We decided to live on the edge last night. You know, do something a bit … risky.
No, we didn’t go swimming with the crocodiles, and we didn’t eat day-old sushi. That would be silly.
And no, we didn’t run naked across the polo field in the dark. That would just be reckless.
Fun, but reckless.
We slept last night with the air-conditioning turned OFF. Pretty daring, I know.
I mentioned that we went to church yesterday, and somewhere during the service they made a comment about being thankful for the cooler weather. Now, call me old-fashioned, but 32 degrees that feels like 36 degrees is not – in my opinion – cooler weather.
But after being outside for dinner and reading in bed for a couple of hours with the aircon on, I will say that it didn’t really feel like we needed air-conditioning for sleep.
So we turned it off. Threw off the blanket (necessary when you have the air-conditioning set to 18 degrees), and toddled off to the land of nod.
Despite no aircon, we still woke at about 6.00am feeling cold and pulled up the blanket anyway.
We woke to our last morning in Darwin. Another spectacular day, without a cloud in the sky.
I may have mentioned that I have a favourite shower at the Robbie Robbins Equestrian Reserve (aka the RRR). Over the last couple of days – maybe Saturday night and both Sunday morning and evening – I have shared my favourite shower with a green tree frog.
Except it wasn’t green. It was like a pale beige colour. And it just sat in the top corner of the shower.
And watched me.
But when I got to the showers this morning and got my favourite shower, my little mate was gone. I suppose that even a tree frog has limits for how long it can sit on a wall and do nothing but watch people shower.
We have loved Darwin. The temperatures, the blue skies, the clean air, and the sunsets. And the people too – laid back, friendly Territorians are great people.
And Darwin isn’t huge. According to Wikipedia, Darwin has >50% of the NT population and approximately 140,000 people live there.
I guess that explains why mobile coverage is so poor. With maybe 250,000 people in the NT and more than half of them in Darwin, why would Telstra bother to roll out 5G?
Just a little, country town.
If it wasn’t for missing our favourite little people so much, we could have stayed in Darwin for longer.
Or maybe forever.
Despite that, I was glad to be leaving. Ma and Pa Kettle next door were starting to bug me. You may remember Ma and Pa Kettle? They arrived on day 2 of our stay and – in a scene that could have come straight out of a Griswold Family Vacation movie, they parked their dirty big motorhome the wrong way around so that their awning opened out towards ours.
So I felt as though my privacy was being … compromised.
On the first morning that they were there, I staggered out of Percy for my morning ablutions and they were both sitting their in their chairs, back up against their motorhome, staring at me while I collected my towel and footwear, and headed off to ablute.
Honestly, I felt like I was some fascinating specimen that they had discovered.
Ugg.
MBW tried to be the bigger person, and engaged them in conversation. Personally, I am more of a grudge-holder, but MBW did the right thing.
Where are you from? Victoria
How long are you staying? One month.
Argh!
So we packed up, shut down, connected and disconnected, hooked up Percy to Elsie, and we were rolling out of the RRR by about 9.00am.
It was good to be back on the road again, and having Percy on the back. We only had a relatively short run today – maybe 240km – but we were off.
The road to Jabiru (Kakadu) was unremarkable. One lane each way, not bumpy, but also not smooth. Lots of trucks coming the other way (back towards Darwin).
I have to say that I have the concentration span of a gnat. When there is lots of other traffic on the road and turkeys to avoid, the kilometres just seem to roll away. But when the roads are OK and there is no traffic, and very little chatter on the CB, it all seems to drag a bit.
I find myself looking at Jolene who tells me that we have 106km to go. I then look away and occupy myself with more important things, like how long I can hold my breath before I think I’ll pass out, and then look back at Jolene to find that we now have 105km to go.
Argh!
We needed to stop (… OK I needed to stop) to stretch my legs but I somehow missed the first rest stop we saw because it is a little difficult to pull up Percy at short notice, so we needed to go a further 27km to the next one – a place called the Bark Hut Inn. They had a nice parking area, and fuel for $2.06/litre, and coffee.
So we stopped and I stretched my legs and purchased coffee. Just one to share.
They had a big sign in the bar that clearly said “one size coffee only”. It also said “full cream milk only”.
So there you have it. Everything you need to know about being empowered and having a choice in two simple statements. Just 8 words.
No mamby-pamby camel milk piccolos with a twist of soy here in the Territory. You’ll get a bucket of flat white made with full cream cow’s milk, or you’ll get nothing.
Nothing!
So, a bucket of flat white on cow’s milk was what I ordered. And got. And it was very nice too, I should say.
We kept zipping along towards Kakadu. Lots of burning off happening along the roadside – I suppose that is something that they do at the start of the dry season to ensure that the rest of the fire season stays mostly under control.
So a few smoke hazards on the way.
We arrived in Jabiru around 12.00noon and checked into the Anbinik Resort – home for the next 3 nights.
All of the sites here have an ensuite which is not really what we wanted, but it was also one of the cheaper – and better rated – caravan parks here in Jabiru.
Unhooked Percy, had a bite of lunch, and went out exploring for the afternoon.
We started with the local petrol station.
Remember yesterday that I was bragging I got fuel in Darwin for $1.81 per litre? And remember that I mentioned that the Bark Hut Inn earlier today was $2.06 per litre?
According to the economic laws of supply and demand, with only one petrol station in Jabiru and lots of people wanting fuel, it’s called a seller’s market.
$2.40 per litre. $0.60c per litre more than we paid this time yesterday in Darwin. And $0.34c per litre more than at the Bark Hut Inn where I saw it earlier today.
I should have listened to Jack. Jack Reacher.
“Eat/sleep when you can” also means “get coffee when you can” and “buy fuel when it is cheap”. And I didn’t buy it when it’s cheap, and now that I have limited options, it’s expensive.
And one of the things that I don’t plan on happening this trip, is running out of fuel in the middle of nowhere. (I also don’t plan on getting eaten by a crocodile. Just saying).
C’est la vie.
We found the local water tower attraction …
… and then went in search for the local visitor information office. Who were very helpful, and assisted us in determining what we wanted to do, and what we could achieve in the time that we have.
We decided to make the 30km or so run out to Ubirr, which is a lovely spot where you can see aboriginal rock art.
A colleague had told me that we should go and look at Cahill’s Crossing, which is a spot which – at high tide – becomes a crocodile feeding frenzy because of the fish that swim upstream across the causeway.
And Cahill’s Crossing was next door to Ubirr, so we went there first.
And the first thing that we saw was …
… a crocodile. A big one. Just floating there in the water.
And then he disappeared and resurfaced directly below me, and it felt like he was looking straight into my soul.
And it scared me, so much so that I nearly choked on my own spit.
A park ranger turned up and gave us the scoop on the crossing, and crocodiles, and the idiots downstream fishing so close to the river. She said that at the hight of the wet season, that crossing would be under several metres of water, and 70km wide.
Far out!
We took off to look at the Ubirr rock paintings, and they were absolutely amazing! So well preserved, and such a fascinating part of our history.
It’s about a 40 minute run from Ubirr back to Jabiru, and we were hot and tired. Really hot.
I’m probably going to have to burn my clothes they were so gross 🙁
Back to Percy and we got into our swimmers and went for a swim at – according to the visitor information centre – the only safe place to swim in Kakadu. The caravan park swimming pool.
Kakadu is not like Litchfield NP. Only swim in your swimming pool, or risk getting eaten by a crocodile.
And getting eaten by a crocodile is not part of the plan.
Dinner, and MBW is heartbroken because MasterChef isn’t on tonight.
Tomorrow we are going to buzz around and see what else we can see. We are keen to go back to Cahill’s Crossing again at high tide (it was dead low today), and see if we can see some more action.
Then tomorrow night we are doing a Yellow Water sunset cruise, which should be fab.
Wednesday night is State of Origin, so we will be supporting the Maroon’s from here in Kakadu.
No nap today. We were too busy having fun.
And just to clear something up – I don’t really hold my breath until I nearly pass out when I am driving. That would be really reckless.
Ciao
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