Big Trip: Chapter Two

Matilda has gone. We finally sold her on Monday to a couple of Germans. They really made us work for it though, trying to get us to sort out all their registration, insurance and all. It took nearly 4 hours but we finally got the money and handed the keys over. Good luck to them...

We had a good night on Monday celebrating with a few of our campsite neighbours and the next morning, with heavy heads we left the campsite that has been our home for the past few weeks and set off for Katherine. A bloke called Brett who had been at the campsite longer than us also set off so we're sort of travelling in convoy with him at the moment and will probably end up spending christmas with him and a few others in Broome. That's the current plan but our plans don't tend to stick around very long.

After arriving in Katherine we booked ourselves a trip to Katherine Gorge (Nitmiluk Gorge to be politically correct). So yesterday we picked up a canoe and paddled along the gorge. It's hot down here, around 40 degrees in the gorge, but we seem to be conditioned to the heat now, as there was virtually no shade yesterday and we were fine by the end of the day. Who knows how we'll cope with a British winter again...

Once we've sorted out a few things in Katherine we'll finally be getting onto the highway that heads west. We'll be leaving the Northern Territory and crossing into Western Australia in a couple of days. Our next stop will be Victoria River or Timber Creek, but it should just be a quick stop.

For reference we got the tent up in 30 minutes on Tuesday, and down in 15 today. That's half the time of our first attempt. We'll keep you informed on this as we improve...

Pics from the gorge:

Status: Static

Hello.

Just a quick update since not much has changed since our last one. The curse of Matilda continues to haunt us, as despite having a fair amount of interest we have still been unable to sell her. The first couple to see it made us an offer which we accepted, and when it came to handing the keys over they changed their minds, claiming "something came up... I'm going through some things right now... there's been a change at work," and so on.

We had two couples interested on Saturday and the first were going to go for it pending a check by a mechanic, due today. We rang them today and they told us they'd bought another car.

Because we expected them to buy, we told the second couple from Saturday that they'd have to wait even though they probably would have made us an offer too. We did the moral thing and got bitten on the arse, so it's no mercy from now on.

We've had to drop the price now and will just have to hope the bad luck that seems latched to the van finally runs out and we can get on the road. We must sell it soon; we have two beers left that we said we won't touch until the van is gone...

And that's something we're very keen to do. We met a bloke called Stan on the caravan park and he's come up from the west coast. He sat down with us a couple of nights ago and gave us a huge pile of tips about places to see and things to do on our next journey. We're extremely pleased we've bought a 4WD too because it opens up a whole new world for us.

Because we had expected to be without the van by now, we moved into our new home the other day. We considered putting a bed in the car but it's just not practical. We have chosen to go for a a big tent to give us a bit more space and comfort at the expense of a lot more faffing about when we arrive somewhere.

Another shot of our new beast:


Our new home:


Our expanding collection of cars and homes:

Slight change of plan

We left Darwin and went straight to Litchfield National Park, which everyone says is better than the World Heritage Listed Kakadu. Since the farm was on the Kakadu border anyway, we felt we'd probably got a decent feel for that area so Litchfield it was. We had a great couple of days there, swimming in the creeks and under the waterfalls. We were even joined by a Goanna in one of the rockpools!

Then it was back towards the highway and south towards Katherine but on the way, our minds changed. We suddenly realised that if we were to buy a 4WD and sell our van, there wasn't going to be a better place to do it than Darwin for thousands of kilometres. So, we turned round and went straight back to the city and immediately began the car hunt.

We got lucky. A car that Chris from the farm had seen before (he's a former lord of mechanics) was still available so we phoned up and arranged a viewing. A comprehensive poke around the car, a short test drive and bit of haggling later we found ourselves with a big old Toyota Land Cruiser. With 4WD, we can now go anywhere.

That was Monday and ever since then, we've been running round putting up posters to sell our beloved van. A couple came to see it last night and seemed happy but haven't made an offer yet, and we're showing it to somebody else this afternoon. We're just desparately hoping that we have some luck and can sell it soon. We feel we're owed a bit of luck where Matilda's concerned.

As soon as all the paperwork is done, we're out of here. Our twin-turbo cooling system (two small desk fans) we've rigged up in the back of the van just about stops us drowning in our own sweat as we sleep but it's still bloody hot up here and the humidity just drains all your energy. It must be what it's like to be morbidly obese; just getting out of a seat requires a couple of minutes preparation.

All being well, the next stage of our journey will begin within a week. We're off to find ourselves a nice big tent this afternoon...

Pic time!

As a little reward before we left, Charlotte got to have a go on the quad:


We had a sweep for the Melbourne cup (bit like an Aussie Grand National) on our last day on the farm:


Swimming in Buley Rockholes (a series of small pools and waterfalls) in Litchfield NP:


This little fella was in the pool with us:


A little frog in the caravan park kitchen (by "kitchen", we mean "a sink"):


Wangi Falls in Litchfield NP (cracking place for a swim):


An awesome sight, even if it did pass us by:


Out with the old:


In with the new:

Goodbye Darwin

Just a quick update for this morning. We left the farm on Tuesday in the end but we are still in Darwin at the moment. We took a day yesterday to recharge and get some more supplies and thing for the van, including a fan because it's unbearably hot here now we're without such luxuries as air-conditioning.

We had a look at a few cars yesterday and found a nice big old 4WD, but unfortunately we got there too late as it had already been sold. We could probably get something but we decided it was not worth hanging round to try and sell the van and so today we're off this morning. It's so humid here that it's difficult to do anything, so we'll be heading south to Litchfield national park for a swim in the waterfalls there. Hopefully that'll cool us down.

After that it's further south to return to Katherine, where we'll be exploring the Gorge there via kayak.

And then it's off to the west coast for the next chapter in our story...

Speak to you all soon. Oh, and happy birthday Ste!

Nearly time to say goodbye

We've just about done our time here at the cashew resort (as it's now known). We'll be leaving on Monday providing we can get the car fixed and work out how to fit all our stuff back into it.

Although it's been mostly been a cycle of work - beer - sleep a few things have changed since our last update. Most notably, after over three months of hot, dry sunshine we've finally had some rain. On Wednesday a sinister looking cloud came over the horizon bringing thunder and spectacular lightning with it. The worst of it missed the houses but the road into the farm took a bit of a battering apparently, and Brett and Pete had to go out and clear it. Hopefully we'll be able to get out when it's time to go!

A couple more storms passed by today too so it's probably a matter of time before the farm gets a good one. It'd be great to see but there's a good chance of getting stuck here so it's probably a good time to scarper.

Live Update: As it happens there's a massive storm heading our way just as I'm typing this. The sky's flashing like a christmas tree!

With the wet weather has come a load of magpie geese too, which moved into the farm just before the rain started. Apparently they're quite edible...

We had a trip into town last Monday - our first day off in 3 weeks - and after treating ourselves to a KFC, we had a look at some cars. The van is just too much of a liability and we're considering getting a 4WD to give us more options as we head into the rugged west. The backpackers have largely buggered off from Darwin so the choice was minimal but there was a 4WD there that caught our eye and if it's still there when we leave we'll be considering it. That idea is up in the air at the moment but watch this space.

It'll be sad to leave the farm as it's been a real experience. In fact it's something that we'd have happily paid for in all honesty so getting paid to be here has been pretty sweet.

The other development is that we've now done 3 months harvest work which allows us to apply for a second visa, giving us another 12 months in Oz. We made the decision a few weeks ago which is why we've stayed at the farm for so long. Fear not though, I know you're all missing us terribly and are desparate to have us back but we don't intend to stay in Oz for the full 12 months. We just wanted to give ourselves a bit more time to finish our circuit of the country (we're only halfway round so far) and also it will allow us to work again at some point, so we don't have to live on a shoestring so much and will be able to afford to do some more exciting things.

Finally, we'd both like to wish Jez and Vicky all the best for their wedding tomorrow. It's a real bugger we can't be there so have a good one and we'll certainly have a few beers on your behalf!

Even more finally, a mish-mash of piccies:

A little huntsman spider that was running round the kitchen. For some reason, most of the spiders around here are missing a few legs:


The old water truck. The story is that they went to nudge it out of the way with a tractor a few months ago, but it fired up and rolled right through the steel crash barrier and into the billabong, where it remained for a few weeks before they figured out how to drag it back out:


Billabong by night:


Kev and a cashew tree:


The storm coming in last Wednesday (and Charlotte if you can spot her):