Warm Springs

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DAY 224

What a leisurely start to the day, still trying to adjust to the time difference we woke up later than usual, it was also still a little cold outside, despite being in the tropics, yes it is winter and yes the nights are cold, so it takes a while for the sun to warm up in the mornings.

Andy made a cup of tea and I sat in bed to drink it, it is a while since I have had a lie in, it was 9.00 before I decided to surface, but if we were still in WA then it would still only have been 7.30, ok so it is only a technicality.

I decided to knock up a bacon and egg wrap for breakfast this morning, although I am sure not funny to anyone reading this but we both burst into a rap about our breakfast.

We got chatting to Les in the Winnebago next door to us, we find out that this is only 1 of 3 Winnebago’s that exist, its claim to fame is that it was in fact one of the Olympic Torch Relay vehicles for the 2000 Sydney Olympics. The relay vehicles were called Tynan 1, Tynan 2 and Tynan 3, Les’ vehicle is Tynan 3.

A plaque on the outside of the vehicle states that it is the original torch carrying vehicle, Les thought that it was the only one left in the original colours, however he showed us the photograph of the 3 vehicles and unfortunately it shows that it was not in the original paint scheme, this one has burgundy painted on the lower panel of the van, the unusual thing is that the Tynan 3 is the smallest of the 3 vehicles, the first two being the same size, so Tynan 3 is pretty unique.

Les and Meng are from Tasmania although they now live in Queensland, Meng is originally from Malaysia.

We pop into Katherine as we have some groceries to get, so we are soon in Woolworths filling the trolley up with fresh vegetables, enough to last a few days, we also pop into Target to pick up a few things, when we got to the checkout the lady said to us “thankfully it has calmed down now.“

She explained to us that there is an aboriginal funeral this afternoon and they have all been coming in looking for black and white clothes, this is normally all they are allowed to wear to a funeral unless someone has specified a colour then they have to wear black with the specified colour.

Another interesting fact about aboriginal culture is that you are not allowed to mention that persons name for one year after his or her death, even if someone asks “who died?”

Anyway, shopping done, we unload back at camp, then get our swimming togs on and drive up to the Katherine Hot Springs for a dip in the warm water, I cannot exactly say that it is hot, it is just like getting into a fairly warm bath, it is a natural hot spring, but they have tidied up the area to make it pleasant to sit around with plenty of shade over the water, in places the water is deep so that you can stand in it or sit around on the edges. There are steps to make it easy to get in, however there is also a ramp, I noticed a huge cobweb across the path of the ramp with a huge spider in it, so before anyone goes down the ramp, I hope that they check.

We have a pleasant time swimming around and chatting to some people, we meet a guy from Victoria, he told us that he is a retired cocky, he started to tell us a tale of a chap that he met at a roadhouse and somewhere along the line the story started to sound familiar, it turns out that he met Sam at the Victoria River Roadhouse on the same morning that we did.

We both started to look like prunes, we had been in the water for far too long and that also heralded lunchtime and time to go back to camp.

While Andy got lunch ready I went to the laundry and got two loads on the go, it had been very busy this morning and the washing lines were heaving with very little space to hang our wet clothes, nonetheless when our washing is done I find two empty rows to allow it to dry.

While Andy had a nana nap, I sat down with some discs to do some photo back ups, this badly needs doing, we have over 10,000 photos of our trip and we would be devastated if we lost them, so amongst a pile of clean disks my task was well underway.

I also had a bit of work to do that needed sorting out and emailing back to England so was thankful for a bit of time to concentrate on it. Unfortunately the Internet dropped out and I lost some of it so I had to start again, such is life, the internet seems to keep dropping out here.

Les appeared and asked if I knew anything about photo stitching, he asked if I could help him out, so I spent some time going through the software and how photo stitching works. Les also gave us a DVD to watch on the Kimberley’s, which we were grateful for as it will be nice to see a little more on the Kimberley’s now we have driven through them.

Andy awoke refreshed from his afternoon siesta, and was soon cleaning the truck out, which involved a bowl of water and a cloth. It was time to try and rid our environment of the copious amounts of red dust that we have accumulated. The bowl of water soon turned red and the inside of the truck started to look normal again, well relatively normal.

Some preparation was needed for tomorrow as we are moving on, we had planned to anyway, however we have a message from the Truman family to say where they will be tomorrow night, so they ask if we are in the vicinity, this will be our last chance to catch up with them on the road as they are now on the home straight, so will start to travel south toward Alice Springs and onto home in Victoria, where, we are told, is very cold at the moment, I even heard rumours of a frost.

So I have checked the map I know where we need to head and how long it will take us, we have fresh provisions so we are good for food for the next few days. We are just waiting for confirmation from the Travelin Trueys for the campsite to go to.

Andy cooks up a terrific chicken curry for our tea, with some leftover so we have a meal ready for another night, this will go into the freezer section of the fridge to keep for a few days.

The evening gets cooler now the dark has landed upon us, I have some new fleece lined pyjamas to wear just to keep that chill out and finally (dare I admit to this?) Andy has put on a pair of tracksuit bottoms to keep the chill off, this must be the first time he was worn long trousers since we arrived in Brisbane some 7 ½ months ago. I wonder if he will edit this piece out when he reviews it before publishing.

Les invites us in to watch some DVD footage that he has taken on his travels, soon we are spoilt by being in the warm confines of the Winnebago, we must not get too used to the warmth as we will be outside and back into the cool night before long.

We have not been lucky enough to witness the great bird life in action tonight, I was hoping that the Tawny Frogmouth Owl that put on last nights display might return, but sadly not.

We say our goodnights and return to our trailer, I wanted to read for a while as it was still a little early, but for a change Andy said the light was disturbing him, this is not normal as Andy can sleep anywhere anytime regardless of what is going on around him, still I switch the light out anyway, we chat about our upcoming plans and soon sleep overtakes us both.

Tomorrow is another day and another day will bring another place to explore.

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