July 9-13 Back to Alice

Back to Alice! Why?
Good question. It's cold and it's raining. Top temperature of only 11 degrees today (Wed).
However it was an opportunity to see our daughter Ruby again as well as my brother Graham who is in Alice for a week-long holiday. We surprised Graham at his hotel room on Tuesday afternoon - could have been awkward, but fortunately he seemed genuinely pleased to see us. We ate at Hanuman's (restaurant at the Crowne Plaza Hotel where Ruby works) that night and then spent a quiet day on Wednesday while it drizzled outside. We managed to go out for lunch at the Rock Bar, but otherwise hung around Ruby's house. Ruby & Graham go on a 2-day trip to Uluru and Kings Canyon on Thursday/Friday.

This was a last-minute change of plans to visit Alice. We travelled south from Darwin with the intention of turning east at Three Ways (just north of Tennant Creek) and then heading for Cairns. Along the way, we decided that it would be a relatively short detour of only 500kms to go further south to Alice for a couple of days. So here we are.

However, the cold weather is a shock to our systems. We're getting out of Alice again tomorrow (Thursday) and heading north for some warmer weather. No regrets though - it was great to see Ruby and Graham.

The trip from Darwin to Alice was without incident. We have discovered that radio repeater towers are an ideal free camping spot. These are level, gravelled areas that are usually placed well back from the main road with reasonable dirt track access. Some of the tracks have closed gates, but so far they have not been locked. So this is an additional advantage as it discourages other campers (but not us) from going down the track and annoying us. We will be looking for more of these towers on our travels to Cairns.

Our overnight camp site just south of Katherine

Our overnight camp site just north of Elliot

Our overnight campsite just north of Barrow Creek. The track is supposedly destined for a Radio Repeater tower, but after nearly 2 kms, we were happy just to set up camp on the side of the track.

Morning views from the caravan. And so quiet.

Brother Graham and daughter Ruby at Alice Springs

A more realistic picture as they brave the freezing cold weather

Judith, Robert, Graham and Ruby enjoying lunch at the Rock Bar

Another group photo, this time without flash

Still a happy couple after 90 days travelling

Some family and friends have asked how Princess is coping after the loss of Spike.
Well she's doing just fine and getting spoilt rotten.

June 27 - July 8 More Darwin (Berry Springs)

We decided to stay yet another week in Darwin. That will make 25 days that we stayed here. We thought about leaving earlier, but we heard it was raining along the east coast near Cairns. We just weren’t ready for rain yet. And we’ve been very relaxed here in our caravan park at Berry Springs.

Darwin waterfront. The only safe beach in Darwin. Lovely spot!

Neil & Kerry in Darwin

Wave pool next to the beach. Great place for kids and big kids. But no we didn't swim here.

Spike, Princess, Neil, Judith and Kerry walking along side of the Darwin Court House

Princess and Rob at the "real" beach near Darwin

Dog's eye view of the Darwin city streets

Howard Springs - another beautiful recreation reserve near Darwin.
Similar to Berry Springs, except that it was closed for swimming

The tropical forrest at Howard Springs

Because we stayed a few weeks in Berry Springs, I decided to get the car serviced. The Kia has now done over 200,000km. But I didn't realise that the 200k service is a timing belt change - $1000! Well, better getting it done now than having a nasty surprise in the middle of no where. The local mechanic was recommended. He was so good that he found a problem with the radiator and the water pump - another $900. Again, I rationalise that its better done now than causing problems later.

While the car was in for service, my new best friend Wolfgang kindly offered to drive me around the area to see some of the sites.

Bynoe Harbour - Rob with the Pom Bomb (Wolfgang's Land Rover)

Another view of Bynoe Harbour. Lovely quiet place but the beaches are unfortunately not safe for swimming.

The jetty at Mandorah Beach. From here you can catch a passenger ferry to Darwin, which is in the background.
In the foreground is Wolfgang talking to a couple of other tourists.

The pub at Mandorah Beach

The pub was so nice and such a great location that Judith and I came back for lunch a few days later.

Judith & Princess on Wagait Beach. Just beautiful, but no swimming allowed.

Another reason for staying in Darwin was the opportunity to catch up with our friends Deb and Richard (& their girls Kira, Zoe, Mia) who flew into Darwin for a couple of days on their way over to Bali. We met up with them at Berry Springs Nature Park. This is a free park with naturally heated pools - one of our favourite places. (I didn't take my camera that day, so I will steal some of Deb's photos when she puts them up on her facebook page.)

One of the swimming spots at Berry Springs

The shady, tropical walk to the spring waters

July 1 is Territory Day. Folks in the Northern Terrirtory celebrate the founding of their territory by letting off fireworks. Yes, it is still legal in NT. You can only buy fireworks on one day of the year - July 1. And you are only allowed to let them off on the same night. That's the theory anyway. There were 4 sites around Darwin that had government fireworks displays, and Berry Springs was one of them. So we went to the local recreation reserve for the big night. The government fireworks were great. The before and after fireworks let off by the locals were positively frightening. You don't have to be feral to live in NT but it sure helps!

Fireworks at the Berry Springs Recreation Reserve for Territory Day

Impressive NT government sponsored fireworks

The frightening locals letting off their own fireworks

Wolfgang and Monika invited us to go out with them for tea to a place called Livingstone. This is a local recreation club which operates a bar and dinner every Friday night. Drinks are half price before 7:30pm and even after that time they are the cheapest drinks that we have bought. The meals are great value (mosttly under $10) and the venue is very simple - an open-air shelter with bench seats and tables. We went twice and enjoyed both times.

Deinse, Martin, Wolfgang, Monika, Philip & partner at Livingstone

Sally, Ian, Graham, Robert, Judith & Robert at Livingstone

One of our neighbours was a family who were relocating from Adeliade to Northern Territory. They had 2 small children, Chelsea (3) and Seth (20 months). It took a while, but we finally won the cofidence of the kids and we had some fun organising activities for them. Jude would set up plastic buckets with water so they could help with the washing up and we bought them some chalk so they could draw on the board and concrete floor of the camp kitchen. While walking around the park with Chelea and Seth holding my hands, someone asked me if they were my grand children. "Ahh, no. Just the neighbours' kids."

We had a lot of fun times with our crazy german neighbours Wolfgang & Monika, mostly at the expense of other campers around us. We had internet access but could not get any TV. Wolfgang boasted (frequently) about having 19 stations. But he didn't have internet. Wolgang needed a new regulator for his solar panel so using our internet, he bought one via eBay. The parcvel arrived a couple of days later, when Wolfgang was out. We carefully opened his parcel and swapped the regulator for a bar of soap. We thoroughly enjoyed Wolfgang's shocked response as he excitedly opened his parcel. We knew that there would be revenge. We arrived back at the van one afternoon to see a "4 Sale" sign on our van. Not to be outdone, we waited for our neighbours to leave one night and then wrapped their annexe area with Security Tape. Wolfgang and Monika enjoyed it as much as we did. We laughed a lot that night. Fearing worse revenge, we left the caravan park the following day. Thinking we had beaten the germans, it was not unitl our first stop for the day that we noticed a cardboard "L" plate stuck to the back of our van. We will be thinking of ways to get them back for next time we meet...

Our caravan site (left) and neighbours Wolfgang & Monika (right)

Enjoying an afternoon drink and laugh with the neighbours

Judith & Wolfgang in the camp kitchen

Our caravan is apparently "4 sale". Open for inspection from midnight to 3am. And all offers accepted.

Wolfgang and Monika arrive back home to find their annexe restricted by security tape

Still taped up the next morning

The "L" plate on the back of our caravan - how embarrassing!