2 April 2013 - Timber Creek Caravan Park, Timber Creek, Northern Territory

There was no rain last night or today, apart from a few threatening drops. Packing up on a clean and dry site was such a delight after the past week or so. Soon ready, we headed back into Katherine to dump, post some mail and call into the bank. While we waited for the bank doors to open, we walked to the north end of town and on to the Stuart Highway bridge to check the river level. It had dropped marginally through the night but was still an awesome sight. We thought back to the photos we had seen in the Museum of the 1998 floods and imagined the extra volume of water that would be required to raise the river level over the banks and across the township and then imagined the might and force of such a body of water. It sent shivers down our spines.

Once our business was attended to satisfactorily, we set off on the Victoria Highway, an excellent road in the style and standard of most Northern Territory roads. There were signs warning of “Water across the road” however most had receded or been evaporated by the labouring sun. We saw little wildlife, just the odd dingo and roo, and few other vehicles. The road continued through the undulating countryside, through open woodlands, savannah lands that appeared to be good grazing land. We did not see as many cattle as one would expect, but there were some half hidden in the long lush grass. Tracks disappeared up through the mud to modestly marked cattle stations. Creeks and rivers were still swollen but now lower than levels of a day or two ago, evident by the flattened vegetation.

After one hundred and twenty five kilometres out of Katherine, we came to the crossroads of the Buntine Highway which heads southwards. If one were to take this and carry on well past the sealed sections, after four hundred or so kilometres they would come to aboriginal settlements at Hooker Creek at the northern edge of the Tanami Desert. It was here that Chris worked as well during his time in the Northern Territory back in 1972. He tells me that the land there was barren and it had none of the tropical lushness and attraction than that of Bamyli or any of the other places we have been over the past couple of weeks. He had only ever flown in and out of the settlement and so none of the roads from Katherine we were now covering were familiar or ever had been. He was not interested in taking this long journey now or at any time in the future so we pressed on, staying on the Victoria Highway, on toward Victoria River.

As we neared this tiny settlement that is no more than a roadhouse, we came on down through a wide canyon bounded by immense escarpments. We soon entered the Gregory National Park and drove on toward the river itself. Here as we crossed near the settlement, the sandstone escarpments were higher and closer to the road, with dozens of small waterfalls cascading from their tops. The scenery through here is absolutely stunning and was entirely unexpected. We stopped at the side of the road and had lunch with these superb views out the windows.

Timber Creek lies 273 kilometres south west of Katherine, at the northern edge of the second section of the Gregory National Park. I had read a few tantalising reports about the park however the woman at the Katherine Information Centre had advised us that all the 4WD tracks and walks were currently closed. Our experience of this park must remain restricted to those glimpses we have had today.

This small settlement has a population of about six hundred people; I imagine this figure includes the aborigines who live in the communities on the edge of the settlement. We have only seen the few shops and services along the main road and the hotel which we are camped behind. Timber Creek lies on the banks of the Victoria River which flows five hundred and sixty kilometres from its source northwards into the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf.

The river is not clearly visible at the back of the camp, only the swampy edges which harbour an abundant population of crocodiles. We found one lying on the bank less than two hundred metres from our caravan and I believe I saw another lurking under the pandannus leaves close by. We have been warned to keep our distance and certainly shall. I am quite happy with my life and am in no hurry to hasten a gory end to it, or in fact, any end.

Our own camp crocodile, almost too close for comfort

We could have joined the one other caravanning party here at the pub for dinner, those who we were parked beside last night in Katherine. However we had a fridge full of fruit and vegetables which needed to be consumed or processed before we cross the border into Western Australia tomorrow. The quarantine officers are reputed to be strict and uncompromising. We have been warned of this too.

And a little event that rattled our cage this evening: a Winnebago motor home arrived on dusk while we were dining on a miscellany of  scraps and after driving about this relatively empty and quite roomy caravan park, parked up within two metres of us. Why?! We turned the television up to full volume however it did not deter them. Maybe they need our protection against the crocodiles?