Sat, 17th Aug, 2024 Bush camp at ‘Jurassic Park’ Escarpment, Central Arnhem Road to King River Rest Area, south of Katherine, NT

Cooler morning, 18 degrees. Maybe we were premature taking the flanny sheets off as when I checked the temp in Katherine it was min of 15 and max of 35! We still have the light blanket etc.

Lots of lovely bird song to wake us up too then a car zoomed in and 4 people got out with a picnic blanket and sat down to have breakfast and enjoy the view.

The others were keen to get moving as they wanted to get to Katherine to clean and do a few jobs on their vehicles and get in the pool so they headed off at 8am. We will catch up with them on Monday in Katherine. We are in no rush to we slowly had breakfast then I worked on my blog while Steve read his book and enjoyed the view. I have the view out the door which is lovely too.

Two chaps from Mackay pulled in with a 4 wheeler on a trailer and few pig dogs. They are going to a station to hunt pigs. We chatted for a while about the road etc.

Had a cuppa then another chap arrived. He is an electrician from Katherine doing work in Bulman so he is back and forward this road a lot. Very interesting conversation about the ‘homelands’ and what the locals due during the wet etc.

A group of 5 vehicles pulled in and a few wanted to chat to Steve about the truck. Two ladies then arrived in a 4WD motorhome heading to Nhulunbuy too so we gave them a few tips.

We headed off - the fire is still smouldering as we head down the bitumen on the other side of the ‘jump-up’.

Back onto bitumen as we near Beswick Community so Steve pulled over to put more air in the tyres as we are on bitumen from here to Katherine now.

Slowly through the community - stopping for the donkey on the ‘zebra’ crossing.

Stopped by a little creek to have lunch but we couldn’t get down to the creek so just had it in the camper. Steve walked up the road a bit (while I made lunch) as he saw a vehicle half off the road. It was two vehicles with a puncture each but they were under control.

Continued on passing a herd of donkeys over a bank near the road so I didn’t get a photo. A couple of little ones in there too.

Phone reception here and Annalise sent through a beautiful one of Beau in his car seat - he has grown up so much.

Stopped at Maranboy to check out the old tin mining site. According to Wikipedia - in Sept 1913 Maranboy was declared as a goldfield for two years. Tin was discovered in 1913 by prospectors Scharber and Richardson. The mine and battery were operational that year. By 1918 the priced of tin was booming. The battery closed in 1949 for repairs but never reopened.

So much tin and other rubbish scattered about - amazing someone doesn’t at least pick up the loose stuff. We wandered up the hill checking out the centra-fugal funnel things, ball mills and the stamper to crush the rock to extract the tin.

Further across was the ‘workshop’ area with a very long lathe and a small furnace pit.

Big pistons - made in Castlemaine, Melbourne. Just imagine the work involved in bringing all this machinery in and setting it up here. They certainly were all hard workers back in the day.

Up the hill above the stamper.

Around the brick wall to two big tanks with more bits and pieces of machinery scattered about.

Over a long pile of rocks and down the other side.

There are concrete slabs down by the creek which might have been where they lived while working the area.

Continued on and reached the Stuart Highway and headed back towards Katherine.

Into King River Rest Area for the night. Our neighbours from Vic are here too so will catch up with them later.

Steve used the water in the truck to give the back and solar panels on the roof of the camper a wash to get the red dirt off. He gave the engine and wheels a clean too then we ran out of water. The rest isn’t too bad considering.

Drove down to ‘our’ camp spot and set up.

Another 2 vans are parked nearby.

Made a cuppa then walked up to see the Victorian couple. At last we exchanged names - Chris and Graham from Mildura. They were going to stay but are having brake issues on the van and need internet to get some info. They had lunch and were going to head off but then the van step wouldn’t go back in. Steve gave him a hand to pull it off and he will look into that in Katherine too. Their old van never had any issues but the new ones just aren’t as good a quality now. We said bye and hopefully we will bump into them in WA somewhere.

Back to the camper - Steve read and I kept working on my blog. Just need some internet to upload it now. It was a fabulous adventure - so glad we got to explore an amazing part of Australia. Much warmer here, 35 degrees, no sea breeze to keep things cooler.

Joined our new neighbours for drinks. Nigel and Cheryl have been travelling and working (IT consultant) for 22 years so we had lots to chat about.

Spanish mackerel for dinner - yum.

There is a ‘wet dirt’ smell as the night air cools off, like the dust has had a light sprinkle of rain but there are no clouds about.