Simon and Alison's Travels

that was fine - we spent three days with Alison's sister Gae and her husband John, who live there. And also saw Alison's brother Michael and his wife Ruth, who were up here on a holiday.
It was a good three days - we were offered a bed in their separate "transportable", but the White House is so comfortable we opted to stay sleeping in it. Though we did appreciate their shower, which allows a longer time than the limited water tank in the White House does.

While we were there, we contemplated what to do next. Where to go? We've been to Kakadu and Litchfield National Parks and felt no need to revisit them; we worked out a plan to go to Cobbold Gorge and Undara Lava Tubes in North Queensland. Both of these are visitable only by tour, so both are now booked.

This means re-tracing our steps back south down the Stuart Highway as far as Three Ways, some 600km away, before heading east across to Mt. Isa and beyond - and back north again from there.

This meant a lot of driving. We started out in a nice relaxed fashion, with relatively

short days; stayed in some of the better places we'd found on the way up. After staying the first night at Edith River again, we got up early and drove the 40km down to Katherine, and straight to the hot springs there. It was a really nice way to start the day. We'd planned on having breakfast "out" at the pop-up cafe there, but..... closed on Tuesdays! So it was the usual for us.

We spent most of the day in Katherine before going down to the Gorrie WW2 airstrip, one of the best free camping areas we've found - very easy to be a long way from your neighbour, if you choose to. And going for a walk, or a bike ride, along an airstrip is a little unusual.

This was followed by two days of a lot of driving back south to Three Ways, then east across to Camooweal, in Queensland. The White House is very comfortable to drive in, but.... it is a long way.

The White House is not only comfortable to drive in, it is very comfortable to live in. As time goes on we find ourselves "free camping" more and more, and staying less and less in caravan parks. The "free" places are usually much nicer and quieter places to be, and we've found that, thanks to the rooftop solar panel, we don't really need power at all; and that often we can find somewhere to fill our water tank. We do need to use a washing machine, though, every week or so.

We've travelled across the Savannah Way in North Queensland, spending a couple of

nights at the abandoned town site of Mary Kathleen, and riding our bikes up to the open pit of the old uranium mine there. The pit is quite spectacular, with veins of very different coloured rock running through it and a lake at the bottom; it has become a tourist destination in itself!

Simon's Journal