After stocking up at a supermarket on the outskirts of Darwin, we headed out some 70 kilometres from the town centre to TenRR - a nudist camping ground or resort if the word is used loosely. Set in the typical dry woodland of a mixture of low trees, palms and cycads: the absence of a green lawn is most noticeable. Grass exists as low clumps among the shrubs or in the surroundings as the impenetrable spear grass. Nonetheless, there was a pleasant array of vegetation.

Moreover, the man made facilities of a pool, tennis courts and club house moderate the severity of the surroundings, as does the breeze which lessens the impact of the continuum of thirty plus days and blue skies.

On the other hand the evenings are cool with the rug and doona appreciated as the temperature drops to the teens in the early morning. Indeed the radio was continually featuring comments on the cold spell.

Being a nudist resort there is an instant camaraderie, moreover there is contact with former acquaintances such as Neville who said "I remember you from Taylorwood in 1998, Paul and Genny isn't it?" followed by the arrival of Graham and Jo, former Rosco members. Later Gen meets up with Di, a frequent opponent at convention table tennis battles, only to hear Fred is in hospital after a heart attack and so it continued until the happy hour (or two) when further friends were met or made (Dennis and Sue, Brian and Chris, Vaughan and his extroverted wife, and so on). However the total at the ground was only 20 or so, most of whom were retired.

During the cooler morning there were the chores of writing, washing, mending or just reading while the afternoons offered swimming, some cautious sun bathing and much conversation.

Hence after a few days we departed only to return for another few.

Our departure point and the end of the long road was Darwin, where on the 24^th our van was to be returned and a plane caught for the trip to Newcastle. Typical, for anxious types like myself, was the compulsion to check exactly where the van needed to be returned, and that was duly done. The useless internet was checked once again.

Darwin was also to be a tourist destination for us with war history, Mindil Market, a beach and an interesting town.

A feature of the camping ground at Howard Springs was a shuttle to Mindil Market on Thursday evenings. It was a pleasant night out with the much photographed sunset into the Arafura Sea and many food stalls. The cognoscenti were well set up with tables, chairs and champagne while we made do with much simpler facilities.

The Friday at the beginning of our last week was spent as proper tourists. Our start was at Casuarina shopping centre then to the nearby unclad beach. Fanny Bay Gaol was inspected and a low key military museum at East Point. Much was made at the museum, as elsewhere, of the air raids on Darwin which killed hundreds though mainly associated with the harbour. The main museum offered an interesting if technically limited display on the Cyclone Tracey as well as one of the best sited museum cafes. We ended up at Cullen Bay where new apartments and restaurants surround a small, attractive yacht harbour.

The Saturday Market at Parap, though on a smaller scale than Mindil, was pleasant with the plus of some tables set out among the stalls under large trees.

War continued in the aviation museum, where I was bemused to learn that the Japanese never intended to invade Australia. We were also impressed by the B52 bomber (huge but uncomfortable.) Our day ended with a trip to the city for more internet and visits to the harbour area where an excellent mud crab was bought for dinner.

As usual Fanny Bay Gaol featured a building used for hanging in the 50s and hence haunted. Genny could not wait to see it.

Cullen Bay even included a famous fish and chip shop where we shared a barra and chips.

Litchfield was just south of TenRR and we planned to do it on the way back there. It was a pleasant area, with several swimming opportunities, some nice waterfalls and attractive countryside without the propaganda of Kakadu. A highlight was a swim at Buley Holes where a cascade between rock pools provided a dramatic contrast to the dry surrounding woodland. Unfortunately the recent rains which made the various falls attractive (Florence, Tolmer and Wangi) also meant that the pool at Wangi was unsuited to swimming.

Even in the dry woodlands there were splashes of colour like the Turkey Bush that seemed to prefer very poor soils and the silver cycads which looked at their best when they had recovered from a fire.

The 'short' road back was via a 42 kilometre gravel road. Although most was tolerable, there was a sudden right angle turn onto a bridge and some sections of rocky outcrops that worried. It was a nervous hour as we negotiated the horror stretch mindful of our lack of insurance in such situations. Certainly the hoons in 4WDs who scooted along at high speed did little to make the trip simple.

Our return visit followed similar lines with sun, swimming, typing and packing chores. One day was used to escape to the wildlife park, which was a large scale well presented zoo.

Certainly it was an interesting trip and the weather was mostly acceptably - warm to hot - after the blizzard of the first week in the south. Scenery was totally different from that we had encountered in the temperate East with the red soils of WA, Boab trees and the rugged mountains of the Kimberley quite impressive.

The distances were significant and perhaps resulted in the first part of the trip being a bit rushed. With hindsight, we should have spent more time at Exmouth and would have driven into the Karinjini Gorge near Tom Price, perhaps at the expense of time in Broome.

The rig was suitable for the fly drive style though if starting from home, we would probably opt for a caravan and 4WD as most do. There were only a few places where the lack of 4WD was a handicap. Cape Leveque north of Broome was perhaps the most serious.

Health security was illusionary as the only intensive care wards along the trip were probably at Darwin and Perth while in between there were large distances with minimal aid available. Hence, even if treatment in Australia was covered by Medicare, perhaps the frequency of hospitals in Europe offsets the cost disadvantage.

Company was a plus and we much enjoyed the various encounters particularly during the second half of the trip.

Most of the people we met were not working and were making a long trip for a few years, over the winter or for as long as it lasted. We were not at all envious of those who had sold their home to be permanently on the road but the grey nomads escaping winter for 6-9 months appeared content with life.

The option was to repeat the experience perhaps from Adelaide to Darwin or the round trip from home. It was certainly an option, though Europe still appealed.