Katherine to Darwin

Well lets get it out of the road first.......the Barra are safe and happy in their river at Katherine!!!
  I was more than a little put off by the fact that you had to walk into the bush away from the roads to fish in big enough pools (even though the river was running); and the banks were lined with signs warning of crocs.  Another day.

 Katherine River just below Low Level Bridge

 Homestead and campground below Low Level Bridge

After a couple of busy days we enjoyed a couple of restful days and the park at Katherine was ideal for it.  We stayed at the Top Tourist Shady Lane which is 6 kms out of town on the gorge road and is set several hundred metres back from the road.  The sites are large, seperated by palm trees and fully shaded by large trees, and the ammenities are new and clean.  The river is still running strong and very pretty even though the rest of the country has dried out already from the dry season.

We weren't sure where we were going to stay between Katherine and Darwin and every one we spoke to had a different idea of which was best.  We preferred Edith Falls but it was only half an hour north so we had lunch and went further.  Edith Falls was the nicest waterfall and pool we had seen so far and was very popular.  We could have camped but the sites have quite narrow access roads and we had only just got going. 

 Edith Falls and bottom pool

 A beautiful site in beautiful weather

We ended up camping at Hayes Creek which was described by our neighbours as a "hidden treasure".  It was a pleasantly green and grassy camp in a valley down below a roadhouse / shop / pub and there was plenty of room but the best sites further away from the road were fenced off for maintenance.  It was a pleasant enough stay but noisy as the main road was abaove the campground and the road trains are constant.  The valley was originally cleared and used to produce food for the army during WW2. 
Next day we headed into Darwin and settled a van park south of town.  On the way in we had to pull up for a photo with the giant ant hills.  There has been some ant hours go into the construction of this one.

 Carol in front of a 4m+ anthill south of Darwin

We wandered around the city and the wharf area and checked out the wave pool while we collected a heap of info on attractions to visit in the coming weeks.

There is a lot of WW2 history in the city and of course Kakadu and Litchfield Nat Parks to visit on weekends.
We made contact with Blane and expect to hear about some casual work in the Hardware from next week or so and last night started training as TAB operators for the Darwin Turf Club.  Their big racing carnival starts in 2 weeks and leads up to the Darwin Cup on 6 August (a public holiday).
Carol noticed an advert in the paper while we were in Katherine and it seems we have been successful.  It will not be much work but there are about 11 paid days over 6 weeks and it is something new to learn and may be useful elsewhere.
The van parks around here are filling up and putting their prices up especially for the weekend of 16 & 17 June during the V8 Supercars races.  Our park is already booked out.
Next week we will be either working or sightseeing so will se how that all pans out for the blog next Friday..?..