From Katherine to Devils Marbles

Our stop in Katherine saw us being chased out by the rain again.  We don't really do these monsoonal rains very well in our old leaky tent even after weatherproofing.

We stopped at Stirling Mills just before Mataranka for an overnight stay.  The mills were used in World War II.  The Stuart Highway is dotted with many artifacts from the war, a big reminder of how close the war was up here.  Nowadays, the mill looks like a monster.

Bitter Springs at Mataranka was absolutely beautiful.  Thermal water that was crystal clear.  A real delight to swim in. 

A visit to the health clinic couldn't confirm what I thought, that Pete had picked up impetigo in Darwin (probably in the water park).  That humid weather is foul....  The nurse shrugged his shoulders and suggested cleaning the sores...

Daly Waters...a collectors paradise.  You name it, they collect it.  It did remind us a little of our home...what does that say?  Pete left one of his thongs there to add to the collection.

We stopped overnight at a roadside stop near Newcastle Waters.  NT really provides for the traveller well here.  There was even wood there for the fire.  We met a lady here who works for the Tasi Devil's future in terms of research.  It's great meeting people on the road and finding out what people do.

From there we went down to Tennant Creek, we needed to get to a doctor for Pete.  The hospital was great, they diagnosed impetigo straight away and a dose of antibiotics sorted it out within 12 hours. 

At the Cultural Centre in Tennant Creek

We stayed close at the Kunjarra (The Pebbles).  Beautiful and peaceful.

The further south we go, the more flowers we see.

Karlu Karlu (Devils Marbles) were very impressive and it was great camping right in there.  The boys had a great explore all around in the evening and in the morning.  Brilliant.

From here, we decided that we need to hit the dirt, the bitumen was getting a little boring and we felt that we were somehow missing out on a lot of what NT had to offer.