Time for some rock holing …

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.
 

Crocs by Airboat …

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.
 

Humpty who …

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.
 

Final Race Day at the Valley …

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.
 

Race Day 2 at the Valley …

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.
 

Race Day at the Valley …

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.
 

Mingle at Mindil again …

An easy day today with no need for me to be at the track until later this afternoon for a Seniors Meeting. 
 
This left me time to do some maintenance on my Darwin geocaches, which showed signs of weathering or disappeared altogether after the cyclone back in March.
 
Down to the Hidden Valley Raceway to check out Race Control and all looked in order for tomorrow then up to the Seniors Meeting.
 
It was a quick one with me wasting no time to get down to Mindil Beach to catch up with 3 different groups.
 
I had missed the sunset but was sent plenty of photos  from my mates that were down there.
 
After catching up with the first 2 groups, Race Firies and the Blackwood Mob, it was time for my annual Geocaching Event, “Mingle at Mindil“.
 
I have held this event for the last 5 years and it is always interesting where the attendees come from. This years saw no locals attending but we had cachers from Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia.
 
There was still time to get something to eat at the Markets including a tropical smoothee.
 
Another good night out, tomorrow it is race time.
 

Sunset at the Ski Club …

It was a travel day to Darwin but not after having one last soak in the thermal pool. I packed up the van and soaked for an hour before hitting the road.
 
No holdups except for the occasional roadworks and was at the gate of the Discovery Caravan Park just after 1400.
 
You almost didn’t recognise the place as most of the trees were missing after the cyclone back in March.
 
Even though my site was on Shady Lane, there wasn’t much change left.
 
Tonight was the Officials BBQ at the Ski Club for the Darwin Supercars Race.
 
It was a good night for it, with temps in the mid 20’s, the beers cold, the BBQ hot and a great sunset to set it off.
 
With the Supercars Truck Parade on tonight rather than tomorrow, saw a lot of the officials disappear into the city to watch that.
 
That left the firies to drink the tab dry – challenge accepted and achieved.
 

Another day of Soaking …

After a relaxing night and bit of a sleep in, no deadlines here, it was off to float at Bitter Springs.
 
I had heard there was a new concrete path to the springs, however that was only half right. The concrete path only ran from the exit point to the entry point into the springs.
 
The path from the car park to the entry was closed as they were now concreting that path. This meant the big walk around on the eastern side to get to the entry. 
 
No wonder there are large numbers at Mataranka. Most didn’t wont to do the big walk at Bitter Springs.
 
After a couple of hours floating, walking, repeat it was time to head back to Mataranka.
 
On one pass, something moved under me. They had found a croc in here a couple of weeks ago so the heart did a couple of skips but it ended up being a turtle the size of a dinner plate.
 
Back at Mataranka there were some familiar faces in the water, Mike, Maria, Peter & Carol had come down from Darwin during their northern trip away.
 
Another couple of hours until sunset with a few flying foxes darting around grabbing the mozzies buzzing near the water.
 
Got to see Nathan “Whippy” Griggs, whip cracking show again down at the Homestead, 9th time now I guess and the stores haven’t changed over the years.
 
Tomorrow it is time to head to Darwin and the start of Race Week.
 

That’s a lot of oldies …

After a relaxing night which cooled down enough to turn off the AC, it was time for some serious soaking in the Mataranka Thermal Pool
 
I went down for a couple of 2 hour soaks, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Two hours seems to be a good time as the pruning of the fingers is not bad enough that I haven’t lost feeling in them ?
 
It appeared that I had snuck onto the set of the film, “Cocoon“, as most of the soakers were grey nomads, definitely older than me.
 
To finish the night, it was down to the Homestead to watch the Nathan “Whippy” Griggs, whip cracking show. I think it is now the 8th time I have seen it.