That completes this stay at Mataranka and time to head further north to Darwin for the Supercars.

On leaving Mataranka Homestead, there was an interesting sight of a 2 storey caravan. It was a CRZRVAN K2 and will cost you a lazy $310K as well a new tow tug as it weighs in at 4.5 tonne.

It was an uneventful drive filling up in Katherine and arriving at Discovery Park Darwin, our home for the next week, just after 3:30Pm.

It didn’t take long to setup everything and it was good to have a grass site rather than gravel or dust.

There are not a lot of pizza places around the caravan park but I did find one at The Narrows, Etna Pizzeria. They do make a good supreme pizza.

One last job for the day was to pick up Jenny from the airport. Jenny decided to stay at home for a few more days and spend it with Bradley while he was waiting for his US Visa to be renewed and then fly into Darwin.

The pilot must have put the foot down as they arrived in Darwin 15 minutes before schedule.

Following another lazy start to the day, it was down to the thermal pool for some more soaking and floating as well as meeting up with some Barossa geocachers, Christine and Val.

They normally free camp but decided to camp at a powered site and do some soaking and floating.

Today is my last day on this leg before heading to Darwin in the morning. It is only for a week before heading back to Mataranka for another week of floating and soaking, this time with Jenny.

Today was pretty much a rinse and repeat sort of day, with a lazy start in the Taj before heading down to float and soak for the afternoon.

There were no more visitors today so a quiet night but a spectacular sunset.

With a young family on both sides for the last couple of days, it hasn’t been the quietest spot and today was move out day for both. Unfortunately, they started packing up and the kids making racket at 5:30Am. No sleep in for me today. I did grab a couple of hours after they left.

After brunch, it was down to the pool for some more soaking. This retired life is not too bad.

The new neighbours are kid less so it should be a bit quieter until they or I move on.

It has been a couple of years since I have seen Nathan “Whippy” Griggs. He no longer performs at the Homestead but now in town at the Rodeo Grounds. I wonder if the show has also changed in that time.

There certainly seemed to be a larger crowd than what I have seen in the past and the venue was pretty good with clear skies above with stars and satellites shining.

The show has pretty much not changed over time but with a second fire whip. Still, it was a good show and worth going to. Mark and Mary enjoyed the show.

Back at the Homestead, we grabbed a couple of drinks and listened to the band, “Didge and the Diva”. There were not very many people in the crowd as most would have gone to the whip cracking then returned to their caravans. Once the band finished, the bar closed, and the place was completely empty.

Adelaide Rally was calling so I had to spend the morning doing a risk assessment and Emergency Response Plan before I could venture down to the pool for more soaking.

Four and half hours was probably enough time in the water today anyway. After all there were some more friends arriving today.

Mark (my kidney cancer buddy) and Mary were stopping for a couple of days on their way from Alice Springs to Darwin doing a motorhome relocation. It was a spur of the moment thing to get out of the weather at home. They managed to jag a powered site down the bottom despite being in late.

Another meal at the half full homestead but I have agreed to take them to see the whip cracking show tomorrow night so that they don’t lose their site. This will probably be about the 30^th time I have seen the show. Wonder if it has changed? I know the stubby holders have not increased in value as Nathan promised they would. ?

Once again, the night was cooling down so it was back to the vans. Besides Mark was beat from driving 700 kms today.

No travelling today and no fuel to buy – I guess I was lucky.

By about 8:30Am, Banka Banka was almost empty. The staff were turning on the sprinklers to green up the grass. I guess that was the message to get out. I rolled out the gate at 9:00Am to continue the journey north. I have left the clouds long behind and it is now blue skies for as far as the eyes can see.

The phone rang out in the middle of nowhere which wouldn’t have occurred except for Starlink working away in the caravan. I guess Elon is good for something. Ozzie was surprised that I picked up, but the call was clear as if in the city.

Some fuel at Elliott then continuing north through Daly Waters and Larrimah arriving at Mataranka Homestead just after 2:00Pm.

Now the fun begins. Will I be lucky to get a powered site on the lower level. No such luck, it is back up on the airstrip. It is not too bad as the trees have grown in the last 2 years and provide ample shade for the sites up there.

Before long the Taj was set up for the next 6 days and it was down to have the first soak in the thermal pool after a 2-year absence.

There has been a couple of changes with a new boardwalk (maybe the old one got washed away in the floods) and a lot of the trees around the pool are gone and with it the spider webs and Orb Spiders.

Only a 3-hour soak today before heading to the homestead for a meal. It is not quite the hub that it used to be. I guess with Nathan “Whippy” Griggs not doing his whip cracking show here, the crowds aren’t here either. Nathan is still around but he now does his show at the Rodeo Ground in town.

Mike and Maria were here, I was not expecting that so caught up, had our meal then retreated back to our vans as it was starting to get fairly cool.

Distance for the day was 470 kms. Fuel costs were $1.99 per litre.

Another chilly morning wakeup with a few more degrees on yesterday. Toasted cheese and bacon sandwich for breakfast, a chat with Dave Baker and a surprise donation of fruit and vegetables from a southern traveller (fruit and veg are not allowed to be taken into South Australia), had me packed up and on the road by 9Am.

It was just a short journey to Alice Springs for fuel and attempt to get a new caravan battery. Unfortunately, there was a lack of available batteries with the town been cleaned out by Finke Desert Race on the weekend. I guess I will have to rely on powered sites and the generator until I can get one in Darwin.

Back on the road and the CB was soon buzzing with travellers trying to get onto a pop-top caravaner whose pop-top had popped. It ended up that it was directly behind me but he was oblivious to what was going on. Eventually a car overtook us both, stopped up the road and flagged him down as I tried to slow up.

The rest of the drive was uneventful. I grabbed a cache at Barrow Creek and sat behind a couple of road trains that were sitting on 110 kph which helped out my fuel economy ?.

Passing Wycliffe Well (UFO capital of Australia) was a little depressing. We have stayed there many times with its quirky exhibits and statues. It has been closed for a number of years due to being flooded out but now it has been vandalised and many of the statues missing.

It must have been pension week with the main street of Tennant Creek full of “locals” particularly around the “waterholes”.

Camping for tonight was at Banka Banka Station. It was full tonight but it now has a booking system so there was a powered site waiting for me even though I didn’t get in until 5:30Pm. In the old days when there were no bookings taken, you needed to be here around lunchtime to guarantee a powered site.

Distance for the day was 701 kms. Fuel costs were $1.79, $2.49 and $1.82 per litre.

Another brisk morning with 5C on waking up at sunrise around 7am. There was a bit of moisture around which was probably from mist rather than rain showers. It was a reasonable spot during the night with a few trucks heading through.

Before packing up and hitting the road, I sent the drone up to have a look around. There is not much out here apart from low scrub and the Stuart Highway.

The amount of traffic heading south was amazing with the majority returning home after the Finke Desert Race in Alice Springs. My travel waving fingers were getting a workout, needing to alternate between hands to have a rest. (Travel waving is an Aussie thing where you lift a finger to “wave” to a fellow traveller coming towards you.)

Not far north from where I had camped, there was a few kilometres of fog then some dust from a mining operation before back to blue skies.

A quick stop in Coober Pedy for a couple of geocaches, refuelling and the obligatory photo at the Coober Pedy truck before the return of cloud and even some more showers.

Arriving at Marla, it was like Rundle Street in Adelaide with traffic and people everywhere. Judging from the motorbikes, off-road buggies it was obvious they were all returning from Finke. There was no point grabbing a bite to eat as there was a large queue in the Marla Café.

From Marla to the Border the traffic heading from the north was again non-stop. I ended up stopping at a pullover and made a toasted bacon and cheese sandwich for lunch. The battery in the Taj would not run the inverter (looks like a new battery coming in Alice Springs).

Camping for tonight was to be at Stuarts Well Roadhouse. I have driven past here many times and event stopped here but never camped here. The sun had just set when I arrived but I had booked ahead so there was a powered site for me.

The guy behind the counter greeted me then said, “You don’t remember me do you?” He was right, I didn’t. It was a Burnside CFS Member, David Baker, I have met in years gone past, who is now Assistant Manager for the Roadhouse for something different.

I didn’t feel like cooking, so it was into the roadhouse for a mushroom chicken schnitzel and a Jim Beam.

Distance for the day was 771 kms. Fuel costs were $2.21 per litre.