Water and fuel (ouch, but not as bad as a lot of places as it was only $1.38/l) and heading out of Katherine following the Information Centre Advice, Kakadu first and Litchfield second. On the way out stop at Edith Falls for a nice little 2.6 kilometre walk which loops around the falls. Takes about an hour including 10 mins to dangle your feet in the water to cool off.
[Update]
[End Update]
I’ve worked out a new system for controlling the water pump. I have a second electrical switch right next to the pump in the outside shower compartment which I installed when having a few problems with the pump during installation. It saved me from running up the stairs every time I wanted the pump on or off. So I have finally worked out I can leave the inside switch on and turn the pump on and off in the compartment, where the water tank tap is also, when I want to use the outside shower head. Came in very useful after the walk for sticking my head under to cool off. Takes a while sometimes . . .
Then off toward Kakadu again. Just about lunchtime I reach Pine Creek. I am continually surprised that the places I have heard of are generally sh*tholes and the places I have never heard of are just nice little country towns. I saw a “Lookout” sign on the way into town so when I see the turnoff I thought “Why not lunch on the lookout?”.
Well it did say “No walking on the road” and “No Caravans” so I should have thought about it . . . About half way up there was a tight turn with a little flat spot . . .thank goodness . . . no way to back down and what looked like a 45 degree slope in front of me.
My truck won’t go into low range without also engaging four wheel drive, not good on the bitumen and especially under these circumstances. So, first high range gear and pray, did OK actually but it sure wouldn’t have made it in second!
Just have a look at those dates. How on earth were people managing out here in 1871???
Just as I was leaving town I took this one especially for Rosemary.
Finally into Kakadu Park and the first recommended walking tracks. I was told the dirt road was fine so off I went about 30kph. I went about 2km down the road and saw the tracks of 6 others who had turned back before me! No shame in being 7th.
This road defeated me. Those corrugations are not just a simple set of ripples. There are about 4 different sets of ruts which mix and cross over all the time. The worst ones are those long flat bits with speed bumps every 600-800mm apart.
So I left that to another time and went on to the next spot. This was only 8km down relatively smooth dirt road. Looked like this.
Nice walkways to get through the muddy bits.
Wait a minute whats that little sign say??
Let’s have a closer look . . .
Hang on a minute. It’s about 4pm. Isn’t that when they used to feed the croc’s at the zoo? Do I really want to walk in there? Why are there 6 cars here and no people around? There are some voices up ahead and I don’t hear screaming so maybe it’s OK. Actually there are some quite nice spots
along the way to the “Plunge Pool”!!
I won’t go into all the other warning signs along the way but there is no chance of dangling the tootsies anyplace near here.
Finally back to the car park about 5pm and stick my head under the shower to cool off again and the damn same joint which came undone on the first part of the trip (and caused the near loo lock in disaster) has done it again but no leak to warm me so as I turn the pump on it’s worse this time and floods the compartment.
Clean up takes about half an hour and despite the time I dislike the campground here enough to make me move to the next one. This one is quite nice and generators are even allowed. This appeals to me greatly as I really can't quite understand how anyone can enjoy this sub-tropical heat and humidity! So on with the generator and the air conditioner. Disaster strikes. The generator runs long enough to overheat and overload simultaneously! The over heating can be dealt with by just leaving the compartment open for the time being. The next guy along just has a little two pot screamer sitting out on the ground. The overloading takes a bit of thinking about. The electrical control system, the "Quattro", has been programmed to allow for a draw of 17 amps as that's what the original generator could provide but this one can only deliver 10 amps. After hunting around on my laptop I eventually find the software to control it and manage to reprogramme it to 10 amps. Yay!! Success.
Generator installation is still crap really – something else to fix!.
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