I wonder whether Isaac Newton was thinking beyond physics when he dreamt up his third law of motion. For each action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. It strikes me that for each positive experience which we encounter, there is some associated negative. Perhaps young Isaac considered the metaphysical, but concluded that “more or less equal” and “more or less opposite” are probably not precise enough terms to include in a law, so he stuck to simple physics. I guess the Chinese already had this well sorted by then anyway with Yin and Yang.
What is it that has me thinking this way? The top end is a truly remarkable place full of wonderful scenery, amazing wildlife and beautiful vegetation. To properly appreciate these wonders though you need to expose yourself to the nasty elements which co-exist with the beautiful. Consistent 34 degree heat and 60-80% humidity don’t really encourage movement of any sort, but if we do manage to get ourselves moving we need to consider the potential outcomes. Most particularly, are we likely to be eaten? Crocodiles seem to be everywhere up here, and although rangers try to move them away from the tourist hot spots, late rain has hampered them so far this year, so many spots are either locked away or plastered with warnings. It is not only crocs that eat humans though. It is quite amazing how many bitey insects there are up here, and it seems the prettier the spot, the more profuse they are. I guess Malcolm was right, life wasn’t meant to be easy, and if the enjoyment we seek requires a bit of hardship, then so be it. It won’t stop me from whinging about it though.
We have been quite excited about going to Kakadu, but that excitement was somewhat dampened by the news that some of the major attractions for us were inaccessible (Gumlong Falls, Jim Jim Falls and Twin Falls), but we comforted ourselves with the fact that there was plenty more for us to see. Our first night at Kakadu was spent at a basic National Park campground at the south end of the park which worked as our base for a couple of walks that Beth had chosen as an alternative to Gumlong Falls (which is tantalisingly close to where we are camped – but behind a locked gate and the wrong side of a raging, crocodile infested creek). Our very first walk on the evening we arrived was a short one up to a lookout. At the start of the walk we bumped into a very eccentric looking young French man who told us that the walk to the lookout was a bit rough and rocky, but as we had solid walking shoes on we should be OK with the adders. Beth pointed out to him that he had no shoes on at all, to which he shrugged his shoulders and said he preferred it that way.
I was quite impressed with Beth for showing no concern regarding adders and for pushing on through the long grass, up the rocky slopes to the lookout, and even going further off the beaten track to find a better outlook. It was only later in discussion that I realised that Beth had not quite understood what the French man had said. Oops!! I guess that I was a little pleased with hearing something that Beth had missed (normally it is the other way), but I am not sure that Beth was entirely impressed that I had not revealed the likely presence of nasty snakes on our walking trail. I guess all is well that ends well. We did not see a single snake on that particular walk.
Next day however was a different story. We took a walk along a marked trail to a place called Motor Car Falls (evidently back in the early 1950s this was as far as a pioneering chap’s motor car would go) and we thought that we might go further to the next set of falls, although the park blurb told us that the track was a little less distinct. To Motor Car falls was no real problem, but from there on it looked like you needed to beat down grass 10 ft high (I am not exaggerating) to re-blaze the trail. Our shoeless French man from the day before had told us that he did this walk and it was OK. Little wonder that his girlfriend looked thoroughly spent (Beth was tipping an imminent parting of the ways). We decided that we would hang around Motor Car Falls (which was quite beautiful) to sit on a rock and eat the fruit which we packed for lunch. As we alighted from the rock to make our way back, no prizes for guessing what Beth nearly stood on. Not a death adder thankfully, but a little olive python about 4 ft long. We observed it from the safety of the rock (which Beth had hastily remounted) as it made its way into the waterhole.
Next stop Cooinda, which was to be the base for the remainder of our Kakadu stay and from the comfort of the car looked quite beautiful, but as soon as we stepped out that wretched third law came into play. Not only was the humidity unbelievable, but the mosquitoes were very large in size and number and quite keen to try some vintage Victorian blood. Beth, who seems very attractive to mosquitoes was not impressed.
Every movement here caused me to break into a massive sweat. It seemed that as I poured water down my throat it squirted straight out of my pores. I think that Beth noticed the distant look in my eye, the gibberish coming out of my mouth and the slow motion attempts to swat mosquitoes (and possibly just a touch of irritability) and understood that I was struggling. Finding me curled up asleep on the floor of “Carmel’s room” (which is an insect proof annexe so named because we have offered it as cosy holiday accommodation for my sister Carmel if ever she chooses to join us on our travels) was probably the decider though for Beth that we should probably consider backing off from our 10 km/day walking pace.
We still did some walking (the most memorable being the Barrk walking trail at Nourlangie), but we took our cues from the locals and made sure that everything we did, we did slowly. A funny thing happened on the Barrk walk. There are two key elements to this walk, a short walk which takes you past some amazing Aboriginal rock art galleries, and a longer 12km walk around Nourlangie Rock. We chose to do the long walk first, after which we put our backpacks in the car and then did the short rock art walk. Upon our return to the car park there were two aboriginal park rangers checking that everybody had their mandatory $25 park entry passes (we didn’t, but that is another story). As I have said, I sweat profusely here, and the Barrk walk was quite energetic, so I looked a sodden mess. Seeing that we had no packs or drink bottles, the rangers made the assumption that we had just done the short walk, and quipped upon seeing me that it must be pretty hot. When we replied that we had just completed the long walk, their faces dropped. We could see the concern and quickly explained our lack of proper provisions, whereupon one of the rangers said “Jeez, I thought you had died up on the rock and was a spirit come down”. I get the sense that I may not have looked at my brilliant best.
A real highlight of Kakadu for us was the Boat cruise on the Yellow Water Billabong and South Alligator River. It was so impressive in fact that after doing the sunrise tour, we booked in to do it again at sunset (it did help that there was a buy one, get the next at 75@% discount deal happening). The Yellow Water cruise had masses of wildlife, beautiful landscapes, flowers, cool breeze coming off the water, and most importantly, breakfast provided. It was magical, and something I would highly recommend to anybody coming up here.
Kakadu was truly amazing, but after four days I was totally exhausted, and for some strange reason I had convinced myself that our next stop at Darwin would provide some relief from the humidity and insects. The insect situation certainly improved, but unfortunately I was kidding myself thinking that the heat and humidity would abate.
The main purpose of our Darwin interlude was to formalise planning for our Europe trip in July. Because we are not home until a few days before we depart for Europe, we decided that spending a week in a capital city to organise things was probably smarter than trying to do this on the road. Unfortunately though, internet services at our caravan park were not entirely ideal, so each day involved a little excursion into the free wi-fi zone in the city centre armed with all our electronic gadgetry. Over the course of the week we knew exactly where to go for good coffee, and where the coolest hot spots were (temperature and wi-fi, not night clubs). I am happy to say that most of our European trip is now booked and as a consequence we are now starting to get a little excited about it.
Despite the distinct travel booking purpose of our Darwin visit we did manage to do a little walking (although our average has taken quite a hit) and some touristy things around Darwin. We ate fish and chips (barramundi of course) on Stokes Wharf, enjoyed the bustle and flavours of the Mindle Beach Market, visited the Botanical Gardens, walked along Fannie Bay to East Point, walked in the Charles Darwin National Park, walked to Nightcliff and generally wandered around the city.
Our visit to Darwin also gave us the opportunity for a few more little running repairs on the trailer, and to have our car serviced at the last Jeep dealership before Perth. When we were in Kakadu we were talking with a family from Darwin and they mentioned that getting any services completed in a timely fashion in Darwin is very unlikely. They proceeded to tell us a horror story regarding a service on their Hyundai vehicle, where parts were unavailable for a routine service and they had to go and source after market alternatives from Repco, whereupon they were charged extra by the dealer to have them fitted. Knowing that I was going to get my car serviced in Darwin I made a mental note of this.
As soon as we arrived in Darwin we booked the car in for its routine 50,000 km service at the Jeep dealership. Unfortunately the earliest available date for the service was Friday, and we were planning to leave that weekend. But we provided all the necessary details and the people seemed efficient and gave no hint that there would be any problems (other than the high cost of the service of course). What could go wrong?
You have probably figured out by now that something did indeed go wrong. We dropped the car off in the morning as arranged and were greeted by cheerful and attentive staff who said they would call us when the car was ready. All seemed under control, so we set off on our cool hotspots excursion happily. Around midday I got a message to say my car was ready to pick up, which impressed me greatly. About this time I started feeling a bit smug. Clearly Jeep dealers are far superior to those Hyundai chaps. No sooner did this foolish thought enter my mind though than I received a call to say yes, my car was ready to collect, but the service had not been performed. Apparently it had been booked in as a petrol engined vehicle, and parts were unavailable for the diesel. Perhaps we could book it in later, but unfortunately there was no possibility of getting it done in the next 2 weeks.
I remained calm (a skill which I had honed earlier in our journey at Copley), but expressed my displeasure and presented the dilemma which taking up effective residence in Darwin caused me. Something that I said must have struck a chord, because parts materialised and all hands were set to the wheel to have my car service completed that afternoon. A good outcome in the end, but one which did cause us some anxiety. I have a feeling that there is a diesel engined Jeep owner somewhere in Darwin who may be likewise anxious when he finds that his service cannot be performed (because his parts have been pillaged to satisfy my urgent need).
Over the course of the week in Darwin, the weather progressively improved, and we also started to acclimatise better. Although it was wicked of me to take any pleasure in the misfortunes of others, observing the wilting of our French neighbours in the caravan park did make me feel a little better about my reaction to the weather and the fact that I was now coping much better. We actually struck up quite a friendship with this couple (shared suffering I guess) and were regaled with multiple tips for our upcoming visit to Paris and an invitation to catch up when we get there. We have four days in Paris, but tips to last us months, hopefully we can use some of them.
Darwin was good fun and a city which definitely warrants a return visit at some stage. But of course we must move on, and now we head back to Katherine so we can start our push towards the west. We were thrilled to learn during our week in Darwin that friends from Melbourne will be joining us for a week in the Kimberley, so we are really looking forward to that.
Until next time.....
No comments:
Post a Comment