Monday 13th - Tuesday 14th August 2012 - Douglas Springs and Big Horse Creek

After a big pack up in Darwin we left mid-morning and drove south to Douglas Springs. This is close to where the Douglas and Daly rivers join up I believe. The thing that attracts everyone is the hot springs there. We set up camp and then grabbed our bathers and went down to the springs. The water was so hot - it felt like it was boiling hot on my sore mossie and sandfly bitten legs.

We found a spot up river where the hot springs met the cool river which was very nice. Whilst we were enjoying the swim Ed and Thomas went for a walk with their fishing rods to try their luck further down the river. The girls and I met a lovely family from the Netherlands who were spending time holidaying in Australia. Marieke and Peter and their beautiful girls Kim and Joyce were great fun. The girls all enjoyed time playing together.

Tuesday 14th August - My birthday (44 today!)

I enjoyed a lovely lie in and a beautiful card which Ed and the kids had written in (even Thomas!). They gave me a beautiful red necklace. and sang me happy birthday.
Kim, Joyce and their mum Marieke gave me a card and sang me happy birthday in Dutch and Polish.
That was so nice. Ed cooked me breakie and then we packed up before e it got too hot. We then enjoyed a quick swim in the springs before hitting the road again for Katherine. We had lunch in Katherine and bought a few supplies (a chocolate birthday cake!) and headed for the Big Horse campground in the Gregory National Park. The park is meant to have some great 4WD tracks and also some good fishing so we planned to spend Wednesday exploring.
Unfortunately, 10km from our campsite (and 3km out of a small town called Timber Creek) our clutch in there car had other ideas and decided to die. Not a great end to my birthday! We managed to limp back into town to the Police Station where a local 'bush mechanic' looked at it and advised us where to camp for the nigh and to just get into Kununurra the next day. Ed got the car in gear somehow and we got to the campsite and set up near the road leading down to the water in case we had to jump start the car.
Our Dutch friends joined us for dinner, birthday cake and damper that night. Both Kim & Joyce hadn't had damper before so we got a campfire going and Ed cooked one up for us all.
It was fun having them join us for dinner and the kids enjoyed playing together. We plan to keep in touch as they love Australia and have visited many times.

My birthday cake!