An Ode to Ubi, our campervan

Well, here we are, at long last, in Darwin, north in the Northern Territory of Australia, our final destination in this country.  Yesterday, we turned in Ubi, licensed as "Victoria the Place to Be" UBQ094, our campervan, which we picked up on July 5. 

We put an astounding 9105 kilometers (5463 miles) on Ubi in the little bit over two months that we had her.  Great things about the caravan culture of Australia for tourists:

1.  We got to go wherever we wanted, without regard to bus or train schedules. 

2.  We met lots of wonderful Australians, primarily people spending their "superannuation," a government-required employee-contributed pension.  People from Victoria and Tasmania leave their homes for months at a time, and frequently, people were living in a caravan park for three to twelve months!  So there was a built-in neighborhood. 

3.  We could go anywhere and have our home with us.  For example, one night Shirl was in a meeting and Rowan was cooking dinner in the parking lot.

4.  We had a hot shower every night, thanks to Australia's great caravan parks, and thanks to Telstra's internet device, we had internet everywhere we were.  The only question was whether we had one or two sources of internet.  Connected we have been!

5.  Ubi put up with all our demands, including powering a heater in the central coast of New South Wales and Queensland and a fan in the far north of the Norther Territory and providing gas burners, fast-paced travel at 78 MPH for hours on end in the hot Outback, and lots of storage places for all our stuff.  One of her tyres blew out long from any sign of civilization in the Outback, but she proved to us how great humanity is by providing Frank, our great Good Samaritan trye-changer. 

All in all, it was a g'day here in Oz, thanks to Ubi. 

Tyre, 'cino, and springs

Today, after resting completely yesterday, we ventured out of the Tumbling Waters Caravan Park in search of a new "Tyre" for our caravan, Ubi.  Even though we were told we would have to drive about 50 kilometers/30 miles to get a tyre, we went researching and found the wonderful township of Humpty-Doo (no kidding, it is named that!) and Turbo's Tyres:

and Thom-o the Tyre Guy

assessed the situation

and looked at all the rest of our tyres and found and fixed the over-inflation of the front tyres, which has been causing the van to shudder at 110-115 K's (66 MPH), and declared that we would be road-worthy for the remaining few 50 Ks (30 miles) we have to travel to Darwin, where we turn in Ubi. 

A great treat was to find, for the first time in weeks, a place that serves capuccino.  Australia is otherwise known for everyone having an espresso machine, except in the north of the outback.  Yeah!

And then last, a walk in the wonderful Berry Springs Nature Preserve

and a swim in the non-crocodile infested springs there.  Shirl got her toe nipped by a fresh-water prawn, and lots of fishies scurried about.  Mostly, we unwound after some memories were revived of a blow-out in the middle of nowhere.  Ahh.  Sweet.

Day 6 of Travels: Falls, Flats, Frank

We traveled again on Monday, September 5th, thinking it would be a short drive, so with nary a care in the world, we stayed in Katherine long enough to view the movie based on the "We of the Never Never" book that showed everyday for free at the local pub, then headed toward Berry Springs, home of Tumbling Waters Caravan Park, where we are now.  On the way, thinking we had lots of time, we stopped at beautiful Edith Falls, hiked to its upper pool and went swimming in incredible fresh water on a very hot day.

And so then off we were, a little late. We called the caravan park to say we'd arrive within the hour (this was after we'd finally realized we had triple the amount of time needed to get there).  Then just 15 km/9 miles out of Adelaide River, where we made that call, and 51 km/30 miles from our destination, Rowan said, something feels funny.   I am stopping, right now.  Hmmm.

In the numbered pictures below: 1. So, yes, we had a huge blow-out of a flat, at dusk, miles from anywhere.  Eek!  After thinking a bit, Shirl started waving her arms up and down and flagged down our hero, Frank, who was on his way home from gold mining. Note that we had no cell phone service. No way to walk back. It was getting dark fast. And we'd canceled our AAA service anyway! 2. Frank, who knows a lot about being stranded because his parents took him all around the remote western parts of Australia several times when he was a child, knew exactly what to do and what it's like to be stranded.  3. Here, Frank works off the side of the road showing the sun going down fast and the remoteness of our breakdown.  Fortunately, there was a shoulder here, we were not on a bridge, and the road trains with three or four trailers were just far anough away, and it was cool at dusk but not completely black.  4. Our hero Frank saved the day.  What a generous and wonderful person.  

A Cruise and a Roo

Sunday the 4th was a nice day of cruising the Katherine River, through three gorges

and seeng wildlife up close and personal.  Hi, Roo!

Short Day 5: Less Than an Hour to Katherine

We drove fast and furiously in the past few days so with the extra time we had to get to Katherine, all we needed to do was pack up and go over to a place where at noon they show the movie We of the Never Never, that portrays the Gunns as they settled into Mataranka (where we were at the Moment Moment) in 1901 to drive cattle, get sick and die. Luckily, Mrs Gunn survived to write a novelized version of her life with the aborigines and every kid in Australia has heard the story. Most, though, have never been to the town, seen the movie, or read the novel itself, just like Americans and their own rich history!

Before we regal you with stories of Katherine, we're going to treat you to our own movie of Shirl and Rowan floating down the Roper Creek, aka Bitter Springs, which is a lovely, warm, shaded, peaceful, little soupçon of wilderness in an otherwise hot, dry, part of "the glorious NT." (Actually, we've not once heard anyone say glorious when referring to the Northern Territory, but it could happen.) Anyway, this little river, as you'll see below, was so restful and inviting, we just had to do a little movie of us floating our cares away.