Northern Territory: Zebra Rock Mine, Katherine and Edith Falls

(23/7/2018 – 25/7/2018)

From the WA/NT Border, we travelled along the Victoria Highway and then turned off onto Duncan Road for 5km on a dirt road and then a further 5km on the access road to Zebra Rock Mine Gallery and Campground.  Well, what a little gem of a place this was!!!!

What a great campground here for only $20 per night (2 adults @ $10.00 each) and children (Under 14) were free.   Matt and Ally also stayed here with us for the night.    All sites were unpowered but it was in a lovely open bush setting.  There was a large outdoor seating area with a central firepit.   There were many tours available (4WD Mine, 4WD workshop, fossicking safari, fishing safari, morning and sunset wetland safaris).   There was a beautiful gallery and gift shop showcasing the Zebra rocks.   We missed the free gallery tour which was at 3.00 pm.   The Gallery includes crystals, fossils and history of the local area.   The staff gave Mitchell a couple of zebra rocks.

This is the only Zebra Mine operating in the world.   Zebra Rock is a very unique stone.  It comes down to the striking iron patterning that places the small deposits of Zebra Rock found in Australia’s East Kimberley region in a class of their own amongst the world’s rocks.

We also met a few other families here and all the kids had a soccer game.   Ally and I refereed with drinks in hand!!    After dinner we sat up around the communal fire drinking and talking to other travellers.

On Tuesday morning we packed up and headed to Katherine which was another big driving day.    We only stopped here in town for fuel, groceries and alcohol.   We could only buy takeaway alcohol from 2pm – 8pm and I was limited to 1 x 2 litre cask of wine and I had to produce ID before I could purchase anything.

We then left Katherine and headed up to Edith Falls on the Stuart Highway (about 40 km).   The campground in Edith Falls was full so we stopped at another free camp just outside of Edith Falls.   On Wednesday morning we set off for Edith Falls (20 km)  and spent the morning here.     Andrew and Mitch went snorkelling in the pools, not me.  There is a familiar pattern happening isn’t there, where the water here is too cold for me!! LOL

Edith Falls is located on the western side of Nitmiluk National Park.  The Falls cascade over ancient rock formations creating a series of waterfalls.    Edith Falls looks like a lovely spot for camping.   There are also a number of bushwalks that you can do here too.

 

Andrew and Mitch snorkelling

From here we travelled up the Stuart Highway to Pine Creek Railway Resort (about an hour’s drive) and checked in for 1 night.   It was a nice little park with a lovely restaurant/bar and pool area.   As we were heading to Litchfield National Park (to camp unpowered), this was a good chance to fill up the water tanks and get organised here.

 

(23/7/2018 – 25/7/2018)