Caravanning Camping Touring
Let me share some of our stories with you. I'll try to keep it fun and interesting, with heaps of photos, hints, tips and reviews all relating to life on the road.
December 2025 – 1 February 2026
I was going to have a bit of a “blog break” but I figured since it is predominantly our travel journal, I really do have to keep it up to date. Now, I touched briefly on Christmas and New Year with mum at the end of the last post, but no details. So, leading up to Christmas Peter and I spent a week at Ramsgate Beach (Sydney), with our good friend Chris. And thanks to his generosity and great cooking, we gained about 7 kilos between us. 😊 We also had a couple of nights shopping in Newcastle with mum and were well and truly worn out after that. For an old duck mum sure loves to shop. 😊
Not only does she love to shop, but she loves to host parties. In this case she invited everyone on her street for a Christmas party.
When it arrived, we enjoyed a wonderful Christmas morning with heaps of gifts. Whoever says you need kids to have a fun Christmas hasn’t met my mum.
Lunch was a wonderful affair with mum, me Peter, Lee and John. (Mum’s friends from across the road). We couldn’t have had a better day.
New Years Eve was quiet. But with the help of a few bevies, and some heated games of Uno, we managed to make it to midnight. New Years Day we went to Bellangry State Forest, high up on a hill, and had a great picnic lunch. We did this last year as well and I think we might make it a new tradition. It’s a fantastic way to welcome the new year.
We left Port Macquarie on the 14th Jan 2026, our first stop…one of our favourites. Cobrabald River.
It rained most of the time there, but not bad enough to get us bogged down, but we loved it. Cool enough to have fires. So, Peter was in his element, he should have been a wood chopper.
We woke one morning and thought we were under attack. There were loud thumps against Chunky Bum, and she was rocking at an alarming rate. We needn’t have worried; it was just a herd of curious cows checking us out. They visited us regularly, which was lovely, except, Arnie and Chunky Bum were covered in cow slobber by the end of our visit.
The water level was quite high this visit, and we saw no platypus. However, there were bugs a plenty so that kept me busy.
I’ve never seen such vivid colours on flies before. Quite stunning.
Then there was a variety of other bees and bugs, including the European Bee.
Not to mention a few birds, a turtle, and thousands of Field Grasshoppers, all around our camp.
The area was massed out with Queen Anne’s Lace or wild carrot flowers. They are very pretty and I spent many happy hours photographing them.
On the 19th we arrived at an old RAAF buddy of Peter’s, not far from Tamworth. Ralf and Jennifer were perfect hosts, (more weight gain) and they took us into Tamworth where the Country Music Festival is warming up.
Up until then our plan had been to go to Mungo National Park (NSW) but after checking the BOM and seeing temps of 42, 45, 46, 48, 47…we thought, well I won’t tell you what we thought but we’re not going there now.
The areas around Murray River were cooler so that seemed like a good Plan so started to head in that direction. After two overnight bare camps we landed in the little town of Manildra on the 24th, checked the weather again and agreed that the Murray River Run was on.
We should have remembered that plans are not our friends. We drove out of the Manildra show grounds (a great place to stay by the way), cut a corner, most unlike Peter and ran into an exposed chunk of concrete.
This resulted and a loud bang, unpleasant bump, and big hole in the side-wall of one of Chunky Bums tires. Hmmm!
In the 37 degree C heat, we changed our tire. The caretaker there was very helpful, she even helped me lift the damaged tire up and fix it onto the back of the van, while Peter finished tightening the bolts on the spare.
At first it seemed as though the tire was the only victim, but as we began to drive it was clear that there was more damage than we had hoped. With the wheel slightly askew and squeaking in protest we hobbled a slow 49 kms to Orange, the closest major town in the area, hoping to get it repaired.
We arrived on a Saturday, tomorrow’s Sunday and the next day is Australia Day, I think we’re going to be here for a while. We had no luck finding anyone to help repair the wheel in less than six weeks. For more than one reason, that was not an option. Peter checked under the van, assessed the damage and we decided to try to drive the four hundred and eighty kilometers, carefully, back to Port Macquarie, and get any repairs needed done there. You never know, we might get lucky… or not.
And that, my friends, is why we are currently sitting on the side of the Great Western HWY, at Little Hartley, waiting for a tow truck to come get us tomorrow.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
14th – 17th October 2025
We crossed the border from the Territory into QLD and had to have a giggle at this sign at the crossing. In case the font is too small on your screen it reads,
“Welcome to Queensland. Adjust your watches ahead by 5 years and 30 Minutes.”
A little bit cheeky and somewhat true.
We stopped at Camooweal on the way up north and it was jam-packed, this time we were among maybe, four campers spread over the area. As you can see, it’s a beautiful area and has become a campsite of choice for us.
The birds were a little sparser as well, but I still had a few to challenge me including a pair of Nankeen-Kestrels who worked tirelessly to feed their youngsters. Young snakes seemed to be the main food, also mice, lizards and large insects. Yum!
They really are pretty birds. The females are a darker colour, a rusty red, and larger than the males. The males are much paler, with a silver/grey head. Interestingly, the male seemed to leave the feeding to the female. He hunted well, but more often than not he returned to the tree with his catch and waited for the missis to take the food off him, she would then feed the young ones.
I was thrilled that there were now three pairs of Brolgas, and a couple of Black-Necked Storks still in the area.
There were also a lot of Black Kites in the area, this one took a bit of a fancy to us, and perched regularly in a tree above our camp.
The Pied-Cormorants here are well fed indeed. On our last visit we saw them catch fish after fish, but this fellow may have bitten more off than he could chew with a huge yabby. He managed though.
We saw a family of Brown Quail, probably the same family we saw on our last visit, (we camped close to where we stayed last visit) they are very cute. They’re also very shy (and very fast) so I had to go into stealth mode to catch them.
On our last day here, the skies turned dark and threatened to turn our campground to mud. We made the most of our last day, cooling in the shallow waters and snapping a couple more shots before heading back to camp and packing up, ready to leave the next day.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
9th – 14th October 2025
From Edith Falls we were backtracking towards Camooweal.
First to Katherine, then Daly waters and Three ways, (the home of the world’s most expensive fuel) before once more crossing the border back into Queensland.
We stayed in the same caravan park (Katherine Riverside) as last time. More than half of the park was closed in preparation for the wet season, but we stayed for three nights, knowing it was my last chance to see my Blue-Winged Kookaburras one more time. I went into stealth mode and got some great shots.
Later that day I got the female flying back across the Katherine River.
As she got closer to the bank she spotted something interesting, she could obviously see me but decided to ignore me and go for her tucker.
Her prize securely in her bill, she quickly took off and headed to the safety of a tree. I scrambled up the bank and followed her. She sat there for a good five minutes before flying off with the now, well and truly dead frog.
Sometime later, a male, presumably our huntress’s mate, caught my attention. He flew into a hollow where he stayed for quite some time, I think he was trying to cool off a little before heading on his way.
I was hoping to see these stunning birds one more time before we left the NT, and they put on a great show for me. I really will miss them.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the other birds in the area,
Rainbow Bee-Eaters, Red-Collared Lorikeets, Dollar Birds, White-Bellied Sea Eagle and Rajah Shelducks. There was also a huge flock of Whistling ducks, not sure which ones (Plumed or Wandering) high above the canopy.
After three nights at Katherine, we continued south. Everyone had interesting things to say about Daly Waters, it’s promoted as a ‘must do’ stop in the territory. It was only 6 km west of the highway, so we went. Well, what can I say. There was nothing there except a pub, a very quirky pub.
The decor was eclectic, chaotic and a little bit creepy with dolls (and other paraphernalia) pinned to the walls and ceilings. Not my cup of tea. In the streets and the car park, where we camped, there were donkeys, horses goats, and chooks freely roaming. It was an interesting place, and we experienced our first tropical storm there, but the highlight was that we had dinner with a lovely couple and have kept in touch with them since. Would we go again? Probably not.
We overnighted at Three Ways in the van park (unremarkable) before making our way back to Camooweal.
This brought an end to our sixty-nine-day adventure around Australia’s Top End. Despite the extreme heat, the extensive burn-offs, and the lack of wildlife, we really did enjoy it, especially the crocodiles. Next time around, I think we’ll go at the end of the wet season and I’m sure we will see a completely different landscape.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
4th – 9th October 2025
Pine Creek was a little disappointing on a couple of fronts. Firstly, I had been led to believe that it was a great spot for bird watching.
Secondly, and more importantly, this is where Peter had his pushbike stolen. 😧
One thing at a time. To be fair, we were at the end of the dry season so the mid-town area, that was highlighted for bird spotting, was a little dry. Still, there were a few birds around the Water Gardens including the elusive Hooded Parrot and I was thrilled to see this lovely bird.
Over the last few months, I’ve been making up for the shortfall in birds, with dragonflies. Here are a few that I took in the Water Gardens.
Dragonflies were not the only photogenic little critters.
There were a few other birds at Pine Creek and other winged creatures that were not birds.
Now to the bike theft. For probably the second time since we bought the bike, it was not locked up. Around 2am on our first night in Pine Creek, a group of locals went through the Lazy Lizard Caravan Park like a dose of salt. Backpacks, clothes, passports, visa’s, mixed paraphernalia and…Peter’s bike, all were taken. Some things were recovered, scattered around the town, others were not. Peter loved that bike, he’d ridden it in some great places around the country, and its theft really devastated him.
We reported the thefts to the police, all of us, and they indicated that they had a good idea about who the thieves were, but there was nothing they could do about it. And I’m going to leave it at that and head on to Edith Falls.
Edith Falls National Park was lovely. It was one of the few parks that hadn’t had burn offs through it. Even though it was stinking hot, we enjoyed it there and made good use of the wonderful swimming hole. The waterfall was flowing gently and it was super cool to sit on the natural rock ledges under the falls and just…enjoy.
As well as the falls, there were a pair of Blue-Winged Kookaburras, I was able to get a shot of the male, as well as some pretty flora.
And a few more birds.
As mentioned, it was super-hot, even the birds were feeling it, but they made the most of the sprinklers that ran all day long. I must admit, even we dragged our chairs under the sprinklers, and it seems the birds were right…it felt really good.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
25th September – 4th October 2025
After six days exploring Jabiru, we headed south into the Kakadu National Park. Wanting to make the most of our Kakadu experience we picked three different campgrounds from which to explore Kakadu, the first of these was Gungurul.
Even though it was classed as a campground, it really was little more than a carpark. There were a few marked spots around the circular road, big enough for a motor home. Nevertheless, it was a popular spot and several other travellers also camped here.
We found a space off the road, big enough for Chunky Bum, and it wasn’t a bad camp. This was our first bush camp, so there was no air conditioning, and the average temperature was 38 degrees.
Though the campground wasn’t much to write home about, there were a couple of nice walks; one down to the river and the other (longer and steeper) up to an impressive outlook. We could see our camp way down below.
We were close to the East Alligator River, and that’s where the river walk took us. The river was, for the most part, a dry sandy bed. But it made for a lovely walk, cool in the riverbed, some birds and an overall really nice feel.
We stayed there a couple of nights, mainly because there was a pair of Blue-winged Kookaburras in the area, and family of Crimson Finches. I’ve seen the finches three times since we’ve been in the NT but have had a lot of difficulty getting a good shot of them, but here, I finally managed a half decent shot of a male.
Next stop was the Maguk Campground. Wow! What a great spot. We had plenty of room to hang our hammocks and there was a big colony of Sand Wasps to keep me occupied.
We loved it here even though the average temp was 40 degrees and to get to the swimming hole we had to drive 1.5km to the carpark, then embark on 2km walk, along a track, over rocks, sand, creeks and more rocks in order to get to the falls and swimming hole.
We did this twice a day. 😊
Was it worth it? We think it was… Just beautiful! And there were natural rock ledges all around the gorge and under the waterfall, so you could have a rest while you enjoyed the serenity.
It was a challenging walk, and we were melting by the time we got to the swimming hole. Of course, the same could be said of the walk back so we made the most of the smaller swimming holes on the return journey. We weren’t supposed to, there were croc warnings for the lower pools, but the water was so clear we figured that we’d see a croc coming from a mile away.
On our way back one afternoon we came across this Nankeen Night Herron. He struck a striking pose that I couldn’t resist.
I also saw a little waterfall that caught my attention, the best angle was from the water so, in I went…boots and all.
Our last camp was Gunlom, yet another little gem. The waterfall had only recently been reopened after being closed for over six years. Be warned though, the road in is or was, very heavily corrugated.
The photos don’t show the level of corrugations, but the damage did.
The joys of corrugated roads.
It was so rough that we even lost a bolt out of a camp chair. Now that’s a rough road! Peter had no choice; he had to bind it up with wire if he wanted to sit
It was well worth the damage to get here, the campground was huge, and as with the others, there were very few people there. We could see the waterhole from our campsite. It was… pretty high. There was a lower swimming hole but that one was closed because a crocodile had moved in. It was a little disconcerting that the croc trap was relatively close to where we had parked.
Now, to the swimming hole at Gunlom. OMG! A big walk up for even bigger views. This is the NT that we loved! Even Hugo made the effort to make the climb.
From the start of the track, it’s only 0.5 km but…it’s up all the way with an elevation of 90mts. There were three swimming holes to enjoy, but one of them clearly outshone the others as it went up to the edge of the cliff like an infinity pool. From where we could pick out our campsite below, and enjoy the wide views of Kakadu.
The swimming holes towards the back of the drop-off were, perhaps, more pleasant to swim in as there were less rocks to navigate around. But really, wherever you took your dip, you couldn’t go wrong.
Back on ground level, there was a lot of water lying around the perimeter of the campground, this created homes for dragonflies, lizards… .
…and birds
The average temperature was 39 degrees, and we were beginning to feel it, as was the fridge. So, we put the generator on to run the aircon for a little bit and help the batteries keep up with the load. It didn’t work out. The batteries hit their minimum and shut down so we had to cut the aircon and put all the effort into the batteries, but by 9:30pm we had run out of fuel and were left with no power, no refrigerator, and the overnight temperature wasn’t much cooler; we had a problem.
The campground caretakers came back from their day out and called past. They were kind enough to sell us some fuel, and we continued on through the whole night running the generator just to keep the fridge going. The next day, the caretakers told us that our neighbours, a couple of hundred metres away, complained about the noise, but the caretakers covered for us; after all, we were in an area that said, ‘Generator Zone’. Actually, I’m glad it was the campers who complained and not the crocodile, he was the closest, and he might have really ‘had a piece of us’! The heat, and the inability of the batteries to keep up with the load was our catalyst to leave the next day.
And that brought us to the end of our Kakadu adventure. Pine creek is our next stop and I can guarantee you; we will be running our air-con 24/7.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
23rd September – 25th September 2025
Jabiru really did have a lot to do and see. About thirty five minutes form Aurora Kakadu Lodge where we were staying, and only a short drive from Cahill’s Crossing, is a place called Ubirr. If you love Aboriginal rock art, stunning scenery and glorious sunsets, Ubirr is the place to go.
The walk up to the lookout went past quite a few areas with rock art and a beautiful rocky landscape leading us to a wide expanse overlooking the floodplains.
As the sun sank lower in the sky, the rocky landscape began to show some lovely warm colours.
You can, of course, visit Ubirr at any time, but we went up for the sunset, and so did a hundred other people. It was a very popular spot, and with good reason.
We stayed up at the lookout until the last of the light left the sky, then made our way, carefully, back down the track. A little hint, remember to take a torch for the return trip because it gets very dark, very quickly.
There were a few Agile Wallabies around the carpark area, including this little family.
The following day, Peter took us on one of his famous “short-cuts”. As usual, the road eventually petered out…
…but I did get a few shots of birds along the way. surprise, surprise. 😊
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
