles went passed on the highway but some
did turn into the rest area. Helen had a lovely conversation with some of the
young men, they were all US soldiers and all 5 or 6 of them were from
California they had been in Australia arriving in Bunbury then going by ship
again up here to Darwin with all their vehicles.
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| A nice little spot |
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| The US army vehicles lots Hummers |
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| Richards favourite, starting a fire |
This
free camp did get busy but not too bad and all campers in bed early and up and
off before 8 the next morning. Of course we don’t get up and off for 8….we are
usually 10 a.m. people. Well off we did go and once again encounter more
military convoys along the Victoria Highway…
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| Ready to go |
We carried on and decided to stop for the night
at Timber Creek where we would use all our onions, capsicums and tomatoes as they would be taken off us at the WA border....Now there is another story! Timber Creek caravan park filled up very quickly, we had some friendly
neighbours Neil and Joan and Ian and Sue we had a few drinks with them and it
seems we are all heading for WA and Lake Argyle. Our new friends left early but we took our time as we would be gaining one and half hours of time! leaving the caravan park we came across more US soldiers doing a great job of clearing any litter they found, apparently they had volunteered to do this.
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| Scenery en route to Timber Creek |
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| More US soldiers |
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