On the road to Nhulumbuy

Katherine to Mainoru

Once we had breakfast and packed up the van and car, we topped up the fuel tank in Katherine and drove the 50 odd kms to the turn off from the Stuart Highway on to the Central Arnhem Road (CAR). A permit is required from the NLC (Northern Land Council) as this is a restricted aboriginal area. We arranged our permits about 12 days ago and have them on our email. The permit requires you to state where you are staying while in East Arnhem Land.

We have a booking at the Gove Boat Club at Manyimi Campground from the 15th, but as we have 684kms ahead of us, and did not know what to expect regarding the condition of the road, we allowed 2 days with 2 overnight stops. We are staying at Mainoru on the first night but not sure where we would be on the 2nd night. There are only a couple of places that you can camp on the way up to Nhulunbuy/Gove, besides gravel pits, as you are not allowed to enter aboriginal communities.

The first 50 or so kms of the road was bitumen and then we pulled over just after the aboriginal community of Beswick where we let the tyres down before driving on the unsealed road. The road went from good to not-so-good, on and off, with rocky sections, corrugations and dust, and we arrived at Mainoru about 3pm. Mainoru is a little oasis in the outback. Green grass, plenty of sites which are spread out, fuel, a small takeaway food menu, bar, outdoor area with tv, small laundry, toilets and showers and a lovely little decking area overlooking the river filled with lily pads. $30 per night unpowered.

We enjoyed sitting outside on the balmy NT evening watching the sun go down and colour the sky with reds and oranges before becoming softer pastels as the dark descended. The sunset looked amazing as if it was backlit by fire silhouetting the trees, then the stars came out. We had an early night as it had been a big day for Theo driving, dodging corrugations, bulldust and potholes.

The campground had settled down, the kids had gone to bed, campfires were nearly out, then about 10.30pm a car comes in and parks very close to our van, and for 2 hours they set up their camp, with their tent being zipped and unzipped, airbeds being inflated, car doors opening and shutting, tent pegs being banged in etc. They settled down about 12.30pm and only then did I manage to fall asleep. Theo slept through the whole thing.
They ignored us and we ignored them in the morning as we packed up before we headed off. The campground was huge, and there was a lot of areas they could have set up their tent, not sure why they chose to set up so close to us at that time of night. I do think that they were trying to be quiet, but at that time of night when everything is still, any sound seems loud. It was very annoying.Read more