We took 3 days to get to Katherine. We had thought we would do some free camping both nights, but as it turned out, we stayed at Alice Springs for the first night. This is because, as we were driving back along the Lasseter Hwy during the first day, an orange light lit up on the dashboard indicating that the fuel filter was dirty. Michael was worried that there might have been water in the fuel, so he stopped on the side of the road to check it. He also looked up the instruction manual for the car to find out more about the fuel system. He learnt that the indication was just for a dirty fuel filter, not water in the fuel. So he was happy to keep driving, but wanted to stop at Alice Springs for the night, rather than travel further north, so that he could buy a new fuel filter and install  it the next morning (it was Sunday that day, so we were going to have to wait until Monday morning). We stopped at Erldunda for lunch that day and he did some reading on the internet about the issue – he thinks that perhaps the fuel out here is dirtier (perhaps from the red dust) and so fuel filters need changing more often than otherwise specified.

So we ended up going back to the same caravan park we had stayed at previously (we had found it good) and the kids had another play at the playground. 

The next day, Michael bought the new filter and installed it, and then we were off north along the Stuart Hwy. This 2nd day was mainly retracing the 500km or so we had driven a couple of weeks earlier. We came to the Threeways again and continued on for another 60km to a free camping area at a place called Attack Creek. We had a bit of a history lesson, as I had read where this was the site where John McDouall Stuart and his team had been attacked by aboriginals during his 2nd attempt to cross the continent from south to north. The attack was severe enough to thwart that attempt. History tells us that he was successful on his 3rd attempt. Once again, this free camping site was quite crowded. It was also closer to the road than the previous one, and, being the Stuart Hwy, lots of road trains passed by, which were quite loud. We didn’t hear them in the middle of the night though. The kids were still keen for a fire so we did another one here – but had a break from the marshmallows this time.

The third day of driving was another 600km to reach Katherine. We passed through localities called Pamayu, Elliott, Daly Waters and Mataranka. Most of these were no more than a roadhouse, perhaps a general store and a few houses. Mataranka was probably the largest. We stopped here for afternoon tea and a play at the park. It was the site of the ‘Big Termite’ – depicting how much of the landscape of the NT was covered in termite mounds. We had certainly noticed it even more prevalent as we drove further north. The other thing we noticed was how much warmer it was getting as we drove north. It was definitely more shirts and shorts weather by the time we reached Mataranka – in fact it was nudging towards 30degrees. Mataranka is only an hour south of Katherine, so we had texted my sister Liz at that point and she was going to wait for us at her workplace and meet us somewhere in Katherine to guide us out to her place, which was on a property about 18km out of Katherine. We arrived at Katherine just after 5pm and wanted to pick up a few grocery supplies and also go to a dump point and fill up with fuel. We ended up meeting Liz at the Woolworths carpark. From there, she led us back to her place. She lived in a granny flat attached to the back of a shed on a 36acre property belonging to an older couple. The main house was a long way from the shed, so she had a lot of privacy and tranquility to herself. She had only moved in about a month ago but was loving it. We were able to park the van close to her granny flat and use an extension cord to plug in to power. This meant we could keep our fridge running and everything and not have to overtake Liz’s small fridge. We had dinner under the pergola outside her flat – and celebrated with a dessert of apple pie and ice-cream (since we were able to use Liz’s oven – and she had a big deep freeze). It was good catching up with her.

It was Tuesday when we arrived and Liz still had to work the next 3 days. But she was happy for us to chill out at her place. This is just what we needed. So I’ll take a break now from blogging for a few days and just ‘chill’.