Tennant Creek to Adelaide River

June 16 to June 23

Overland Telegraph Station, Tennant Creek

Tennant Creek was a surprise, a bit bigger than I expected and plenty of services. The Battery Hill Mining Centre is the visitors centre and was very good to get our bearings and suggested points of interest. After spending the morning checking out the lookout and other mining points of interest in town, we headed to the Mary Ann Recreational Dam and the Overland Telegraph Station on the way out of town. The dam was an oasis and ideal for lunch, and the Telegraph Station was a self-guided tour of the old station restored to how it was when operating in the late 1800’s. About 70km north of Tennant Creek we stopped at the Attack Creek Rest Stop for the night. This is also an historic site (there’s plenty of them!) for the explorer John Stuart, where his first attempt to cross Australia from South to North was abandoned after being attacked by the local aborigines in 1860.

Daly Waters Hotel

Friday was more driving with little to see, but with a destination I have been looking forward to. With the one town of Elliott (on the Stuart Highway, classic McGuire’s) in the next 350km, we were headed for the Daly Waters pub, a legendary place for travellers to stop, eat local barramundi and beef, and buy souvenirs (apparently). With no reservations for camp sites, it is first in/first served. The camp was half full when we got there at 12:30pm, pretty much chockers at 3:30pm! The evening entertainment was surprisingly good, and dinner of local steak and fresh barramundi was excellent.

Pink Panther Hotel, Larrimah

Saturday morning we headed north again, first stopping in Larrimah for morning coffee. This town has quite a WW2 history and well collected museum. The Gorrie air strip 10km away at one stage boasted 6,500 military personnel. Also the Pink Panther Hotel is there, not quite the Daly Waters but they are at least trying.

Onward to Mataranka for lunch, and visits to the historic Elsey Cemetery and the replica homestead used in the film “We of the Never Never”. A very well-known Australian book by Jeanie Gunn, recounting life in this area in the late 1800’s, and was made into a film in the 1980’s.

We visited the Territory Manor for the barramundi feeding, I even got to hand feed a one metre barra, blink and you missed it. We also visited the Bitter Springs Thermal Pools, but with the daytime temperature at 33⁰C and the water temp at 34⁰C, I couldn’t see a reason to go in.

Nitmiluk / Katherine Gorge

Saturday night we stopped at King River about 50km north of Katherine. Into Katherine Sunday for fuel and food and to visit the Information Centre, then out to Nitmiluk, or Katherine Gorge as it used to be known. We booked in for two nights at the camp ground, and did the gorge cruise in the afternoon. We had an excellent guide for the cruise up the first two gorges, spotting a fresh water croc sunning on a rock, and seeing an example of the Jawoyn (local indigenous land owners) rock art. Not all indigenous run tourist ventures are successful, but the Jawoyn manage all the Nitmiluk tourist infrastructure extremely well (and have been for 20 years).

Can you spot the lazy croc?

Monday and it was hiking time, we headed off fairly early (8:15am) to beat the midday heat, and completed a three and a half hour hike to Pat’s Lookout the South Waterhole, and along the top of the gorge rim. We enjoyed a pool swim when we returned, fortunately the day wasn’t too hot at 30⁰C.

I had hoped to get the kayak out and paddle the first gorge, but they still hadn’t opened it for swimming or kayaking, as they believe there is still a salt water croc in the first gorge after the wet season.

Katherine Gorge rim hike, some spectacular lookouts

Tuesday we left Nitmiluk and headed north again, only 100km to Pine Creek where we stayed at the campground at the Lazy Lizard Tavern, a very inviting oasis. We had domestic chores and paperwork to do, a very nice place to do it! The temperature dropped to about 12⁰C overnight, but the forecast of warm weather (34max, 20min) for the next 4 days will remind us we are in the tropics.

Wednesday we drove another 100 odd kilometres to Adelaide River, an area rich in World War 2 history. It was also State Of Origin night, so we stayed at the Showground, the show society put on a projector screen for the game and massive steak sandwiches and chips. Needless to say it was a good night with a great outcome. We visited the Adelaide River War Memorial Cemetery, where the hundreds of the Australian armed forced personnel and civilians who were killed in the Japanese attacks on Darwin in 1942 are buried. There are other hidden war relic sites around Adelaide River, a bit like Cape York, where you need to know someone to tell you where to look. We will stay another night in Adelaide River before heading towards Darwin Friday.