Day 29 – 22nd May 2014 Thursday. Kevin went for his morning run. Packed up and was ready to leave at 9.30am. As we are travelling only 350km decided to leave a bit later so we aren’t sitting around in the heat once we arrive at our next free camp. Took forever to get petrol at the Coles outlet. Filled the 2 jerry cans - $165.9. We headed west out of Katherine along the Victoria River Hwy towards the Victoria River Region which is part of the Judbarra/Gregory National Park and renown for Barramundi fishing. The scenery was awe-inspiring with the diverse land forms in the Victoria River sector in the east with its 250m high tablelands, creating dramatic red cliffs. We stopped for lunch at Victoria River Roadhouse and the backdrop was amazing. Filled the car from one of the jerry cans. Continued on towards Timber Creek which is 90km further on in the west known as the Gregory sector of the National Park. Just out of town we stopped in a layover that had a bridge across the river and the bridge was closed. The river was wide and we did a little crocodile spotting but couldnt see any. As we were leaving we found out that the land across the bridge is Australian Defence Force and warnings posted about not approaching. Continued on to East Baines River Reststop but there was a lot of burning going on and so we kept going a further 60km to Saddle Creek Rest Stop and arrived at 3.40pm . Finally picked a spot with a little shade and grabbed a beer. It was 35C. Shared a happy hour nibble with mum and dad and started tea. What a disaster. The gas connection to the 2 burner gas BBQ did not fit the bayonet fitting so I had to resort to the single burner. Borrowed dads but the gas soon ran out. Finally ate at 7.30pm. Played cards outside and the little insects were very annoying. They managed to find their way into the van through any small space. Had to hang the 12V fan to move the air to enable us to get to sleep. All the windows and hatches were left open to catch any breeze.
