Week 14 : 25 May to 31 May 2012 -- Darwin

During week 14, I spent time, on Thursday and Friday, packing stuff away in preparation to leave the park and move to our housesit for the next 8 weeks.

On Friday night the Free Spirits (x10) grabbed a maxi taxi and went to the Sailing Club at Fannie Bay, for dinner. There was a table reserved adjacent to the beach and as the sun set on a slightly overcast day, we sat enjoying the view, the wonderful company and quite a few cold drinks. 

The 10 Free Spirits

It was a beautiful balmy tropical night, and the meals were thoroughly enjoyable and good value. I’d recommend it when you visit. Back at the park, we had a nightcap at the bar before calling it quits.

Vic and I were home in time to watch the Broncos get absolutely flogged by the Storm… 34 – 10. Should have stayed for another nightcap!

Saturday, Vic and I finished off our packing so we would have an easy start in the morning. That night, we all ( Free Spirits) went down to the third pool area in the back corner of the park and had a bar-b-q dinner. It was a fun night amongst really good company and was topped off by Shirley’s Apple Sponge Desert. Her blood's worth bottling…Yummo!!

The boys

The girls

I’d found a bottle of cream liqueur under the bed, while I was repacking, so an executive decision was made to ensure it travelled no further… and as Frankie Valli said… Oh what a night!

When we checked in to the Free Spirit 6½ weeks ago I’d asked if any discounts were available, if we paid up front, or any other offers were given. I was told that as it was peak season, no discounts or concessions were available. Consequently, we decided to pay week by week.  

Every Thursday I went up and paid the bill, and every week there was a drama of some sort. When we checked out, you could have knocked me over with a feather when I got my $20 key deposit back, without a fight. I’d heard at happy hour that some of our group had received a free night, free drinks at the bistro, or a discount, and some guests even got a bag of jelly beans on checkout. A fortnight ago I made this known to the park manager, and he offered us a free drink at the bar each, and said that, because we’d been there over a month, we would receive a rebate on the GST, when we paid our final week. The result was that after paying over $1,650.00, we got one house beer and one wine and $1.60 discount. Put that in your memory bank if you’re coming up this way!

We had coffee with Dave and Sandi before we left the park on Sunday, then drove down to Dripstone Cliffs where we had lunch and relaxed, before arriving at the house at about 2.30. The family was out giving Flash a good run before they headed off on their 8 week trip to the UK. Once they got away, Vic and I spent quite some time trying to put the caravan in the driveway. I’d been confident it would fit, but I hadn’t allowed for the swing of the gates, and consequently we were forced to put it down the side of the house. Sunday night we relaxed, settled in and spent time with ‘Flash the Wonder Dog’.

Dave

Dave and Sandi were to leave the caravan park on Wednesday and continue their travels west. On Tuesday night, Vic and I went back out to the park for another ‘Farewell’ bar-b-q with the Free Spirits. It was a great night again and a-laugh-a-minute, particularly when we played celebrity heads. It was a fairly sad farewell at the end of the night, but we’ve all made some lifelong friendships and will all meet again somewhere on the road. I am sure with the emails, blogs and mobiles we will anyway.

Gary & Shirley

Sandi

Dora the Explorer aka Phil

Rod

Vicki

George

We’ve settled into a new routine now that we’ve moved and it’s a quicker trip to the city each day. In the afternoon when Vic gets home, we hop on the bikes, and take Flash down to Casuarina Beach where we let her run. She loves to chase fish (that she’ll never catch) in the shallows and catches up with some of her mates down there as they go mad and burn off heaps of energy. She has dinner when we come back and usually passes out on her mat for the rest of the night. I’m sure she is pressing the envelope with me (she’s trying to convince me that she always sleeps inside!), and, no doubt, the owners will wonder what’s happened when they return, but she’s a lovely dog and very easy to look after.

By Friday this week the Free Spirits have certainly spread out, with us housesitting, Dave and Sandi on their way west, George and Shirley at home in Townsville (car and van stored in Darwin) and Gary and Michelle in Bali (car and van also stored). Rob leaves next week for Cairns, also, Bob and Helen will head on next week and Phil and Bev fly home to Melbourne this week. BJ and Robyn will be at the park until August when they will also head south looking for cooler weather.  

DC3 at the Qantas Founders Museum in Longreach

Those of you who are regular readers of my blog may recall my comments in week 5 regarding The Qantas Founders Museum in Longreach. A few weeks back I received an email from the Marketing Manager (didn’t give his/her name!) apologising for our experience and letting me know that the tour times are clearly listed on their web site. We were given the times by the staff at the Longreach Tourist Info Centre, who, I imagined, got their info from the attraction. My complaint wasn’t so much about missing the tour, as it was about the attitude of the person we dealt with at the counter. The email also informed me that the museum was currently running a training program to ensure the professionalism of the staff. If we are ever  passing through Longreach again, we were asked to please drop in and receive a VIP tour of the centre. Vic and I will certainly take them up on the offer, and hopefully, I’ll have nothing but praise for the place when I write about it in the blog.     

Since leaving Brisbane, I’ve started and finished each month with full fuel tanks so, on Wednesday, I tallied the fuel figures and the result is:

Fuel average for the trip so far :  19.1 L/100

Total kilometres : 10598 kms

Total litres          : 2065.1

Total dollars       : $3050.02 (av $1.47 / litre)

Average cost      : 28.8c / km

Highest price for fuel was $1.91 / litre at Camooweal and the lowest was $1.29.9 at Katherine. This was with a 20c Woolies voucher that we got at Mt. Isa.

Until next week… Happy travels!