We spent one night in Tennant Creek in a motel at the edge of town. The town was originally built around gold mining but that was short-lived. Around half of the town’s population are of indigenous descent. Unfortunately, it has most often been in the news due to crime and alcohol problems, the most recent horror being the rape of a two year old girl. I had not read about this before I arrived but had noticed the active police presence on the streets and it is the first motel we have stayed which had prominent notices about CCTV at the reception and about not letting people you don’t know into your room. Our experience was very positive, and I was glad to read in the Guardian about moves to solve some of the community problems. The restaurant in our motel was closed so we had our evening meal at the sports club. Most of them will allow people living more than 5km away and who have photo ID to register temporarily and use the bar and restaurant. It is also a good way to meet some locals. Tennant Creek does have a museum and art gallery devoted to indigenous art, but we did not have time to visit them. I did appreciate this street art.

In the morning we carried on northward on the Stuart Highway, passing a manganese mine and still in dry country with little wildlife to see as much of it is nocturnal. Further on, as vegetation started to appear, we passed a group of cows by the road and then an Australian Bustard. I still have not managed to get a photograph of one despite spotting a few. Dressed up termite mounds continue to be found along the highway. The craze started around five years ago and is mostly done by tourists. The first town we reached, Elliott, had a big sign on entry announcing all the facilities in the store including coffee. However, that was not on offer when we stopped. We had our lunch in the shade of a tree opposite the Daly Waters Pub, mobbed by a flock of Apostle Birds. The pub claims to be historic having had a licence since 1893 and the place Amy Johnson landed in 1930 having flown from the UK to Australia. Inside there are huge amounts of memorabilia from visitors.


Nearby is The Stuart tree. He or one of his party is said to have carved the letter S into the bark on his journey from Adelaide to Darwin. There is no written corroboration of this in his journals.

Nearby is the site of the old telegraph station. As we continued our journey to Katherine, the temperature rose to 38 degrees. In the evening the almost full moon was framed by palm trees.

The following morning we had arranged to go on a boat trip up Katherine Gorge in Nitmiluk National Park. There are 13 gorges between Arnhem Land and the sea but boat trips only cover a few. We chose a two-hour cruise of the first two gorges but three hour and breakfast/sunset cruises are also available. Canoes can be hired and in the wet season power boats are used. Our cruise took us past 17 Mile Creek which flows into the river and is often used by the Jawoyn people for fishing

and then through the sandstone gorges:


There is a 400m walk between the first and second gorge where we boarded another boat. The path passes some rock art. There is a lot in Nitmiluk some only 150 years old, others thousands of years old. We saw one example:

Having cruised around the second gorge we returned to the first, keeping an eye out for freshwater crocodiles. Unfortunately, the water temperature is quite high at the moment so they do not need to lie on the rocks to get warm and we did not see any. Back at the Visitors’ Centre for refreshments I had a look at some of the local paintings on display and for sale. One local artist often works in the centre.

James also spotted this dragonfly sitting on a door. I have not identified him yet.

So for, the total mileage is 4,358 miles. We only drove 41 miles to the gorge and back today but the previous day’s total was 422 miles. Tomorrow we continue north to Darwin.