There was emptying and filling up and shopping to do before we could head out to a nearby 24hr stopping place for the night. A long day, but it feels worth it this morning when we can just look forward to a gentle day of driving and finding somewhere to camp.
We were feeling a bit of motorhome envy last night as the woman next to us had a beautiful Winnebago Coogee. These are based on the IVECO with double axle at the back. She has electric levellers and electric awning and an electric bicycle in a canvas covering on the back.
Mind you, after hearing (we parked quite close to her) us watching the news, she said she is going to order a Starlink to be delivered to Kununurra. I guess she has been thinking about it for some time. So, a little bit of cross-envy!
Watching her backing out this morning reminded me of how much more difficult it is to get into nice camping spots in a larger vehicle, so I am officially over being envious. It would be nice to have more space, but we would still end up in a muddle inside, as we used to do in our Winnie. This small vehicle is so easy to manage in comparison.
We enjoyed our visit to Florence Falls after our night in the campground. We appreciated being able to see everything more clearly in the daylight, though we had to share with lots of other tourists. After taking a couple of photos Stephen suggested we take the 135 steps down to the waterhole. I hadn’t planned on that, but the stairs were fairly easy, with short flights and several landings. It was more difficult going down and up for me because of my fear of heights.
We crossed a little stream with clear water (there was a walkway, no rock hopping) and made our way around to the plunge pool. It was very busy and although we stayed for a while we didn’t feel we wanted to swim there.
Next on our agenda was to see the Buley Rockholes which are popular for swimming. Again, it was quite busy and we didn’t feel an urge to swim there even though it was getting hot.
We had parked in dappled shade and it was comfortable enough in the Sherwood to have our lunch.
Then back through the park to Batchelor and our fairly humble, but spacious park up in the caravan park. We had an ensuite because that was the only powered site available. It would have fitted three Sherwoods easily. The ensuite was old, but well maintained, and there was even a washing machine if I had felt like spending $4.00. I didn’t, so handwashing sufficied and Stephen had to hang up the washing as the line had been put up by a tall man!
We waited out the heat of the day in air conditioning, starting out with a new type of Magnum icecream (mango, white chocolate and coconut with vanilla icecream) which was recommended by our gracious host.
In the evening it cooled down a little bit, not much.
I didn’t shower in the ensuite as I encountered two tiny frogs (willing to cope) and then saw a larger frog in the shower recess (not doing it). Stephen took our awning pole with him to have a shower and said he was able to keep the frog holed up in a pipe whilst he showered.
Still, I appreciated the fact that we had a separate toilet with it’s own basin, so I didn’t have to go into the shower room again.
Before leaving town we went to the General Store, where there were limited supplies, and to the dump point.
Much of the local area is open savannah woodlands/grasslands, but Batchelor is quite lush, with large trees and lots of green grass. I hope it was like that when we were little children. I feel grateful to have had the chance to come here.
On our way south we stopped at Adelaide River for hot drinks and fuel. There was a store, but limited stock, so we stuck to just getting our hot drinks and enjoying being outside on the verandah. So far, the mornings are quite fresh, as they were in Darwin. Even in the afternoons there is a strong breeze that helps us manage in the heat.
The Bridge Creek Rest Area is just south of Adelaide River and not very far from Batchelor, but as it is a designated 24hr rest stop we decided to take it. We sat outside in the breeze, rather than inside where it was still 34 degrees, so pretty warm. For the first time in ages there was a distinct cooling down at sunset, very welcome of course.
Bridge Creek Rest Area
This morning at about 5.00 a.m. I woke up feeling a bit chilly and switched off the fan and pulled up the doona. This is what we’ve been hoping for as we head south, that the nights would be cooler even though the day time temperatures will be in the low to mid thirties.
We don’t know if there is water in the creek. It’s a bit dangerous to walk out on the bridge and the long grass at the edge of the rest area could have snakes. It’s not sensible to explore. Some people at Florence Falls yesterday warned us they had seen a brown snake. We had though of walking through to the lower campsite, but gave up immediately.
Magnetic Termite MoundsThe termite mounds are called ‘magnetic’ because they have a large surface facing north/south as a way for the termites to survive the heat. They look a bit like gravestones.Cathedral Termite Mound
We are finally on the move again. We ended up spending the afternoon/early evening at the George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens. It is such a lovely green space. We took another walk around before driving back to the caravan park.
Yesterday morning we didn’t rush and were mostly ready to leave by 10.00 a.m. The mornings in Darwin are usually cool and fresh at this time of year, but when you are busy it is still possible to work up a sweat, which I did.
The Stuart Highway remains a four lane highway for quite a distance out of Darwin. That made for easy driving. We fueled up at a place out of the city. On our way there we noticed a supermarket not far from the caravan park. We had been looking for one on Google Maps, but the closest one we found was in Nightcliff. A reminder to search more diligently!
We had lunch in Batchelor next to a lovely green park. We were in deep shade and were quite comfortable for an hour or so. Our impressions of the place are that it is a pretty village. I read up on the history of the town. It seems that when our father worked at Rum Jungle the mine was quite new. Batchelor was the residential village for the workers. Marie and I lived there with our parents until we were 3 and 4 years of age. Then Daddy needed to go to a hospital in Queensland and Marie and I travelled in the care of the ‘air hostess’ to Perth to be with the grandparents, now living there. The grandparents lived just a few kilometres from Stephen’s family home in what was then Queens Park, but is now Cannington.
When we returned about 7 months later our parents were living in Alice Springs, and that is the town we remember.
Batchelor. There is a Heritage Walk that we can do tomorrow if we wish.
Litchfield National Park
this morning from the van
Batchelor is now The Gateway to Litchfield Park and thriving, with about four caravan parks, a general store, swimming pool and small, local population. The mine closed in 1971 and is one of the most polluted places in the world, according to the potted history I read. Fortunately, the National Park was established and has become a very popular place to visit.
Our impressions are that most attractions are contained in a much smaller area than Kakadu. We drove through the park slowly to our campsite at Florence Falls. It was very hot, so we waited until sunset to walk to the falls. Very beautiful, one of the best we have seen on our travels. We will go back this morning to take photos in daylight.
On the way here we also stopped at the Magnetic Termite Mounds. They are very different to the ‘cathedral’ mounds of other termites as they face north/south, with thin edges. They look a little bit like large tombstones. I’ll post some photos in a separate post.
Overnight we set up our new fan with the battery I had bought for it, so as not to draw on the van batteries. On the low setting it worked for nine hours straight. I switched it off towards morning as we were a bit cold. The battery was expensive, but I’m glad I bought it now as it has really proved it’s worth.
There are no campsites available in the park for the next week or so. We want to explore more of the places here, so have booked a night in the Batchelor Caravan Park. A powered site, as we are feeling the effects of the heat and it will be nice to be able to look forward to air conditioning at the end of the day.
On Friday we met up with cousin Marnie for lunch. She picked us up in her new car and took us to a pub on the beachfront. We had a lovely time catching up on news and getting to know each other again. She took us back in the late afternoon and we showed off our Sherwood.
Yesterday was a shopping day. I wanted to get a fan to help with getting cool air into the bedroom area. The air conditioning worked, more or less, plus the little fan in the dinette helped cool air to get up there. But, it is always partly blocked by Stephen.
I went for a Ryobi Fan and a battery. My hope is that when we are off grid it’s battery, plus the van batteries and our Delta Mini will be enough to keep it running all night. We tried it out last night and found we slept comfortably with the bedroom windows open and the air conditioner off. The humidity increases a lot at night, which meant that the fan was able to keep us both cool. By slanting the fan upwards it hits the roof and comes over Stephen and onto me. He gets it as well, of course.
The next thing was to get some food. I didn’t want to go to the big shopping centre, so we found a small centre not far from Bunnings in Nightcliff. Marnie had warned us that Monday is a public holiday (Picnic Day) and shops would not be open.
We spent time at another beachside location, then went to the Lee Point picnic area and did a walk along the beach to a bird hide. It was a lovely walk and there was no water in the swampy area that it passed through, but I was a bit worried about crocs. We decided to drive down to Buffalo Creek picnic area (where the walk ended, we only went part way along). Buffalo Creek is quite wide and deep and there are crocodile warning signs. Despite this people were enjoying hand fishing and crabbing, washing their fish in the water. There is a boat ramp and we saw a couple of small fishing boats being loaded onto trailers.
I’ve settled in and I can understand why people like to visit here and live here as well, at least in the dry season. There are ways of keeping cool and if you wait until evening, or walk in the shade, it’s actually quite a lovely and a good place to relax.
We tried out the fan on the house batteries this afternoon. It needs 240v, so this was using it through the inverter. It uses surprisingly little power, with both fans going, plus running the fridge we were drawing about 25w. So, importantly, it will be good for keeping us cool when off grid. I tossed up whether to buy a camping type fan with an inbuilt battery, but I think this is a much better option. It’s a little chunky, but lightweight, and when it contributes so much to our comfort I don’t think we will mind having to stow it under the dinette when travelling.
We’ve spent a couple of days going out for lunch and keeping close to the beach to handle the heat. The mornings are usually quite fresh, with a good breeze, but shade is important.
We drove to three beachside areas on Wednesday, the Lee Point Beach, another beach with a French Cafe nearby, and a third beach for the late afternoon. Just to get a feel for things.
Yesterday we went back to the Museum Art Gallery and had a look at things we had missed, then had some lunch. Later we drove to the Mindil Beach Markets for a meal and eventually to see the sunset. Someone told us that there would be plenty of parking and we had no difficulties. I didn’t like the drive home in the dark, but we managed it and only missed one turning.
The nights still require some form of air conditioning as it doesn’t actually cool down until about 7:00 am.
Did I mention what we did on Tuesday? 30th July, 2024
We caught an Uber to a bus terminal at the Casurina Shopping Centre where we caught a bus into the city centre. Arriving a lunchtime it was obviously time for lunch and we found a food hall near the Mall. Then we went to the Legislative Assembly, a beautiful cream/white colonial style building with a very nice cafe. We caught a bus back to Casurina where we did some shopping before catching an Uber ride back to the caravan park. The driver was allowed to drive us right to our door.
This caravan is like a small village. Not only do we have an ensuite and laundry, we have our own bin. Today was rubbish collection day and the bins were put out on the verge for emptying.
