Day 41 Victoria River, NT

We left the Boab Caravan Park at Katherine around 10am and I took a photo of the caravan parks namesake before we left.  The Boab Tree is magnificent and I’m certain we will be seeing a lot more of them when we head into Western Australia.

Today’s destination is Victoria River Roadhouse, a distance of just under 200km, so we are in no hurry.  We follow the Victoria Highway and the scenery doesn’t change very much.  It is flat country and heavily timbered.  The sort of country that you could only muster with choppers. But soon the country changes.  There is less timber and the land opens out to downs country. We are only familiar with spear grass but we will find out what the other grasses are.

Soon the country changes again as we see large rocky red mountains in front of us.  They are quite magnificent and as we near Victoria River they soar on either side of us.  We cross the Victoria River over a bridge that appears to have been recently built and we comment that the river must be awesome in flood.  At the moment it is just a gentle stream, barely flowing.

The check in process at the Victoria River Roadhouse is quick and easy and we are told to pick our own site from the huge paddock behind the roadhouse.  There must be at least a hundred sites here but choosing a level site is a challenge.  We eventually settle on one that fits the bill.  There are plenty of shade trees and some grass sites but mostly dirt sites.  Water is a precious commodity.  Power is supplied through generators and there is no mobile coverage, hence the late post.

We have stayed hooked up for this stay so it doesn’t take us long to set up.  I am keen to get into some cooking to use up the last of the fruit and vegetables before we cross the border into Western Australia.

I made a large chop salad for lunch that used just about all of the salad ingredients.  I made an onion gravy to use up the last two onions.  I then boiled the four potatoes that were left in the fridge and lastly made Lana’s Brussel Sprout Salad.  I also zested and juiced the lemons and limes. So all I have left in the fridge is a quarter of an iceberg lettuce and half a continental cucumber.  

Later in the evening we walked down to the old bridge so I could get a few photographs of those huge red mountains with those incredible rock faces. 

 While we were standing on the bridge we saw ripples in the stream below us.  Our first thought was a crocodile but suddenly a water buffalo popped its head out of the water!  We were so surprised but just as fast as the buffalo surfaced, it once again ducked its head into the water.  I did not know that a buffalo could hold its breath for such a long time.  We stood on the bridge and watched for quite some time thinking that it might emerge completely from the water but it was very content where it was.

We reluctantly left our viewing platform as by this time it was almost 6.00pm. We decided to drop into the bar and have a cool drink while we watched the sun set over the red mountains.  We were joined by another two couples who had the same idea and we all sat around talking about the places we’ve been and seen and we were once again given some helpful advice about where to stay in Broome.  Book soon is also their top advice!