Wet Season! Central Arnhem Road to Nhulunbuy - East Arnhem Land

In this episode we head up the Central Arnhem Road in East Arnhem Land to Nhulunbuy in April 2023 at the end of the Wet Season! The Central Arnhem Road is over 700kms of beaten up dirt track, rocks and corrugations with multiple river crossings and takes us through some of the most remote country in Australia, the gateway to East Arnhem Land.
We have done an episode on this in the past but this time we took the caravan and got totally drenched! If you ever wondered what the Central Arnhem Road was like in the wet when the grader has not gone through, this is it…. Enjoy!
If you are heading up the Central Arnhem Road with a caravan, we recommend you make sure the below five things are checked off your list well before hitting the track.
1. Book your accommodation
a. Gove Boat Club: / goveboatclub or their new website (under development 2023) goveboatclub.com.au/ has power / water and is easily the best place to stay with a caravan in Gove.
b. Walkabout Lodge: walkaboutlodge.com.au/ if you cant get into the boat club, camping out the back (no power or water) but it is in the middle of town, good pub, but can get a bit rowdy.
2. Book your transit permit
a. Head over to www.nlc.org.au/apply-for-perm... and book for the days you intend to be on the Central Arnhem Road
3. Book your recreational permit
a. Head over to www.nlc.org.au/apply-for-perm... to book your permit for the time you are staying in East Arnhem Land (you need this to book camp sites!)
4. Book your camp sites (these book out early so don’t expect to get any of the good ones at the last minute as the locals will have already snapped them up)
a. Head over to www.dhimurru.com.au/visiting-... or
b. www.eastarnhemland.com.au/cat... if you want to book Cato - which is the only other site that allows caravans
5. Book your alcohol permit
a. Head over to nt.gov.au/law/alcohol/permits...
We also recommend having a read of this: www.dhimurru.com.au/uploads/8...
Safe travels. 😊
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[@kenoriel9685]

So much for living in a FREE country

[@VetinaVan]

Don't think much is free anymore..

[@RoaminintheRobbo]

Wow what an adventure!! Looks just incredible countryside though, it has gone on the bucketlist. Another great episode, thanks guys!

[@VetinaVan]

Haha, it was terrifying.. 100% come up here if you get a chance, we just got back from 4 days at Memorial, arguably one of our favourite campsites in all of Australia!👍👍🍻🍻

[@beach2bushaustralia]

Another great vid guys...! We're back on the Sunny Coast with our new van...! Heading down to the snow in a 5 weeks, cant wait...! Might be back up the north west early next year... would be great to catch up again if you're still up there...!

[@VetinaVan]

Sounds cold! If you are heading North West early next year we will be around, we are thinking of heading back to Broome / Exmouth so may well cross paths. 👍👍🍻🍻

[@petermilligan5256]

Another excellent episode, which isn’t just a video, but a journey, experience and destination 😅. Well done.

[@VetinaVan]

Thanks Peter, it certainly was a journey! Fun to experience but would probably not want to drive the track in that condition with the van again!😀👍

[@biglap.australia]

Thank you for posting this and those extra references for those with caravans. Definitely the NT frontier.

[@VetinaVan]

Thanks guys! Yup, it's a big commitment to get up here but well worth it! Safe travels. 👍😀👍😀

[@drabbit61]

it's the social insight ☺ - your family 'dynamics 😁 25 yrs away, so nice to see, (but not the red tape🙄) A real test of endurance for your vehicles - should be worth a free service for promo

[@VetinaVan]

Yeh mate, the cruiser did it well. Not winning any speed records in the 76 series but damn its been a good tow rig over the last few years! 👍🍻👍🍻

[@martingould841]

Enjoyed the the vid guys. It looked fun 😀but good info as well . Cheers

[@VetinaVan]

Thanks Martin! Its well worth the trek up, but also well worth planning everything in advance too!🍻🍻👍

[@bluedog1052]

Beautiful part of the Country along there and I've done that trek many times, in a military vehicle though but it's just the same scenery.

[@VetinaVan]

Yup, you can see why people fall in love with this part of Australia! We saw heaps of ADF vehicles heading to Ramo around this time last year on the track. Tania flew over there for a while and worked with the ADF vets that were stationed there.

[@craigtomkinson2837]

Awesome Ep guys well done towing your van in there in the wet love the colour , Brings back great memories, I left Cooroy in QLD on the 16th of April this year I towed up my 5m tinny with my old 80 series got to the NT in 4 or 5 days, Then i started in on the Central Arnhem land road it took me around 18 hours from there just taking my time, I saw same car wrecks the road was wet nd washed out for the last 200ks as they had 365mm two days before I got there and still flooded 50ks out but lucky I just poked along and it dropped, I stayed with a mate for 10 or 12 days but it rained and blew we caught a few lovely fish, He showed me around such a pretty place I loved Cape Arnhem to camp there one year,

[@VetinaVan]

You must have come up the week after us! And yup, the track was pretty wet. Fishing in Gove is good, but its nothing compared to where we are now on Elcho Island, pretty much unfished water, best fishing i have ever done in my life!! 🍻🍻🍻

[@craigtomkinson2837]

@@VetinaVan Ok I left there and headed to Weipa I camped on the beach 70ks north for few weeks had fantastic weather and fishing caught heaps of goldies to 75cm

[@VetinaVan]

Epic, we haven't made it to far North Queensland yet, but we'll get there eventually! 👍

[@GrabLifeByTheGourlays]

Awesome stuff guys! We can not wait to get out there!!

[@VetinaVan]

Getting so close now,!🍻🍻

[@GrabLifeByTheGourlays]

@@VetinaVan that’s what she said! 😉 😆

[@zoezoe610]

Thank Marcus, I was trying to understand about you having to camp outside of your van or do you mean some places you are going to visit you can't get the van there ?

[@VetinaVan]

Hey Zoe, it's just me struggling to describe something correctly. 😀 i was just trying to explain that all the good campsites do not allow caravans out of town. So if you want to go and camp out at somewhere like Cape Arnhem you can't take the van, need swags or a tent, etc. Hope that makes sense! 😀😀👍

[@markclements7966]

Nice vid can I ask why do you have a high chair outside the van

[@VetinaVan]

Hey Mark, it left with us back in 2020 when Toby was 2 as a fifth chair around the inside table when we eat in the van, never chucked it! 🍻🍻

[@bazradventures]

@@VetinaVan I was wondering the same thing. glad I'm not the only one that watches the background. Another great vid BTW.

[@VetinaVan]

Yeh mate, Toby is probably getting a bit big for it now!!🍻🍻

[@patryanlrd666]

Why are you using a snorkel sock if your not following anybody’s dust? Must be killing your fuel economy

[@VetinaVan]

Its more people coming in the other direction, i have used them for years, cheaper to replace them than the air filter. Not sure what the impact to fuel consumption is though.

[@leannestengert4829]

Why do you carry a high chair?

[@VetinaVan]

Haha, good question! We left with it back in 2020 when Toby was only 2. We still use it if we eat inside because the 5 of us don't fit around the van table. Going to need a can opener to pry Toby out if it soon, don't think its made for five year olds, possibly time for an alternative solution! 😀