When Craig went to the washroom in the morning he saw that the beetle had gotten itself stuck on its back in the sink. Not a smart creature.
We went on a 2 hour morning cruise of the Katherine Gorge which took us down two of the gorges. There were hundreds of firefox bats hanging in the trees at the start of the cruise and they got spooked by the boat and started flying in circles. We were lucky enough to spot a crocodile on the trip as well, and the driver pulled us up beside it so we could get a good look.
We headed south towards Tennant Creek, hoping to get to a campsite by dark. We stopped an hour south of Katherine to check out the Mantaranka hot springs. Although the sign claimed that a lot of water rushes through the hot springs in the wet season and that we should be cautious of the current we decided not to swim because the water was still and covered with algae.
Another 2 hours down the road we stopped at the historic Daly Waters Pub, where tourists have left everything from underwear to driver's licenses to licence plats to a kitchen sink.
We got in to Tennant Creek just as the sun was setting and went for a quick walk around the Overland Telegraph Station, which was built in the 1870s as part of the chain of relay stations linking north and south Australia. When built, those manning the stations got supplies every 6 months by camel train, so they had their own cattle, blacksmith and doctor and grew their own produce. Since they had the only doctor for hundreds of kilometers, the natives tended to group around them. This is how most of the "major" cities between Darwin and Adelaide got started - as a telegraph station.
We watched the sunset (our most spectacular one yet) before setting up camp at The Outback Caravan Park, which had surprisingly few bugs and a nice cool breeze.
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