Another day in Paradise.
We woke to another cloudless sky day. Friday.
We had a half-baked idea that we would make a trip to Berry Springs Nature Reserve, about 40km south of Darwin.
I need to clarify that it is a nature reserve, not a naturist reserve. Just in case there is any confusion. Absolutely no nudity allowed.
I’m pleased to report that there was no rush hour in the men’s showers this morning. The place was deserted – just the way I like it – and of course I got my favourite shower. And because I had the place to myself, I also got all of the hot water, and all of the water pressure.
Selfish, I know, but I’m a bit precious about my morning shower.
Breakfast, pack some cold press and snacks, and we were off to Berry Springs.
Every time we come and go from the Robbie Robbins Reserve (RRR), we need to stop, open the gate, drive through, and close it again before heading on our way.
It’s not entirely clear to me why the gate needs to be kept closed, but rules is rules. And we would never break the rules.
So it’s handy having 2 of us in the car. One to drive, and the other to open and close the gate.
Every-so-often we manage to time our arrival at the gate to find that someone else is also at the point of entering or exiting, and their designated gate-opener/closer is already opening or closing the gate. So we just drive through and wave.
And of course, every-so-often we are in the process of gate duty, and we do it for someone else while they drive through and wave.
The roads around Darwin are great. They have some great infrastructure that all meshes together nicely, so you exit off one road at 90km/h and enter the next one and just keep going.
I still find the roads baffling though. Each time that I am completely convinced we are headed in the wrong direction and about to drop off the edge of the world, we suddenly – and miraculously – arrive at our destination.
I don’t know if there is a trick to easily getting your bearings in a new city, but I can’t figure it out.
Dumb as a box of rocks, I know 🙁
So we followed a series of lefts and rights, overtook a couple of slow cars, and amazingly arrived at the Berry Springs Naturist Nature Reserve, as planned.
Jolene got it right once again.
Apparently there is some relationship between the reserve, and troops in WWII using the site for recreation and convalescence.
Friday morning, 10.00am and the temperature was already north of 30 degrees.
We parked, got changed into our swimsuits, and headed towards the sound of a waterfall.
And I simply cannot explain how serene, peaceful and stunning the place is. The water was crystal clear, fresh and clean and the most delightful temperature that was cool enough to be refreshing, but warm enough that you could just walk straight in.
And there was hardly anyone else there. Maybe a dozen people tops.
We must have floated around in the top waterhole near the waterfall for an hour or so, and then we wandered down towards the main pool and the lower pool.
The bottom pool seemed to be a completely different colour – much bluer – and I suspect that it had everything to do with different plant life, and being much deeper and slower flowing than the top pool.
And we floated around in the bottom pool for probably another hour.
Needless to say that by the time we got out we were both pretty wrinkly. A coffee and some morning tea, and we got changed and headed back to civilisation.
For reasons that I can’t exactly explain, all that floating around in that glorious water gave me a craving for cheese Twisties. As they say, “life’s pretty straight …”
Perhaps I’m pregnant, although … anatomically I suspect that is probably not the reason. Maybe all that floating around just reminded me of hot, lazy Sunday afternoons as a teenager when we used to go to the local swimming pool to cool off.
Who knows?
We drove back to Darwin and went to the local shopping centre.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again … we both seriously underestimated how hot it was going to be here in the deep north. I honestly expected to be wearing jeans for most of the time, yet we are constantly in shorts and short sleeves.
And the shorts and short sleeves that we brought with us – along with the constant sweating due to the temperature and humidity – are simply not keeping up.
So I got another pair of shorts, and we found that Coles had potato chips on special for half price this week … and we do like potato chips, and we especially like them when they are half price.
Back home to Percy for a very late lunch and a rest, and then I went out to visit Karl – a bloke who used to be in our local amateur radio club but relocated to Darwin in September 2023 … and seeing as how I was in Darwin I thought it would be good to catch-up.
It was another seriously hot afternoon, and I’m not just saying that to justify the purchase of another pair of shorts.
At 4.30pm this afternoon in Darwin, it was still 33 degrees that felt like 37 degrees, so Percy’s air-conditioning was the place to be.
Once it cooled off a bit later this afternoon, I tried some radio work (unsuccessfully, as it turns out), and we were blessed with yet another stunning sunset.
We are keen to go and see the war museum tomorrow, because WWII was a pretty significant event here in Darwin and we have been told that the WWII museum is worth seeing. There is also another place called Lee Point that we wanted to go and see, so maybe we will make that a joint trip tomorrow.
It seems that much of Kakadu is closed at the moment. Something to do with Reconciliation Week, and something to do with Native Title, but explained as “crocodile surveys still in progress”.
Which is all a bit disappointing because we have come such a long way to see Kakadu and it would be a shame to miss out. If it turns out that it is not open to the travelling public, then we might just have to change our plans and not stay as long.
A really big shame.
But then, I expect that getting taken by a crocodile would be a shame too, so all things being equal …
Ciao
#Retirement2024
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