Would we do mango picking again...no! A week of severe mango rash, a trip to A&E and a course of steroids have definitely put an end to our mango career; we shall look for less dangerous fruit in the future!
We eventually left Katherine and headed West along the Victoria Highway. I am pleased to report that the van is running well and we’re averaging about 300km a day. The roads are pretty much straight and long, with not much traffic (about a car every half hour). It is the start of the rainy season in the north, so it has been really hot, approaching 40degrees some days. We’ve seen lots of lightening in the distance, the electrical storms are impressive, although it was slightly unnerving when we were caught in one!
To save the pennies we’re doing quite a lot of free camping rather than staying on sites. It has been a great experience and has felt like we’re truly living the hippy life in our retro van, cooking on the gas stove, showering with a hose, Chris playing his guitar and us experiencing the awful compost, fly ridden toilets! The locations of the free campsites have been awesome; some days we’ll be in a National Park watching all the parrots & Birds of Prey then other days we’ll be in a rest spot on the highway overlooking a gorge and the bright stars, nothing around us for 100s of kilometres in any direction. It is vast!
This part of our trip is mostly about the scenery and National Parks. We began with the green Gregory National Park, then to the small Keep River National Park. Once over the border to Western Australia we saw the beautiful Lake Argyle and the red rocked Mirima National Park which is a mini Bungle Bungle Range. We’ve also stopped in Halls Creek to visit to China Wall, a natural occurring Limestone wall that runs for over 100km and then onto Geikie Gorge National Park for another scenic walk, this time to admire the limestone rock formations. It is all so beautiful and what you imagine ‘the real Australia’ to be all about, especially the red rock. We’re enjoying the wildlife too, seeing lots of wallabies, hundreds of birds, 2 dingoes and a variety of lizards (the frilled neck variety being our favourites).
Having the freedom of the van is amazing and it is making this part of the trip feel very special. We are destined to get to Broome soon, very excited to see the white sands of Cable Beach and the camels!
Lots of love, miss you all!
Kat & Chris xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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