Christmas lights in the outback ...

We decided that one night of mosquitoes was enough, so we packed up and continued north about 120kms to Munbililla (Tomato Island) campground.

Munbililla is a large campground on the banks of the Roper River, a very popular fishing spot especially if you are after barramundi. Several of the campers had clearly been there for quite some time (months), well setup campsite plus their tinnies, generators and 44-gallon drums of diesel. As with most of the waterways in this part of the country … it is a no swim area, lots of signs about being ‘croc wise’.

We arrived at the campground mid-morning and were fortunate to get a site where we could at least see the river which was about 70 metres from us. Our neighbours were keen fisherpersons … keen enough to go out in their small tinnie (into the river with saltwater crocodiles) to fish. They very generously shared some of the barramundi they had caught so we had lovely fresh barramundi for a couple of dinners. While chatting we found out they spend half the year in the NT (mainly fishing) and the other six months of the year at home in New Zealand also doing a lot of fishing.

On our second morning we woke to quite a thick fog, thought we might be back in Toowoomba!

The lonely photographer

Tomato Island

There is a river there somewhere ...

Into the unknown ...

From Munbililla campground (our final stop in Limmen National Park) we headed 332kms north-west to Katherine, our location for the next three nights.  We had initially planned to stay at Bitter Springs - which came recommended by several people ... a quiet little caravan park with a 400m walk to a quieter hot thermal spring ... but they were closed due to an unverified croc sighting... so we ended up in Katherine.

On night one, the people next to us said they were from Wawrick (not all that far from Toowoomba) and were having electrical problems with their van and Ranger ... they'd had work done before they left and were having charging problems with their batteries ... they needed to have their system rewired with a heavier gauged wired ... took all day and half the next day. We then moved sites and the new people next to us were also having battery problems ... not being able to run anything before their system shutdown ... they had to replace both of their batteries in their van (no change out of $900!).

A couple of sites up from us we ran into Paul and Shona who had just returned from Nhulunbuy; it was a great opportunity to ask lots of questions as that was our next port of call.

Apparently, an indigenous elder had passed away several days before they arrived with most of the sites closed due to the locals being in mourning.  There is no set time for mourning.  It could be days, it could be weeks, months or even years depending on the status of the deceased. It is known as “Sorry Business”. 

Paul and Shona have been on the road for three years, with no plan to return home for quite some time. Over a couple of drinks, we were able to tap into their knowledge about Nhulunbuy and a few places in WA we are planning to visit. The gate at the rear of the van park gave us easy access to the Katherine thermal springs, a nice soak at the end of a long day.

Thursday morning, we were up bright and early, keen to get quite a few kms done on day one of our drive to Nhulunbuy. Katherine to Nhulunbuy is approximately 730kms, most of its dirt. Nhulunbuy is located in East Arnhem Land; it was established in the 1960s to service the bauxite mine and has grown to become the fourth largest town in the NT with a population of approx. 3350. The mine, owned by Rio Tinto is scheduled to cease operations in 2030.  Permits are required for access to the Central Arnhem Road and you can’t get a permit unless you have pre-arranged accommodation. Only 30 vehicle permits are issued at a time for the entire Central Arnhem Road.

We were making great progress, by about 12.30pm we had done 235kms, filled up with diesel at Mainoru Store, had some lunch ... all ready for another couple of hours driving.

23kms north of the Store we went through a very shallow water crossing, just after the exit an alarm went off in the car and the dashboard had an array of lights and messages! There were 11 messages in total ... the one of most concern to us was ‘potential loss of braking power go to nearest dealer’. We headed back to the Store, got Starlink out and rang Toyota in Katherine. They weren't sure what was happening and advised we head back to Katherine then take the car in the following morning.

Destination Nhulunbuy ... not!

So back to Katherine and the van park we went, 500+kms to end up back where we started the day!  We got the only site they had available in the caravan park.

By mid-Friday morning they were able to establish our problem was a broken connector to the rear passenger ABS sensor… probably smashed by a rock (or two).  While not an expensive spare part there were none in stock, and delivery from Sydney would be at least a week… so we need to contact Darwin and organise to get the connector installed in the next couple of weeks. Fortunately, we are still able to drive the car. Unfortunately, the lost time means we have had to cancel our trip to Nhulunbuy.

We are now in the middle of the school holidays in the NT and there are lots of tourists (just like us) on the road so trying to find new locations to stay is a bit tricky.

For the last couple of nights, we have been at Elsey National Park about 8kms from Mataranka, (we had planned to come here after Nhulunbuy). The main van park at Mataranka, located very close to the thermal springs, is huge with over 160 powered sites and even more un-powered sites, plus cabins … and it is full!  While not able to easily access the thermal springs we are very pleased to be in a much quieter location. We had a nice walk yesterday for a couple of kms beside the Roper River, plenty of water in the river but no crocodiles spotted! The couple of enforced rest days here has been quite good timing as Pete has a heavy head cold, feeling snotty and a bit ordinary, so has been good to be out of the car and getting some extra sleep.

Interestingly, there are no flies and no other annoying flying critters at night here at Elsey. The daytime temp is a gorgeous 28 degrees and the nights about 14 degrees. Nhulunbuy is currently experiencing 26 during the day and 24 at night!

Tomorrow, we head 230kms north-west to Umbrawarra Gorge Nature Park for three nights.

We still need to find somewhere to stay for the five nights between Umbrawarra and our next booking at Nitmiluk National Park, home of Katherine Gorge and Edith (Leliyn) Falls commencing on the 8th July.