First camp for 2012, 27-29 April

Well, a lot has happened since "the doomed trip" to Central Australia last year, much of which the text has been written up but not blogged. Suffice to say, we didn't get to Lake Eyre as we bent the chassis of the Navara before getting to the Oodnadatta Track, and then on the way home, the turbo decided to blow up 70km south of Barrow Creek, of Peter Falconio infamy. So it with great disappointment that most of that trip hasn't been posted up. I may be ready now! In the mean time, we are now the proud owners of a 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee, and loving it! We have had to wait patiently for the wet season to be over to go camping, and this last weekend of April was finally upon us. We decided to go to and got away on Friday afternoon. Mound Bundy Station is just south of Adelaide River township, only a little over an hour from Darwin. We arrived to a nice grassy and shady site along the river, with only one other unpowered site taken. There were plenty of wallabies to drive the boys nuts, and they were a little taken aback by the free roaming friendly horses on the property. Dinner was our first proper taste test of the Happy Camper Gourmet lamb shanks in mint gravy - highly recommended! We had a bit of a disrupted night's sleep with the boys settling in to the new sights and smells, but the weather was a delightfully cool 16 degrees. After a breakfast of bacon and eggs we went for a walk along the river. There were few spots where the river could actually be spotted with thick vegetation going down to the waterline, and there were plenty of wallabies crossing our path, making for very excitable beagles. Back to camp for a lunch of bratwurst hotdogs, and then we went for an afternoon drive of the local area, doing the loop road from Adelaide River to the Douglas-Daly tourist drive. We did another walk in the afternoon to check the newly erected safari camping accomodation, then it was bikkies and cheese time. With the sun going down, the temperature dropped accordingly, and we felt this justified setting up a fire. A leisurely Sunday pancake breakfast signaled the inevitable pack up, and we were away by around 11.30 to enable an unhurried unpack once home.