100km or more from their nearest neighbour .
It was with a sense of achievement we pulled into our next nights stop of Barkly Homestead . It was like arriving in an oasis with irrigated grassed areas and trees to reduce the ever present red dust of the outback . Such outback roadhouses , as well as providing fuel , food , advice , and companionship are somewhat of a community hub for the people on the isolated stations . The importance of these hubs was highlighted while sitting in the outdoor bar area for dinner that night . There was much urgent activity .
There had been a serious motor vehicle accident out on the highway . The police officer was fuelling up a four-wheel drive and the Royal Flying Doctor Service were landing on the gravel strip to evacuate injured people . This was a reminder of the dangers on these roads . With a 130kph speed limits in the NT and
straying stock and wildlife in this unfenced country , things can go seriously wrong .
The Royal Flying Doctor Service 3 is highly admired for providing medical assistance throughout remote Australia . There are many grateful adventure riders who have been evacuated from desert ride accidents by this service . Often the aircraft land on the long straight stretches of road .
After travelling 900km further north we arrived at the town of Katherine . This is a town that is large enough to have a city style supermarket . What a smorgasbord to see fresh fruit ! We had travelled so far north it was now warm enough to swim in the middle of winter . Swimming in rejuvenating mineral water filled rock pools on the edge of town was superb .
The next day we boarded the boat cruise through Nitmiluk Gorge that had recently reopened , after the
COVID shutdown . On the cruise , we were now starting to see the deadly salt water crocodiles that the NT is renowned for .
Nitmiluk Gorge is the Aboriginal name for a series of water filled gorges 29km north east of Katherine . In the Nitmiluk National Park Management Plan , Parks and Wildlife Commission of the NT describes this as a 13 kilometre long gorge system , “ with 100 metre high red sandstone cliffs rising vertically from the river along much of its length , the Nitmiluk Gorge is an aweinspiring natural wonder ”.
It was on the next stage of the trip that we came across our first closed petrol station , at a place where we ’ d planned to refuel . This happened at several places in the NT . Even though online mapping was showing the petrol station open , on arrival they were completely deserted . Maybe this is due to high transport costs or people pushed to close with
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