Sunday, May 1, 2022

Day 26 Katherine to Litchfield National Park

It was another transition day for us, moving from Katherine to Litchfield National Park, a distance of 247 kilometres. We awoke quite early after a really good nights’ sleep, and by good I mean not having to wake for a pee in the middle of the night!

The first thing we noticed about our journey today was the road.  It was a highway and so much better than we had driven on to the south of Katherine and we even had lots of passing lanes.  Of course with the good road, and it being a long weekend, there was a lot more traffic.  It doesn’t worry us so much as we drive along at our 90 kmh but we probably annoy the people behind us.😁

We followed the railway line today and were joking that it was the first time we had seen it since hitting the Sturt Highway.  As I mentioned in a previous blog, we travelled on the Ghan from Adelaide to Darwin a few years ago and we had stops at Alice Spring and Katherine before reaching Darwin, so it was interesting to see the line and reminisce.  Yesterday our pilot commented that sadly the Ghan had not been running since Covid hit in 2020 but I have noticed a few advertisements for the Ghan lately so perhaps this is the year that it starts it run again.

Our journey took us to the little mining town of Pine Creek.  There was a sign pointing towards a lookout over the mine so we decided to check it out.  But as soon as we saw the road we knew it was a no-go for us, and surprise surprise around 50 metres past the turnoff there was a sign saying not suitable for van or campervans.  Now wouldn’t you have thought it better to have the sign actually at the turnoff?



The vegetation started to change as we left Pine Creek.  We now saw lots of baby fan palms and we commented that they need water, so perhaps there are a lot of springs around here?  We will ask.  

Our journey continued until we saw the signs to Adelaide River.  We had also visited this little place a few years ago when we were in Darwin for a wedding, and not much has changed.  We did arrive on a Saturday though, and it was Market Day!  All three stalls.  However, one of the stall holders was selling Rosella Jam and I had to buy one of those jams.  We have not had Rosella Jam since I grew the bushes and made rosella jam at “Kuramar”.




Onwards to the turnoff to the town of Batchelor and the Litchfield NP.  The first thing we noticed was the Solar Farm.  It was massive and I'm so impressed that the Northern Territory has embraced this form of energy.  As I said in yesterdays post, if you were ever going to build a solar farm, this is the area to have it.



We found the Litchfield Tourist Park easily enough (although the sat nav wanted to send us up a dirt road) and we are more than happy with this lovely park. We have a grassed site with trees for shade.  The amentities block is very close by so what more could you ask.  We have been checking out all the wonderful walks that we will start on tomorrow. I will keep you posted.



 

 

 

  

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