Well it has been a few days since we blogged – sorry – time kinda shuffles past when you are having fun!
Monday we spent in Litchfield National Park – we dumped our van in a safe place and headed off for some four wheel driving. We saw the ‘Lost City’ (gorgeous rock formations that did remind one of an ancient Aztec City), and then to a variety of waterfalls and lovely swimming holes. It is school holidays here, so there is a fair amount of people pressure on these areas – but that doesn’t change the beauty of the scenery, it only emphasises the ugliness of too large a population.
Rich and I did have a lovely dinner on the Wharf on Monday night, having lovely fresh seafood, right on the edge of the water, watching the boats go by, studying the massive navy carrier that had called in to port to refuel. We counted 18 helicopters of different sizes, a number of jets and a troop carrier with its wings off on the deck! The (ugly) power of man!
We picked up Cass at 2 am on Tuesday morning (one of those flights in the middle of the night) and as a result were all somewhat bleary that day – which we spent in Darwin exploring. The water front area has been beautifully revamped with lovely walk ways, shade, a wave pool, a kind of little beach area (complete with a life guard!) and of course lots of shops and eateries. Very nice, especially that you can have a dip anytime you get hot. We did have a great amount of fun watching all the sailors enjoying some R & R – there were actually two ships in town, one American and one Aussie – I imagine there were some interesting fisty-cuffs that night when they all had some liquor in them! Cass just enjoyed the eye candy! J (can’t miss the soldiers as they have these shaved back and sides with a little mop on top), Sundowners on Mindil Beach followed – no market on that night, but the sun still went down in spectacular style. We also discovered that Mindil bach car park was also where all the ‘alternative – hippies – free campers’ free-load with their free love. In this case dreads are mandatory as well as a sweet smelling blue haze. I guess they are enjoying life – hope they can hang onto their brain cells long enough to make sense of their future, as Darwin also seems to have the highest number of 2nd generation hippies.
When we were packing up in Darwin we realised we had a problem with the van and the pop-top roof – won’t go into details, but it needed to be fixed – it is a sinking feeling because we know from past experience that while the van is under warranty, the practicalities of getting something fixed RIGHT NOW is virtually impossible. A quick SOS skywards, and we were redirected by the Jayco Dealers (who were too busy) to another place, where they literally squeezed us in and fixed us up on an hour! Thanks God – so we were on our way, out of sticky Darwin to Katherine Gorge by 11 am.
The difference in Katherine is quite marked – still extremely hot (33 degrees) – but not humid and sticky. Still a caravan park, but lots of space, birds, wallaroos etc. Still campers, but a different breed – these ones want to walk and explore, canoe and hike, swim and discover (not like many of the grey nomads we meet who just sit outside their vans and wait to be joined by another grey nomad couple to chat and reminisce). Did we tell you our theory about the grey nomads – there seems to be a high proportion that are Vietnam veterans who managed to get post-traumatic stress pensions. These restless men then hit the road to travel Australia as they did not need the income. Over time I think this has created a culture of the grey nomads that others have joined post-retirement. We have started noticing the ex-veteran meetings and gardens of remembrance etc in the various caravan parks. Interesting how a war can create a culture that seems unconnected.
Today we hope to canoe in the Katherine Gorge – which is horrendously expensive but we think will be worth it.
Cass – well it is lovely having her with us. It does take a little longer to set up and break up camp because of her tent (which is fairly large) but it is worth it for her company, to see things fresh again through her eyes and to hear her wry comments about the little routines and habits that we have acquired over one short month.
Highlights:
Cassie: Army boys (eye candy only) and pearl earrings from a market
Rich: Getting out of Darwin back to the bush
Kim: Dinner on the Wharf in Darwin (very romantic) and picking up Cass from the airport
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