After some nice R&R at Katherine it was west bound towards WA.  Our first stop for the night was at Victoria River Roadhouse for one night.  It is one of those stopovers where you drive in and select your own site.  If you are lucky and beat most of the crowd you can end up with a pretty good spot to camp, as we did.  This would also be a good place to base yourself for a few days if you wanted to look at the Judburra/Gregory National Park nearby.  We had a look at this park a couple of years ago when we left on our first trip away and were heading east,  not west and really found it interesting.  That time we stayed at Timber Creek and drove into the national park from there and had a good look.  If we do it again we might do it from Victoria River Roadhouse next time, it seems quieter and seemed to suit us better.

From Victoria River we decided to stop over at Zebras Rock again for a couple nights.  We also stopped here a couple of years ago as well.  The turn off into Zebra Rock is only about 14 kilometres from the WA border and just over 10 kilometres in from the highway on a very dusty road.  When we were in Katherine, the caravan we stayed at allowed you to wash your vans, which we did.  After the 10 kilometre gravel road drive into Zebra Rock it looked like we hadn’t even thought about washing the van.  The joys of caravanning and gravel roads I suppose.

There is no power or water at Zebra Rock so you have to be all full up when you arrive there.  They do have showers and toilets though the showers don’t have hot water if you are thinking of using them.  They have there own mine at Zebra Rock where they mine Zebra Rock.  These are quite a nice looking rock and according to the owners extremely rare and worth lots.  Not really being into rocks in a big way they didn’t do much for me and I also thought the value being placed on them was a bit exorbitant.   They have a few different tours from here operating and we booked ourselves onto the sunset cruise tour of Lake Argyle.  Lake Argyle being so large actually crosses over into the Northern Territory and is about a half hour drive from Zebra Rock to where they moor their cruise boat.  The cruise goes for four hours and includes nibbles and drinks.  The price had gone up a bit since we did the last one but is still reasonably priced.  The area they take you is mainly wetland type country and there are plenty of different birds to see as well as lots of fresh water crocodiles. The fish and chips after the cruise weren’t bad either.

Leaving Zebra rock it was a quick trip over the border and back into WA.  We are staying in Kununurra for a week and have booked into the Lakeside Resort to really lap it up.  We were given an excellent caravan site right next to the pool with some views out over the lake.  Feeling very spoiled we are at the moment.  We did a little bit of touring while here in Kununurra.  As we saw a fair bit last time we felt not much pressure to really go out and do to much.  We did a day drive from Kununurra towards Wyndham and turned off to look at Marlgu Billabong.  This billabong had heaps of birdlife on it and we sat there for ages just looking at all the different varieties there was to see.  There was also a large saltwater crocodile around 4 metre long there, though he was a fair distance away and you needed the binoculars to see him clearly.  Also near the billabong is the Old Wyndham Telegraph Station that has a few old ruins you can walk around and look at.  From this billabong we took Parry Creek Road back to Kununurra.  This is referred to as the back road by locals and follows the Lower Ord River part of the way and provides access to Valentine Springs, Middle Springs and Black Rock Falls.  Being the dry season the falls weren’t running and the springs were low in water, but still worth the drive to look at.  Arriving back in Kununurra we were able to come across Ivanhoe Crossing which is open at the moment.  Last time we were here it was closed off to all traffic so it was a novelty to be able to drive across this time around.

 

After a week of lapping it up in Kununurra we start heading south and towards a bit more reality and home for a while.  We still have a few tings to see on the way, so it will be a steady three weeks or so until we get there.

 

 

What an epic stay it was in and around Alice Springs.  I was beginning to feel like one of those people that you read about that visit a place for one week and end up staying 20 years.  With my back the way it was we had to make a decision on what way we would come back to WA.  Our original plan was to take the gravel from Alice Springs through to Laverton.  After speaking to a few people that had just come through that way and hearing reasonably consistent comments on the road condition we decided that we would stick to the bitumen and come the longer way back to WA.  Also this hopefully would reduce any issues with my back should something happen to either car or caravan.

With this in mind we decided on a date to leave Alice Springs which I was looking forward to.  The cold weather was also starting to get us both down as well and the thought of heading a bit further north to warmer days and nights sounded very enticing.  The night before we left Alice we packed and readied ourselves as much as possible so that in the morning we wouldn’t have as much to do.  I was finding it very hard in the mornings to actually get out on bed and do much for quite a while.  It was time for Kaye to step up and take on some of the tasks she had been hiding from for all this time.  With some expert tuition and extreme patience she soon got the hang of how everything was stored and packed and we were off .

Our first stop north wasn’t to far away.  We stopped over night at Ti Tree Roadhouse.  This was around a 200 kilometre drive up the Stuart Highway from Alice Springs and was to really see how my back went.  I did find it easier to sit in the car and driving was actually quite easy on my back.  Just being a couple of hundred kilometres north of Alice you could feel the difference in the weather.  We were both also happy to be on the road again.

The next day was an easy drive off as we were able to stay hooked up for the night.  Devils Marbles was our destination for the day.  This was a pretty short drive and we arrived around midday and were able to get a pretty good camp site.  We were lucky we didn’t arrive after about 2.30 pm as by then the camp ground was virtually full.  That is one of the problems with travelling now and visiting some of the popular places on main highways, with so many people travelling now days everyone gets to places early to get a good spot.  Devils Marbles is pretty much how the name sounds, its a lot of big round rocks scattered around with some short walks.  I was definitely starting to feel a lot better and by taking it easy was able to do a couple of the short walks.  Devils Marbles are also known as Karlu Karlu in the local aboriginal language and the reserve now protects one of the oldest religious sites in the world.  Karlu Karlu translates as round boulders.

Next stop was Banka Banka Outstation for the night.  We got here around 2.30 pm and sure enough the place was packed.  We were placed in the overflow area which actually ended up being a lot less crowded than those squashed in around the centre.  We hadn’t been there very long and others were also being put with us in the overflow section.  By the end of the day there would have been around 60 plus caravans and campers here.  It was still the school holidays which did add to the numbers.  We still had a good night and Kaye did say I must be getting better because I whinged about some of the people who seem to think that traveling is all about them and nobody else.

From Banka Banka it was then onto Newcastle Waters Rest Area for the night.  This was a bit confusing when we got to the camping spot as it was only a side pull in off the main highway on the road into Newcastle Waters.  Newcastle Waters is a small settlement that is now virtually uninhabited but has a few old buildings that you can look in.  It now sits inside Newcastle Waters Station and it looks as though the station has been buying up all the buildings as they became available.  This would be a great place to have some camping made available if the station owners were ever interested having a go and setting something up.

From Newcastle Waters we decided to stop for the night at Daly Waters Hi-Way Inn.  This was a pretty short drive for the day and we were there pretty early.  We were also going quite well with not unhitching the van so far and this was the same for here as well.  So far at every stop we have been able to leave the car hitched up which was really helping with my back and making us ready to go in the mornings a lot quicker that we usually are.  Last time when we came through this way we actually went into Daly Waters itself and stayed the night but this time we weren’t so keen.  This was a lot nicer with grass, power and water for the same price.  They even had some wild life to look at right behind us with a couple of bison in the paddock.

Our next stop I was really looking forward to.  Mataranka was our destination and sitting in the hot springs was what I was hoping was going to make me move a bit easier.  We were really enjoying the warmer weather by now and at Mataranka the weather was ideal for sitting in the springs and hopefully letting the warm water do its stuff.  We stayed in the same caravan park we did on our previous visit here out at Bitter Springs.  We actually prefer these springs to swim in as they are still very natural and even with the large crowds you are still able to get away a bit.  We had a great relaxing 5 days here and I felt that it did do me some good as I was moving a lot easier when we left.  We also had to sample the Mataranka Pies again while we were here.  They are very nice and moorish.

What a great five days it was at Mataranka/Bitter Springs.  The water is such a nice temperature you just don’t want to get out.  Katherine was next on our stopovers and is only a quick drive up the highway.  As I was still having some issues with my back, mainly at night while trying to get to sleep we booked into a chiropractor for some follow up checks.  We stayed again at Manbulloo Homestead Caravan Park.  This is about 20 kilometres out of town and has nice big grassy shady sites.  It is also feels very relaxing for us so it was easy to stay here again.  While in Katherine we also went for a couple of swims in the springs here.  They are quite good though nothing like at Mataranka.

I feel we have been very lucky with both the chiropractors we have used so far in Alice Springs and Katherine.  After treatments from both of them I feel that they have definitely aided my recovery a lot and enabled our trip to progress a lot easier.  Also I think the sympathy from one certain travelling partner is starting to diminish and it is now becoming a case of “toughen up a bit or else”.

We definitely made the right decision to come back to WA via the bitumen.  Would not like to have been on some outback roads if something happened and my back was still playing up.  Hopefully as we keep travelling west and then south I get back to my fun loving self and am able to keep spoiling Kaye the way she has become accustomed to…………..