Again we were back on the Stuart Highway, heading north. We decided to stop into Edith Falls which is located in the Nitmiluk National Park just north of Katherine. It was 28 km off the Stuart Highway and as we pulled in we decided against doing the walk as it looked very dry and the consensus was to skip this and continue on so we did.
We did a drive through into Pine Creek, an old gold mining town just off the Stuart Highway. We continued on and decided to stop at Adelaide River for a lunch break. Mr Roo remained back at the car as he had had a phone call so Ryan and I headed into the Adelaide River Inn whilst Jess zipped into the loo. Lo and behold, Ryan heard someone call out my name and drew my attention to a guy behind me, beaming from ear to ear.. After a few moments of fuzziness and clarity that you get when someone appears completely out of context, I realised it was some folk we knew and had visited earlier in the year from Foster, Victoria and that I had been next door neighbours with growing up in Melbourne. Wow!! I was totally blown away, as were they! Travel is sure full of unexpected surprises sometimes - and this sure was a good one!
They were on a short trip to Darwin to visit and spend time with a friend (who was also present) who had recently cycled his way from Adelaide to Darwin up the Stuart Highway over a 43 days! That is some 3000 km!! Howie Zowie! They had driven down from Darwin today (having flown in from Melbourne) and were on their way to Litchfield National Park, for some exploring and bird watching, and had stopped in at the Adelaide River Inn for lunch just a short time before we had arrived !! How amazing!! So we were able to have lunch with them before we went on our separate ways!
Within the Adelaide River Inn Pub stands the taxidermied “Charlie” the water buffalo made famous as the buffalo Mick Dundee (Paul Hogan) hypnotises to the ground in the movie Crocodile Dundee can be found standing proudly at one end of the bar. “Charlie” was an Adelaide River resident until sadly passing away in the year 2000 of old age; he is fondly remembered by NT locals, travellers and movie buffs alike.
We continued on to Darwin, the capital of the Northern Territory, our destination or the next few nights and set up camp and simply relaxed for the night whilst Ryan took the chance to do some plane spotting as we were located close to Darwin International Airport.