Tues, 20th Aug, 2024 Emungalan gravel pit, north of Katherine to Saddle Creek Rest Area, east of NT/WA Border, NT

Up early to get to the welding place on the south of Katherine before 8am.

Steve pulled the cracked exhaust pipe off and the chap had it welded and braced in half hour which was very nice of him.

Back into town, got the photo of the Rosellas (hibiscus) and Kapok murals that I had noticed yesterday. I love rosella jam - we had found bushes around Pine Creek in 2022 and made a heap of jam.

Around to the Post Office and yeah, our thermostat thing has arrived.

9.30 onto the Victoria Highway heading to Kununurra, WA. We did this road in 2022 so won’t be stopping for any sightseeing as we did it all then.

Stopped for a cuppa at a rest area and Steve made lots of friends (Apostle birds - I call them happy families).

A lone buffalo was quietly standing by a fence - lost his friends. The cattle were a bit further along.

Impressive escarpment as we near Victoria River Roadhouse. I probably took this photo on our previous visit but I can’t help myself it looks so good.

Across Victoria River.

Through Timber Creek township - lots of boabs around here.

Travelling beside the Victoria River for a while. Still areas being burnt so there is lots of smoke about. Spotted a lot of birds, 2 were brolgas, cooling off in a small lagoon.

Victoria Highway could do with some road works - instead they just put up their little signs, rough road ahead!

Interesting escarpment. We then realised we will be camping below this hill but on the other side at Saddle Creek.

First we had to go around another hill with big slab rocks on top.

Along the other side of the escarpment.

Over Saddle Creek which was dry. Along a bit to the rest area. There were a few travellers already set up so we chose a spot under a tree so Steve could work on the truck’s fridge.

More travellers came in and then some came in and left again as it was filling up. We had drinks while checking on the fridge but it doesn’t look like the new thermostat is solving the problem as it still won’t cut in till the fridge gets too hot! Looks like we are going fridge shopping!

Gusty wind came and went. A couple of willy willies came through too stirring up the dust and leaves but we were ok in our camp spot - some others got blasted.

Nasty tiny little ants were biting me, crawling up my chair. I checked in the camper and they were coming inside from the leaves that were touching the roof of the camper. We backed away and I sprayed the ones that got inside.

Dinner outside - used up all the remaining vegies and chopped up the extra onion and celery to go into the freezer before we cross the border into WA tomorrow morning.

Spotted 9 satellites!