Well the bed seemed too enticing this morning and we didn’t manage to get the early morning dip in. Even with not feeling like getting out of bed, the van was packed up and we were on the road before 9am and heading north to Darwin.

The Stuart Highway was certainly busy this morning with road trains and convoys of caravanners, some of them slow with little opportunity for overtaking.

It should have taken a little over an hour to get to Katherine but of course with a few geocaches along the way, it was closer to 1.5 hours.

With fuel around $1.30 a litre in Katherine, we managed to find a truck stop not that well known in the industrial area for 10c a litre cheaper. And once again we were soon on the way again.

More traffic and road trains with a smattering of road works and we could finally smell Darwin around 3pm. But with all the traffic lights, it wasn’t until 330pm before we made it to the Discovery Tourist Park.

There was just enough time to set up everything then have a shower to wash off the sweat and it was time to head into the Darwin Ski Club for the Officials Welcome Dinner.

There is nothing that compares to a Darwin sunset and tonight didn’t disappoint. It is always good to get free cold beer, a good meal, a chance to catch up with all the firies for the V8 Supercars that make their way to Darwin from all over Australia and the spectacular sunset.

Something that was visibly absent was the midgies. For some reason they didn’t seem to be biting. That will be a welcome change. I have since found out that the moon has a lot to do with them and there is such a thing as a Midgie calendar where you can find out when they will be bad and this week is not one of those week, what a bonus.

Back to the caravan park, with what was going to be an easy day tomorrow.

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