Week 6 – Banka Banka Station – Bitter Springs – Katherine Gorge - Kakadu

We arrived at Banka Banka Station pretty early in the morning, before lunch, after leaving the Devil’s Marbles.  It was fantastic as we got to see and park on GRASS for the first time in a long time. We gave the van a good clean inside. Banka Banka is a working cattle station which opens its doors to vanners. It has the best water in the desert – supposedly.  It was pretty good so we filled our tanks.

We had lunch then climbed the hill to the lookout. The scenery is changing again, water is the main ingredient so we can see grass and trees across the plains.

Nanna found some animals of course.  Some horses, camels and donkeys.

The next day was Kaitlin’s birthday but we had no phone reception so we headed off to Daly Waters pub. This old pub is an icon and, because of the State of Origin game on tonight, the van park was packed.  They were cramming vans in. we couldn’t even put up our awning as the next van was so close.  The pub had some interesting things.

Pa got to watch the game out on the road at the front of the pub on the only tv in Daly Waters (there was no tv reception for us vanners).

We rang Kaitlin on her new phone after she got home from school as we at least had phone reception. It’s crazy, we either have water, power, phone or tv, but seldom all four! Here we had phone and power.

The next day we headed for Bitter Springs. It was a great park and we initially booked for 2 nights but changed our minds and added another after a few hours in the park. We had power, good water, phone reception but no tv. The site was fantastic with a little privacy, shade and grass. Pa could even wash his car and the van! It was over 30 degrees during the day.

The main attraction here is the Roper River which flows next to the van park. It is the home of barramundi and crocodiles! There is also a fresh water spring which flows along a creek bed. The mineral water is from deep underground and so is heated to a cool 32 degrees! 

Nanna thought it was lovely. She had 5 swims in 2 days! You just jump in at the top of the creek and float down with the slow current. Then you walk back along a pathway and do it all again. The first two days were best as there were only a few people and backpackers in the spring. On Saturday it got very busy.

Pa tried to catch a barra using lures in the Roper River. A man told us that a saltwater croc had chased his catch in  a few days ago. We packed up and left soon after. The lures kept snagging underwater anyway.

So we went out for dinner at a barramundi restaurant in the next van park.  Beer battered barra – bloody beautiful!

On Sunday we drove to Katherine where we stayed for 2 nights. This van park is really nice with big shady trees and individual sites all with their own ensuite bathrooms. We have the magic four too, water, power, phone and tv. Nanna got to watch House Rules. We even had a sepcial guest in the toilet tank.

We went up the Katherine Gorge on a  boat and had a great time. The gorges are huge with towering cliffs either side. There are saltwater and freshwater crocodiles in here but the National Parks crew trap and remove the salties as they tend to eat people. The freshies are pretty safe unless cornered.

We headed off to Kakadu the next day and stayed at the Mary River Roadhouse. 

We were told about a quiet waterfall site, Moline Rock Pool, which isn’t signposted. We drove down the track in the Pathy. It was pretty rough but worth the drive. At the end of the track was a short walk to a beautiful waterfall and rock pool. We were told that there were no crocs in here and it was safe to swim, except there was a sign saying watch out for crocs!

The water was cool and refreshing on this 32 degree day. So nice in fact that we came back after a short drive and had another swim.