Mon, 9th May, 2022 Bush camp by Oolloo Crossing on Daly River to Bush camp by Edith River, north of Katherine, NT

Another cool morning, 7am 17 degrees so we stayed in bed till 8am again.

Packed up camp. No problems getting out and up the hill. We stopped at the Daly River Esplanade sign but it was an old track and too narrow for us so we skipped it. If it was a good spot the others would be using it.

Crossed over the Douglas River - got a photo this time.

Stopped at the turn off to the springs and Butterfly Gorge. Such a shame it isn’t open. Had a cuppa and rang the boys as we had phone reception. Also rang David - pressed his number instead of Daniel so had a nice chat with him too as they went out with Erica and Terry for lunch yesterday. Erica has bought a new laptop and she is happy now as she has her Hearts card game program going again and the family history and photos.

Kaylene sent a lovely photo of flowers and coffee mugs Jakob and Annaliese gave her for Mother’s Day. As they were big mugs (we like a big drink) she thought of us and is looking forward to having a cuppa with us again one day.

Continued on back to the turn off then continued south to the Stuart Highway and south to Pine Creek. No wind today and the smoke from the burn offs is hanging in the air.

We both commented on how many vans etc are heading north. Getting out of the south before the next round of Covid hits and the flu which they are predicting to be very bad this year. We reckon May is the Moving Month.

Stopped at Pine Creek for lunch then uploaded a few days of my blog. Much busier here than when we last visited. There are plenty of areas that have been burnt so maybe we might be able to have a detect somewhere as even though the tall grass has laid down you wouldn’t be able to detect through it.

Continued south to Edith River so we can have a day with fresh water to do our washing tomorrow. Set up where we parked last time beside the river. Nice breeze blowing here and the sky is clear.

Just as we sat down for a cuppa a campervan pulled up. They had camped here last night and had been at Edith Falls today. We said they can move in beside us but they stayed in the shade of a tree a bit further over.

They joined us for drinks - Mark & Gaye are from Batesman Bay but grew up in the Riverina which I am just reading about in another of Di Morrisey’s books. They are going on the Coral Discoverer in two weeks Darwin to Broome too so we gave them a few hints but didn’t tell them too much about what they will see as they wanted to enjoy the surprise each day.

I zipped up the camper windows etc to stop the bugs from coming in as last time they were so bad.

Wendy had commented on my Facebook post so I tried ringing as we just had reception and got through. Had a nice chat but then the reception dropped out. It seems to do that if I talk for too long! Tried Kaylene later and had a nice chat with her too.

Cooked dinner while Steve sat outside with his little fire and he said there were no bugs - even around the outside light. We ate outside under the Southern Cross and pointers but we didn’t spot any satellites in the patch of sky we had between the trees.

Opened up the camper again as there were definitely no bugs and played a game of Triominos before our cuppa. Reasonably quiet though you can hear the trucks going along the highway. No rushing water this time to listen too.