This Adventurous Age

Adventures travelling and working around Australia.

Monthly Archives: May 2020


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2006 Travels August 14

MONDAY 14 AUGUST     DARWIN

John phoned the company number that was in the newspaper job ad. It connected to their head office in Alice Springs. He explained that there were two of us and that I could do clerical work. He did not mention that I was less than willing! They were interested – at which I was amazed. The woman that John spoke to offered him $30 an hour. I don’t know what possessed him, but he replied that we were worth more than that! And, bugger me, she upped it to $35 an hour! That would be EACH.

We had been working for $14 and $16 an hour at the cafe. So, I was even more amazed.

It would be a four month job, down in the WA Pilbara, somewhere. We were to go for an interview, tomorrow, at their Darwin office. John told M that he would see if they had a job for her, too – she said she was definitely not interested! Funny how he seemed to take more notice of her – a little, at least.

I was really quite ambivalent about this possible job. I was looking forward to a leisurely run home, being tourists down the Centre again. I really did not want to be working until almost Xmas. I was rather suspicious of it all because it seemed too hasty, too easy, not enough questions asked. Like us – Safety Officer and Site Clerk? Really?

After lunch the three of us drove out of town, to Window on the Wetland and then to Fogg Dam.

Window was new since the years I was bringing students up here and was an information centre about the Adelaide River flood plains. The Centre was up on a hill – fairly important in a flood plain area – so it looked out over the wetlands – which were quite dry at this time of year!

We browsed the information displays for a while, but without the wet component of wetlands, there was not all that much to look out on – just dry flat land.

Moved on to Fogg Dam. We parked at the start of the causeway that crossed the Fogg Dam wall. We were not sure that we were allowed to drive over it. Was not a very substantial looking structure.

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Slathered ourselves with anti-bitey creams, then walked across the causeway, keeping a very close watch for any signs of crocs, given the several warning notices that were there.

It was about a 3kms return walk, to go across the dam wall and on to the Pandanus Lookout. It was really pretty, with prolific bird life – so many egrets, assorted duck varieties, waders of various descriptions.

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The Fogg Dam was originally built, in the 1950’s, to irrigate rice growing at nearby Humpty Doo. I explained to M and John how every magpie goose in the Top End decided that they liked baby rice plants, and that was the end of that scheme. It made a superb wetland area, though!

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Egret and Magpie Geese

After we returned back across the dam wall, did the 2.2kms Woodlands to Waterlilies walk, which was also really pleasant and interesting.

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Reflections on the walk

Then, back to Darwin after a most enjoyable day.


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2006 Travels August 12

SATURDAY 12 AUGUST     DARWIN

Went shopping for some foodstuffs, and bought newspapers.

Had lunch at the food court at Casuarina.

Refuelled Truck at Casuarina – $1.36cpl.

Reading the papers occupied much of the rest of the day.

Oh dear, John had gone back into work mode – just when I was enjoying being a tourist again.

He saw an ad tacked up in the camp kitchen, wanting workers for the coming mango harvest season, for farms and sheds at Humpty Doo.  He phoned the given number and expressed an interest in sorting/packing work – and thus had us put on the work list. All that prior experience – all six weeks of same – seemed to count for something!

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Darwin localities

Darwin localities

Then, in the afternoon, he saw an ad in the Darwin paper – for a Safety Officer/clerk  for a Territory based company. The ad stressed that the work was in a remote location. He was intrigued. Think I’d had enough of “remote” for the time being. I was sure I preferred mangos!

I cooked a roast lamb dinner for all of us. It felt slightly strange, to be cooking “normal” food again.


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2006 Travels August 11

FRIDAY 11 AUGUST     DARWIN

Back into town where I wanted to check out a couple of aboriginal art galleries.

The first of these was a let-down, both in terms of the type of offering  and the prices set. We were not tempted by anything.

I was much more impressed at the Framed Gallery. Unfortunately, could not afford any of the several works that I liked. But bought a pair of earrings – silver Lightning Man figures – for $112. That was a lot for earrings, but I love the Lightning Man legend as depicted at the Nourlangie  rock art site in Kakadu, so just could not resist these. I was sure no one else I meet at home would  have anything like them.

We returned the little Colt, which had been great to zip around town in, and got Truck back. Whatever else one can say about the Defender, it definitely does not zip in city traffic! Just hoped  it really was  finally fixed.

Went out again for tea. Funny that I could not get too enthusiastic about cooking, myself!

Went to Yots Greek Restaurant, at the Cullen Bay Marina. This had been recommended by M’s friend who lived at the Marina, and she came too. Although the food was very pleasant, it was expensive – $120 for the two of us!

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Cullen Bay Marina and surrounding apartment buildings


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2006 Travels August 10

THURSDAY 10 AUGUST     DARWIN

Today was our wedding anniversary – 15 years. The time had gone quickly, but we had packed a lot into it.

M’s Troopy was booked in for a service in the morning, so we collected her from the service centre, almost right in the centre of town. Then went to breakfast at the Cool Spot. M had not been there before.

From there, it was on to the Darwin Bowls Club, where we did three hours of practice. In my case, it was sorely needed.

Lunch was at the Casuarina shopping centre food court – but with restraint, in anticipation of this evening.

Took M back to pick up the Troopy.

Went to Mindil Beach Markets, at about 4pm. Our idea was to get in and get parked before the crowds that would come for the sunset,  but it was already starting to get busy. Wandered about, checking out stalls. Did not see anything that I was tempted to buy.

Eventually, we bought from the many and varied food stalls, for tea. Now there we found  many tempting offerings, unlike the general stalls!

We sat on the beach and watched the sun go down – as one does at Mindil Beach.

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The sunset did not disappoint. A couple of passing small boats added to the scenes.

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It was about 8pm when we headed back to the van.

Decided that I find the Mindil Markets just a bit too crowded and frenetic for my taste, these days.


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2006 Travels August 9

WEDNESDAY 9 AUGUST     DARWIN

We  left early, to take Truck to Landrover, for a new assessment and eventual fix. We were lent a little Mitsubishi Colt for the duration – no charge for this, since they hadn’t fixed the clutch problem  last time. We appreciated that.

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Hidden Valley site – our en-suite building at back, complete with our own clothes line

M was going to do her own thing this morning, while we did assorted mundane things. I think washing figured large on her agenda.

After leaving Truck, we went to the Cool Spot for breakfast. It was really pleasant – almost decadent – sitting on the veranda, in the morning’s warmth, looking out over the sea.

We went to Casuarina shops. I found a place that could cut my hair, with little waiting, at a reasonable price. The cut was adequate.

We found an  optometrist where John had his eyes tested. Two new pairs of glasses would be needed – one for normal use and one for close up work, as per usual. He ordered these – they would be ready for collection on Friday week. We knew we would be here until at least then, because the Rumble in the Jungle Bowls event was not until 19th.

Went back to the van for lunch, after doing a grocery shop.

In the afternoon, we all drove into the city centre. Took Tiger Brennan Drive, which we could get onto easily, not far from the caravan park. This was the closest thing Darwin had to a freeway and allowed traffic to avoid the heap of traffic lights and slower going of the Stuart Highway.

Darwin was still small enough to be able to get a parking spot not too far from the central Mall.

I wanted to stroll the Mall, looking at the tourist oriented shops, with a view to getting Xmas presents for the family. There was no shortage of places to look at, though the merchandise was pretty repetitive.

Bought two rubbery crocodiles, some 25cm long, for my two grandchildren. I remember my son having one, as a little boy – could not remember where it came from. He loved it and had to have “Fierce” at bedtimes. I hoped the two I bought today might become as loved.

John bought a polo shirt with a Darwin logo, and me a T shirt with a small, stitched logo. We bought a couple of stubby holders, and two somewhat risque souvenirs for son and my brother.

M did some similar shopping for her family members.

We walked around some of the central streets, just browsing.

At a shop called House of Pearls, John bought me a pair of pearl earrings that I liked. They were dangly ones, with several tiny pinky coloured pearls – freshwater mussel ones? – on long wires. Rather “different” , for $50.

After a sojourn back at the van, we all drove back to town, to the Stokes Hill Wharf, for a very nice seafood dinner. The set up there was that a number of hawker style food outlets had been set up in one of the former shipping buildings. Seafood predominated in  both Asian and Australian establishments. The procedure was that one bought their food, then found a spot at one of the tables outside, on the wharf apron, and ate, overlooking the sea. Very relaxed, cool, enjoyable,  and very pretty at night.

It had been a day of being tourists, which was very pleasant to do. We were able to enjoy Darwin, without a heap of business to see to and without having to head out of town on a long drive at the end of the day.


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2006 Travels August 8

TUESDAY 8 AUGUST   LITCHFIELD TO DARWIN   170kms

Packed up, hitched up.

Went up to the cafe to say goodbyes. Boss 1 and B had still not returned from Darwin. There had been no acknowledgement from him at all – no thanks, goodbyes, or anything. At least we parted on good terms from boss 2.

So – goodbye to the Monsoon Cafe. It would be a while before I would eat hamburgers or mango cheesecake again!

Goodbye to Litchfield – wonderful area. Hoped we would return – but as tourists!

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We took the sealed roads back to Darwin. Called in at Batchelor to check that there was no final mail for us.

We passed a couple of the day tripper buses heading out to the attractions of Litchfield, and lunch at the cafe.

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There seemed to still be lots of tourist traffic on the roads.

Went into our pre-booked en-suite site at Hidden Valley Tourist Park, booking in for two weeks. It cost $35 a night, but the seventh night was free.

M appeared, soon after we pulled onto site. She’d spent a few nights with her friend at her Cullen Bay apartment.

We did a full set up. The site was not huge, but the en-suite was very pleasant. It was a very practical design for this environment, with plenty of air circulation, and metal door structures, instead of wood.

M was on an ordinary powered site, some distance away. I told her to use our bathroom if she wished, rather than the shared amenities block.

We had happy hour at our site, catching up on our respective happenings of the past few days, and discussing what we might do now.

First item on the agenda was to get Truck fixed – hopefully, properly this time.


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2006 Travels August 2 – 7

WEDNESDAY 2 TO MONDAY 7 AUGUST     LITCHFIELD

Well, my grand solution for the cafe did not work out so well. H had resigned!

I came on duty on Monday morning, to find all hell had broken loose. Yesterday, Boss 1 was in one of his worse moods, and had prowled around the kitchen, being negative and difficult. Showing his true colours, for the first time, to H.

This morning, H started at 7.30. Boss was checking everything out. He found a little – almost microscopic – piece of slimy capsicum, in prepared salad, and promptly threw the whole large container of same in the bin. With words. That was the last straw for H, who had not had a comfortable day yesterday. She said she would serve out a week’s notice, but would not work with boss 1, only with me or boss 2, or on her own.

I had lasted months – she did not even manage a few days! The nice man she thought she knew was not the reality.

I think the three of us probably did not do anyone a service, by putting up with the crap dished out by the boss. Just led him to think everyone would be as immune to him as we were. Not everyone could just find him pathetic and rather amusing, and not take him personally, the way we did. Several times, John had challenged some of his more outrageous instructions, and stood up to him, saying if boss didn’t like it, he could sack him – and of course, that did not happen.

Boss now had to try to smooth things over, because he really wanted D to do the building work. It looked like D would stay long enough to do that, and H would just veg out at their camper, once her week’s notice was up.

I just hoped this would not affect Boss 2’s holiday plans. But not to the extent that I was prepared to reverse our decision to leave!

About 8.30am on Wednesday morning, in the aftermath of all that, H was in the kitchen with me, in tears over the issues with boss. He had been in such a bad mood that he’d stormed out of the kitchen and promptly had a confrontation with B. So she was in the office corner of the cafe, sobbing her heart out. I was slicing up a particularly strong batch of onions, so had tears streaming down my face. A customer came into the cafe. Despite my tears, I was the only non-upset person around, so I went out to serve him. He could hear two sobbing ladies, and there was I with eyes streaming. He looked very alarmed. I said  “It’s OK, it’s only onions!”. Not sure what he really thought, but he ordered his coffee and went and sat outside, away from the drama. I made the coffee, wiped my eyes and took it out to him.

So things were a bit strained. I did not even try to talk H around – because boss 1 really was horrible to work for – and she was less tolerant of idiots than I was. Anyway, the problem was not of my making!

Thursday was M’s last day. She finished with no fanfare. Friday, she packed up camp and headed off to Darwin, to stay with her friend there. She took our mail to post there.

Eventually, things got lighter, because on Friday, Boss 1 and B headed off to Darwin as usual, for the weekend. That left John and Boss 2 to run the bus group lunch area, and H and me in the kitchen. I was grateful that H was working out her notice. Being solo in the kitchen through the busy weekend lunch period was not something I would have enjoyed!

D, whose original trade was as a mechanic, and who knew Landrovers really well, reckoned our ongoing clutch problem was with the master cylinder. He gave John the name of a good place in Brisbane to source Landrover parts.

When there was time, we had to do all the necessary paperwork arrangements with boss 2, for pay finalization, group certificate issue, and the like.

On Monday, the afternoon was fairly quiet. With H still on deck, boss 2 said we could finish at 3pm and do some packing up of our camp. Much appreciated.

I was quite looking forward to a change of scene, and going back to being tourists. Our three months here had been  – well, interesting would be one way of putting it. And I had loved our camp by the creek.

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2006 Travels August 1

TUESDAY 1 AUGUST     LITCHFIELD

Day off. H was officially working in the cafe. Her first solo day. She was a much more experienced cook than me, so should have not had any issues.

We commenced the packing up and organization for our departure – in amongst doing the washing, cleaning the van and generally relaxing.

In the shop section that was part of the cafe, I did some browsing amongst the unmounted canvas art works that were for sale – done by a local indigenous lady that Boss 1 knew. I’d had my eye on some of these for a while. Brolgas featured prominently. I thought the prices set were fair. Canvas sizes ranged from fairly large, down to about 40x20cms. Bought a large brolga depiction for us, and several small ones destined to be Xmas presents for the offspring. John could mount or frame them. That accounted for at least a week of my wages!

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2006 Travels July 26 – 31

WEDNESDAY 26 TO MONDAY 31 JULY      LITCHFIELD

This was what passed for a fairly routine period here. For four of the six days, I did not get any time to have lunch. 5.15pm was the earliest I finished, 6pm the latest.

The bus group lunch numbers were consistently high, as was the drop-in trade. This really was quite a good business, at least in the Dry season.

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Cafe customers consistently asked if we did chips. Whilst, as cook, I was pleased that we didn’t, it was a definite gap in the offering. A reason for not doing it was the power that an electric fryer would need – not compatible with the power generator here.

Boss 2 was talking of buying a shipping container  and converting it to a living unit for he and wife. She only came out here for occasional weekend visits, having daughters attending school in Darwin. His caravan was old and rather grotty, so having better accommodation here might result in her spending more time, and maybe even full time when the girls are independent.

Late one afternoon, there was a nankeen night heron standing around, in the staff shower! Just kind of paddling in the water from someone’s shower.

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Nankeen Night Heron

Sunday afternoon, H and D arrived and settled their camper by the creek, a bit upstream from us. John showed them around the place and they talked with Boss 2 for a while. Then, late in the day, Boss 1 arrived back from Darwin and they talked with him, especially about the building work that D could do. If he is fully occupied with construction, not sure who is going to look after the grounds upkeep, or help B with the bus group lunches and clean up – in the absence of John and M.

Monday H shadowed me and I tried to teach her as much of the routines of the cafe, as I could. Boss 1 set her husband to work.