It's 10.30pm here at Katherine, the last TV has gone off, windows are open because it's a warm night and the sound of snoring, surrounds me on several sides here in the gray nomad camp.

One sole crazy artist sits and works alone under the light, making art cards for her exhibition and keeping an eye on her face book page to chat to friends.

Two green frogs pop up from their day time hiding place, they are getting quite comfortable with me and I think are enjoying my company as much as I am theirs.


I have packed the car, done the shopping and fresh food re stock.  I cooked all  the onions and froze them as we can take frozen vegetables into Western Australia, but not fresh.

Tomorrow I only need to fill the car with fuel and do a few emails and I can relax and swim, complete card making and swim and be ready to leave here (Riverview caravan park, Katherine), on Wednesday 1st  July.
 

The time we have left to stay in Katherine, Northern territory is drawing to a close, we must move on soon.

I'll be honest; I will miss that hot springs.  Tomorrow I must start packing the car and caravan, doing those small business things travelers need to get doe while they have access to a town.  I wan to check out the camping supplies store, here in the top end of the shopping strip and makes some more art print cards ready for our show in Kununurra. 

The plan is to be in Kununurra in a weeks’ time and makes a leisurely trip though.  I hope to get in a few more swims in the hot springs,  before we actually leave.

I have done the 'travelling nana' thing and had a lovely chat by mobile phone to both my daughters in the last couple of days and as nanas do, I miss them both but it was wonderful to hear their voices.  Both daughters are a huge help when it comes to redirecting mail and letting us know when bills are due.  I need to set up more direct withdrawals to save bill paying while on tour.

 Australia is an amazing country when it comes to natural beauty and wonders FREE for the enjoyment.  I am thinking of the abundance of public access thermal pools and hot springs around our country.   It’s simply heaven to relax in a palm fringed thermal pool or hot springs. 

The story us gray nomads like to spin is that for every two hours you have spent in a thermal pool you become two years younger.  You leave home in autumn, head for the warmth and the thermal pools and return home in springtime, a teenager.     These travels certainly renew and invigorate my man , he is having his swim right now  as I write and look after Katherine River and removing any salt water crocodiles found there as they migrate into the area during the wet season.  

Salt water crocodiles are now abundant in the waterways of Kakadu to the east and the Kimberly to the west of here and the Gulf country to the north.  The current policy in Katherine is to remove any salt water crocodiles that migrate to this area so they can try to keep the waterways safe for locals and tourists. The fishing with a hope of catching a barramundi from the Katherine river banks is as popular, as is sitting around in groups in the pleasantly tepid water sharing travel stories, swimming and walking along the banks of this beautiful river. 

There are of course warning signs that fresh water crocodiles are present and that the salt water dangerous to human’s crocodile may be present but given the crowds that use the hot springs and the fact that any crock would be seen in the pristine clear water and crossing the bank from the river, the Katherine hot springs would be one of the safest natural swimming spots in the country.

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The Devil's Marbles is for most travellers, an overnight stopover on the way to a destination they seem in a hurry to get to.

For Reg and myself, this majestic, inspiring, beautiful and seemingly different every time we visit, easy to access location off of the Stuart Highway, Northern Territory, is a destination in itself, one to plan for and linger at, walk around, relax around the camp fire at and spend at least a few days or more at each year.   Camp site fees are reasonable, facilities include, picnic tables, BBQ's, (BYO fire wood), and very basic bush toilets, a ranger campfire talk and walk once a week, dogs are allowed within the camp area but not outside in the reserve and be attentive to small dogs as this is dingo country.

I seriously recommend, if your travelling North through the centre of Australia, this is a place to stay at, not just a fast stop over.  Just arrive EARLY in the day so you can set up in a good site as while it can be near deserted for a few hours in the middle of the day it can become packed out overnight and impossible to get a level bit of ground let alone a camp fire.
  Just plan ahead and soak in and enjoy this incredible location and melting pot for all, you will be camped beside back packers through to RV's worth a kings ransom but the wealth is in being able to stay a while after the masses leave and experience the magic of this place.

I'll let my photo's do the talking now.

The MacDonnell Ranges has been a Mecca to the artist inside me for all my adult life.  Magnificent, red and blue violets, Pilbara red, red and green gold and soft grey green and indigo, sigh, J, and I am floating on a high thinking in colours. The picture above is of  my painting of the twin ghost gums in the Western MacDonnell ranges.

The Eastern MacDonnell Ranges is a landscape of grandeur, rocky gorges and Aboriginal history and rock art.  There are wonderful bush camp grounds, gem fossicking locations and old ghost towns to explore

The Western MacDonnell Rangers are more frequented by visitors, prettier, more gorges to visit and some incredible sights to see, so close to Alice Springs.  I have obtained better photos in other years, as it was overcast for most of our visit this time, even Mt Sonda, had her beautiful head in a cloud so i’ll illustrate with some of my art work I painted there in the last visit as well as my photos from my visit this year.

As usual we found a mountain top to set up home base on and watched the sun rise and set , walked along the ridges and up and down hills J in areas where the dog was allowed, then into a warm bed  with woollen doona,  when that  camp fire is put out and you are reminded that winter has started and as much as the days in the centre, lovely and mild, the nights are cold.   On winter nights like this, I love our revolutionary designed eco-tourer caravan while it folds down for towing, it has hard insulated walls, not canvas sides like the pop tops, the best of the solid wall construction vans with the economy and ease of towing of the pop tops and faster and easier to put up that our previous much loved AVan  ALiner, one of those cute triangular vans.    While I don’t believe there is ever the perfect caravan or RV to suit everyone, there s always some degree of compromise needed when choosing a van.

 Reg and I both have a love for  great design, and  fantastic use of every little bit of space within a van and our Eco tourer van is the off highway model, with its own en suit and it’s fully self sufficient with solar power we even watch TV or a DVD at night and use our lights for hours just from the battery charged by the sun even n overcast days we generate enough power to live in the bush or on top of our favourite, MacDonnell Ranges mountain, with all the mod cons we could need.   While alone in a remote location in these beautiful ranges  with no need to respect our neighbour and be quiet, we watched old musical comedy DVD’s  and our remote area of the ranges rang with the music of  ‘South Pacific’ and ‘Oliver’, once it became too cold to stay outside.

Now we are back closer to neighbouring campers and vanners, we become readers, writers, card players and tranquil star gazers again and marvel that everyone else around us is being as quiet and respectful of tier neighbours peace and quiet, also.

 

Ah it’s a great lifestyle this gray with an a for active, nomad, life J

 

Blatherskite Park, is just off the Stuart Highway on the South side of Alice Springs, just prior to the Heavytree Gap where the main Stuart Highway narrows to single lanes, as it, the famous Ghan train line and the  mostly dry, Fink River bed, passes through the small natural Gap between the Western and Eastern Mac Donnell Ranges. 

The town of Alice Springs is on the Northern side of Honeymoon Gap.

Blatherskite Park is the venue for many of Central Australia’s large, outdoor events, the Alice Springs Show, on the first Friday and Saturday in July, and the Imparja Camel Cup, held one week later.

Many extra large touring vehicles, the large motor homes with trailers, travelers unable to fit into the average caravan park, may apply in advance for permission to stay at the park. 

Reg and I often stay here,  as I find I can prepare my exhibition in peace and quiet, loving the serenity of the large expanse of green grass, beautiful trees, including some majestic old ghost gums and of course, those wonderful ranges views.

This time of year, May though till August the climate is wonderful, warm sunny days, 20 – 25 degrees. Dappled shade from trees in the middle of the day, then its snug n warm at night in the van, under the woolen doona.

Pack the woollens and oil skin coat for the evenings if you, must go out, and for the early mornings as it can become extremely cold overnight.   At this time the morning temperatures are only dropping to between 6 and 10 degrees but prior to the Alice Springs show there is usually a severe burn of the grass, turning it yellow white, as the temperature drops below freezing, and you rise to a frozen grasses and condensation dripping from the ceilings. Be sure to bring the heater or if you are self sufficient on an un-powered site, consider a diesel heater for the van if you’re spending time in the center in winter.

I have packed the wheat bags to heat in the microwave to keep our bed lovely and warm if we are here during mid winter.  

At the end of June, Alice Springs holds the Beanie Festival, over 5,000 beanies and their makers from all over the world; participate in exhibitions, workshop and demonstrations.  The beanie, is ideal head gear for Central Australian winter evenings and mornings and a great place to buy one is at the Todd Mall Market, held every second Sunday

 

Jul 16, 2008, 11:37am »
The waterfall pool is where I swam against the current for 45 minutes this morning in a pile of effervescent bubbles, LOL, trying to not let the waterfall entering the pool, push me down stream nor grab me in it's pull and duck me under water, LOL, I won, this time, sometimes you can get caught into it's pull.Wow, it was a work out.  Then I took the high walk back from the hot springs, along the spring itself, the part not safe to swim in,  to look at the place where the spring emerges from the ground through a crack in the earths rocky crust above the underground inland sea.

A glimpse of the Katherine River from high up on the embankment, it's a steep walk down to the Katherine Hot Springs, LOL, steeper walk back, get me a tad out of breath, great 10 mins each way exercise at a bisque pace.

The first entry point to the Katherine hot springs showing the wheel chair entry ramp and the gentle current quite area where the gray nomads gather and exchange travel talk around the edges of the warm water and usually complain that the water is only warm not hot. LOL, but for exercisers like me, the water is a perfect temperature.

 I usually enter at the seniors end, swim downstream to above the waterfall, climb out and then get back in at the rapids pool at the base of the small falls. I do some formal exercise routines, many of them variations of ballet bar work, while holding on to a rail I always add these formal exercises to every session I do in water. This up stream against the current work out must be fantastic for my arms and chest , I did mention yesterday that my lung congestion issues were near gone , well this has to be the best ever workout for lungs and in the humid steamy atmosphere of a warm natural mineral spa, how healthy is that? . LOL, nature is a wonderful healer when we use her resources.

LOL, I would love to go see the physician who told me about five years ago, he thought I needed a heart lung transplant and I would challenge him to an upstream, against the rapids swim.

The other thing that neither Reg nor I understand is how come our arm movements in the water do not cause us pain the following day when so many other things we do cause us arthritis pain. LOL,

Can you tell I love the water , ? I am tired after that effort but not as much as I was yesterday and I worked harder today, the water does make me stronger :-).

Northern Territory (Lonely Planet Travel Guides S.)

 5 kilometers away from the thermal pool and a shorter walk through the bush to the far nicer 'Bitter Springs'.

Through the years we have camped and walked long distances along this river and stayed just about anywhere you are allowed to stay, both in and with the dog, on the edge of the National Park. I've spent weeks here in past years painting the falls and the tropical river, it's so beautiful here. Katherine is only 100 klm up the road, there are similar lovely areas there and fantastic shops, best value shopping between Adelaide and Darwin, or heading the way I'm going, I'll not see these prices until I reach Canarvon. I stock up here while things are cheap. Going to make an effort to release weight this week while I can buy fresh fruit and veggies that are half way affordable and I can indulge in big serves of filling low carb and healthy vegetables . I also plan in this week with very little driving involved to be very active, walking and swimming every chance I get. This is a week when I can make the effort count . Off for my swim in the Katherine Hot Springs, right now , it's just a pleasant walk along the banks of the Katherine River then down the hill to the natural hot springs, running stream. at the lower half of the stream there is a small waterfall and a natural spa pool at the base of it.