Today we have moved a little further down the Stuart Highway to Hayes Creek. The Caravan Park is not quite what we expected. It is another one of those parks that is listed in the Big4 Holiday Guide, that gets tourists in.  Like us!   It is similar to 'Wycliffe Well', but there are no green men here, only 'Butterfly Gap'.  Hayes Creek is a roadhouse with a liquor licence, nothing else.  But the park is pleasant enough, has shady trees, plenty of grass and at $22.50 a night, there is no reason to complain. Location wise, it is very suitable for what we wish to do over the next two days.After leaving Batchelor we called into the 'WW2 War Cemetery' at Adelaide River.  It was a very moving experience and the whole area is so beautifully kept.  A 'must see' especially after visiting the 'Defence and Aviation Museums' in Darwin.    Once we were set up at Hayes Creek and our tummies were fed and watered, we headed out on Oolloo Road towards the 'Douglas River Thermal Springs'. We went all the way to the 'Oolloo Crossing first' as Peter was considering throwing his rod into the water again to see if he could jag another Barra. No I shouldn't say that!  "Catch another barra". Contractors were working on the crossing and it's approach. So we had the grader to negotiate and a loader was dropping rocks on the crossing. Consequently the rod stayed in the car!We were really amazed at the industry that was happening on either side of Oolloo Road. Huge plantations of 'Sandalwood' being planted and blokes working everywhere in the paddocks. We passed an empty road-train coming back to Stuart Highway. We were surprised as we would have thought road-trains would have been coming out loaded with cattle. Then we came across young cattle still in the yards, paddocks of square baled hay and then paddocks with lots and lots of young cattle. Hay had recently been cut and baled and there was regrowth on whatever they have sown for hay. Obviously they are buying up big with these young cattle! They were all Brahman cattle. Maybe they are coming from Queensland where the season is not good. We also came across a property growing watermelons. There were irrigation pivots on both properties. We are not sure if they are just growing the tall wheat grass for the hay, which is native to the wetlands, or sorgum. Possibly doing a bit of both.   On the way back we called into the 'Thermal Pools' on the 'Douglas River System'.  And we did get the bathers on this time! It was lovely. So hot in one section of the creek bed. As hot as you would enjoy a bath and you didn't have to keep topping up the bath either! We lay back there and enjoyed it for a while and then went further down the creek to where it was cooler. There is a large campground at the 'Thermal Springs' and the cost is $3.50 per person per night. One lady we were talking with said "They may not stay much longer, as it is a favourite spot for the young ones to come to on a weekend to party". This weekend is a long weekend in Darwin because of the Royal Show. Friday is the holiday, so there was probably going to be an influx of campers! But she did add "They are as entitled as us to be here"!   On our second day at Hayes Creek we drove just over 100kms out to Daly River. Peter had a friend at Guildford whose parents had the Daly River Inn and from our research it seems Johnny Fairweather's mother was a real go getter! But we haven't been able to locate Johnny.Before we left though we went for a 'BIG' walk to 'Butterfly Gap'.  We walked so far trying to find the 'Gap' in which we were told there were lots of 'Butterflys'.  We were dressed in our 'Darwin Gear' in case there were midges down in this creek area.  Pete had a 'Snake Stick' (as he called it) because we had to walk through a fair bit of grass to cross the creek.  I was happy snapping birds and flowers but we didn't find any 'Butterflys'.  After about 5,000 steps I said "It can't be this far!  No one would walk this far to find butterflys"!  Sure enough where we should have walked for 'The Gap' was right back at the beginning.  We definitely had plenty of exercise before breakfast and our trip out to Daly River.Peter had another fish for the elusive 'Barra' at the Daly River crossing. It was a really pretty spot and I tried to get a good photo of the little kingfisher bird that ducked and dived over the water for tiny dragon flies. He entertained us while we had lunch and did stay around long enough afterwards for a photo shoot. A couple came back to their dinghy which was on the bank near where Peter was fishing.  So there was some fishermen talk! They have been coming here for years and this is the worst he has ever experienced for catching a barra. Peter didn't fish for much longer! The tidal influence of the Daly River comes as far as the crossing.  By this I mean the river is only tidal on the ocean side of the crossing. One learns something new everyday and this time it was from my hubby!  It was really nice down at the crossing and I was thinking 'Daly River' would be quite a nice place to come back to sometime. Then we drove into the small township where the 'Daly River Inn' is located and there is a small tourist park.   From there we drove out to the Nauiyu Community. I soon decided.....maybe not for the visit! The caravan parks out on the Wooliana Road looked okay but you have a steep walk down to the river through thick bush it seems! Think of the midges! We didn't go across the crossing and that must have been where the 'Daly River Mango Farm Tourist Park' was. Maybe that was the most favourable option for 'Daly River'. I will have to check with my tourism buddy!So that's our look at the 'Daly/Douglas' area. We are really glad we have spent the two days travelling the two roads. Maybe the chance of another 'Barra' catch will entice us back another year. Who knows?

Not many photos this time as we have no internet at Hayes Creek. I've used my Panasonic App to get the thermal pool photos to the iPad and I'm going to hotspot into Peter's phone in the car to post this blog. We are off down the Stuart tomorrow and hope to get to about Dunmarra tomorrow night.   From there to Barkley Homestead on Sunday night is the plan. It's cheers tonight to the NT and we are having 'Cahill Crossing Barra'. Yummy!  18 photos