JEALOUS JABIRU

Foreboding rock formations on the way to Ubirr

Vast expanses of water - Kakadu from the air!

East Alligator River wending it's way to the Gulf - Arnhem Land from the air.

Kakadu escarpment alongside Ranger Mine.

Pillow Pincher!!



Hello again! I hope that life is treating you well, and you are learning to be kind to yourselves.
Jabiru was wonderful. From Jabiru we explored parts of Kakadu and Arnhem Land. We also continued our acquaintance with new chums Anne and Trevor. This was a delightful couple we met in Darwin and who by now will be close to home in picturesque Tumby Bay. We spent a couple of lovely lazy evenings musing the ills of the world over some light libations. Anne and I spent a delectable hour or so in the glorious pool at the Caravan Park, discussing the forbidden subjects of politics and religion – scintillating conversation Anne – thanks so much for your company.
Well, I did go on my flight over Arnhem Land and Kakadu. The flight was excellent as was the pilot. We were handed some heavy duty head-phones and enjoyed a knowledgeable commentary (pre-recorded) with the occasional interjection from our pilot, Wade. The company I chose was Kakadu Air. The flight itself was a little bumpy, the aeroplane was cramped and the cooling device was air, filtered in from outside (quite effective). I was fortunate to share the plane with only 2 other passengers. The downside was the poor visibility. Due to the Territory’s policy on burning off, most of the scenery was jealously hidden behind a curtain of smoke. The traditional owners of the land here have throughout millennium, burned small patches of land, both to aid in hunting, and as a form of land-care. The Territory government continues that practice today. No doubt this is a very good form of bush-fire prevention, however, from Tenant Creek upward we have been encompassed in a pall of smoke. It must be hell for anyone with asthma. I have to say, it does impinge on the beauty of the place, seeing sooooo much burnt land. Admittedly, the re-growth is fast and verdant, but I can’t help but think that they are over-zealous in their approach and perhaps some of the less vigorous flora might suffer as a consequence of all this fire activity. Anyway, back to the plane – we swept over the wonderful and diverse kilometres of Arnhem Land, out towards the Cape. We flew over country that has possibly never felt the foot of man, be he black or white. The country is so rugged as to be largely impenetrable in many places. You have to wonder at what amazing things are still down there undiscovered. We soared above vast rocky outcrops, gigantic green rifts in the earth, left by ancient land movements, prehistoric cities of stone, jewel-like green valleys, green and brown rivers, vast waterways and lakes of the brightest green grasses decorated with watery veins. The sheer vastness of this wilderness was staggering. My only regrets are that the smoke veil didn’t lift to show a brighter perspective and my very unfit body is unable to see some of the wonders at closer range. I would love to repeat the experience in the wet – then we wouldn’t have the smoke to contend with, and the grass lakes would be water lakes.
Whilst in Jabiru, we took a tour of the Ranger Uranium Mine. This was, in our opinion over-priced to buggery. I found it interesting, as I had not been on a mine site before, and had heard so much about them from various friends and acquaintances. Without wishing to open a very contentious can of worms, I am not in favour of nuclear power. Having said that tho’, I am very willing to admit that my body of knowledge is sadly lacking, so perhaps I am not really in a position to judge. The ‘spiel’ that we were given was indeed very political. Even Doug, who is pro-nuclear was peed off with what could really only be described as propaganda. We were charged $30 each to hear what amounted to a very pro-uranium speech. As you are probably aware, the mine site is in a particularly sensitive place, from both an ecological and indigenous perspective. Having seen the mine site I can certainly see what all the hue & cry was about. The mine is right alongside the Kakadu escarpment. This very beautiful place is also one of the most sacred of the aboriginal sites in the country. Regardless of your personal thoughts on ‘sacred sites’ – there is no denying the outstanding beauty of the place and the existence of aboriginal art along those rocks. The speech was inclusive of praise for aboriginal art, this I felt was a rather polished attempt to be seen as ‘giving back’ something. We both felt quite incensed at the end of the tour. The mine itself, of course is impressive, as only something of that size can be. We were amused to see a small lizard sitting in front of our group, listening along with us, to all the interesting propaganda. I wonder what he made of it all.
From Jabiru we drove out to see and climb Ubirr Rock. The drive out there was stunning. The rock formations, are to say the least, amazing. As in other places we have seen, they are reminiscent of ancient ruins. With the morning sun behind them, the stony faces of the ranges were forbidding and mysterious. Ominous and blood red against the pale blue morning sky they trudged along beside the roadway, keeping pace with us all the way. To our left however, lay vast sun-drenched oceans of grasses and water-lilies, speckled with white egrets picking their way through their morning repast. The land here is just so alive – you cannot help but resonate to the extraordinary pulse of the country. Ubirr Rock is a living art gallery. The ‘walls’ of the hills there are liberally decorated with aboriginal stories. Some of them, sadly are deteriorating rapidly, and will one day become invisible to our eyes. I hope that before that happens, they find a way to preserve the work in a manner acceptable to all. The paintings are truly fascinating, as they are up to 5,000 years old and depict a lifestyle and countryside that is completely alien to most of us today. I was fascinated to see that one of the animals painted on the rocks was a ‘Tasmanian Tiger’, - I hadn’t realised that they would have been found so far north. Having just flown over so much wilderness the day before, I couldn’t help wondering if perhaps a few might still remain in those remote and prehistoric valleys I had spotted from the plane.
We stayed at Aurora Kakadu Lodge Jabiru (write up at the end of this entry). In the evening the dingos would wander into camp. As you would no doubt be aware, we are at the anniversary of the Azaria Chamberlain incident right now, so it was rather topical to have these beautiful wild creatures amongst us. To really support all that has evolved in that sad case, we saw a young dingo literally nosing around a small tent one evening. As I watched him, he shook the tent all around, nosed his way under it and wandered all around it, trying to gain access. What I didn’t realise initially, was that eventually in sheer frustration, he bit a large hole in the ‘fly-netting’ that formed one side of the tent. As I watched him, he poked his head inside the now open tent, and removed a pillow. From his general demeanour, I could see how immensely pleased he was with himself, as he ran towards the fence with the pillow held in his jaws and dragging between his front legs. Yes, I know! His excitement was to be dimmed however when he reached the fence/gate and just couldn’t work out how to get his ill-gotten bounty to the other side of this obstacle. I think given enough time, he would have succeeded in his quest, but sadly for him, another young camper and myself, chased him off, and he dropped the pillow and took off. We took the pillow back to damaged tent and placed it on top. I had a look at his handiwork, and saw that he had chewed a hole roughly 1 foot square through which he had pulled the pillow. I went back to camp to watch for the return of the tent-owners. They finally rocked up, I would say they were foreign uni-students, all travelling together in a beat-up old station wagon and having a wonderful. I strolled over and explained what had happened to their tent and pillow. Due to language differences, I am not sure they really understood the chain of events. Needless to say, when I quipped that they should write home and say “A dingo stole my pillow” they were somewhat nonplussed. Sorry, I know it is a far from funny subject, but at the end of the day I am Aussie, and do suffer from that same sick sense of humour that most of my countrymen are afflicted with. Of course, the other question, was why a pillow? We decided considering there was one car, one very small tent, 4 young men and one young woman and the somewhat dubious state of the pillow, we would rather not know what it was that appealed to the dingo. The story did have one more humorous twist, when the following night a couple of gentlemen sharing a caravan parked next to us. Now, we don’t really know what their personal persuasions were, but being an incurably curious woman (and Gemini) I was watching closely for hints as to their ‘inclinations’. TBBITW felt that my answers were answered when the older of the two gentlemen told us of his companion's hasty retreat when he appeared outdoors with a plate of meat which took the same dingo’s fancy. It seems that our young (French and very good looking) man beat a very hasty retreat back into the caravan with what he thought was the very hound of hell hot on his heels.
From Jabiru we intend to move on to Yellow Waters and stay at Cooinda Resort, so ‘stay tuned’ for the next instalment. Steph.
Caravan Park – Aurora Kakadu Lodge Jabiru – we found this to be an excellent park. We were going to book, but friends had tried to do this and had been told that there was no need as “they had never been full”. We took this as gospel and just turned up – we were told to pick any site that didn’t have a sprinkler on it. This was great and we had plenty of choices of nice grassed sites. The amenities were fine and the pool was brilliant. Admittedly not in the first blush of youth, but a huge lagoon style pool complete with spa. An absolute blessing after a hot day traipsing up and down rocks and water-falls etc. We would rate the park as ‘highly recommended’.

TIGERS, TUNES & TRAGEDY

Tunes to remember

Doug, unstressing

My beautiful friend (much better enclosure than this depicts)

Battery crocs?!

Starlight Dinner Party

Hello, how goes it? I figure you have had a big enough break from my meanderings and are ready for another onslaught. Well, we ended up staying at Darwin until the 1st August. The caravan park had some bad problems with power and we all suffered three days of on/off power supply. Some folk had major problems with this, one camper blew the Inverter in his lovely Winnebago. The park was very good with all of this, and paid for any out of pocket expenses caused by the power problems and offered those of us, most affected, one free day. We took up the offer and extended our stay again by that one day, hence leaving on the 1st August.
The last two weeks of our stay in Darwin were lazy and lovely. We did finally succumb and visit Crocodylus Park – we were pleasantly surprised by the park – extremely professionally run and a treat to stroll around. We saw my beloved tigers, one of which is a mascot to one of the local army battalions – apparently he joins them on marches – I would love to see that! I also finally saw a wombat. It’s hard to believe that as a born and bred Aussie, I have had to wait to turn 60 before seeing a wombat. He was a lovely little fella, but sadly his enclosure left a bit to be desired, as he really had nowhere to go to get out of the daylight. The park actually farms crocs and as a result has literally hundreds of them at all different stages of development. They told us that the farmed crocs develop and grow much faster than those in the wild. I guess this is really a form of battery farming. They did have the crocs jump for us, and it was quite fascinating. Some of my enjoyment was dampened when one particularly nasty and large fellow leapt out of the water and splashed lovely smelly crocodile pen water all over me, yuck! TBBITW tells me he fared even worse when some of the lovely water made its way into his mouth. The park sells all manner of crocodile products and ladies, you can forget about acquiring a nice little handbag, that is, unless you wish to divest yourself of a couple of grand. Beautiful and all that, but.............. Crocodile meat is also available from the park, and that too is fairly pricy at around $24 per kilo. We decided we didn’t really need to fill our freezer with croc meat.
We were again reminded of the fragility of the human body as one of our fellow campers suffered two strokes while at the Caravan Park. The second one had him in hospital for quite a spell and he and his wife were compelled to sell the caravan from the park in order to free themselves up to fly home where he could receive further treatment. This is the second caravanner we have seen experience a stroke in a caravan park and the 5th time we have seen an ambulance come to take someone away from a caravan park. The reality I guess is that most of us living the dream, are 60+ and many of us are unfit. Added to that is often unaccustomed physical exertion and probably more relevant, a tendency to overdo the sundowners. Over indulgence is a real problem – particularly alcohol, which many of us consume in copious quantities. With the alcohol come the nibblies, my particular demon. It is interesting to see too, that many of our fellow travellers just don’t seem to ‘get’ what this is all about. It amazes us to see how many people do everything the hard way, making their lives soo much more difficult and stressful than it need be. You would be amazed at how many travellers are pedantic about the appearance of their vehicles and their vans, spending an incredible amount of time washing and polishing something that will at the next step be at least as dirty all over again. I have to say, TBBITW is an extraordinarily sane type and certainly does not spend undue time in these mad pursuits. You will have gathered too, from earlier editions that he makes sure I don’t make the interior of the van any sort of shrine either. Although it does nettle me from time to time, I have to agree that it is a better approach than some. Sitting here this morning, sorting photos, we saw the man next door get some overspray on his neighbours car, whilst washing his own, his neighbour, fairly predictably emerged from his sparkling van to demand the car washer run a chamois over his now slightly damp vehicle. Amazing! The same sort of thing applies when parking the van – so many folk must have the van absolutely straight, and we watched in amazement yesterday as one particularly fastidious woman instructed her man exactly where she wished the car parked, right down to the last inch. The car had to line up completely with the van, it seemed. The old fella next to us spent no less than 5 hours trying to get his TV aerial perfect. To make it worse, he is only staying 4 nights – why bother?!! Why do people come out here to watch telly anyway?? With all this adopted stress, no wonder so many fall by the wayside.
We were as usual blessed with our neighbours, we made several lovely new friends while in FreeSpirit. One couple, who had been staying the full season in Darwin for the past 7 years were musos. Yvonne, who was a brilliant hairdresser, also made the most beautiful jewellery and played the organ. Have you ever met one of those people who make you feel drab and frowzy. This lady was one of those. Every morning she emerged from her van looking like she had just walked out of a beauty salon – what was even more annoying was that she continued to look like that all day and all night. This was despite a continuous line of 'hair' clients at her door. She and her hubby Hank threw a dinner party one night, and I was dismayed to find that she was able to throw a banquet without even raising a sweat (not an easy task in that humidity). The food, needless to say, was delicious and the whole event went off without a hitch. Hubby Hank played the guitar and sang – mostly country and western, and I am pleased to say, mainly Australian stuff. These two delightful folk would come along to sundowners with their musical instruments and many a pleasant hour was spent in musical harmony. Our old mate Hugh was even persuaded to bring along his guitar and then we really did have a treat, as Hugh’s playing is an absolute delight. Just before we left, we had a big get together with all and sundry, all of us whetting the vocal chords and getting involved – a great night was had by all – Thanks Yvonne and Hank.
Despite the wonderful time we had at FreeSpirit, I was actually glad to leave. Having a good time is all and well, BUT.............too much of a good thing and all that...............I felt it was time for a ‘dry-out’ and a few quiet nights. See you again at Jabiru! Steph.

DEADLY DANGEROUS DARWIN

Hi everyone, I trust you are all well and enjoying the blessings in your lives! I know we certainly are. I’m sure you will be pleased to know that TBBITW is still The Best Bloke In The World and he still tolerates my nonsense.
We are enjoying Darwin and so far have extended our stay until the 31st July – not bad considering we were originally only staying until the 17th. There are several reasons for our extension, not the least of which is that this is an idyllic place and a very layback lifestyle and that suits us just fine. The only negative, if you can call it that, is the weather. Now I know that this will P you all off, but it is really too warm! The consistency of the weather since we arrived has been amazing to say the least. Days are 33, nights are 22 and humidity sits between 50 & 60%. It sounds wonderful doesn’t it? Well it is, but it does just sap your energy – probably due to the fact that there is no let up at night. Never mind tho’ we will battle on and make do I am sure. Sorry!
As beautiful as it is here, there are a few little teeny weenie things that you have to worry about, getting eaten by a crocogator not being the least. One doesn’t really swim in the sea here either, due once again to the prehistoric predators lurking there, plus the well known frequency of visiting Noahs and nasty stingers. Don’t forget too, the particularly horrid parasite/bacterial critter that lives in the sand and soil around here – making it very unwise to go around bare foot.
Darwin is such an interesting place and has such a dramatic history. I guess we all know about the bombing of Darwin, and of course, anyone in my generation knows about Cyclone Tracy, but being here and seeing the places first hand makes it all so much more significant. Darwin has really been obliterated 3 times, twice by severe cyclones and of course by Japanese Bombers. It’s hard to say which of these was the most devastating. As a result of these catastrophes, there is very little here in the way of ‘old’. Almost everything was rebuilt after Tracy in ’74. We went to the museum and saw the Cyclone Tracy display and it was chilling indeed. Most of us have memories of that Christmas Day, personally my sister-in-law and her family were in Darwin – she had two toddlers, and we sat glued to the radio and TV together with my in-laws, dreading the news and imagining the two little ones wandering the streets of devastation, separated from their parents. As it turned out, they were all OK – although I still don’t really understand how my brother- in- law survived as he saw the cyclone out in a caravan!!!
The war memorials and attached memorabilia are also chilling reminders of just how close we came to enemy invasion and or occupation. The fatalities of both the bombings and the cyclones were horrendous by Australian standards. It is interesting to note that we still have a substantial Defence Force stationed in the Territory, I think I am glad about that. As things military are very much on your mind up here, it has been even more poignant and sad considering our current losses on enemy ground.
On a happier note, we are very impressed with the Territory in general – there is very little ‘yuppyism’ up here. Cullen Bay, a very upmarket suburb with Mandurah-like canals and mansions is of that ilk, but truly, most of Darwin and surrounds is like a big friendly country town - well set out for a Port town and generally neat and tidy. I am particularly impressed with the people of the Territory. I have seen much less racist behaviour up here and much more integration. This refreshing situation appears to incorporate everyone including indigenous and immigrants. Certainly John Lennon’s song about ‘coffee coloured people’ almost seems to come true up here – wonderful to see. Of course, we do still hear the odd racist comment, but generally they come from fellow travellers and not locals. People watching is wonderful here too, especially in the city of Darwin, the mixture of cultures lends itself to some colourful characters and sights. Just great!
There are an abundance of things to do in Darwin and surrounds. We have taken in the Museum, Fanny Bay Gaol, Stokes Bay Wharf, Fisherman’s Wharf, Cullen Bay Marina and the Charles Darwin National Park, just to name a few. We have not done any of the crocodile parks as neither of us are really that enamoured of crocs. We will probably go to Crocodylus Park tho’ as they have a whole range of different animals there included my beloved tigers. There are numerous day trips to Kakadu and surrounds but we will most likely do those from Jabiru when we finally get there. In fact, we have just about decided that I will do a scenic flight over Kakadu and Arnhem Land – Douglas Darling is not too keen having in his opinion been in enough small-craft and seen enough water-falls to last a life-time. He is keen for me to go tho’, hmmmmm! I wonder?? How many of these little planes have fallen out of the sky??
My favourite since arriving here has been a cruise on the Mary River. We drove out to Coroboree Park and there boarded a tour bus to the river. The cruise lasted 3 glorious hours. Our tour guide, Tony was a truly ocker bloke, but super enthusiastic about the birds and wild-life. He really made the whole thing work. We slowly cruised up and down the allotted area and in our 3 hours saw 25 different bird varieties. As the boat backed out into the river, a huge barra surged out of the water just next to the boat, that certainly had everyone in the mood! The whole surface of the river was alive with the movement of fish. So many different types there, including the archer fish. The abundance of fish and insects meant a similar abundance of birds. All the water birds you would expect, including the magnificent Jabirus, a plethora of little birds, including the Azure Kingfisher (just stunning) and the wonderfully colourful little Bee Catchers. We mustn’t forget to the magnificent sea-eagles that nest along the river. We were lucky enough to see one come down right next to the boat and scoop a fish up out of the water and carry it back to her chicks nesting in a tree right on the river. So many beautiful sights, ducks, herons, ibis, geese, fowl – incredible. OK, I know you want to know about the ‘crocogators’ as TBBITW calls them – there were mobs! Mainly we saw saltwater crocs that day, although there were a couple of freshwater ones as well. These crocs, let me tell you, are sooo well fed. Fat and lazy pretty much describes them. The abundance of fish and fowl keeps them pretty happy. Fresh and Saltwater crocs don’t always co-habit as the saltys tend to eat the freshys! In this environment tho’, they seem to be living reasonably happily together. I imagine tho’ that the freshys keep a pretty sharp look out. If you click on the photo of the big croc you will see a family of ducks stood quite close by – a fair indicator that they don’t feel too threatened. Did you know that a saltwater crocodile can stay submerged for a very long period of time – so the fact that you cannot see one, certainly doesn’t mean there isn’t one lurking close by. The wildlife was only part of the enjoyment, the surrounding waterways and bush were so beautiful, they are indelibly etched on my mind. The waters had receded a couple of feet from their peak during the wet, but the abundant lilies had retained their height, so towered a couple of feet about the water level. Glorious cerise blossoms adorned the waterways which glistened in the mid-day sun. The enormous lily leaves were used by the indigenous people for water-bottles and hats. Bright blue dragon-flies drifted over the smooth waters. Trees and brush reflected perfectly in the still waters. Songbirds trilled in the trees and the overwhelming peace of the place seeped blissfully into your soul. The day and the cruise went all too quickly. We were given lunch during the 3 hours and while the meal was nothing to write home about, the whole experience will be one I will remember affectionately for the rest of my life.
Well, due to our latest extension, we still have almost 2 weeks left here in Darwin, time to catch up on a few things and maybe to get a little painting done – joy! My clever bloke has pretty much completed all our maintenance and we are all but ready to hit the road again. The broken hatch has been replaced ($675 later thanks so much) and all systems are go. He is still monitoring the slow leak in one of the van tyres, but it seems to have stopped now. From here we will move on to Jabiru and Cooinda (Yellow Waters) and then back down to Katherine. The big news is that we will then head West – yes, West! We have decided to travel down the west coast, exploring the Kimberly and surrounds as we go, and to reach Perth by around mid-November. We will be home for Christmas, and God willing, the birth of our new grandchild. All being well, we will leave Perth immediately after Christmas and head back across the Nullarbor. A quick skip across SA and then down to Tassie for a month or two is the current plan. Sounds wonderful.
The first 7 months of our odyssey has passed in a flash (or in my case ‘flush’) and we have seen some astonishingly beautiful places. We have so much more to see, and after our little break here in Darwin, we will be refreshed and raring to go. We just can’t wait to see the other side of this wonderful country. Incidentally, while here, we have been lucky enough to meet yet more fantastic people, our next door neighbours here, Rob and Judy also ‘blog’ – I will try to link their blog to this one, but just in case I screw it up (how unlikely!) the blog address is http://juderobswandering.blogspot.com/ - as they have come up from the other side (so to speak) I can highly recommend reading their super interesting blog if you are interested in the east coast or for that matter, just an interesting read.
PLEASE enjoy what you have, and be gentle with yourselves – until next time – Stephanie.

So Sorry, Please Forgive Silly Woman – forgot to do caravan park info!!
We are staying at the FreeSpirit Caravan Park in Darwin – this is a rather expensive exercise, costing $39 per night – however, we think it is probably the best around, albeit, not dog friendly. The park is large and well appointed. The bays are staggered in such a way as to not have an immediate neighbour (in our section anyway!) and we have lovely green lawns around us. The amenity blocks are very good and there are no less than 3 swimming pools. This place is very resort-like. We are quite close to the airport, but truly don’t really notice the noise much at all. There is a little bit of traffic noise too, as we are right on Stuart Highway, however it doesn’t really penetrate past the sound of our air-con.(a constant must here). The only real downside is the smell! They recycle the water here, and it appears to be pumped out in the evenings – this means that outside activities are affected by the pervasive smell of sewers. Not particularly nice, but we are told it is all under control and they they will be changing the system (by council edict) in the near future. All in all tho’, the park is good and we certainly wouldn’t be extending and extending if it wasn’t a nice place to be.

APOLOGY

OK, OK - yes, I have had another look at yesterday's blog (thanks Sue) and yes I suppose it was just a little bit long, just a tad wordy, a smidgen lengthy, a..........OK! I have never pretended to be short winded, especially on paper, I am well aware of my propensity to written diarrhea. That's why my blog is called Stephanie's WORDS. This is the one avenue I have for just writing and writing - something I just love to do. I am sorry if it becomes boring, just bear with me and skip the long boring ones, or as I m sure some do, just look at the pictures.

As far as the content goes, it was supposed to be a bit of comic relief - it was I might add, written with the full knowledge of poor old Doug, who aided and abetted my efforts. If you did read the blog, you might be interested to know that the flags turned up IN THE BOOT and the bags were duly searched and replaced UNDER THE VAN. That was, I might add, before D read the blog. Aside from that the 'stuff' that lives 'out there' is once again distributed around the van in gay profusion, the grass clippings are back on the floor and the van is happily water splattered after D doing the breakfast dishes. Whats more, he and me are quite happy with that!

So, once again, sorry about the lengthy blogs, as I am trying to learn the craft of 'writing in a manner interesting to others', I am bound to 'stuff it up' from time to time - just bear with me and keep the critiques coming.

Love as always - Steph.

GIRL TALK
Hi there ladies, I thought it was time we had a little time - out away from the blokes – so any fellas reading this can now leave and move on to something a little more blokey. Of course, you can read on, and you never know, you might gain a little insight into we, the ‘fairer sex’ – I rather suspect tho’ that any fellas reading this will already be in the autumn years and therefore probably past caring about how we girls think and operate – after all, if you have managed to get this far, why change?!! We girls know this is how you think, so – bugger off!
I had the pleasure of meeting a new friend the other week in Mataranka – Hi Rosemary! Thanks to her persistence, we met again in Darwin and I think we have made a ‘connection’. This lovely lady mentioned in an email to me, how she was ‘starved’ of female/spiritual company. I have to say, being away from my main spiritual friend, I too was feeling the pinch. This prompted a flurry of email correspondence between the two of us and I don’t know about Rosemary, but I feel much better for the contact and the spilling and sharing of ideas and ideals.
Of course on a much less spiritual level, there is just the sheer pleasure of having a bit of a bitch session about our nearest and dearest mere males. This is of course, universal. I can remember walking into a Vietnamese bakery back home and finding the two ladies there involved in an animated conversation – I instinctively knew (and they confirmed it with many wry smiles and a bit of giggling) that they were talking about men. You know, we share the planet, our workplaces, our homes and in some cases the caravan with these alien creatures, and most of us have really good ones who we love and cherish dearly, but we can never hope to either understand them or really tame/train them – or at least, I think if ever we did manage to do that, in all honesty, we wouldn’t want to know the finished product!!! In fairness, I have to include sons in this category as well, and you know what girls, we were the ones involved in training these blokes, and have they really ended up any different to the older versions, I think not! Sorry boys!
I am now going to have a full fledged bitch session and I invite any of you poor females out there who are feeling particularly frustrated about your loved one, to join in – please participate and have a good old purge – that’s one of the beauties of the comment page you know. You can have a big spit there, and you will feel so much better. There is only one condition, if you are going to say something bad about your partner in life, you must balance it up, by also saying something good – I think that is only fair. I think it is probably also very healthy to have a complimentary think at the same time as you are having a bit of a bitch.
I have to preface this by saying that my beloved really is TBBITW – THE BEST BLOKE IN THE WORLD – so, I dread to think what the really bad ones are like. Doug is thoughtful, intelligent and very very tolerant of my idiosyncrasies and bad moods. He is never ever says the terrible sorts of things to me, that I often say to him. He is sensible enough to keep those sorts of thoughts to himself. Thank goodness. He really is very easy going and that is wonderful. He is manly and independent and pretty much lets me go my own way. It is the little things that drive me nuts.
For those of you in a nice big house, you need to understand that the things that P you off in the home, are so much more so in a caravan – even a motor home or fifth wheeler with all its’ extra space, is still fairly confined quarters and any mess made is in your face all the time.
I think I am lucky enough not to be pedantic about the neatness of the van – if I was I would make his life and mine difficult indeed. BUT... to say that D (D for Doug) is untidy would be a gross understatement. People now find us by the level of ‘stuff’ strewn casually around the caravan. I have long since determined that the outdoors is HIS territory, but this morning, I could stand it no longer and just has to go out and do a bit of a sort out and a sweep. Whilst out there, I thought I would put up my flags. You need to be a caravanner to know about the flags – many of us travelling carry around our National flag and the pennant of our favourite footy team. The footy flags are a great source of mateship or ribaldry depending on the people and preferences. I think D is a bit embarrassed about putting up the Eagles flag considering their lack of progress in recent years, not to mention this current non event – I on the other hand, am a stalwart old stick and think I should support my team thru’ thick n’ thin. Of course, I am talking about a bloke who has no such loyalty at all – this bloke, let me tell you, changes his allegiance, as frequently as he changes his motor vehicles. He has to my knowledge supported the Brisbane Lions (while living in Qld), the Crows (while living in SA) and after much badgering by yours truly, now the Eagles (being resident in WA) – of course now that the Eagles are floundering, he rather fancies Carlton!! Must have snake tendencies, to change your skin that frequently. Anyway, back to the flags, I could find them nowhere – when I was in charge of them, they had a nice little home under the bed, and then I sent them to live in the big purple bucket that lives mainly under the caravan. BIG MISTAKE!! I should never have sent the poor little things to live in D country – last time I went to put them up, they had been migrated to the boot of the van – now that is a place you wouldn’t send your worst enemy to ,but this morning, they were not in the boot. When I asked D where they were, I was told (with typical male assurance) they would be in the boot. When I suggested otherwise, I was told that they must then be in one of the various bags that hold ‘outside stuff’. Girls, this ‘outside stuff’ moves freely between all these bags every time we stop. If I was in charge of this nebulous stuff, it would all be in colour coded or labelled receptacles and every time we moved stuff would go back into its’ own bag. But, no, not my bloke – he must spend more time looking for ‘stuff’ than would fill a month of Sundays. That in itself is bad enough, but girls, you know what happens don’t you? I get pulled into these silly searches too. Its “Sweetie – where is the .....................?” or “Where did you put the ..............?” I mean really, where did I put it? Me?.............Good thing I am on blood pressure medication! So back to the friggin’ flags dears, while I was out ‘there’ this morning, I had for the umpteenth time asked him outdoors, to put the various bags of stuff under the van, so that the ‘patio’ for want of a better description would be clear to walk thru’ and pleasant to sit under. Reluctantly the bags were unceremoniously shoved under the van. Now, the flags? Oh, well, they must be in one of the bags of stuff. Guess what, now WE cannot access the bags, now I have made it too difficult by having them placed under the van – so, I will have to wait until He is feeling more like accessing the bags. Of course, there is no guarantee that the flags will materialise anyway. AND once the bags are removed from under the van, what do you think my chances are of having them returned to an inconspicuous spot underneath– my guess would be “none and Buckleys”.
The other morning, we had a similar situation when we were expecting visitors. D decided that we needed to ‘Fog’ the awning are as there were mozzies out there – great idea. “Where” I was asked, “was the Fogger?” D seemed to think it was under the sink – I pointed out that when I was in custody of the Fogger, it did indeed live under the sink, that was until I passed it out the door, into ‘man land’ a few stops back. It never did return to its safe little home under the sink. At the time, I was involved in tidying up the van, arranging some cake for our guests and trying to make myself look at least respectable. The van of course, needed tidying up due to the efforts of someone to make it look like a receptacle for computers, dirty clothes and grass clippings. Was I about to be afforded the luxury, I mean really girls, luxury, of having time to myself to achieve my very worthwhile goals, of course not -......................WE needed the Fogger and WE needed it NOW! The fact that I would have no idea of where WE had placed it had no bearing on anything. So, now I am involved in a manic search party of ever increasing proportions. It’s a good thing that I am a logical person and am quite good (thru’ much practice), at working out where WE might put things. One of the first things I asked was “Did you check the boot of the van” – “Yes, it was the first place I checked” I was told as his eyes kept darting into the kitchen cupboard, obviously quite sure that I was deliberately hiding the Fogger from his eyes all the time. SO, I abandoned what I was doing to join in the search – I searched each of the bags of stuff, the big purple bin and I even, starting to doubt myself, double checked my kitchen cupboard. Eventually it was found by the bloke, hiding, very well concealed, never to be found again, IN THE BLOODY VAN BOOT!!!!!!! AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! The end result? When our visitors arrived, WE were sitting regally ensconced in a chair on the “patio” whilst yours truly was still trying to comb the hair, make the cuppas and slice the cake. I wouldn’t mind so much if it wasn’t for the insufferably superior attitude that emanated from that chair.
This leads me to the subject of the boot. I ventured there this morning, looking for my poor little flags, and the wonderful musty, mouldy smell that rose to greet my unsuspecting nose was something else girls. Hmmm, damp towels (his cleaning ones not my good ones) all poked into a corner, and underneath a multitude of more ‘stuff’ – what a wonderful aroma that was. I hate to think what else is living in there. My head is only inches away from this at night while I sleep girls, not a nice thought at all. Of course, all that lovely damp odorous jumble makes it almost impossible to find anything there. Do you know, and I’m sure you do, that I know where just about everything inside the van lives? I have no idea which silly bastard it was in history who labelled women as being illogical – there is nothing as illogical as a man! If stuff is put away in the same place every time, we don’t have to spend half a lifetime searching for stuff. As we are getting older, we need all the time we can glean – I resent spending my valuable time, looking for things that I would not have lost in the first place.
So, ladies, we have the “not putting things where they belong” syndrome, that blends and goes so well, with the “its only water” syndrome”. Are you familiar with this one?
This is the one that says if you spill water on anything, it doesn’t matter as it is only water and it will dry of its own accord. This one drives me nuts (a very short journey!). It manifests itself when D is doing the dishes. This is his job, and one which he usually does without complaining. Of course, I hate to complain when he is helping out, but really girls!! D’s idea of washing dishes is to pretty much soak the interior of the van at the same time. Its dip in a dish, scrub well and lift and swing the dish across the inside of the van, swishing as much water as possible across the entire interior, including myself as I sit checking my emails (see note) and then place on rack. Once all the dishes have been done in this manner, then we lift them off the rack, hold them over the floor, dripping all excess water on the floor, and then dry with tea towel. Oh, don’t forget, too, that any residual stuff left on a frypan will come off very well, onto the tea towel, rendering the tea towel worthy of nothing better than a dusting cloth in its future life. WE then wonder why I need to buy more tea towels. Hmm, don’t know really! When this rather watery process is over, then we leave the large puddle of water accumulated on the draining board to dry in its own time and move on to emptying the bin (also HIS job). First thing is to take lid off bin and place dirty side down onto the nearest chopping board, preparation surface or table top!!! ARGHHHHHH! No amount of chiding by me will convince HIM that this is an unhygienic practice. Now, the end result of all this activity, Yes, the dishes have been done, and that is lovely, BUT now I have to dry the floor, mop down the computer which is starting to smoke and steam, re-sanitise the chopping board and all available surfaces and wipe down the sink. After that designate the ruined tea towels to a life of cleaning and find some as yet un-tarnished ones to hang on the stove front. Oh, don’t even go to the stove front and the manner of hanging wet towels with dry ones or the drips dripping inexorably down the front of the oven, which I don’t notice until we have guests, and then see with great clarity what a pretty pattern all those now dry drips have made on the stainless steel stove front!!
Having gone this far, I suppose I might as well go the whole hog and touch on the hand towels. Do you have this lovely problem with your male loved ones too? The way to wash hands, apparently, is:-
· Enter bathroom with filthy hands
· Depress liquid soap trigger
· Rub liquid soap all over hands, making sure that your splashes extend thru’ the entire bathroom
· Grasp tap with manly, slimy, dirty soaped up hand (this is especially entertaining for the unsuspecting female who uses the tap next – the feel of a cold, slimy tap is just wonderful, don’t you think?)
· Wave hands vaguely in the direction of the now flowing water
· With semi rinsed hands, turn off tap
· Look for palest towel in bathroom
· Completely ignore the dark coloured towel SHE has put there for your use
· Gleefully wipe grime and liquid soap off hands onto pretty little towel
· Leave bathroom, and look wounded when accosted by furious female brandishing poor little pretty towel in your face

I did mention the computer earlier – well dare I go there? In a home situation this probably wouldn’t happen, but in a van situation, there is generally only one modem to share between 2 people – girls, this is a very similar syndrome to the TV remote control. Some higher power (obviously masculine in gender) has deigned that men have complete control of Remote controls and modems. This control in the hands of such illogical creatures can only result in chaos and angst. All of this means that quite frequently the only time I can access the modem is while D is doing dishes – hence my reluctance to remove this domestic chore from his watery hands! Needless to say my emails and correspondence pale into insignificance to the important ‘stuff’ that D uses the ‘puter for, like for instance, playing Poker on- line. Hmm.
I won’t carry on about the ‘puter, modem and remote in this issue, but will save them for the next time I feel compelled to have a spit. Combined with that we can discuss moods, moon-crazy, haveachats, gossiping, and general sticky-beaking. All things that men try to associate with us ladies, when all the time it is they who really display these tendencies.
Have you noticed that an awful lot of things associated with these alien creatures can be designated quite well as ‘stuff’ – says it all really girls, goes well with “Well, I’ll be stuffed”, and more likely, “Well, stuff you!”.................................................
Stay happy, stay calm, stay centred and stay together! Love and best wishes – Steph.

TECHNICAL TWADDLE

THE RIG

THE BLOKE AT LITCHFIELD

Hi there again. This is just a little special episode, so to speak, mainly for the fellas. I have noticed that when in caravan parks there are several subjects which seem to crop up again and again between the blokes. I thought that I would put in a special entry just for these subjects.
To refresh your minds, we are driving a 2006 Toyota Land Cruiser, 100 series, V8, petrol. Now I sense that most blokes have just reared back in horror – yes, petrol and boy is she thirsty!! TBBITW, who is sitting next to me at the moment and is my consultant for this edition, has just quoted “As any bloke knows, blokes just love to see their car take a good long drink”. This seems to be especially true of service station owners!! In answer to your next question, the consumption is roughly 4 ks to the litre. It might interest you to know that as he said that, the bloke seemed to be having trouble enunciating and was turning a rather alarming hue of purple! Yes, our beloved cruiser is a thirsty fella. Doug generally now drives by the rev counter, staying as much as possible on 2000rpm and not using Cruise Control. He finds that Cruise Control is not really good for towing and does not give the best fuel consumption. There have been many suggestions regarding having a gas tank/conversion done but the drama there is losing space as the spare tyre sits under the car and would have to then be put somewhere else. As we are on the road for the long term and carry so much ‘stuff’, space is at a premium.
The additions to the car since we left home are a pair of “Rock Tamers” which pretty much keep the stones off the van. They were purchased in WA and cost $430 – we have seen them much more expensive elsewhere. They are big brutish looking characters and have evoked quite a few enquiries. The other addition is air-bags – purpose being to more evenly distribute the weight and level the car while towing. Doug is very pleased with the result on that one. We have also added an auxiliary battery from which to run the fridges. This also works well. Apart from being a bit of a ‘guzzler’ we have had no problems at all with the car (apart from bogging it once – not the fault of the car!)
One of the most frequently discussed areas is air pressure, both in the vehicle and the van – after considerable reading and research, Doug has settled on 36 in the front and 38 at the back in the car and in the van 50. We have a slow leak in one of the van tyres and we were fortunate enough to have a wonderful young fella ‘plug’ it for us. That was a couple of months ago and it has held up well since then. The tyre still leaks but super slowly – we will have it fixed in Darwin and ‘we’ will be looking to buy one of those them there ‘repair plug kits’.
The van has a couple of maintenance problems now – the first one was the ‘Smart Charger’ which charges up the 12 volt in the van – Doug discovered one morning that this was ‘smoking’ and we quickly removed it and replaced it with a different model. We were alarmed that it appeared the charger could have caught fire (it had not had a lot of use) and that would have been a disaster with the flammable stuff in the boot of the van, not to mention the gas bottle near-by.
One of the main topics of conversation in the van parks is the weight of the van (dry and full) and the certification on the van. Most are certified to carry 400ks and it is generally agreed that this is not enough, especially if you are carrying water. The chasse on our van is very strong and would easily carry more. We have heard of some people convincing their manufacturers to increase the load stated on the specification plate on the van – we have not been so fortunate.
As stated in my last blog, one of our hatches blew off this week and we now have to have that replaced. We had the sound system blow up in an electrical storm in WA. The loo leaks water sometimes, (caused by excessive water pressure). We have bent the radio aerial, but it seems still to be functional. The washing machine is non operational, we think due to a crack in the lid. On a lighter note, we have blown up two kettles (sort of) due largely to the high calcium content in the water in SA and NT. We now soak them with white vinegar frequently to avoid this happening. I tried to kill the microwave by turning it on for some 15 mins without anything in it.. The decorative covers on the hinge for the TV have been removed due to severe annoyance. I have almost given up trying to keep the floor in the van clean due to the very large and dirty feet of a certain person. Doug, due to his height and some sort of brain fade, has now a very bumpy and lumpy head indeed, due to the incalculably numerous times he has hit his head on the air-con and the cupboards. The toilet roll holder has fallen off one too many times and now remains in the cupboard where it will probably see out it’s less than useful life. We now use our own home made stuff in the loo canister – we probably will not continue to do this, as I think the home made stuff smells worse that the urine – so probably back to the drawing board on that one. The car has been emptied and re-stacked 3 times now and it is still pretty much impossible to find anything. Read ditto for the boot and tunnel in the van. The golf clubs have not seen the light of day since we left home. I am not any fitter, but definitely much fatter for going up and down the steps into the caravan. The inside of the van has also been ‘gone thru’ at least half a dozen times and we still have no space left and everything is still jam packed. We have two modems for our laptops – one Telstra and one Optus. Doug’s mobile is Telstra while mine is Optus. Optus has been next to useless as the places where we have service are too few to mention. Telstra on the other hand, despite being just about the most annoying company in the world to deal with, has service almost everywhere. We have been very impressed with number of places where we have had TV reception and the number of channels available – no doubt about to change now with the launch of wide-spread digital. We have learnt to live together in very small quarters indeed without actually throttling each other (not that we both haven’t felt the need once or twice!).
Oh, we have cameras. One on the back of the Cruiser and one on the back of the van. Both are invaluable. The one on the car is brilliant when we are hitching up. We have a Treg (I think that is right) hitch – sorry if I blunder here, my consultant, despite my dire warnings not to, is now pushing up snores from the bed – much to the astonishment of our 4 footed guests!. Yours truly backs the car onto the hitch and as you may appreciate due to the size of the van and the type of hitch, I have to have it precisely right. The camera is a huge boon in this area. The reason I do it incidentally, is not that I am so good, but rather that Doug is far more patient than me. Also, he has to adjust the height of the van as I back towards the hitch – much easier for him to do than me. The only problem is that the camera, whilst giving a really good view of just where I need to be, does distort distance and I always seem much further away than I actually am. Pretty much the same as the caravan mirrors we all attach to our vehicles when towing – aren’t they a bugger for distance? Looks like that road train is a million miles away when in fact, he is actually trying to have sex with the van!!
The same applies to the camera on the back of the van – it does warn you about the road-train approaching, but it belies the distance somewhat. We also use walkie-talkies. Just short range hand held jobs. We have our main one on Ch 18 and also carry one on Ch 40 – this covers us pretty well and we find them quite handy. They are also a help when manoeuvring the van into caravan bays. Even tho’ him indoors has a bit of trouble hearing me on the 2-way, it is better than shouting. We seem to have the manoeuvring thing down pretty well now and we haven’t had a DA about this yet.
What else to you want to know? Beer and wine consumption has fluctuated, market has gone down, amazement at political affairs has gone up, weight has gone up, fitness levels are down, food consumption has fluctuated dependant on the mood of the cook, petrol prices have fluctuated but generally have been on the increase, wind expulsion has decreased thanks to a course of pills purchased by the ‘girl’, moods have fluctuated dependant on all the above.
Well as the snores are continuing to emanate from the bed and thus my ‘consultant’ has left me to it, I cannot think of anything else you blokes might find interesting – so I will leave it at that, with a Good –day from me and a Good-night from him.

LEGENDARY LITCHFIELD

Looking down on the canopy at Florence Falls

Fun in the rapids at Florence Falls

Reflections in the swamp!

Cascading waters at Florence Falls

Twin Lace Curtains at Florence Falls

Hi there guys and gals, this time you find us in Berry Springs. We left Katherine and travelled at first to Batchelor. From Batchelor we drove into Litchfield National Park and looked at the beautiful waterfalls. Whilst in Batchelor we stayed at the Big 4 Caravan Park. We only stayed 3 days in Batchelor and that was really enough time in which to see the main features of Litchfield. After leaving Batchelor we made a short journey across to Berry Springs. The idea being that whatever we hadn’t seen of Litchfield from the Batchelor end, we could see from the Berry Springs end. Not a bad way to go as it turns out.
Batchelor itself was a nice little spot – quiet and shady. We were told that trouble sometimes wanders into town, but leaves pretty quickly. Certainly we didn’t see or hear anything adverse while we were there. The caravan park (more details at the conclusion of this blog) was also very quiet – it boasts one of the coldest swimming pools I have ever sploshed into – but I have to say, it was a welcome refresher, especially after the usual unhitching and unpacking!
Litchfield certainly lived up to all expectations. The waterfalls are absolutely spectacular and the surrounding country exceptionally beautiful. Lush tropical bush surrounds all the waterfalls and picturesque yet rugged land abuts each of the main features. I still cannot get used to the sight of palms, cycads and gums all growing in happy profusion together – for a ‘southerner’ it is quite a spectacle. We seem to have left behind the brilliant colours of the red centre and swapped them for some of the ‘greenest greens I’ve ever seen’ to quote an old song. The Territory applies a burning off policy which sees at this time of the year, manifold little fires which keep the undergrowth at bay. Due to the still available moisture in the soil, the grass grows back almost immediately and it is the brightest hue of green imaginable. The cycads too, in some parts are vivid in their colouration. We have tried to capture the colours on camera, but really so far, have not done them justice. Instead of the red, red rocks of the interior, the rock formations here seem to be more grey, and the effect of the rocky outcrops fringed with bright green in reminiscent of some ancient ruins being re-claimed by nature. The whole of Litchfield National Park appears to consist of a very large range of often rugged hills, some quite round and conical and others baring grey fangs to the sky. The area is quite heavily forested by an astounding range of trees and undergrowth.
Berry Springs is also a pretty area, although we really had pretty much exhausted the sight-seeing while we were at Batchelor. From Berry Springs we drove out to re-acquaint ourselves with the ocean – except this time it is the Arafura Sea. We drove to a little place called Mandorah Bay – this is where a ferry from Darwin calls to take folk to work and over to the ‘big smoke’ for shopping etc. The ferry service appears to be a good one and the ferry leaves pretty much every half hour at peak times and hourly the remainder of the time. Peak times seem to be early morning, late afternoon and lunch time. It appears it is a popular trip from Darwin over to the pub there for lunch. The pub was something else! The signage to get into the place was abysmal and we had all sorts of trouble finding the ferry wharf and the pub (despite being warned about this). We drove aimlessly around Mandorah for a while before finding a local who give us some good directions. When we arrived finally at our destination (the pub of course), we wandered around to the counter to order a couple of drinks and a counter lunch. We were confronted by a sign which declared the hotel to be “The Hotel With No Hot Chips” – this was followed by a sign which said “Under No Circumstances Will We Serve Hot Chips” – this was underscored by another declaration “Australia Does Not Need Any More Hot Chips!!” – well, we had the message by then, but TBBITW was very tempted nevertheless to go up and order chips! It seems from chatting to other folk, many do ask for chips, just to test the mettle of the staff so to speak, and we are told that the staff are none too friendly about the subject. Despite all the dire warnings, we did manage to order a quite acceptable couple of ‘barra burgers’ which we enjoyed with a leisurely drink while looking over the bay to my first view of Darwin. It was interesting to see the jetty where the ferry docks – it had at least 3 different levels to cater for the huge tides in this part of the world. The pub apparently does a good trade on weekends when a younger crew travel over in the ferry for a good time and then head back home again via the water. The last ferry, from memory leaves at around 12.30 on a Saturday night. Just in time to get back for the nightclubs I guess.
Whilst at Berry Springs we visited the Territory Wild Life Park. We were a little daunted to find that entry into the park was $25 each, but at the end of the day, agreed that the fee was reasonable and money well spent. The park only has native creatures and is very well done indeed. If you are so inclined you can walk the considerable area of the park, but most people utilise the very good ‘train’ service within the park. The train is geared to get you to each of the main events at just the right time. Main events include a ‘raptor display and talk’ and a ‘sand-bank’ experience. The sand-bank experience was excellent, involving the feeding of barramundi, archer fish (that was a good laugh) and whip-rays. I had never heard of whip-rays before and certainly was not aware that we have fresh water rays in Australia. Other features include a very good aquarium and a wonderful monsoon forest walk which includes a walk-thru aviary. The park boasts quite a passable cafeteria and a whole day could be spent there very easily. We were probably there for around 5 hours, and I wouldn’t recommend planning to be there less than 4 hours in order to see the main features. The only down side to the Wild Life Park was that “we” forgot the camera so no pics I’m sorry. Probably just as well, as I notice going back over our photos, the ones of critters in captivity just don’t seem to cut it anyway.
Poor old Jezabelle (the van) suffered an injury while we were at the Wild Life Park. When we returned to the van, we discovered one of our skylights leaning up against the van with very large chunks bitten out of it. As was (note was) our habit, we had gone out leaving tall the hatches wide open to air the van – NOT a good idea. It was not at all a windy day, but it seems that a random puff of wind grabbed the hatch and hurled it to the ground where it cart-wheeled across the road much to the amazement of those around us. This is when TBBITW comes into his own, he is such a clever bloke! He managed to sufficiently repair the hatch for us to get into Darwin. We most likely could go further if we had to, but we are hoping that we can get the replacement part sent to us in Darwin and effect proper repairs there. My washing machine has also stopped working and the bloke reckons that the lid is the problem. We need to replace that as well when we are in town. I must say I really miss my machine and never feel that the clothes are really clean when I use the park machines.
From a personal perspective, it is interesting to note how we are travelling at this time. When we were looking at the sensational water-falls at Litchfield, I felt there was something lacking in our response to all the majesty of the place – it really should have been another WOW moment, and yet we both seemed a little flat. We have concluded that we are just about all WOWED out and need to veg for a little while. When you constantly encounter stunningly beautiful sites, you become a little desensitised. I know for those of you currently stuck in a work- a -day world, that must sound awfully spoilt, but it really is true – in fact, I was beginning to feel that we were under an obligation to see everything and so it was beginning to feel a little like getting up and going to work!
We have quite a few little tasks to take care of in Darwin when we arrive there at the end of this week, and of course a little retail therapy is also in order, including a much needed visit to the hairdressers. I just wish I could include in our itinerary, a visit to a nice Doctor who would suck out all my accumulated fat as well – perhaps then I would feel a little more feminine again. Once we have accomplished all our tasks we will be off to Kakadu and Jabiru to have a look see there and then we plan to find somewhere to just sit for around 4 weeks – just to regain our equilibrium and to live a pseudo normal life for a little while. Currently we have been in Berry Springs for 6 days and it feels like 6 minutes.
We have once again met some lovely folk here and are today ‘puppy-sitting’ a couple of toy poodles while their humans go into town to do some chores. They are a couple of little darlings and have taken up residence amongst our manifold cushions and pillows (fresh pillow-slips today too!) at the end of the bed where they can watch for the return of their much loved mum and dad. It’s lovely to have the company of a couple of four footed little ladies for a couple of hours.
Well, time for me to wrap this one up, I will finish with the usual caravan park write up. I will also be putting up a special blog just for the blokes, with all the little things in it that you fellas talk about around the caravan parks, more technical than we girls generally want to know about. Love to all for now, and looking forward to talking to you again soon. Laugh, love and be happy – Steph.

Caravan Parks:
· Batchelor – we stayed at the Big 4 Caravillage in Batchellor. Big spacious park with plenty of good sized easy to access sites. When you check in they send you around to the far side of the camp to await further instructions. Be wary of the bend on the far corner of the camp – it is raised above the ground and there is a nasty drop off on the passenger side of the van – a trap for the unwary! Once you are in the appointed position someone will come and help you to choose a bay. Most are well shaded with palms and many have concrete slabs – the remainder are grassed. Amenities block is very good, although they do not have liquid soap. The pool is possibly the coldest in the region, but clean and well maintained. Not dog friendly.
· Berry Springs – we stayed at the Tumbling Waters Caravan Park – this park is picturesque with beautiful big rambling old gardens and a very tropical feel. The bays are a little tight to access and the amenities are less than wonderful. The pool is salt and was full of children when we were here (school hols) and as a result was a little too milky for my liking. Despite this, the park is lovely and we would be happy to come back again. They show a movie on Sat and Wed evenings and there are didgeridoo lessons on Sat night. The park boasts several fresh water crocs and they feed these on Sat night. This park is dog friendly.