Day 8 arrived with splendour and a nice toasted chicken salad roll from the visitor centre at Katherine Gorge.
We left Katherine Gorge at 10:15am (local time) and headed south west back toward Katherine city where we would complete the final shopping for some fruit and vegetables. We filled up with a whole 168.65 litres of diesel and headed on our way westward (again) to the camp spot we towed my uncle’s broken car back to and where all of our plans unravelled.
The camp spot was an overnight stay and was named East Baines Rest Area. The spot was surrounded by long dry grass and various types of drought resistant plants including Boab trees. My dad and I went searching for firewood so we could light a camp fire and get some coals so we could cook the roast lamb we had in the fridge. We did that and started the fire with a piece of newspaper and a single match, the wood was so dry and so small that it caught quickly and within half an hour we had coals to cook on.
About an hour into cooking the roast something amazing happened; a voice on the radio appeared that had been gone since Friday afternoon. It was my auntie and they were in range of UHF radio, so they called in and announced their arrival! Once they pulled in near us at the camp spot they jumped out and shared their story of travelling from Darwin to here. They got a flat tyre but the rental company took care of that so it was no extra cost to them which was great news.
We all sat down with beer and cheese and enjoyed the afternoon before us. Not too much longer and the roast was ready to eat, yum! We cut it up with roast potato, carrot, onion and gravy, dished it out and chowed down on this most tantalising of meals. Once all was said and done we washed up and jumped into bed for the night.
The day tomorrow would be one of driving in parts of the country that we have not yet seen, woohoo!
Here’s some pictures from today that I took out of the window on the way to the rest area, enjoy!
Thanks for reading,
Trav.
