Off to See the Wizard - Bitter Springs to Pine Creek

There was no rush this time, as we had a powered site booked for the night.

Continuing north, we were starting to see road trains with four trailers.

We called in at the town of Katherine.  Katherine is the largest town between Alice Springs and Darwin.  We needed to do a grocery shop and fuel up.

While we were sitting waiting at the petrol station Mick’s phone rang.  “Mick, what are you doing here?”  Here we go again.  That’s five times now.  Really, you can’t hide.  Another old work colleague saw the ute.  Once we had fuelled up, it was nice to catch up with her and her husband.  Mick laughingly pointed out that every encounter we, and particularly he, has had, has been with women.

We bought our groceries and the best thing was that we were able to buy new noodles for swimming.  You see, the ones we had were given to us by some travellers heading south that no longer needed them.  They were getting old and one actually broke.  They are hard to get at the moment as many have been recalled as they don’t have a warning on them advising that they aren’t to be used as a life saving device.  Well, if someone was drowning and nothing else was available, I’ d use one.

After lunch, we called into Edith Falls, as we had been told it is pretty.  It is.  There are grassed picnic grounds, a campground and kiosk.  We didn’t swim this time, but as we have to retrace our steps to Katherine later in the trip, we may call in again then and have a swim.

We were also starting to see some rather large termite mounds along the side of the road now.

Our destination for the day was the caravan park and pub at Pine Creek.  We had been told it was nice and word of mouth is often the best way to hear of things.  We weren’t disappointed.

The pub was built from mud bricks and had a nice outdoor area.  Yes, there was the all important pool to cool down in. A nice lazy way to spend the afternoon.

The best bit though, was the amenities……

No,I didn’t take the photo of the ufinals - that was Mick’s contribution.

Corrugated iron, jarrah timber and beer kegs.  You can’t get much more bush than that.  Once again…..only in the Territory.  They are obviously very new.

The highlight of the day was the quirky amenities and the huge, delicious chicken parmi we enjoyed for tea.