Final days in Australia….  Monday, 02/09/2024

I picked up a hire car at 9am on Friday morning and headed out to Litchfield National Park. The campsite that I’d booked at Florence Falls is basic but well-maintained. I had a specific site, which was clean and simple: hard, stony ground. I pitched the tent without bothering to try and hammer spikes into the ground: it’s a bell-shaped tent and sits happily without its guy ropes. They would only be needed if wind was expected, and there was no more than a light breeze. A wonderful campground, very natural. 

It was great to sit outside the tent in the evening, peaceful and with a sky absolutely clustered with stars. It was warm, so I didn’t even bother to take a sleeping bag – the temperature wasn’t going below 22 degrees. Given the stony ground, the air mattress was important though. Altogether very relaxing: on Saturday morning I walked the 4 kilometres or so down to Buley Rockhole and swam there for a while, then returned, swam briefly at Florence Falls and then spent the afternoon sitting reading under a clump of trees not far from my tent. There I was joined by an Australian guy, who came up and said That’s a good idea, mind if I join you? We sat there reading and then had a long conversation. He works in a senior role in the Northern Territories government and goes out of Darwin often for the weekend. He was a good source of information on camping equipment – he said he’d had all the equipment that many people have and found most of it unnecessary – for a short trip he reckoned all you needed was what the Aussies call an “Eskie” – basically a cooler box with a bag of ice. Like me, he was just using a small gas burner that takes a hand-size gas cylinder. While we were talking, he said “there’s a wallaby just behind you” – and yes, there it was! We stood up to see it better and it disappeared into the bush. I then walked down to the Falls for a sunset swim – a great time of day because the day trippers all leave by about 5pm, meaning you share the huge pool with just a few fellow campers.

Mornings until about 10 and evenings after 6 are really the best times, because the heat is not so intense. Midday, it’s anything from 35 to 38 degrees: hot! I sat around drinking coffee until almost 10 on Sunday morning, then drove down to Wangi Falls and swam there for quite a while before heading back to Darwin. In the water I met a woman from Queensland who, with her husband, was coming to the end of a one-year camping tour of Australia. She was getting tired of camping but said it had been a fabulous trip, going to many off-the-beaten track places that most people never get to. (Haha, once I’m back in England, if winter proves too uncomfortable, that’s something that I wouldn’t mind doing! Australia is a very special place).

I got back to Darwin early Sunday afternoon. Sorted out my camping equipment and washed what was necessary and then did some travel admin – sending an email to the Mauritius authorities (because I likely won’t have good enough reception in Christmas Island to do it from there) and an email to Durban Marina in South Africa enquiring about a berth in the first week of November.

Darwin is such a great place, which has been really well worth visiting. If there is a cloud on its horizon, it is something politically sensitive. Which is the relatively large community of broken down people who just wander around, most barefoot and many looking half-crazed – no doubt due to drink and drugs. Without exception these people are Aborigines. They are not aggressive or threatening, and they do not beg – because they receive social security and are apparently housed. It’s sad to see people in such reduced circumstances – and particularly sad when there are children among them: young lives lost before they’ve even started.

I have spent today sorting other things out and doing some final fresh food shopping. Irritatingly, I’ve developed an infection in my left ear – no doubt from swimming (when I swam at Berry Springs last Monday there was a warning sign that parasites could be present…). I saw a doctor early afternoon: he gave me antibiotic ear drops, and because I will be at sea, a course of oral antibiotics to take if the ear drops do not prove sufficient. That was very understanding of him. 

I have my appointment with the Border Force tomorrow morning at 10am, after which I’m required to leave immediately. It looks like I’ll have light winds for the first 3 or 4 days so I expect it to be slow going, only picking up as I get closer to Christmas Island. The 1,500 mile voyage will probably take 13 or 14 days, hopefully no more. Not so bad, especially because I’ve had quite a bit of variety in Darwin, including getting well inland into the Outback – a total contrast to the sea!