Well we stayed at Katherine for just on a week and felt much more rested afterwards, and ready to keep travelling. We didn’t do any sight-seeing in that time, and the only touristy place we visited was the hot springs because they were such a lovely place to swim each day.

It was great to see my sister, Liz, and for the kids to catch up with their Aunty Liz. Although she had to work during the day for the first 3 days we were there, we really enjoyed having the evening meal with her and Michael and I sitting up late talking with her. There was one night her and Michael got into a really good discussion which covered all sorts of topics – I excused myself at 11.00pm to go to bed, and I found out the next day Michael and Liz had kept talking until 2am – they were obviously enjoying the conversation! On the Saturday Liz spent the day with us, doing her own usual chores while we did a big cook up of biscuits and slice, and then taking us cherapin pot fishing in the afternoon at the local river site. Sunday, she came with us in the morning to a Teddy Bears Picnic community event (part of the Katherine festival) and then headed off to Darwin where she had previously booked some committments for  Sunday afternoon and Monday ( an accrued day off work).  She was happy for us to stay on at her house a bit longer. We did this, as we still needed to attend to a few jobs on the Monday when the shops were open again. We left just after lunch on the Tuesday.

Some of the things we did in Katherine were:
– the kids rode their bikes around the property where Liz lived – they found a spot down near a dry creek bed where they made a ‘fort’.
– we downloaded some new movies from  a set one of Liz’s friends had loaned her – so the kids watched some new movies over ‘rest time’.
– we did lots of washing and gave the caravan a good clean out.
– we baked a whole lot of biscuits while we had access to an oven and froze some.
– we cooked a whole lot more dinners to freeze – ended up with about 10 more frozen dinners which will be very handy. I put them in vacuum seal ziplock bags so they don’t take up much room. Carrying the extra camping freezer for this reason has been a good idea.
– we did some schoolwork for an hour or so on a couple of the days.
– we went swimming at the hot springs every afternoon except one – this was a favourite with all of us as it got quite warm by the afternoons and this was a lovely way to refresh. Even though they were ‘hot springs’ they were actually just lukewarm in the section where we swam (and most people swam) and because it was a lovely shaded area, it was just the right temperature – even for Michael (who only swims when the temperature is over 30 degrees).
– Sam, Hannah and I went fishing at a local spot Liz told us about – only caught snags – found out that evening when talking to Liz that we were using the wrong technique. In that area, we needed to use lures and keep the line moving rather than let it sink to the bottom where there were lots of rocks – we still have lots to learn about fishing!
– then Liz took us to another spot to put the cherapin pots in ( cherapin are a bit like prawns) – we caught 2 overnight on the first night, then  4 on the second night. The kids really enjoyed this.  I bought some prawns with my next grocery shop and thought we could add the cherapin to the prawns with a stir fry – will do that tonight or tomorrow night.
– we went to a community event on the Sunday in the grounds of the Katherine museum. It was a teddy bear’s picnic. Hannah and Beth took their teddies and had cuddles with the dressed up teddies. They had faces painted and went on a jumping castle and did some craft things. There wasn’t as much to do for the older kids, but we relaxed and had a sausage sizzle lunch there.

All in all, a good week and on Tuesday 21st August, we set off again, just driving 2 hours to stay at Victoria River roadhouse caravan park that night.

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’. 

We had done some reading on the walks at Kings Canyon. The rim walk is the most spectacular and gives the best impression of the awesomeness of the canyon. It is a 6km loop walk with the first 400m being the hardest with having to walk about 400 steps straight up to get to the top of the rim. We thought that the younger girls should be able to handle it if that was all we did that day and we did it first thing in the morning.

So we got ourselves ready and packed snacks and lunch to take in the backpacks, along with plenty of water. We left the campground just after 9am and drove the 30km to the Kings Canyon carpark. We had a look at the information boards and then started the walk.

It was about 100m to the bottom of the steps. Then climbing the steps. The girls did really well. Bethany kept telling us she has “never ending energy”. So we said we would remind her of that closer to the end of the walk. We saw quite a few other people doing the walk. It is quite popular. At the top of the steps you are rewarded with a great view straight away. Then there was a nice flat section which went past some interesting rock formations. Just after the first km we came to the first cliff edge. We were a bit surprised that there weren’t any guard rails across the cliff edge. There were warning signs but that is all. Along the walk there are many areas where you can potentially go quite close to the cliff edge, but no guard rails. This made Michael feel very uncomfortable – he was continually making sure the kids weren’t going too close to the cliff. Other walkers were going quite a bit closer, wanting good photos. After about 3km, we walked down into the gorge a little way at an area called the ‘Garden of Eden’ – this was a more lush area of the gorge. We went across a wooden bridge onto the other side. Then we started to head back towards the carpark on the other side. The views towards the opposite cliff were amazing. We stopped a few times for drink or food breaks. Eventually we saw the end of the walk in sight. The girls had done very well and not had to be carried for any of the walk – we were very proud of them and celebrated with some lollies in the car (which we had meant to take on the walk but had left in the car). The walk had taken about 3 hrs.

We drove back to the caravan park and had a rest. I actually had a nap and Michael watched a movie on his laptop while supervising the children playing quietly.

We started another fire just before dinner and toasted marshmallows again after dinner.

This was the end of our planned touring of the red centre. Tomorrow we were going to drive the 400km or so back to Alice Springs and then continue heading north towards Katherine, where my sister, Liz, lives. We are looking forward to having a break from sightseeing there.