I had a terrible sleep last night. I don’t really know why, but I just felt like I was all over the place.
I’m mentioned before that we run the aircon at night because it is quite warm. The Anbinik Resort and Caravan Park is a nice little spot, but the site that we got has absolutely no shade.
Some of the spaces here have shade, but not ours. The driver’s side of Percy faces more or less directly west, so with no shade you could fry an egg on the side of the van by the middle of the afternoon.
Yes, I know that gravity dictates that is impossible, but you know what I mean.
So it is very hot inside Percy, and that wall just seems to radiate heat. Unfortunately, that is the same side as the fridge, so it probably explains why we have trouble even getting ice to form effectively after a day in the sunshine.
Note to self. Next time we stay at Anbinik, ask for a shady site.
So when we go to bed at night, Percy is still hot. So we run the air-conditioner to try to offset the heat that is still radiating.
And then it cools off during the night and it gets cold.
Anyhow, I didn’t have a good night’s sleep.
Cold. Dreams of crocodiles that have been evolving over the last 60 billion years (according to Glen, our tour guide from last night).
And the snoring. But we won’t discuss that.
So I woke up feeling less than chipper. 7.00am and the whole day before us, and nothing specifically that we wanted – or needed – to do.
MBW put on a couple of loads of washing.
Now I know what you are thinking … Wednesday isn’t washing day. Thursday is washing day. But we are not sure where we are going to be tomorrow night, and we don’t know if we will have access to a washing machine to do the sheets and towels … so we mixed it up and did them a day early.
Goodness knows what is going to happen next Wednesday when we have been using the towels and sheets for a week already. You will need to wait until next week for that news.
Plus, Anbinik’s washing machines are free! Bargain.
Washing done and hung out. Ready to go exploring.
We had been out to see Cahill’s Crossing the other day, and we have heard that it is much better at high tide. High tide was around 10.30am and it was about a 30 minute run and we wanted to get there about half an hour before high tide, so we left at around 9.30am after ablutions and breakfast.
Such a pretty spot.
Did I mention the other day that the causeway is the boundary between Kakadu and Arnhem Land?
And when we were there, the water was flowing right to left (which is an outgoing tide), and it was maybe 30cm (1 foot) deep. 4WDs and trucks were going through no problem.
Today it was about 30 minutes before high tide, and the water was flowing left to right (incoming tide) and I have no way to judge how deep it was because clearly nobody was brave (or stupid) enough to attempt the crossing.
But if I had to take a guess, I’d say it was a metre (3 feet) deep and flowing fast enough to wash a vehicle off the causeway.
Judge for yourself …
But it looks like we got our timing wrong again anyway. I suspect that we should have arrived an hour or so earlier when the water started flowing upstream and crossing the causeway, because that (I suspect) is when all of the fish would have started swimming upstream, and when the crocodiles would have started to get excited.
We did see a couple of crocs, but they were swimming around lazily a long way upstream, so I expect that they were busy digesting their breakfast.
Nothing to see there, so we got back into Elsie and made the 30km trip back to Jabiru.
A really pretty trip back, with these unexpected rock formations along the way.
We wanted to have a look around the Jabiru town centre and art gallery, but that was a bit of a bust. There is a Friendly Grocer with a monopoly on selling groceries (… and rakes, and tools, and fishing gear, and fertiliser, and …), so we bought a couple of potatos.
MBW is keen to experiment making vodka, and she needed potatos.
Kidding! They were for dinner.
Glen (remember Glen from the Sunset Cruise?) said that the Aborigines around Jabiru and Kakadu are very traditional and nice to deal with. Unfortunately the ones who move to Darwin, Katherine and Tennant Creek try to live in two world (ours and theirs) and struggle.
Here, living their traditional lives, they are very steeped in their own rules and customs and are quite reasonable to deal with. You don’t have any fear or concerns with them, while we found that they can be quite intimidating in the bigger cities. They sit around in the shade and say hello when you walk past them, but no concerns.
Sadly it is likely our fault anyway, as when white settlers first arrived, they used a great deal of Aboriginal labour but only paid them with tobacco, alcohol and food.
Home to Percy to do a few chores and have lunch.
I had a nap to try to offset the effects of last night’s lack of sleep, and MBW read her book. We went for a swim, and then just lazed around Percy not doing much for the afternoon.
We are leaving Kakadu tomorrow and heading back down through NT and towards Queensland. I guess that technically means that we are heading home, but that will still be a while yet as we are still to cut across the Gulf and go to Cairns. Then south to Brisbane.
But because we are leaving tomorrow and plan to get away early (that’s not going to happen, but it’s good to have a plan …), we did a bit of packing up to lessen the jobs in the morning.
Lamb chops on the BBQ for dinner along with some vodka vegetables. We tried to eat outside but the files were terrible. So we moved inside Percy and about a half-dozen flies with ADHD followed us in.
Argh.
Buzzing around like their tails were on fire, and never landing anywhere long enough to be swatted.
Argh!
While I was cooking on the BBQ I did a quick reconnaissance of the neighbours and was sorry to see that the majority have NSW number plates on their cars.
State of Origin tonight, so I hope that they don’t keep us awake all night with their sobbing and crying 🙁
I said the other day that I wasn’t sure if we would have mobile coverage here in Jabiru, but it turns out we have 5G. Having said that, I’m not so sure what will happen for the next few days while we are travelling.
There is not a great deal to see between here and the Queensland border, and we have probably seen what little there is already.
I’m still hopeful that we might stop at Fran’s Tea House in Larrimah for one of Fran’s famous Paddy camel pies, but I’m not holding my breath.
We will likely blast through the townships where we have the greater chance of mobile coverage – only stopping long enough to buy fuel or groceries – and then stay off the grid for the next few nights (where there is likely no chance of mobile coverage). And to save some money.
But I’ve been wrong before. If there is no blog for the next few nights, you’ll know why.
If there is still no blog in another week, send a search party.
Ciao
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