Saturday 5th July

Today has been relatively quiet and no photos taken.

This morning started with Prue doing some washing and general sorting in the Karavan. Later she went for a walk out onto the road into town.

I went for a ride into town and onto the bike track when I met up with it. It mostly follows the Katherine River for quiet a way. On my way I went under the historic railway bridge as well as the main road bridge. The track was reasonable but there were some rough parts. One of the problems I encountered was glass, of the beer bottle variety. Even though there is a restriction on the consumption of alcohol, in a large part of the town, it does not seem to be enforced by anyone. The remains of a ‘big’ night was evident along the river with some people still camped along the river bank. Sadly, there were people still drinking beers that I could see, at 0830 in the morning. After eventually passing the area that was closer to the CBD, the rubbish seems to become minimal.

I passed the Katherine hot springs but they were not as nice as the Bitter Springs at Mataranka. There were a few people in the springs enjoying an early morning soak. The bike track went along to the Low Level Bridge Nature Reserve and ended there. From there I returned into the CBD and went to the Tourist Centre to find another Kimberley Karavan there. I spoke with the couple that owned it and they were from SE South Australia going to Daly River fishing before going east to the Gulf of Carpentaria. They have only owned it for a couple of weeks and this is their first adventure with it. I was able to tell them a few things that we have done to our Karavan.

On my return, I set up the massage table ready for two massages to be done. There is only the one massage therapist in town and she is constantly booked out. As we are returning here in 2 weeks before we go to Kununurra, I have been tentatively booked for 2 massages on our return with possibly more by then.

Prue went into town and collected a few more items before we leave for Kakadu tomorrow. We may not have internet connection for a few days. She also had a bit of a drive around while in there.

One thing we hear here is the sound of Air Force jets departing from and returning to Tindal RAAF Base. Apparently, the Singaporean Air Force has aircraft operating out of there and there are US Marines as well. I am not sure if the RAAF have aircraft operational from there at the moment.