Stuart HWY to Katherine

Since leaving Alice, we have been on the road heading slowly towards Katherine. My foot wasn’t improving so I saw a doctor in Ti Tree and she suspected a stress fracture so she sent me off bandaged up, with meds and a referral to get an Xray in Katherine (1000 ks away). More on this later.

I had to rest my foot and ice it, which meant I couldn’t do much. As Steve was doing it all ( driving, cooking etc), we decided to drive shorter distances than usual and do more overnighters so he could rest up too.

Along the way some of the significant places we stayed at were Devils Marbles, Daly Waters and Elsey NP. Yesterday we finally arrived in Katherine. The highlight on this stretch of road was the unexpected rodeo at Daly Waters. Whilst my view was somewhat limited from my chair outside the van, Steve took some great pics of the rodeo and provided me with a detailed recount of the different events.  The campground at Daly Waters is not one I would recommend. It lives on a reputation based around a pub. And don’t they know it! They cram you into a tiny space with little privacy and the dust… the dust… the red fine dust that works its way up your nostrils, down the back of your throat, in your ears in fact into every nook and cranny!

I spent most of today at Katherine Hospital and the Xray shows a torn ligament with severe bruising. I have been given crutches and more meds and told to limit my walking so it can heal.

Tomorrow we hit the road again, no longer on the infinite Stuart but in a westerly direction towards the coast.