Kakadu Done - Alice Next

The Kakadu National Park provided a few days of memorable walking in hot sunshine and very warm nights mostly in basic bush campsites. At Cahill's Crossing the road led in to Arnhemland a vast (91,000 square kilometre) Aboriginal reserve that extends out to the coast with some 12,000 people carrying on a largely traditional lifestyle. We enjoyed the rock paintings nearby at Ubirr and further on at Nourlangie - the latter incorporated in to a long walk through remarkable sandstone formations.

Returning to Katherine for Territory Day gave us an evening of fireworks and a chance to restock before the long drive south through the Red Centre.

The Daly Waters pub provided a memorable stop over with a T-shirt donated to their multinational display : the now disused aerodrome used to provide refuelling facilities for Qantas flights to Singapore. We headed east out to Cape Crawford on a virtually deserted road eventually reaching the King Bay Fishing Club camp site which amazingly had several hundred campers in residence mostly intent on catching the famous barramundi from the maze of waterways that led out to the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Back at Cape Crawford the even more deserted Tablelands Highway took us over 240 miles south with not a sign of habitation as we passed through a dry flat landscape most notable for a wide variety of birds. An hour was spent helping a couple with a live in bus suffering from water in the tank after a river crossing after which we joined them in a roadside rest area for the evening for a drink and a yarn.

The Barkly Highway returned us to the Stuart Highway where we are now spending the night in Tennants Creek after visiting the excellent museum and mineral display. Perth is some 2500 miles away so we have a bit to do over the remaining six weeks and our list of pre home coming jobs grows daily - Alice beckons and should be much cooler which will be welcome.

The people we meet are very often the highlight of the day - many are also on long trips and are tuned in to our way of thinking with lots of helpful advice and friendly tips.

Photos and locations lie at these links and for slides its down to WA the first time round some 12000 miles but only 3 months ago - the loop round has been a very long but enjoyable way.