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| OUR BIG TRIP MARY & OLI GOING AROUND AUSTRALIA |
TOP END - Page 10
2 August 2007, Thursday
Today we wanted to have the car windows tinted to keep the heat out and have a look at the Indo Pacific Maritime Museum.
However in the morning the check engine light came on and that changed things slightly. I tried to call the Jeep Dealer in
town, but they told me that I can not come until 3 pm, but should be able to drive the car. It sounded o.k. and I guess the
washing of the car yesterday made water go somewhere. So after waiting a couple of hours in the morning to get in contact
with the Jeep Dealer we drove it to the window tinting place and went off to the Aquarium. The tour at the aquarium was
given by a German Maritime Biologist from Rostock - well Germans are everywhere! Quite an amazing place, they have self
sustained basins which are full of coral and fish and other stuff. They have sunlight and moonlight and the only thing they do
is to fill it up with rainwater due to evaporation of water. No feeding, no changing of water, etc. - some of the pools have been
like that for the last 32 years !!! Amazing place - but a little too expensive for our liking. After that, we drove the car to Kerry's
Service and the guy then told me that they can not do anything until tomorrow morning so we had to leave it there. Back at
the camping spot, many of the people told me that Kerry is very bad and I should be careful about them. They own half of the
brands in Darwin including Jeep and are not very friendly. Lets see what happens during the next few days. I guess we have
to stay a little longer in Darwin as expected.
3 August 2007, Friday
Waiting for the car... called three times and nothing happens. At 1 pm I just went to the place and wanted to move the car from
them to another workshop. When I arrived the car was already done and it was the TPS (Throttle Position Sensor) which
needed cleaning and some contact spray - I guess. Well good job - maybe !!! I went back to camp, recharged the air filter and
did some other maintenance and started the car afterwards - Check Engine light came on again !!! This time I found it myself
and it was the Jet Chip - which had slightly corroded at three pins. Well, cleaned it and see how we go in the next few days.
We are staying until Monday before we leave. It is a long weekend in Darwin due to the Darwin Cup (Horse Race) and due to
the Long Weekend we think that Litchfield NP will be pretty full, so we wait until next week.
4 August 2007, Saturday
O.k. here is what we did on Saturday....
Nothing much - he he he, you know what NT (Northern Territory) really stands for?
NT = Not Today, Not Tomorrow, Not Tuesday, Not Thursday, Not ...
The Darwin area has taken us with its relaxation and laid back style.
5 August 2007, Sunday
O.k. here is what we did on Sunday....
Nothing again - well I (Oli) did get a haircut. Mary actually did it, and not bad !!! Is that a sea-change? No way - we stay
Engineers.
Besides that just packing for leaving tomorrow.
6 August 2007, Monday
Today, we finally left Darwin and headed off towards Litchfield. We took the Northern Entrance through Cox Peninsula Rd
which is half gravel. A guy in Edith Falls told us that we will find the best Termite Mound structures just before the Finnis
River Crossing and the road is not too bad. The road was o.k. except the last bit after the crossing was quite corrugated in
places. The driving through the Termite Mound field was great, no tracks just yourself and the mounds. Those are all
Magnetic Termites which build their mounds in a North-South direction. The story is that this way the mounds heat up in the
morning when the sun comes up and stay even for the rest of the day until the afternoon when the sun heats it up again
before the night. They need a almost constant humidity and temperature in their mounds, so that is why - Did you learn
something? The other mounds you normally see are the Cathedral Termite Mounds which are huge, some of them higher
than 6 m. Besides seeing this we stopped first at Wangi Falls to see if we get a camping spot. The amount of people at the
Falls was amazing, but the Camping was quite o.k. at the time and we took a spot. Later we got visitors in our place, because
you are supposed to share the campsites during busy times. Irish couple and he joined us for the fire at night. We collected
firewood again to make a fire and we actually used it for cooking too. First time and will do so tomorrow again. Here are a few
pictures.
2 August 2007, Thursday
Today we wanted to have the car windows tinted to keep the heat out and have a look at the Indo Pacific Maritime Museum.
However in the morning the check engine light came on and that changed things slightly. I tried to call the Jeep Dealer in
town, but they told me that I can not come until 3 pm, but should be able to drive the car. It sounded o.k. and I guess the
washing of the car yesterday made water go somewhere. So after waiting a couple of hours in the morning to get in contact
with the Jeep Dealer we drove it to the window tinting place and went off to the Aquarium. The tour at the aquarium was
given by a German Maritime Biologist from Rostock - well Germans are everywhere! Quite an amazing place, they have self
sustained basins which are full of coral and fish and other stuff. They have sunlight and moonlight and the only thing they do
is to fill it up with rainwater due to evaporation of water. No feeding, no changing of water, etc. - some of the pools have been
like that for the last 32 years !!! Amazing place - but a little too expensive for our liking. After that, we drove the car to Kerry's
Service and the guy then told me that they can not do anything until tomorrow morning so we had to leave it there. Back at
the camping spot, many of the people told me that Kerry is very bad and I should be careful about them. They own half of the
brands in Darwin including Jeep and are not very friendly. Lets see what happens during the next few days. I guess we have
to stay a little longer in Darwin as expected.
3 August 2007, Friday
Waiting for the car... called three times and nothing happens. At 1 pm I just went to the place and wanted to move the car from
them to another workshop. When I arrived the car was already done and it was the TPS (Throttle Position Sensor) which
needed cleaning and some contact spray - I guess. Well good job - maybe !!! I went back to camp, recharged the air filter and
did some other maintenance and started the car afterwards - Check Engine light came on again !!! This time I found it myself
and it was the Jet Chip - which had slightly corroded at three pins. Well, cleaned it and see how we go in the next few days.
We are staying until Monday before we leave. It is a long weekend in Darwin due to the Darwin Cup (Horse Race) and due to
the Long Weekend we think that Litchfield NP will be pretty full, so we wait until next week.
4 August 2007, Saturday
O.k. here is what we did on Saturday....
Nothing much - he he he, you know what NT (Northern Territory) really stands for?
NT = Not Today, Not Tomorrow, Not Tuesday, Not Thursday, Not ...
The Darwin area has taken us with its relaxation and laid back style.
5 August 2007, Sunday
O.k. here is what we did on Sunday....
Nothing again - well I (Oli) did get a haircut. Mary actually did it, and not bad !!! Is that a sea-change? No way - we stay
Engineers.
Besides that just packing for leaving tomorrow.
6 August 2007, Monday
Today, we finally left Darwin and headed off towards Litchfield. We took the Northern Entrance through Cox Peninsula Rd
which is half gravel. A guy in Edith Falls told us that we will find the best Termite Mound structures just before the Finnis
River Crossing and the road is not too bad. The road was o.k. except the last bit after the crossing was quite corrugated in
places. The driving through the Termite Mound field was great, no tracks just yourself and the mounds. Those are all
Magnetic Termites which build their mounds in a North-South direction. The story is that this way the mounds heat up in the
morning when the sun comes up and stay even for the rest of the day until the afternoon when the sun heats it up again
before the night. They need a almost constant humidity and temperature in their mounds, so that is why - Did you learn
something? The other mounds you normally see are the Cathedral Termite Mounds which are huge, some of them higher
than 6 m. Besides seeing this we stopped first at Wangi Falls to see if we get a camping spot. The amount of people at the
Falls was amazing, but the Camping was quite o.k. at the time and we took a spot. Later we got visitors in our place, because
you are supposed to share the campsites during busy times. Irish couple and he joined us for the fire at night. We collected
firewood again to make a fire and we actually used it for cooking too. First time and will do so tomorrow again. Here are a few
pictures.
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Magnetic Termite Mounds on a flood plain.
A lot of them...
They are still pretty big, but small compared to the
Cathedral Termite Mounds.
Cathedral Termite Mounds.
They are all very thin and aligned North-South (roughly)/
Other mounds not aligned will die down after a while.
Other mounds not aligned will die down after a while.
The car fits right between them...