Good Morning Katherine!
Low 8°c (46°F) – High 27°c
(81°F)
Sometimes it is nice to have eventful holidays, sometimes not. We woke this morning around 6.30am to a
rather uneventful sunrise. We had packed
away most of the outside things last night, puppy pens, chairs etc. and so it
was really only the van we had to pack up after a coffee, breakfast and a
shower. We had anticipated that we might
have an issue reconnecting the van which seems to happen every time we need to
use the plastic ramps to level it up, but surprisingly even that was quite
smooth and uneventful. After checking
lights and a last walk around the van we were off out the gate just after
9.00am and that’s when the fun started.
On driving out the gate and hearing a thud as we crossed the gutter I
was concerned about how the car felt – as though I was in third gear and there
was no power. Knowing that the caravan
brake was definitely off I pulled over just to double check and that’s when I
noticed that the caravan lights weren’t working. Cue eventful part of the day.
We checked plugs and wires and lights and everything else we could
think of but nothing. So parked out the
front of the caravan park Shane went over to see if they could recommend an
auto electrician who might be able to take a look at it. About 25 minutes later – enter stage left
Terry Avenell from Terry’s Auto Electrical ,
a lovely man with thoughtful approach, a relatable sense of humour and an
awesome wife even though we’ve never met her (more on that later). Terry tested every notch on the connection
between the car and van – power coming from the car but nothing working for the
van. He replaced the plug in the hope
that would resolve the issue given there had been an invasion of ants in the
plug we had. Nothing. He checked underneath the car, under the van,
and nothing was making sense. In the
meantime we decided that we should check if the van park still had a vacant
site because by this stage it looked as though we may be too late leaving. Thankfully there was one site left which we
paid for as with no power getting to the van we couldn’t even light the fridge
on gas so would definitely need power for the day/night.
While Terry worked we talked about life and working and retirement and
winning lotto and NRL. On the verge of
retiring, he and his wife had bought a home in Gippsland to move closer to
their daughter & grandchild, but were planning to spend their winters in
Katherine and summers down south – talk about life goals!!!! We talked about how caravanning has changed
and how there are now so many big expensive vans on the road. He told us about meeting a couple who had
purchased a massive big bus and towed a landcruiser and an expensive boat on a
special trailer that could raise and lower the boat which they had purchased
after having a huge win in Lotto. So people
actually do win lotto then? Shane and he
talked NRL and he told us about the various teams his family supported but when
they asked his wife who she supported she said no-one. “You have to support someone” he said to
which she replied “Alright I’ll support a team but we’ll have to go to a home
game”. He said fine and she said “OK I’m
going to barrack for the New Zealand Warriors”.
I love that woman! What a clever
way to get a trip!
Finally turning to the car and testing the battery wiring he noticed a
fuse buried beside the battery that had melted and he thought it ran to a part
at the back relating to the wiring. Sure
enough – fuse was the issue. Heavier
duty fuse installed and we were lights, camera and action to go albeit a little poorer. To be honest the entertainment
was worth it and we were fortunate that, after deciding to continue on our
journey despite it being 11.30am, the caravan park kindly refunded the night’s
accommodation cost.
For me, this part of turning off from Katherine is exciting. For poor Shane, he’s just sad to be leaving
Darwin still. But we have 3 months of
new memories to make now in parts of the country neither of us have seen so I’m
sure he’ll get into the spirit soon!
Once again the landscape changed a dozen times over and it was
interesting how there were a lot of different coloured roads in a short
distance. We also saw a few Blue trees. I looked into this on one of our previous trips
and thought what a great idea it had been.
You can read more about it and how it started on https://www.bluetreeproject.com.au/our-story
There are currently 806 blue trees
registered, painted in an effort to encourage conversation about mental health.
We stopped in at the Buntine Memorial located at the corner of the
Victoria and the Buntine Highways, a tribute to Noel Buntine who first arrived
in the Northern Territory in 1950 and pioneered road transport of livestock in
the Top End and the Kimberley, long before there were roads. He went on to
build a multi-million dollar trucking empire that traversed more than half of
the continent, from Geraldton in Western Australia across to Queensland and New
South. Within 20 years Buntine Roadways
was operating the largest cattle-carrying business in northern Australia. Noel apparently
also developed a passion with horses, leading him to breed and become the
biggest owner in the Northern Territory of successful racehorses including
three Darwin Cup winners and an entrant in a Melbourne Cup. There is also much kudos to him for the work
he contributed to racing generally in the Northern Territory.
As we travelled further west there was a lot of roadkill along this
stretch and of course that brings the big birds down to feed. This can be so precarious especially towing a
van as you don’t want to run over the corpse but veering off to the wrong side
of the road to miss it can also be a hazard.
We were lucky that any on the road for this part were able to be avoided
but the eagles and kites are reluctant to leave their fresh meal so avoiding
them can also be a worry. And as if to
remind me just how dangerous these roads can be, we headed round a corner to
find a large bull in the middle of the road forcing me to brake quickly in
order to give him time to move. He shuffled off the road as quickly as a 1100kg
(2450 pound) Brahman bull can but it was a timely reminder that unfenced roads
are to be treated with caution at all times.
Judbarra National Park is the second largest national park in the
Northern Territory, after Kakadu National Park, with an area of 13,000 km2 (1.3
million ha). Ecologically, it is in the transition between tropical and
semi-arid zones. The park, formerly
known as Gregory National Park which was named after Sir Augustus Charles Gregory,
an English-born Australian explorer and surveyor who died in 1905 at 86 years
of age. Between 1846 and 1858 he
undertook four major expeditions. He was the first Surveyor-General of
Queensland. On 21 October 2011, it was announced that under a joint management
plan with the traditional owners, the park would be dual-named
"Judbarra" for a period of ten years. Beginning in 2021, its official
name will be Judbarra National Park. As
we noted – the second name change hasn’t yet been acknowledged on the signs.
This is such a beautiful area with massive cliffs that rival the
scenery we have seen so far of the top end.
The colours and spectacular layers of rock are breathtaking.
We pulled in to our planned destination of Victoria River Roadhouse around
3.00pm. These “park where you like”
locations usually end up looking like a paddock of cows as people park at the
most interesting angles and places sometimes.
The Roadhouse is a really lovely quiet spot with lots of birds, plenty
of shade trees and very little road noise despite being on the Victoria
highway. After getting set up and Miss
Kitty settled, we went for a walk down to the bridge to look at, and photograph
of course, the Victoria River. Such a
pretty spot, and an awesome vantage point from what was obviously the old
bridge that was part of the Victoria Highway at some point. Aside from looking a little like a scene out
of the Walking Dead with dead and live trees strewn across the road, it was
difficult to comprehend the amount of water that it must have taken to flood
this river to a metre above the level of the road and perhaps the reason why
the new bridge was installed.
Back at camp and the cars kept pulling in with one couple arriving just
on dark, setting up rather noisily behind us with a dog in their car that was
barking constantly, and then tying the dog to the caravan where it barked every
time anyone exited their van. So much
for the peaceful ambiance of the place – here’s hoping we all sleep well - including the dog!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment