My theme for the day is heat (or lack of) - not that I have had a theme before, but plus ca change.
We started our day with a visit to Berry Springs, a fabulous “thermal” spring that lets you sit below and behind a small waterfall, then slowly drift down the creek, into the aptly named big pool, followed by the little pool. The ground water here is so warm that it doesn’t need to be thermal to be warm enough to while away a morning bathing, swimming (with little effort) and generally relaxing. In fact the laziest of us can simply drift down stream, get out at the end, walk back up and do it all again. Marvellous! My only regret is that I found the noodle seller as we were leaving - and only 6 bucks! I could have expended even less energy for only 6 dollars!
So to my theme: Nearly every Australian I have spoken to (or overheard) seems to think that England is in the Arctic. “Its cold there right?”; “You don’t see much sun do ya?” “You just come back from London? Was it cold?” They don’t even believe me when I tell them it is actually just as hot at home as it is here, right now - round about 30C. I have concluded it is less a matter of geography than national pride - Australia has a “better” climate than the UK, therefore it is a better place. I hate to burst their bubble so I have started telling them how we usually have to wear down jackets in the summer - unfortunately some of them have been there and know that is occasionally true! All good fun!
My second heat related observation (with tongue firmly in cheek), is related to beer. "Ye don't know how to serve beer cold in England do ya? Its always warm." To which my stock answer is now, "You certainly know how to make it cold, if only you could get it to taste of something!" Hasn’t stopped me imbibing a few of the amber nectars and enjoying the craic. And at the end of a hot day - I suppose I can grant that a cold beer does the job. Talking of which I think we have some in the fridge. Cheers!
Back to the travel…after Berry Springs we made a short detour to the wonderfully named Crazy Acre Mango Farm. Lunch / elevenses / second breakfast consisted of various concoctions, all including mango. Clearly they can grow good mangoes here - mango smoothie and chia anyone? Ham and mango chutney? Mango chicken something or other. (And a sneaky mango scone and homemade jam (yes, mango) for a takeaway!) Brilliant place, which meant that by 1pm we had travelled precisely 5km (ok maybe not precisely).
But with only about 150km or so to travel today, we decided to take another detour to Adelaide River, where first we met a young English woman behind the bar, who could not quite believe she had ended up so far away from an H&M shop, and was on the verge of quitting (it was the end of her 3rd week). We thought Adelaide River was one of the bigger places we had stopped at so I hope she finds her way back to Darwin at least and doesn’t try out another roadhouse.
But more importantly we went to visit the WWII cemetery. Reminiscent of those in northern France, this is beautifully maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and is a fitting memorial to those service men and women who died in the south pacific campaign, after Japan attacked first Pearl harbour and then Darwin. I am never other than moved by these places; to me they serve as a reminder of how we must continue to resist fascism, we must never drop our guard, and how many gave their lives to ensure it was so. I think we live in a dangerous age in which some of our elected leaders, notably the president of the United States, pay little regard to the established moral norms and laud the achievements of the current crop of fascists around the world. We in the UK have a politician who has a similar disregard for truth and is only motivated by his own ambition and ego - I understand he resigned as the most incompetent foreign secretary ever, only yesterday. Good riddance, but he’s still dangerous!
Blimey, I have managed to get cold beer and fascism into the same blog! After an interesting and thoughtful 20 minutes or so at the Adelaide River Cemetery, we headed over towards Litchfield National Park for the night, stopping briefly in Batchelor, at the “famous” Batchelor General Stores for a few supplies. (I’m not sure what it is famous for).
So as I finish today’s ramblings, I am sitting in the campsite just outside the National Park, the sun has just gone down, I have a beer (cold obviously) on the table, and someone has just said there is a snake in the camp. I haven’t told Nareesa - we’ll be gone by the time she reads this!