Category Archives: Holidays

Holidays, NT-QLD 2018, Out and About

More soaking …

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After a sleep-in, it was down for some more soaking at the thermal pool. It must be getting closer to school holidays as the number of kids is starting to outnumber the oldies.
 
Spoke with a few and most have taken their kids out of school early as holidays dont start for a week.
 
The afternoon session was a little bit better with the pool clearing around 5pm. By 6pm there was half a dozen of us in there to enjoy the nightly flight of the flying foxes and the near full moon rising.
 
It was getting cooler out but eventually we had to get out after 2 1/2 hours soaking.
 
Just for something different, we headed down to watch Nathan “Whippy” Griggs and his whip cracking show. That is now the 10th time I have seen the show.
 
This is our last night here and it is time to move on further south before heading east into Queensland.
 
Holidays, NT-QLD 2018, Out and About

Springs not too Bitter …

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Sunday in Mataranka is Market Day. It is not a large market but I was able to fill the car at the servo across the road while Jenny checked out the market.
 
I guess it didn’t break into our soaking time all that much but Jenny did get her dried mango.
 
It was then onto Bitter Springs. The workers had excelled themselves as the concrete paths were all finished so it was an easy walk to the entry point of the Springs.
 
For some reason, it wasn’t all that busy which allowed for peaceful float down the creek each time.
 
There was even wildlife to see each time with turtles sunning themselves, plenty of kingfishers grabbing insects from the water and even a water monitor on a tree root.
 
After 3 hours, we headed back to camp for lunch and a chat with some of our neighbours.
 
There was still daylight, so back down into the thermal pool for another couple of hours.
 
On dusk, the flying foxes were active darting around grabbing the mozzies and other insects.
 
I tried the satellite dish one more time and finally a signal. This meant that we could watch the Rugby State of Origin.
 
It would have been good for Queensland to tie the series but that was not to happen with NSW taking the series 2-0.
 
Diesel in Mataranka was $1.525 a litre after a 5c discount.
 
Holidays, NT-QLD 2018, Out and About

Lets go a soaking …

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Not far to go today. Just 100 kilometres to the Mataranka Homestead and the Thermal Pool. This will be our home for a few days.
 
It is amazing what a couple of weeks will do. Two weeks ago, it was 34C on my last stay while today it only just made 29C.
 
The water in the thermal pool was still warm though and we managed a 3 hour soak.
 
It is not a bad lifestyle here with some of our neighbours spending several months here.
 
The only issue was that for 2 days, I have been unable to get the satellite dish to lock onto a signal. Not a huge loss without TV.
 
Holidays, NT-QLD 2018, Out and About

Falls, Falls everywhere a Falls …

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The morning was spent getting rid of dust in cupboards and other nooks and crannys in the van. Some dust was from last year, the year before and this trip.
 
It was then time to visit the various waterfalls in Litchfield National Park, all but one you can swim in, so we only visited the ones you could get wet in.
 
First on the list was Wangi Falls. The swimming area was open with no snapping handbags in the area and plenty of feed floating around if there was.
 
The water was certainly refreshing but you soon got used to it. With a noodle each it was easy going discovering under the falls and in the elevated rock pool.
 
After an hour, it was time to move onto the next waterfall. This time it was Florence Falls. These are a couple of k’s downstream from Buley Rockhole.
 
There was 2 ways to get to then. One was a kilometre walk along a paved path or a 400 metre descent down 135 stairs. We chose the long way of course, after-all there was a geocache to be found on the way.
 
Even though Florence Falls are mostly shaded, the water seemed to be warmer than Wangi Falls. The current was a lot stronger here but that would be due to a smaller pool for the amount of water flow.
 
After another hour or so, we headed back to Buley Rockhole to finish off the day.
 
Tomorrow we should end up in Katherine but may go all the way through to Mataranka.
 
Holidays, NT-QLD 2018, Out and About

Time for some rock holing …

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Again we are not travelling far today so after farewelling Julie and Alan, it was on the road for a short distance south to Bachelor and then to our digs at Banyan Tree Caravan Park just outside of the Litchfield National Park.
 
It was a little bit warmer down here, but at least it wasn’t humid, so after setting up the van, we headed into Litchfield National Park to swim in Buley Rockhole.
 
The water was refreshing and not very busy which was unusual for this spot. Depending on where you sit, there are spots like a spa under the waterfalls and areas which are just for relaxing.
 
A couple of hours was enough to prune up on the fingers and we arrived back at camp just on sunset.
 
Tomorrow we will head to Wangi Falls and Florence Falls.
 
Holidays, QLD NT Trip 2017

Crocs by Airboat …

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It was time to farewell Darwin for another year, even if it was a day earlier than expected. I had mucked up the departure dates but that’s OK.
 
Today’s activity in the afternoon was a surprise for Jenny so it just meant that we were going to camp a little closer to the Mary River.
 
There was no rush to get to Corroborie Park Tavern as the surprise wasn’t until 3pm this afternoon.
 
Jenny got to do some shopping. I know how she goes into withdrawal without here shopping. LOL
 
With a couple of geocache finds along the way, we arrived around 1230 at Corroborie Park Tavern.
 
What a gem this place is with open grassed sites with plenty of shade. We caught up with some other Silverline owners, Julie and Alan from NSW, chatting until we needed to head off to the Mary River at 1430.
 
The surprise for Jenny was an Wildlands Wetlands Airboat Safari on the Mary River and Wetlands, doing some croc spotting. This was something we never had a chance to do in the US, so why not here in the Territory.
 
With only 3 other passengers, it was a great experience and we were lucky to get the front seats.
 
There were plenty of crocs to spot, both freshwater and saltwater varieties but none of them tried to jump in which is a good thing.
 
We were never provided life jackets. Guess if you end up in the water, the life jacket is not going to save you from the crocs.
 
Chase and Jack took us on the tour and provided plenty of information on the fauna and flora we saw along the way.
 
Back at Corroborie Park Tavern, we spent the evening with our new friends, Julie and Alan.
 
Holidays, NT-QLD 2018

Humpty who …

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After a big weekend, there was not much activity in the van this morning. After-all, today is a rest day before the remainder of the holiday.
 
The boys rang around lunchtime to say that everyone was headed to the Humpty Doo Hotel for lunch and would we like to join them. Sounded like a plan and it wasn’t long before we were there.
 
The beverages were cold and wet, the meals were good as was the company of the crew. 
 
As we were ready to leave, a minibus arrived and out hopped the Blackwood mob following their jumping crocodile cruise. 
 
With the race crew gone, we chatted with the Blackwood mob for a while.
 
There was one more thing to do in Darwin. It was to visit a mate from Adelaide, Chris, who is also a distant cousin of Jenny. He has been battling Cancer and him and Sally have decided to do some travel around Australia but still getting chemo along the way.
 
Unfortunately he contracted pneumonia along the way, so it was into the Royal Darwin Hospital to get that sorted but then they found another tumour which needs to be sorted.
 
Chris was in high spirits but unsure of what is to come.
 
I needed to do some geocache maintenance at my Anzac Memorial cache on the foreshore then that was it for the night.
 
Holidays, Motorsport, NT-QLD 2018

Final Race Day at the Valley …

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Third day in a row to see the sun rise at the Hidden Valley Raceway and the final day for this years Supercar event.
 
Surely the drivers have worked out the track and it will be a quiet day but no one told the Porsche’s.
 
In their first race, they only managed 1 race lap in a 18 lap race due to crashes and cleanups. We even had 2 crashes on the start line with one in the restart after the 1st start crash.
 
They did behave themselves for their last race of the day and managed to do the full 35 laps without incident.
 
The final race for the Supercars became interesting in the last 10 laps with debris on the main straight causing a safety car bringing the field together for a 5 lap sprint to the end. Erebus Racing with David Reynolds took the win.
 
To finish up the weekend, we had a total of 11 medical interventions with the medical crew working well as a team. I would be happy to work with them again next year.
 
A BBQ for the officials and the 2018 Darwin Supercars has come to a conclusion for another year.
 
Holidays, Motorsport, NT-QLD 2018

Race Day 2 at the Valley …

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Another break of dawn start to the day at the Hidden Valley Raceway. 
 
Today we start to get serious with races in all categories including the big race for the day being the Supercars.
 
As usual the Porsche’s didn’t let us down with plenty of crashes but they managed to miss going off at turn 10.
 
The intervention count for today was four, now up to 6 for the weekend, 6 more than last year.
 
The whole medical team worked well and is was pleasing to be part of it.
 
To finish the day off today, we head to Stokes Hill Wharf for a meal and this year was no different.
 
I had some barramundi which tasted great and was plentiful, however the plate of oysters was disappointing.
 
Tomorrow is the final day of the Supercar races.
 
Holidays, Motorsport, NT-QLD 2018

Race Day at the Valley …

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An early start this morning, getting the the Hidden Valley Raceway on day break. After sign on and the morning briefing, it was time to meet the new Chief Medical Officer, Di.
 
Once again I am running the Medical Channel in Race Control. Getting to know Di, you could tell we would get on and there were changes made from last year to integrate the two medical teams.
 
The first big change was that both teams met at 0630 each morning for breakfast. Another change was an integrated crew in each of the Intervention vehicles.
 
There was even a job before the racing started with a pit crew having chest pains. This year looks to be a bit busier than last year.
 
Last year there was no medical calls on or off track so it was already a lot busier.
 
Today was all practice and qualifying but the Porsche’s kept us a little busy with many going off at turn 10 and hitting the tyre wall. Two of these incidents required medical intervention.
 
Meeting rides finished off the day at the track and many of us headed into town to Parliament House for the annual Chief Ministers show.
 
There was a big crowd tonight but it soon cleared after the speeches, leaving plenty of food and drink for those that were left.
 
As usual, the firies were the last to leave but it still wasn’t that late. After all we still have racing tomorrow.