Darwin to Keep River National Park

As we gave Kakadu a miss we had a few days in hand so decided to spend a few days in Mataranka and visit the hot springs. We set up camp in the Edith National Park which is located alongside the Roper River. The river was free of salties so we could cool off with a swim and Brian could do a bit of fishing.

The river was cool but the water at Bitter Springs was at 34deg and crystal clear. We took our snorkelling and spent a few hours exploring the waters.

The water was quite deep and full of fallen logs, lilies and pandanas plants. We didn't see any turtles this time but there were quite a few people in the water which probably scarred them away. There was a large water monitor watching the goings on though.

We slept with the outer tent off and it was great to look at the brilliant star lit sky. The only downside was that the mossies' were the worst that we had experienced so far. A fire kept some of them off for a while but we had to retire to our awning after a while.

From Mataranka we headed north back to Katherine and then west with an overnight stop at Victoria River and on to the Keep River National Park close to the WA border.

The National Park was quite busy and as some of it was still closed while the tracks were being repaired we were allowed to camp in one of the day use areas. We ended up in a really nice spot without anyone else around us.

Here are the creek walkers enjoying a brief rest from their arduous duties.

The Keep River Gorge was in walking distance of our camp and the caves had some aboriginal rock art.

There were loads of boab trees around us of all shapes and sizes.

We visited Cockatoo Lagoon which was full of bird life including a pair of tall crane like birds called Brolgas.

Here are a few of the other birds we spotted.

Ibis.

Magpie Geese, spoonbill and egrets.