Category: VanLife

MBW and I love watching “The Amazing Race”. And we are the biggest critics of the people who go into the game unprepared.

And I mean totally unprepared.

Everybody who has ever watched TAR knows that there are a few things that you will need to do during the show, including:

• Drive a manual car
• Walk up many flights of stairs
• Run like your life depended on it
• Jump off or abseil down the tallest building in whatever place you happen to be
• Eat your own body-weight in meat (or worse, some disgusting “local delicacy” that is sure to have you vomiting, or wishing you were dead)

And yet people still get onto the show with no idea how to drive a manual car, and then they seem surprised when they have to do so.

Or they proudly announce that they are vegetarian, and complain when they are presented with the meat eating challenge.

Or they have to do a big run with their backpacks on, and they collapse in a heap from exhaustion.

So today, we became those people. The people who are woefully unprepared for the effort, and the heat, and the climb.

Today we had a Yellow Water Sunset Cruise planned for this evening (at sunset, as it happens), and we had been recommended by the local Visitor Information Centre that we should make a morning of visiting some local rock art, lookouts and a billabong.

Specifically, we were told that we should do that in the morning “when it is cool”.

Honestly, the locals must have all suffered from heat stroke and had their brains fried if they think this is cool weather.

So we had the usual start to the day, eating breakfast outside in the shade of the awning while we watched a few of our neighbours moving out and heading off on their adventures.

Water bottles filled, esky loaded, snacks packed, and we set off the 30km or so to Nawurlandja Lookout, Anbangbang Billabong, and Nourlangie Rock Art.

Try saying that when you are breaking in a new set of false teeth!

And we were advised to do them in that order.

So we turned up at the Nawurlandja Lookout carpark chocked full of hope and naive optimisation, noting that the temperature was already north of 30 degrees. We had a short, but animated discussion with another couple who were roughly our age about their knowledge of CPR, and we gave specific instructions for them to send out a search party if we weren’t back in an hour or so.

And they thought that I was kidding.

The path – such as it was – to get to the lookout was classified as “easy to moderate”, and I expect that is probably a suitable classification … if you were a mountain goat.

There was mostly no defined path, just orange arrows that broadly pointed you in a certain direction.

The path, while … challenging … was certainly worth the effort as the rock face kept changing, and the view from the top was absolutely amazing.

Like most places that we have been – National Parks, lookouts, waterholes – we could take a million photos, and not one of them will do justice for displaying the greatness, grandeur and beauty of this part of the world.

But we tried, so that we would have some images to share with you.

Note the warnings below. If the crocodiles don’t get you, the buffalo will.

You can see that the track to the top wasn’t particularly steep – maybe 10 degrees incline? – but you needed to watch where you put your feet because it was very uneven. You don’t want to roll an ankle up there while you are hopping from rock to rock, because you really will need to be carried out.

The trip to the top of the lookout and back down again was probably 45 minutes (and about 4 litres of sweat). We got back into Elsie to go and see Anbangbang Billabong which was only a couple of kilometres away.

There is a walking track between the Nawurlandja Lookout carpark and the Anbangbang Billabong, except that it was closed.

There seems to be a lot of things closed in the NP, and from what I can gather they had a late wet season and they need to allow everything time to dry out, and for (some) roads to be repaired. It seems that many of the roads suffer extensive damage during the wet season, so they all need repair before tourists come in the dry season.

Oh, and they need to make sure that the area is free from crocodiles.

In any case, why walk the couple of kilometres when we can move Elsie closer, and benefit from a few minutes of aircon.

And sitting down.

The billabong is a really calm and peaceful place. Much of it will dry out over the dry season as they have no rain here for several months.

But when it does rain, it rains. We have been told that last year it rained 1600mm over their wet season of a few months, with the typical rainfall being 1400mm.

Seriously, that is a lot of rain.

The billabong comes with its own risks (which happen to be the same risks everywhere else where there is water) – crocodiles.

Very peaceful and relaxing.

We stopped for a drink and bite to eat, and then headed off to the Nourlangie Rock Art site, just another few kilometres down the road.

Many of these rock art sites require a fair bit of walking because the carpark is never close to the rock formations and caves where the rock art is located.

And without wanting to point out the obvious, rock art requires rock formations to paint on, and because this is part of their history and storytelling, the rock art tends to be up quite high and in generally inaccessible locations.

Well, inaccessible for the original painters, but made a little easier by the inclusion of steps and walkways to get access, and barriers to keep you away.

Many of the paintings are said to be sacred drawings, and some of them (apparently) contain a warning that – if photographed – will bring bad luck. Like the bad luck I had yesterday dropping a carton of eggs out of the fridge … although I suspect that the bad luck that they are referring to is probably worse than that.

So there are some paintings that we couldn’t photograph as we respected their wishes.

Although I also have to wonder if another reason is because they want to keep the rock paintings as “family friendly” as possible. MA rated, if you will.

Because – I have to say – some of the male artists clearly had a very high opinion of themselves. If you know what I mean …

A VERY high opinion of themselves.

You won’t see any of that here!

The other thing that may not be immediately obvious is that rock/cave paintings are done on significant rock formations, and there is typically – in addition to the rock paintings – a lookout and view of the surrounding area.

So you don’t just look at rock paintings. You also do a great deal of walking, and a great deal of climbing.

Remember The Amazing Race? We were woefully unprepared 🙁

By this time it was pre-lunch, and so (as advised by the Visitor Centre ) we headed back to Percy for a rest and lunch. And to rehydrate.

We had booked the Yellow Water Sunset Cruise a couple of days ago. Everyone you ask says that it is a “must do” in Kakadu.

Hey, that rhymes 🙂

We needed to be at the boat ramp 20 minutes before the 4.30pm departure, so we were advised to visit the Warradjan Aboriginal Cultural Centre beforehand, which was just around the corner.

The boat ramp and the cultural centre are at Cooinda, which is a 40 minute, 57km drive from Anbinik where we are staying.

I have to say, if you are in Kakadu you should expect to do a lot of kilometres in the car. It’s easy to do 300 kilometres or more in a day just going from one waterhole or lookout to another.

It was a very pretty drive down the Kakadu Hwy to Cooinda. We passed the turnoff to the lookout, billabong and rock art from this morning’s outing, and kept going another 30km or so.

Unfortunately because of local traditions or customs, photography was not allowed inside the WACC, so no photos to share – sorry.

There is a custom in Aboriginal culture that says if someone dies, you cannot display their photo or say their name for a period of time. Sometimes months, often years. A number of the photos in the WACC were covered up for this reason – not that we could take photos of them anyway.

We got down to the bus terminal around 4.10pm to be picked up and taken down to the river for the sunset cruise. At $130/person and probably 50 people on each of 3 boats (that’s 150 people if you are having trouble with the maths), they are making a killing out of the boat trips.

And I think that there are a total of 4 – maybe 5 – cruises per day and they all seem to be pretty full.

Ka-ching!

Our tour guide (aka boat driver) was a slight man of about mid-60’s with coke bottle glasses, grey hair, and a pony tail. Glen

He certainly seemed very knowledgeable and had an eye for crocs lazing in the water, and an eye (and a name) for each of the birds that we saw.

Although – to be honest – I have a feeling that he made some of them up. He pointed out a plumed whistling duck (actually a flock of them) and explained that they were different to another type of whistling duck.

To be fair, a quick Google search does confirm that there actually is a plumed whistling duck, but whether that’s what we were actually looking at is unknown.

He also explained that the Aboriginal alphabet only has 22 letters (I don’t know which ones that they do without), but that an “a” is correctly sounded as in “father”, and a “u” is correctly sounded as in “put”.

So when you say Kakadu like that and sound the “a” and “u” correctly, it really does sound like an aboriginal speaking.

The other interesting fact that we got from Glen (the tour guide) is that when the aboriginals believe that there is a lot of something, they say it twice. Jim Jim Falls is an example – there are a number of waterfalls so it is named Jim Jim.

A bit like Tim-Tim from Daly Waters pub. There was a lot of him too, so it turns out that Tim-Tim is entirely appropriate.

Once again, I took several hundred photos of the Yellow Water system, but I will only share a few with you. But it was absolutely stunning.

Do yourself a favour – if you are in Kakadu in the dry season, take the Yellow Water Sunset Cruise because you won’t be disappointed.

We got back to Percy at Anbinik around 7.20pm or so and decided that we would have a meal at the restaurant here.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, as it probably turned out) they had closed the kitchen by the time we arrived, so we just went foraging in the freezer for something for a quick dinner.

I say “fortunately” because I looked up the menu prices online. Kakadu Resort is run in a similar way to the Uluru Resort that we visited before Christmas and they have a monopoly on the restaurants and other facilities here.

Remember the “supply versus demand” discussion from the other day? It is definitely a sellers market here and the prices on the menu reflect that.

$57 for a steak is probably a bit rich for my blood.

One of the best things that we brought with us was a USB bug zapper. We leave it on all night and we drift off to sleep to the sound of little bugs and other flying critters being zapped to death.

Better than them annoying us all night.

State of Origin tomorrow night (QUEENSLANDER!), so it will be an early dinner and then the game. 8.00pm kick-off as I recall, which is 7.30 here in the Top End, so it will be an earlier night than usual.

I’m going to need a haircut soon. I normally get it trimmed every 4 weeks or so, and I think it has now been about 6 weeks … so I’m starting to look like a woolly mammoth. I’m not really sure where I am going to find a barber or hairdresser (that I can trust) between Kakadu and Cairns, so … hmmm.

I might just grow it into a ponytail like Glen from the Yellow Water Sunset Cruise. He seemed to wear it OK.

PS: Confession time: put your hand up if you’ve been practising saying Kakadu like an Aboriginal for the last few minutes?

Yep, me too 😞

Ciao

#Retirement2024

#VanLife

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

#Retirement2024

#VanLife

Sunday.

I’m a little embarrassed to say that we didn’t do much today. Not very much at all.

Hardly anything, to be completely honest.

I mentioned that we were looking forward to going to church today, to the Darwin Baptist Church (DBC).

It’s funny that now we are about to leave Darwin, it is all starting to make more sense. I could have made it to church this morning without Jolene’s help, but I asked her to show the way anyway. No point in getting lost.

It was a 10.00am service, so we didn’t exactly need to get up at the crack of dawn to get going. Sleep in, ablutions, breakfast, and we were off.

It was a nice service. They have a different set of songs on rotation to what I’m used to, so it was a little bit hard to join in the worship. And they are very casual. If you were wearing thongs, you were well dressed.

Shoes? Formal attire. But then we are in Darwin and it is very hot.

And I imagine that in the wet season with monsoon rains, going barefoot probably makes sense so that your shoes don’t get wet.

The message was based on Genesis chapters 1-3 … all about creation. Which is funny in itself, because yesterday, you may recall, we were at the Darwin Museum and looking at exhibits about how the universe commenced with the Big Bang.

So the message was on Genesis and creation, and how on the 7th day, God rested.

Which is also a bit funny, because we also had a rest day today. The difference between God creating the heavens and the earth and resting on day 7, versus MBW and myself resting today, is that we actually haven’t done much for the last 6 days. We certainly haven’t created anything (other than a credit card debt, but I don’t think that counts …)

Nothing to do, and all day to do it.

Remember?

Church over, and we shot off immediately afterwards. We were near Casuarina where there is a large shopping centre, and we needed to get some groceries and some fuel for Elsie. The tank was very empty and we are leaving for Kakadu in the morning.

We were also looking for a KMart specifically because we wanted to get a wooden cutting board to put over Percy’s sink to increase our bench space.

While we found a KMart, we were unsuccessful in finding the board that we wanted.

Over to Coles to get some groceries and ensure that the fridge is stocked. While we haven’t been to Kakadu yet, my very realistic expectations are that Kakadu will not have the options for groceries (or fuel, or anything else …) that we have here in Darwin, so we made the most of the opportunity.

Groceries, then about $200 of fuel into Elsie’s tank, and we were back at the RRR and Percy by 1.00pm for a late lunch.

And I’m ashamed to say, that is about it for the day.

MBW did a couple of loads of washing for the same reason as we got groceries … we are not sure what facilities will be available at Kakadu, or how horrendously overpriced they will be.

As Jack Reacher says, “Eat (or sleep) when you can.” In our case, wash when you can.

Washing, a nap, and I needed to do some minor maintenance to the sink that still appeared to be leaving. You will need to go back several days to get the scoop on why the sink was leaking.

MBW made some pizza for dinner and I set up the radio and the vertical antenna and had a bit of a fiddle to try to get the antenna working better.

And – as usual – by the time I’d achieved that and it was cool enough to enjoy being outside, the mozzies made it very unpleasant to be outside.

So I packed it all up (satisfied that the antenna was working better than it had been), and came back inside to have coffee, watch MasterChef (MBW), and do the blog (moi).

I’ sure that tomorrow will have better news. At the very least, we will be in Kakadu and so there should be something to report.

At least we had another spectacular sunset.

Ciao

#Retirement2024

#VanLife

It’s starting to feel like Groundhog Day. But I mean that in a good way.

Wake, ablutions, eat, be a tourist, sleep, repeat. With an afternoon nap thrown in there somewhere.

It has been really nice being in Darwin for several days. I feel like we should have moved on before this, but as I said by staying here for the extra nights, we will be able to go to the Darwin Baptist Church tomorrow.

We did some more sightseeing today, then back to Percy for a late lunch and a nap, and had dinner.

That’s the short version. If that’s all that you need, feel free to stop reading now.

But the longer version …

We started the day in the same delightful way that we start most Saturdays … by having a video call with 2 of our very favourite little people in the world (Teddy and Lili). They are growing up so fast and we miss them so much 🙁

MBW was keen to go to the Parap Village Markets this morning. We also had an idea about either going to the WWII Military Museum that we have been told is very good, or the Darwin Museum and Art Gallery.

The Parap Village Markets are a Saturday morning market at a place called Parap Village. No real surprises there.

They are known for their fresh local produce and crafts, and MBW was pretty enthusiastic about going. I’m not really sure why … she has never been that motivated to look at fresh produce before, but what do I know?

We knew that we were getting close when Jolene hadn’t even told us yet that we would be arriving at our destination in 500m, and it was already chaos on the roads. Cars parked everywhere, people everywhere.

Way too peopley for my liking.

We drove down a side street beside the actual markets, and I was getting ready to put on my best disappointed voice and suggest that we would never be able to park, and that MBW’s sore foot would never make the trek to the markets in this heat … when we found a nice, big, shady parking space.

It was meant to be.

So off we went exploring the markets.

I suspect that many of the food trucks (and craft stalls for that matter) were the same ones that we saw the other night at the Nightcliffe Markets, because the sights and smells were all very familiar.

Plenty of people eating stuff that I wouldn’t consider “breakfast food” (eg noodles, and Chinese food), but then I’m the guy that has a favourite shower stall at the Robbie Robbins Reserve ablution block.

Remember?

But then I’m also as dull as dishwater.

We wandered around and checked out all of the stalls, and when we were done doing that, we found a street vendor selling bakery goods.

And we do like bakery goods.

So we purchased a cronut/croissant/donut baked thingumy-gig that was mind-blowingly delicious, but probably moved me a few steps further towards hardened arteries and an untimely death.

My GP has warned me over and over about this 🙁

I’m fairly certain that “delicious” = “greater chance of early death”.

We had a bit of a debate about the WWII Military Museum, but even though it rated very highly on Google, we just kinda felt that we are not military buffs that would want to see it or appreciate it.

And, if I am completely honest, I’m a little perplexed about the relationship that Darwin has with WWII. I mean, many of the souvenirs at the RFDS/WWII exhibition from the other day seemed to celebrate the attack on Darwin in 1942. Well, that’s the way that it felt to me.

They had T-shirts that had “1942 bombing of Darwin” printed on them, like it was something that they wanted to celebrate. Like it was a good thing.

So we ended up going to the Darwin Museum and Art Gallery which was in the same general area as the Parap Village Markets, and also has a display about Cyclone Tracy that devastated Darwin on 25 December 1974. And we were keen to see that.

So we asked Jolene to show us the way.

The Darwin Museum and Art Gallery (DM&AG) is an unusual – perhaps eclectic – combination of stuff that doesn’t really go together.

In my opinion. But then I’m the guy with a favourite shower.

They had some stuff that people have made/painted/photographed … and some of it was … weird.

I mean, that is seriously creepy. Even after I read the description provided by the artist, I still didn’t get it.

And I’m pretty sure that it is going to give me nightmares tonight.

There were displays of butterflies and ants, and displays of Australian history, and a giant crocodile.

Called Sweetheart. 5.1 metres of Sweetheart.

There was a maritime section that showed boats and sailing ships through the ages, and a section on dinosaurs that showed a timeline from the Big Bang through to the present day.

And then there was the section on Cyclone Tracy that was horrifying, astonishing, and emotional all at the same time.

They even had a sound booth where you could stand in total darkness and be bombarded by an actual surround sound recording of the cyclone, at its very peak.

It was absolutely terrifying.

They also had before and after satellite imagery of various areas of Darwin showing the devastation that occurred that night.

After the museum, we did a quick run to Lee Point for a quick look and a walk on the beach.

It seems funny, but on a hot, steamy day the beach was almost deserted … but then I guess that if the crocodiles don’t get you, the box jellyfish will.

Probably best to stay at home and swim in the pool.

Back home to Percy for a late lunch and a nap, and then we got to have a video call with our other two very favourite little people in the world (Elias and Isabel).

I had the OK to give Percy and Elsie both a bit of a bath here at RRR, so I took the opportunity.

Dinner, and another stunning sunset.

Does it get any better than this?

Sunday tomorrow. Church and maybe a quick spin down to Berry Springs again.

Diesel is <$1.80/litre here in Darwin ATM, so Elsie will be getting a big drink before we hook up and head off to Kakadu on Monday morning.

We are there for three nights, and then – I expect – we will do a big run over several days so that we can get back into Queensland, and up into the Karumba and Normanton area, near the gulf.

My expectation is that we will probably do some long drives after Kakadu and news will be brief … not the least because experience tells us that once we leave Darwin we will be in a wilderness of little to no mobile coverage for several days. And because there is not much to see between here and the Queensland border.

So nothing much to see, and no way to tell you about it because we will probably have no internet.

And also because we have likely done some damage to our credit cards over the last week or so, and we will be staying off the grid for a few days … just to stop after a long drive, eat, sleep, and keep driving again.

That’s about it for another day.

Thanks for tagging along!

Ciao

#Retirement2024

#VanLife

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

#VanLife

I’m pretty sure that I have mentioned – at least once – that it is hot here in Darwin. As I type this, it is 8.00pm and my watch tells me that it is 28 degrees that feels like 32 degrees.

So I’m sure it won’t surprise you that Percy’s air-conditioner is running most of the time, and certainly all night.

Interestingly, they don’t talk about “summer” or “winter” here. They talk about the “wet season” and the “dry season”.

If you have been following along, you will recall that we went and had fish and chips at the beach last night and watched the sunset.

When we got back to Percy it was hot and sticky, so the air-conditioner went on. It was turned to “arctic” and “gale force” to try and get some coolness into the van.

Anyhow, while I had the presence of mind to change the fan speed to low before bed, I did forget to change the temperature, so I woke in the middle of the night feeling cold. I had to poke around in the dark to find the remote control and set the temperature to a much more appropriate 22 degrees.

I would have been concerned if Kylie (the lady who runs Robbie Robbins Reserve) had found our lifeless, frost-bitten bodies in the van, all because I forgot to change the temperature. Particularly when it is so hot and sticky outside.

Partly because I was still feeling a little cold from the air-conditioner, and partly because it was very overcast and blowy this morning, it just felt like we were in for a miserable day.

I went over to the facilities for my ablutions and found that I had arrived at rush hour. I’ve never yet experienced rush hour in a caravan park amenities block, but it had to happen eventually.

And when I say “rush hour”, it’s not like there was a queue out the door; it was just that 2 of the 6 showers were already in use. So far, I don’t think I’ve ever seen another living soul in there.

Fortunately my favourite shower stall was still free (… yes, I do have a favourite shower stall …) and so I set about making myself beautiful.

Thursday is washing and cleaning day for us, so after breakfast (MBW made waffles!) and ablutions we did a bit of a divide and conquer and got the sheets and towels in the wash, and gave Percy a bit of clean inside.

We had a phone meeting with our financial advisor this morning to discuss finances and stuff, so that was the only real thing in the calendar today. That took until about 11.00am, and then we were free to go exploring Darwin again.

I’m pleased to report that by the time we had finished the phone call, the clouds had gone and we had another stunning, blue sky, Territory day.

MBW was keen to look at a place called Songlines that (we discovered) sells a lot of outrageously overpriced souvenirs. We were the only people in the shop, and within 2 minutes figured out that even the cheapest thing in the shop was way more than we were willing to pay for a souvenir of Darwin.

We then found the city and had a quick wander around, before deciding to go and get some groceries and head home for lunch and an afternoon rest.

I mean, we’d had such a busy and stressful morning …

We have been told that we must go to the Mindil Beach Night Markets that are held every Thursday night. They have food stalls and craft stalls and it is very well attended by both locals and visitors.

We bought some dinner to share, and some gifts for the grandkids, and saw yet another stunning sunset.

Way more people there than I’m comfortable with, I have to say. But we had fun looking around.

Back to Percy for coffee and to plan what our Friday looks like.

We are thinking that we might go for a drive to Berry Springs NP to get the most out of our “all parks pass” that we bought. It’s only a few kilometres down the road.

There is swimming there and because it is Friday, hopefully all of the locals will be at work so it will be quiet. Or at least, quieter than it would be on a weekend.

I also have a colleague from the radio club who recently relocated to Darwin, so I’ve called him and made a loose arrangement to go and visit him tomorrow afternoon. As luck would have it, he only lives about 10 minutes away from here. I’m sure that Jolene and I can find our way there without getting too lost.

I must confess that – now that I have re-read today’s blog – I am feeling a little embarrassed at the lack of depth, quality content, and/or exciting news that I have to report on our day today. If you looked up the word “boring” in the dictionary you would probably find a photo of MBW and I hanging out the washing in Darwin.

Yawn!

One fun fact that I can share, is that when we arrived here at RRR, Kylie – you remember Kylie? – gave us list of do’s and don’t’s. You can wash your car and van. You can walk on the polo field (it’s an equestrian park, remember, and they have a polo field here). You can’t drive on the polo field.

You can’t dump your toilet canister in the septic system (or face a $2000 fine).

Don’t drive more than 10km/h. Don’t call me before 9.00am.

And so on.

Buy we have also noticed that our neighbours – no, not Ma and Pa Kettle, but the neighbouring property – is shown on Google Maps as “Mission Australia”. Google describes it as a “residential rehabilitation treatment centre”, yet the razor wire and warning signs around the perimeter suggest to me that “correctional facility” might be a better description of the place.

Maybe Kylie should have included “don’t pick up hitchhikers” in her list of rules …?

BTW, we are camped at the red X at the top left-hand corner of the photo above.

A bit close for comfort, me thinks …

Ciao

#Retirement2024

#VanLife

We made an executive decision this morning. Probably more accurately, we made an executive decision to test a couple of hypotheticals to figure out if we actually can make an executive decision.

The longest we have ever stayed anywhere on this trip is 3 nights. 3 nights in Winton, 3 nights in Katherine (although we moved from one campsite to another campsite after night 2), and 3 nights at Litchfield NP.

And we have booked 3 nights here in Darwin. And then 3 nights in Kakadu.

But we are loving Darwin. It’s is very casual and laid back and has a certain Territory feeling to it.

It’s nothing like what we were expecting. And we think we’d like to stay longer, before moving on to Kakadu. Maybe 6 nights in total, because 3 nights means that we only really have 2 full days here, and that just doesn’t seem like enough.

And if we stay 6 nights, that means that we will be leaving on Monday, which means that we will be here for Sunday.

And if we are here for Sunday, that means that we can go to church and unburden ourselves from the guilt of not having been to church for the last 3 weeks. Why haven’t we been to church for the last 3 weeks? Because each Sunday that has rolled around, we have found ourselves in a tiny, churchless township, surrounded by heathens.

And we fitted right in 🙁

But Kakadu have a strict cancellation policy – not that we want to cancel, we just want to slip it to the right. Which oddly is a phrase that I regularly used at work when discussing my projects … that the schedule has “slipped to the right”.

We don’t want to pay a cancellation penalty, we just want to move it to the right.

And we have no idea whether we can stay extra nights here at Robbie Robbins in Darwin. Or if Kakadu can accommodate us later than planned.

So many problems.

So we texted Kylie (she is the lady that manages the place here in Darwin) and asked her a hypothetical … “if we said we wanted to stay an extra 3 nights …?”

And she said “no problem”. Or maybe she said “no bloody problem …” I can’t really recall, but I’m pretty sure that there was a “bloody” in there somewhere.

I’m also pretty sure that “bloody” is kind of like a term of endearment here in the Territory, so I’m feeling pretty bloo … um, pretty good about it.

So with that hypothetical sorted, we needed to do another hypothetical with the people at Kakadu.

And they too said that we could slip it to the right by 3 days with no problem and no penalty.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner! We are here in Darwin for 6 fabulous nights.

We decided to do some more sightseeing today. Kylie – the lady from Robbie Robbins Equestrian Reserve (RRER) – told us that the RFDS Darwin Tourist Facility (RFDSDTF) was worth seeing. So we decided to go off to see it.

Had a bit of a lazy morning – sleep in, ablutions and breakfast out under the awning – and we got away about 10.00am.

Yep, I know that most of you will have done half a day’s work by then, but it is what it is. Nothing to do, and all day to do it.

Remember?

I’m finding Darwin a bit confusing. While Jolene seems to have an unwavering confidence in where we she is taking us, it often feels to me like we are going around in circles. I have to say that it really frustrates me when I’m feeling completely lost, and convinced that we are going in the wrong direction, and then MBW pipes up and says “there’s home, just over there”.

Grrrr. Women – they stick together.

Or to quote Maxwell Smart, “I don’t need Jolene and MBW to prove to the world that I’m stupid. I can do that myself.”

So off we went to the RFDSDTF.

We followed a baffling series of left and right turns, to finally find ourselves at the Stokes Hill Wharf, parked in a parking space that – frankly – scared the cr*p out of me.

We got our concession tickets (hey, there has to be some benefits to getting old …) and in we went.

The RFDSDTF is indeed an amazing facility that tells the story of the RFDS from an historical perspective, and show a “day in the life” from the point of view of both a pilot and a patient.

The centre is also home to an incredible WWII tourist facility.

They have some amazing Virtual Reality (VR) headsets that show you what it would have been like to be in Darwin – right at the spot where we were sitting, as it happens – when Darwin was bombed by the Japanese in 1942. And you get to see it in 360 degree, virtual reality horror.

It is very interesting, but also very confronting.

They tell the stories of various people who were directly involved in the conflict. Both US service people, and a Japanese pilot.

I mentioned yesterday that MBW has had a sore back, so she booked in for a remedial massage at a place that gets very good reviews. Somewhere. I have no idea where, but Jolene will get us there.

We had a bit of time to kill after the RFDS/WWII exhibits and before the massage, so we went for a wander down the wharf and bought a bit of lunch to share from a Thai place and had a peaceful time eating and watching the world go by …

… and wondering what it must have been like 82 years ago in the same place, under the same sunny blue skies, watching as bombs exploded and ships sank in this beautiful harbour.

Off for MBW to get her massage.

Did you know that in Darwin, their 40km/h school zones are in force all day from 7.00am to 5.00pm?

The massage lady got MBW’s sore back all sorted out. From the noises coming out of that little room, it sounds like that massage lady found all of the sore spots, and showed no mercy.

It was still about 36 degrees, so we decided to head back for a coffee (both of us), medication (me), and just poke around home for a little while. MBW still has some MasterChef episodes to catch-up on, it seems, and I was sinking into my post-lunch, caffeine-deprived, not really feeling 100%, and ready for an afternoon nap, sense of lethargy.

We got home from our day of sightseeing and massage/torture to find that we have had neighbours move onto site #3, next door. They are an old(er than us) couple who both … um … who both likely use a lot of soap. Not as much as Tim-Tim from Daly Waters, but a lot anyway. Certainly, easily twice as much as us. Maybe 3 times as much soap.

They are in a motorhome with a little Suzuki 4WD on a trailer on the back.

Unfortunately, rather than back it in so that everyone is facing the same way – like normal people do – they drove it in so that their awning is hard up against our awning and we sit outside our respective mobile homes looking at each other.

Grrrr.

And we get to enjoy the passive smoke that wafts over our way each time they exhale. And we get to enjoy the second-hand noise of their TV … something that I haven’t missed in the last 3 weeks.

And the little pink chair in that photo? For their dog.

Sigh 🙁

I wonder … if I was to slip into my mankini for breakfast tomorrow, would that be the encouragement that they need to turn that sucker around and point it the other way?

Tonight we decided to get some fish and chips for dinner and sit on Nightcliffe Beach and watch the sun set over the ocean.

We got fish and chips from a food truck that gets excellent reviews, and it was obvious why. Food was amazing!

And the sunset was even more amazing!

It’s been a great day.

For those of you have been counting, we’ve eaten out twice today. The boys’ inheritance is slowly slipping away. In fact, if you are speaking with any of them, ask them to transfer me a few dollars so that we can continue with this lifestyle.

We haven’t decided what to do tomorrow, but I can feel it in my water that I’m going to be back at BTC to do some browsing around.

Maybe we will go for a drive to look at a National Park nearby, or maybe not.

Maybe we will just stay at home and do domestic duties. It is Thursday after all – washing day. Kylie said that it is OK to give the car and caravan a wash here (many places discourage it), so I might do just that. Give them both a bath just so I can remember what colour they both are, under all of that dirt and mud.

Nothing to do, and all day to do it.

Remember?

Ciao

#Retirement2024

#VanLife

Not really that much to report today. I’m pretty sure that I was all caught up last night when I posted, so no news from last night. You know as much as I know.

Probably more, if I’m honest.

Another stunning sunset – they all start to become a bit mundane after a while 🙂 – and a reasonable night sleep.

I think I mentioned the other day that I felt like I was coming down with something. Not too serious – I mean it’s not going to kill me – but just feeling like I’ve got a bit of a head cold, with a touch of the flu aches thrown in.

Sore back seems to have resolved itself, but MBW is complaining of a sore back now. Does that mean that she has been on her own back about something?

Hmmmm.

Today is probably the shortest drive that we will do for the whole trip, or at least close to it. Litchfield Banyan Tree Caravan Park to Robbie Robbins Reserve Darwin is only a mere 96km. I mean, we didn’t even crack the ton.

We pulled out of Banyan Tree CP (BTW, Google Maps calls it Litchfield Banyan Tree Resort, but I think that is taking a fairly extreme translation of the word “resort”) somewhere before 10.00am and headed towards Darwin.

We did need to make a short detour via Batchelor to make a … er, deposit at the local dump point. We are big believers in leaving some of our DNA in some of the places that we visit.

And when I say that we made a “detour via Batchelor”, it was hardly a detour when you consider that Batchelor is barely more that a one-street, unavoidable township on the road between where we were, and where we were going, but …

… actually, I’m sorry I mentioned it.

We stopped in Batchelor to empty the toilet canister.

Batchelor is a pretty little Territory township, no doubt only made richer by our generous donation.

Onwards to Darwin.

And what an unremarkable, and uneventful trip it was. The closer you get to a capital city, the more turkeys come out of their lairs and the more irrational driving you see. While I concede that we barely exceeded 100km/h on a road with a 130km/h limit, those galahs must have been doing far more that 130km/h to have disappeared so quickly into the distance as they did.

No doubt you’ve heard of the Darwin Awards? People who contribute to the gene pool by killing themselves in spectacularly stupid and dangerous ways? I’m sure that the awards were named after some of the people from Darwin who think it’s OK to overtake a caravan on a blind corner at close to the speed of sound.

Anyhow, it was an uneventful trip.

We arrived at the Robbie Robbins Reserve – it’s actually an equestrian reserve, I’ve learned – before lunch. We set up, had a quick, early bite of lunch, and went out to paint the town red.

A few interesting things that we have noticed in Darwin.

Firstly, we are no longer in a post-apocalyptic world with no internet. Our phones have come to life, emails have come in, missed calls have been reported, and the FaceBook is working again. Does it get any better than this?

Secondly, we discovered that Darwin has these things that hang from poles at intersections, and they have 3 coloured lights in them – a red one, an amber one, and a green one. The expectation is that you stop on the red, go on the green, and hope for the best at 90km/h with a caravan on the back when the light changes from green to amber and you haven’t got a hope of stopping before the middle of the intersection.

I can’t remember seeing a set of traffic lights since … since … um … Roma? Mt Isa maybe.

Anyway, on setting up Percy at Robbie Robbins, we discovered that the drain in our kitchen sink has completely broken, meaning that the stainless steel bit at the top is no longer connected effectively to the plastic bit at the bottom.

Which is a tiny bit of a problem, because water no longer goes down the drain, but cascades into the cupboard under the sink.

But Darwin has a Bunnings! Hooray for us. First stop Bunnings … who didn’t have what we needed, so we went to Reece Plumbing … who also didn’t have what we wanted, so we were directed to a place called BTC (Boats, Trailers, Caravans), and is my next-favourite place in the whole world, close behind Officeworks and Bunnings.

They have everything that you could possibly want … except for the bit I needed. But the dude there was very helpful anyway, and sent me back to Bunnings to buy one bit, so he (Mr BTC) could sell me another bit, that solved my problem.

And all I wanted at that point was to have my problem solved. And $37 to solve that problem felt like a bargain.

A quick stop at Chemist Warehouse to buy some industrial-strength drugs to relieve my worsening cold symptoms, and MBW had a browse through the local Target to see if they sell anything different to our Target.

They don’t, BTW, but MBW did find a pair of shorts.

Hallelujah!

Another quick stop at Anaconda for the same reason, and with the same outcome. MBW does like those three little words … ”fifty percent off”.

Another stop at Woolies to stock up on food, and we were back at Percy to unload.

Sink fixed (hooray!). We were at risk of having to eat out for the rest of the road trip due to our inability to wash dishes, but that crisis has now been averted.

Back into Elsie for a quick trip around Darwin to get our bearings and we found ourselves at a pretty little park called Cullen Beach to gaze out to sea and wonder what the poor people are doing today?

The highlight of the day – other than seeing traffic lights and getting mobile coverage – was having a nice video chat to 2 of our favourite little people (Elias and Isabel), which was really good because we also spoke to the other 2 favourite little people (Teddy and Lili) briefly the other day.

So our tanks are full again 🙂

Home to Percy for dinner, and we are planning what to do and see for the rest of our time here.

MBW caught up on Masterchef and I had a radio club committee meeting.

And that’s about it. Pretty mundane really. I’m just not sure why it took me so many words to explain it all …

Ciao

#Retirement2024

#VanLife

They are a casual bunch, here in the Territory. Really casual.

As you know, we are staying at the Banyan Tree Caravan Park, just outside Litchfield NP. I have no idea who owns the place, but the young guy who runs it – I never caught his name – buzzes around on his electric scooter wearing shorts, T-shirt, thongs and carrying a cold beverage. He’s probably in his early 30s.

But what’s really funny is the number of young ladies that always seem to be around the place. I have a working theory that they are all backpackers who do random, odd jobs around the place in exchange for pay, accommodation, or food, but …

… but they are all young women. And it seems that there are quite a lot of them.

I’m not sure that I have seen any other men here, other than the guy picking up leaves the day we arrived, and he acknowledged that he only does that job on weekends. His normal job is the slaughter-man at the local abattoir.

Now there is a great pick-up line for attracting women. Probably not vegetarian women though …

So there is this guy who runs the place, and a whole bunch of young ladies doing odd jobs – moving the sprinklers, cleaning the pool, washing cars, moving leaves around the place, working at the bar …

I’m not for one moment suggesting that there is any funny business going on here, but it all just seems a bit odd.

This is day 2 exploring Litchfield NP, although there is not a great deal to explore because most of the waterfalls, swimming holes, and 4WD tracks are closed, and we are not hikers or bushwalkers.

We did the usual ablutions and breakfast, packed our stuff into Elsie, and headed off. Only two things that we really wanted to see today: the Cathedral and Magnetic Anthills, and Florence Falls and plunge pool.

We stopped off at the anthills first, and what an impressive structure they are to behold. Some of them reach up to 5 metres tall and are up to 50 years old. And they are obviously still inhabited by Cathedral Ants because you could see them zipping around the place.

The Magnetic Anthills are a bit different, in that they are quite long and narrow, and are all facing north-south, to minimise the heat from the sun.

Pretty smart, those ants.

I’m not sure how (if) I am going to survive the apocalypse, but I reckon those ants stand a good chance, along with crocodiles, cane toads and cockroaches.

So why would you want to survive the apocalypse at all, is probably the bigger question.

Onwards from there, we took the turnoff a few kilometres further along the road into the NP towards Buley waterhole and Florence waterfall and plunge pool.

You will recall that we had a swim in Buley yesterday, and it was amazing. I was hoping that with today being a Monday, we would only have other retirees and tourists to contend with. Everyone else should be back at work.

There are 2 ways to get into the plunge pool – one track takes you approximately 450m but you have to climb down 135 steep stairs. Going down 135 stairs isn’t too bad, but – by definition – coming back will require climbing UP 135 stairs, and that didn’t sound like much fun at all.

I mean, you don’t get a body like this (see pictures below) by eating well and exercising regularly. And climbing 135 steep stairs sounds a bit to exercise-y to me.

The other way to get in or out from the plunge pool is to walk an “easy to moderate difficulty” path for 1.1km back to the carpark

So we had a plan – in by climbing down the stairs, and out via the longer, but easier track. Where “easier” means not having to climb up 135 stairs.

I have to tell you that the Florence waterfall and plunge pool was absolutely delightful. We were there by 10.30am and it was already pushing 30 degrees. The water was cool, but delightfully refreshing, and there is something special about swimming and splashing around in crystal clear, fresh water.

And not too many people around either, or maybe we just beat the crowds.

If I had my time over again – and we may still get the chance to visit other National Parks – I would have brought 2 things.

Firstly I would have brought a old pair of sandshoes or Volleys, because it is hard to look graceful hobbling over those sharp, ragged rocks to get into the natural plunge pool.

And secondly, I would have brought a waterproof camera. We actually have a waterproof camera at home, and I never even thought to bring it with us.

You know how penguins look really awkward on land but are graceful in the water? Well, I look awkward trying to get to the water in bare feet over the rocks, and then look awkward once I’m in the water trying to hold my phone above my head so I can take some photos.

C’est la vie.

The walk back out was through the Enchanting Forest with an amazing array of palms, trees and savannah plants.

We got back to Banyan Tree CP around lunch time to be greeted by a young lady on a ride-on mower, giving the grass a trim.

And she was wearing a bikini. Quite a small bikini.

In fact, it was hard to tell whether she was outside the bikini trying to get in, or inside the bikini trying to get out.

OK, I get it. If you’ve got the body, and the bikini, and the job to mow the lawn, and it’s a beautiful sunny day in the tropics, I can see how all of that comes together to what we observed, but I can personally think of a few reasons – actually more than just a few reasons – why wearing a skimpy bikini to mow the lawn is a bad idea.

I mean, if you did a risk assessment, it’s a REALLY bad idea.

As I said, they are a casual bunch here in the Territory.

Heck, I might even slip into my mankini and go sit by the pool to watch the sun set.

Tomorrow we hook up Percy, and head off to Darwin for a few nights.

Ciao.

#Retirement2024

#VanLife

It was hot last night. Really sticky and uncomfortable.

We ended up running Percy’s air-conditioner all night because it was hot. Well, partly because it was hot, and partly because our neighbours in the Jayco were burning incense (or mossie coils) and the smell was awful. In fact, the smell was so bad that we didn’t feel like we could leave the windows open all night and deal with that smell.

So we opted for air-conditioning.

It’s funny how silly little things can invoke a really strong memory/emotional reaction.

There is a lot of back-burning going on here, plus they are burning piles of leaves that fall from the tree canopy. There was a groundsman here yesterday dragging barrow-load after barrow-load of leaves to the fire.

The heat plus the smell of fires is reminding me of a previous trip to Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. Driving through Litchfield is giving me a similar feeling too, except that I am yet to see a herd of elephants (or zebra, or giraffes) crossing the road.

But this morning I got up and gathered my stuff to head over to the bathroom for a shower, and I had this overwhelming feeling like I was in Bali or Thailand, with the tall trees and palms, plus the sprinklers spinning lazily, plus the humidity. All very tropical.

Quite bizarre, really.

Because everything is so green and lush and tropical, there is also lots of critters around. Last night MBW was having a shower in the van and called out (with a sense of urgency in her voice), “can you come here please? There’s a large grasshopper in here …”. And I have to say it was HUGE!

This morning I went over to the amenities block for my ablutions, and I shared the space with a large, green frog. Which was nice, but a bit creepy at the same time.

Which reminds me of a story that Tom Curtain told at the concert the other night about a guy he met once named Billy who was terrified of frogs, and that resulted in a song that he sang called “Billy don’t like no hip hop”.

We are here in Litchfield NP for 3 nights. Today we purchased our “all parks pass” that – despite its name – only covers selected parks in the NT. There is really only one other NP that we are planning to see – Kakadu – and as you would expect, that requires a different pass because it is managed by the Australian Government, not the NT government.

Thanks Albo!

So we purchased our pass, which was quite an accomplishment given the appalling Telstra coverage here in the NT. It’s like the land that time forgot.

We had a choice of a one day pass ($10 each), or a 2 week pass ($30 each), or an annual pass ($60 each).

There is so much to see in Litchfield NP – refer back to the map I provided yesterday – that we elected to go for the 2 week pass. Even though it doesn’t cover Kakadu, there are lots of other national parks around Darwin that we can visit, if the urge takes us in the next 2 weeks.

So $60 poorer (that’s 2 x $30/each for those bad at maths), Percy was pointed in the right direction, and off we went.

The furtherest things to see are about 75km away by sealed road from where we are staying, so we figured that the smart thing to do was to going all the way to the end, and head back towards home, looking at the various waterfalls and swimming holes on the way.

That way, tomorrow we only have to go a shorter distance and start from the middle.

Well, that was the theory.

We drove to the Bamboo Tin Mine only to find that the road in was closed. And the big steel gate across the road did a great deal to discourage us from trying to go in and have a look anyway.

So – following our plan anyway – we started heading back towards home and stopped in at the various waterfalls and sites on the way.

Maybe with some better planning (and better internet), we may have been a little better prepared, but unfortunately most of the swimming holes are closed at the moment. It’s not entirely clear to me why that is, but two reasons seem to be emerging:

1. National Reconciliation Week runs from 27 May 2024 (tomorrow) through to 03 June 2024, and (it appears) that many of the national parks are closed so that First Nations people can go “on country” (whatever that means). Why there is not enough space in the NPs for all of us I’m not sure, but that seems to be a popular opinion as to why things are closed;
2. The other, and likely more important (to me) reason, possibly relates to comments that I have made previously in the blog about local flooding. We have seen it on the roads and (it appears) that local flooding = increased flow of water through the waterfalls = increased risk of crocodiles.

And none of us wants to be taken by a crocodile, especially me. I can’t imagine that it would be a pleasant way to die.

So with many of the waterfalls and swimming holes closed, we were limited to bushwalks. And many of the bushwalks are described (… or should be described) as “for the clinically insane” or “for the fanatics only”.

Let me pull a few quick thoughts together for you:

• It’s hot. As I write this, it is 33 degrees that feels like 35 degrees. (It’s also winter, if you believe the genius’ who decide what stock to put on the shelves at KMart);
• It’s fairly humid;
• Most of the bushwalks are described as “long” and “difficult” (where “long” = “allow 2-3 hours” and “difficult” = “steep, rocky, slippery, and not for the faint of heart”)
• MBW broke her foot 12 months ago, and walking anywhere can be a challenge; and
• Neither of us are in peak physical condition.

So with most of the waterholes closed and most of the bushwalks not really something that we are keen to do, we chose option #3 instead which was to drive around the National Park, in and out of all of the carparks for the various things to see, and enjoy the air-conditioning blasting cool air at a pleasant 22 degrees.

We did stop at a few of the attractions along the way, took some photos and enjoyed the spectacular views, and amazing waterfalls.

We did a short walk into one waterfall – Tolmer Falls – (the swimming-hole was closed as it is a sacred site). While the walk was only about 500m each way, I think that we both lost half our body-weight in sweat. This one was described as “easy”, but it certainly isn’t something that you would want to try in the dark, and if you are half-tanked.

As it was, it felt like we were clambering over rocks and slippery, rocky trails, and mostly forging our own way through the national park. I’m not unwilling to admit the possibility that we somehow missed the track and went the wrong way, although the track was well enough defined to find our way back out again.

I will say however that I did see lots and lots of crocs.

No, not the type that make great handbags and belts, but the footwear kind. The number of people wearing crocs to go for a bushwalk on rough and uneven tracks was quite astonishing. The heat must have affected their brains because crocs are footware that is only suitable for … um, only suitable for … um, I’ll have to think about that and come back to you.

We went into the Buley Rockpools carpark, found a shady parking spot for Elsie, climbed into our swimmers, and went for a splash in the rock pools.

And it was absolutely fabulous! The water was so clean and clear and fresh, and it was just delightful. It would have been absolutely spectacular if it wasn’t for all of the other people there with the same idea.

We have a 2 week pass so we can go back into the park again tomorrow, and have a look at some of the waterholes, waterfalls and other attractions that are closer to where we are staying.

It’s also Monday tomorrow, so with any luck it will be a bit quieter as everyone will be back at work. That’s my theory, anyway.

Back to Percy, and MBW did a couple of loads of washing and I had a nap. We’ve pulled a curry out of the freezer for dinner and we are now having a relaxing Sunday afternoon on “Territory Time”.

Everything happens slowly, we have nothing to do, and all afternoon to do it.

Territory Time. Ahhhh …

Another stunning sunset tonight. Breathtaking. We really are spoiled.

PS: OK, confession time. Both MBW and I own and wear crocs, and they are really suitable for slipping on when you need to wander over to the amenities block for a shower. I just wouldn’t wear them on a bushwalk.

Admitting it is the first step to healing.

Absolutely LOVING the Territory!!

Ciao

#Retirement2024

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