It was around 9am by the time we drove out of the driveway. We didn’t rush off, I think we were delaying the goodbyes. But we did set off finally with a plan to camp two nights on the track (Central Arnhem Road) which we had heard was a fairly good drive as far as Bulman but then deteriorated after that. And it was a good drive to our first overnight camp at Rocky Bottom Creek. But as we drove in, something felt wrong.

Something was wrong. We had a flat tyre on the caravan. And we only had a small, manual car jack to work with. It took John more than two hours to change it. I was of little help. I hate that I have no strength.

By the time the new tyre was on, we were filthy, covered in red dust. We wandered down to the creek to clean up although the fresh buffalo pats and footprints ensured it was a quick wash. After an easy dinner, we slept soundly for twelve hours!

The next day’s drive was much easier than we expected. We took off across the creek and back onto the main track. It was a bonus to see lots of wild buffalo and donkeys which made for an interesting day.

Before we left Nhulunbuy, we had decided to avoid Manoru Station where we had bought fuel on the way in. The woman had been so rude to us. I’d experienced her the last time I came through with Kyran and she was awful then too. So we pulled into Bulman to fill up with fuel. We were really impresses with the shop there and the people were very nice. I was going to buy some meat but I didn’t fancy the kangaroo tails!

We got to the end of the track a bit earlier than we expected so actually camped at a free camp on the Stuart Highway which was nice but a bit noisy with traffic after the deserted track.

The following morning we headed to Katherine and the Hot Springs to have a nice wash and breakfast at the Cafe.

And so it was time to move onto the next chapter of our journey.