Essential Maintenance

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DAY 230

Well readers, today is the day that many people would have been queuing up for, I had to slap Andy in the face, not once but twice, yes twice and both times he fell for it…. Tee hee.

What a lovely cool start to the day, we both slept under the blanket, the temperature dropped overnight, just enough for us to stay comfortable under one blanket, not two and most definitely not with the sleeping bag.

It was so comfortable, it was 7.00 and a cup of tea was calling, so we both hopped out of bed to enjoy the coolness of the morning, it would not be long before the sun would require us to slink into the shade in order to stay cool.

We had plans today, to take the bedding out of the tent and the mattress, giving it a sweep down, but then the day took a slightly different turn.

Enjoying sitting around relaxing, Andy decided that he should make sure my feet are OK as I have had a cracked heel for a while and it won’t heal as well as it should, Andy believes strongly in preventative maintenance. Probably two of the most important things that are easily overlooked are your feet well without having feet in good condition you may struggle to do to anything else, apparently that is significant with the army, if you don’t keep your feet in good condition then you are good for nothing.

This is where the highlight of my day comes in we just ate a healthy bacon and egg sandwich for breakfast. I was watching Andy’s face and just felt compelled to slap him, well, I lined up the shot and then slap, splat, a squirt of blood shot into the palm of my hand as the mosquito that was feasting on him bit the dust. Oh Joy, how long have I waited for such an opportunity? Andy may tell you otherwise, like, he did not like the way that I took a run up at it; well you know that wouldn’t be true.

We boiled some water and filled the washing up bowl full of hot soapy water, I sat there for 10 minutes letting my feet soak, ah bliss, Andy sat opposite me with a towel over his knees, then he work on each of my feet with a pumice, ped-egg, screw driver and electric drill (No, only joking about the first two implements).

The mosquito’s are out in force this morning, the Bushman is almost empty, while I am sat soaking my feet, opportunity strikes again, one of the little blighters has landed on Andy’s forehead so again, I tell Andy not to move and slap, splat, once again a direct hit as the mozzie bites the dust.

I am sure that there are a number of people who would have enjoyed that moment too, but not half as much as I did.


I know it sounds gross removing the dead skin on my heels but it’s a job that has to be done, and Andy wants to make a perfect job of it, as always, and spends a good ½ an hour on his essential maintenance program and my feet feel fantastic.

Now its role reversal, its Andy’s turn he has worn nothing but flip flops for 7 ½ months except when he has needed to have his hiking boots on and his feet are not in that good condition, we soak his feet and do the same.

So, we spent a good couple of hours pampering feet, they feel great and are spotlessly clean, it is hard to keep them clean in some of these environments, you have a shower and then 10 minutes later they are dusty and dirty again.

By now it was turning into a hot day, we had to keep moving our chairs round into the shade, but that was ok, there is plenty around, we are surrounded by trees. We see a Dingo wander around the campsite in through the bushes; I think it will be a morning routine to see if the campers had left any food.

This morning I also completely cleaned the gas cooker, it had an invasion of the tiniest ants in the world, one tiny drop of food spilt and they are on to it, millions of the things, so with that completely sparkling I am happy.

We pop out for a drive toward Jabiru, on the way we pick up an internet connections so catch up on uploading 2 days of blog, we decide to go into Jabiru so that I can pick up some more Bushman and some other Mortein contraption that promises to keep mozzies at bay, I will try anything to prevent them.

We have lunch in a little café there, the latte is good, very welcoming as the last latte I had was probably Broome, we also grabbed some lunch, read the newspapers and then toddled off to the IGA.

Quite uneventful apart from the marvellous views that we see while driving, the wetlands on one side of the road and huge rocky escarpments on the other.

Back at camp I realise that we have another invasion of ants, they are so tiny they have come through the mosquito netting in the tent and have found the lunch kit, which had a loaf of bread and some crackers in it. The blighters were all over it so I took it outside to empty and see if I could salvage anything, sadly the bread had to be thrown away (really miffed as that was half a loaf and would have done for breakfast in the morning), the crackers were ok. So I just cleaned the bin out and packed it again.

I have a shower to cool down and get ready for this evening, by the time I get back to camp the campground managers have appeared for fees, so I cough up the $20, we chat about places to stay in Darwin, they are very helpful.

It is now time to head back up to Ubirr, I grab my Ipod which has been charging using the solar panel, while we are on the way up to Ubirr I realise that ants have also invaded my Ipod, they are crawling out of the socket at the base!! I don’t know why as there is no food in there for crying out loud; perhaps they thought a microchip was edible?

We make our way round the already busy car park, it is full of camper vans of every size, and from every company you can imagine. We find a space, put our hats on and make the walk up to the lookout.

We walked up yesterday afternoon, but decided to come back today for the sunset. It is a very popular spot for sunsets, just one of those places that you really have to come to see.

We find a spot and watch as the sun slowly creeps into position to descend in behind Arnhem Land, I dig out my camera and try for the sake of trying to see if my lens has decided to work, it hasn’t so I attach the Wide Angle Sigma lens to use, I am not happy about it but I have no option, in discussing it with Andy a chap came over to speak to me and offered to lend me one of his lens as he is using Canon as well, except that he has the 500d with the new EF Image Stabiliser Lens, they are so light.

I decline the kind offer, as I want to see what I can do with this lens and really should. He says that we should find somewhere in Darwin that can sort it out for me, however to be warned he has had to have lens repaired before and says it will probably be sent to Sydney and it will take a while. That is sounding the story of our lives, with Andys watch still in Perth after flying across to Sydney for repair, the UHF radio travelling from Broome to Adelaide via Perth and on to Kununarra for us to collect the fact that my camera lens will need to go to Sydney, is no surprise, but am comfortable with it having to do so, however what do I use in the meantime?

The sun gradually drops down in the sky amongst the cloud producing a lovely reddish hue in the sky, the wetlands and rocky outcrops are beautifully lit up the landscape is jaw dropping amazing, there are a lot of people up here watching, we see one of the Kakadu Park Rangers speak to a couple of girls who are sitting there with bottles of beer in hand, alcohol is strictly forbidden on this land.

The sun is down and we are now on our way down from the lookout, we have to be out before dark descends and here darkness does not take long to come down once the sun has vanished beyond the horizon.

The humidity has increased now we are back down on level ground, we are both thirsty, and camp is very close so it takes no time at all to get back.

We grab some water to drink and get some tea on the go, we have something light to eat as it is too hot to eat anything and neither of us have the appetite.

I have my new Mortein lamp on the go, we seem to have been successful in keeping the mozzies away, however the other tiny little black insects seem to keep bugging us, I have to put long trousers and long sleeve shirt on again just to keep them off, I am sure they are biting us too, the Bushman and the Mortein do not seem to keep them away.

We decamp indoors, I type up the blog, Andy lies on the bed while we also listen to some music, I am dripping wet, this is not something that I would normally admit to but I have sweat just running off my forehead, I think we will shower before bedtime again to cool down.

So until tomorrow bloggers, I feel an early night is coming on.

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Photos

Mass Influx
People flock to Ubirr for the sunset.

View from the top
Kakadu as the sun goes down

Photographing the Sunset
Sat on Ubirr Rock

Comments

[Mum and Dad]

Ants also known as mite
i there. We sympathise with you re the mossies and ants, having had battles with these ourselves in another country. We were visiting Vietnam in a group and on entering our . bedroom in the hotel we looked at the delicious packets of figs and dates left for us and thought we would feast on them whilst resting as we had just arrived. We were horrified to find as we opened the tightly packages ofsweet meats.....thousands of red mite/ants.......these creatures had made a trail right across our bed and out through the window......we had to call the housekeeper to dispose of them....A member of our group had a suitcase full of food (yes, food!!) This couple thought that they would not like Asian food ( I ask you,what on earth were they doing travelling the world if they did not like foreign food.).....They opened their suitcase and we heard the screams along the corridor.....their suitcase of food was ruined by millions of these red mite. We were staying in a hotel in Laos where we going to visit the Plain of Jars....I pulled the curtains to close them for the night, but the curtain pole fell down and I was covered in ants.....many of them biting me as I had disturbed their family who had made a home in the hollow of the curtain pole. Mum xx