Timber Creek, Northern Territory - April 2021

Back to Katherine overnight and then a long drive into Timber Creek – about half way, and 290km. We stopped a couple of times to see sites along the way. One was the road train memorial of the crossroads of the Buchanan Hwy and the Victoria Hwy.

So hot so we had a fruit break - all the fruit needed to eaten before Western Australia.

We also drove through the spectacluar Gregory National Park, named after Augustus Charles Gregory, an early explorer, and second largest National Park in Northern Territory. A beautiful area with colourful ridges and boab trees, another place we want to go back to.

Situated on the Victoria River, this was our last stop in Northern Territory before crossing over to Western Australia. There are two caravan parks situated behind the two adjoining petrol stations. There is also a free camp down by the river, but there was a fishing competition on that weekend so it was pretty full. We camped behind the second road house as it was cheaper. A good camp site with grass and space around each site. 

There is a lovely park area, a small pool and a pub with an overpriced food menu, but it is on a creek with freshwater crocs, so no swimming. The site was large and at $35 a night not bad value.

The first inhabitants were the Nagaliwurra and Nangali peoples. Timber Creek was named in 1855 by Augustus Gregory who used the timber from the banks to repair his boat. That night Peter and Jonnie and a few other happy campers went spotlighting for crocs (I was watching footie - my team won).

Filling up the car the next morning, and admiring the station mural, we only drove a short distance to our first stop.

Not far from Timber Creek is the Gregory Tree. This is a boab tree on the banks of Victoria River where there are marking of Gregory’s expedition from October 1855 to July 1856. Over a period of 8 months Gregory and his expedition team explored the Victoria River catchment area and this became one of the longest overland rides. Their overnight stays are recorded on the trunk of large boab trees.

We continued our journey from Timber Creek towards the Kimberley region of Western Australia. We had lunch at Saddle Creek, an overnight free camp, and what a great camp at the base of an escapement that I would assume changes with the changing sun. If we hadn’t had Covid Border passes for 1 May, we probably would have stayed here a night or two.