Day 336 – Katherine, NT (15 August)

Follow up from from last nights adventure.  Two of the girls who live on the neighbouring property came over and apologised profusely for the commotion and scaring us last night.  Apparently their cousin had lost the plot and let off firecrackers. Hmm, can only guess that the Police must have told them we had put a call in.  Anyway all good and no one hurt.  We were up early this morning so John could finish replacing the 4th shock absorber.   All the others were fairly easy to replace the the last one was a bugger and took him ages to get the old one out.  But he preserved and got it done.  So take two we said our goodbyes again and headed out on the road to Katherine, 303kms south.   Along the way we stopped at Adelaide River to refuel and look at the War Memorial as suggested by Murray.  Glad we did, it was quite moving especially when you realise the young ages of some of the servicemen who lost their lives. A total of 434 servicemen are buried here. There was a memorial for the post office staff who were killed during the the bombing in Darwin in 1942.  We had heard this on our walking tour around Parliament House.  The cemetry was beautifully maintained with manicured gardens and plants.  Thanks Murray for suggesting the stop.  We are staying at the Springvale Homestead about 10kms north west of Katherine.  The homestead is the oldest standing homestead in the NT.  Will explore tomorrow.  They serve devonshire teas and do a tour – sounds good to me.  Took Coco for a walk around the park and there are heaps of wallabies and of course she is beside herself wanting to chase them.  Quite a challenge to keep her on a tight lead.  There is a waterhole in the park which is stagnant with algae but a lot of turtles, similar number to what we saw in Townsville with Sue and Fred.  Found a beautiful boab tree in the grounds.