We are on holiday!

Friday 22nd July 2022

Another pack and leave day! We packed up our site, to the sounds of the quad bike zipping around looking for empty sites for the new arrivals! Aside from the stress of checking in, the campground is fantastic – really spacious (unpowered) camp sites, excellent, well planned amenities – I don’t think I’ve stayed in a campground before where all your belongings actually stay dry when you shower! The camp kitchen is really clean and functional (still feeling a little disturbed about sinks that didn’t drain at Ayers Rock campground 🤢), and the whole campsite is kept clean and tidy. It was also lovely to be able to walk to Bitter Springs for a swim.

We were on the road by 10, and drove the hour or so to Katherine to stock up on supplies. Richie again braved Woolies while I dragged the kids around trying to find Bonnie a new snorkel, since she has chomped through hers. We gave up pretty quickly when we realised a quick walk to a couple of shops is actually pretty challenging when it’s that hot…better luck in Darwin maybe (where it will probably be hotter!). We went for ice cream and coffee instead while Richie battled the supermarket!

Stocked up on food, we headed on. I spent the next 3 hours with my feet on the dash to accommodate the groceries, which are much easier to put away when we have set up camp and can access the trailer!

Richie spent 6 weeks in Katherine during uni, volunteering for a hooded parrot project, and was pleased to see that the Katherine River bridge is still declaring that Jesus loves nachos, even if it has faded quite a bit over the years!

We pulled into the Tumbling Waters campground around 4ish, and were allocated one of the powered sites – the first grassed campground we’ve seen since Melrose! It is bordered with palm trees, which the kids set to firstly trying to climb, then stripping leaves off to try ‘weave’ things! It was burning hot setting up in the sun, so we had a quick snack in the shade (guacamole and corn chips, which for some reason has been a staple for us this trip, even though neither avocados nor corn chips travel that well!), then into the pool for a swim. The water felt surprisingly cold after the thermal springs!

We went for a walk around the campground. It’s quite extensive and includes two swimming pools, a lawn and stage area, a restaurant, a moth and butterfly display area including photos of all species seen in the park and a sheet for moth trapping, and a crocodile pond that certainly has turtles, and apparently has 4 freshwater crocodiles. There seems to be a lot of entertainment lined up, including movies, cocktail sessions, craft markets and music.

We had a quick dinner then headed to the lawns for an outdoor movie, which unfortunately was cancelled due to a broken projector bulb. We settled for a movie in our tent on Richie’s phone, then bed.