Friday morning and after a phone call I learned the new satellite aerial had not yet arrived and would probably arrive the next day so we decided to have a day looking around the area. We went to Katherine gorge which was only twenty minutes up the road and through the gorge is a big river apparently full of fish such as Barramunda which we have eaten before at a fish and chip shop. So after a long walk along the side of the river and several pictures later of the gorge James decided to try his hand at catching some fish for our supper. We found a great little spot on a jetty and he fished while I caught up on some writing. After about an hour and still no fish we decided to try out the water for swimming and both went in several times. Treading water and trying to take unusual angled pictures is no easy task but it worked which will be revelled at a later date (when the book comes out). Later on we went back to the site and later on learned that there were crocodiles just a few feet away from where we were swimming and this came from a tourist who saw them whilst he was in a tour boat on the Katherine river right by us. We just shrugged our shoulders and I said "isnt ignorance wonderful" That was a great day to remember ! On the Saturday morning the 11th I made a phone call to the parcel couriers to find out if the package from Sydney, containing the new satellite aerial had arrived and to my surprise it had, so I wasted no time and drove out of Katherine and collected my parcel then, returned to the camp site in double time.
   
    I proceeded to remove all the old aerial bits and then replaced them with the new which only took a matter of minutes and I tested the unit which worked right away. We then packed all the gear away and drove out of the site, through the town and out onto the main route one this time heading west. It felt good to be out on the open road again. I knew we would not get a great deal of miles done today as we didn't leave the Katherine site until around 11 o'clock and as we proceeded we made a few stops to take pictures of the sites out in the bush. The temperature is steadily getting hotter and dryer but we were soon well on our way knocking up the miles. By about 4 oclock I had had enough. We were in a town called Timber Creek and decided to stop there for the night. We made a new friend there Margaret who talked the evening away with us and we exchanged stories about our adventures. The night was so hot that we barely got five minutes sleep the whole night even though the tent was left wide open, if it wasnt for the flys and mosquitoes I would have slept outside under the stars. Thats called a night under a million lights and, it really is the most spectacular sight I have ever seen. Even the Milky Way is a sight to behold.
   
    Next day we wanted to catch up with some lost time so we left early and put in some serious miles, on the way I had to stop and take some pictures of a sign that said Duncan Highway which went off from the main route one and headed South on a corrugated road I turned off and tried to drive on the corrugations but it was just too much for my little car, nearly all the instruments came out of the dash and the radio so thats when I stopped and made our way back to the main road. At least I got to drive on a road named after me "well thats what I want to believe any way". After a long hot slog we came to the next town which was 344 miles down the road and called Halls Creek we made it our next resting place. This again was like the last, a town stuck right in the middle of nowhere, hot dry and dusty but at least there was a piece of grass in which to pitch the tent. To my surprise there were many other campers coming in and this always seems to happen at around 4 o'clock in the afternoon and thats about two hours away from night fall which comes all of a sudden ! We were taken in by a group a overlanders who had just completed a nine day bash through one of the desserts leading up to Halls Creek. A really nice bunch of guys who fed us and we drank beer well into the night. I am sure we kept a lot of the other campers awake for most of the night. I would just like to say a big thanks to Murve (Alf Garnet), Roy (Uncle), Frank (the Pom), Brett, Big Billy, and Troy.
   
    Next morning I was more than surprised to find myself waking up at around 5.30am and we were all up by about six. James had been asked if he would like to see the Wolf Canyon and so he went off for the day doing a spot of off road and we arranged to meet up a few hundred miles up the road at a town called Derby which is right on the coast. I left the site at around 7.20am and after filling the car with fuel and cold drinks I set off across yet another deserted landscape. This had to be one of the hottest days I can remember and the heat haze was just fantastic, looking down the long never ending roads as the heat shimmered like water on a lake. I drove for about four hours and that was when I got to the only town which was about half way to Derby and stopped for a rest and some food also stocking up with yet more cold drinks. After about an hour I was back on the road again and looking forward to seeing the sea. This day I managed to cover some 344 miles and when I got to Derby the time was still only 1.45pm, so I made good time this day. I set up the camp in a nice little camp site !The only one in fact, then had a shower and waited for every one else to turn up.
   
    The six boys arrived a couple of hours later and we all went out to the harbour. There was no beach just a jetty and brown looking water with lots of people fishing from the jetty. We all walked out to the end of the jetty and later returned to the camp. As James had not arrived the lads invited me to join them for dinner and it was a wonderful feast indeed, we had beef Stroganoff. James eventually arrived just as I was going to sleep at around 9.20pm. I thought I was going to have to leave without him the next morning!
   
    In the morning we said our goodbyes and set off to Broome. The drive to Broome was not a difficult one as it was only 143 miles down the road and we managed to get there by around 10.30 in the morning but at least it gave us a chance to rest up ready for the next long haul. We stayed at a great little camp site right next to the sea and beach which was wonderful, the sea was a magnificent marine blue and sands of golden yellow. We each had a swim and then went into the town to do a spot of sight seeing and got food for our dinner.
   
    To my surprise the boys arrived and later that evening we spent a couple of hours just talking and sinking a few beers. I did enjoy there company.