07 December 2011

The Key to a Successful Expedition...


...is to have a 'Plan B'.

Steve left for Darwin yesterday afternoon after days of lawn mowing, de-cluttering the front yard (how necessary that was became apparent last week when he nearly trod on a Western Brown snake that must have felt very safe and comfy under all the clutter), trips to the tip, putting tourist vehicles in various states of repair back together, packing boxes, folding up the camper trailer tent, and swearing and carrying on about the heat, the humidity and the flies.


He possibly could have put in another few hours (that's the German in me talking) but he had to bolt as he needed to attend a meeting of the Kakadu Tourism Consultative Committee today.

Anyway, the place looks half-decent (as good as it gets, really) and our house sitter won't need to be afraid of any unforeseen wildlife-encounters.

I've got a few loose ends to tie up myself over the next couple of days, before Flip and I have to wave goodbye to Josie, our four-legged family member (who looooves getting chauffeured around but unfortunately can't come on this trip) on Friday and meet up with Steve and his sister's family in Darwin.
Did I mention that Elle, our niece, is coming for the ride?

Well, I can already tick off the end of year interview with Flip's teacher, I've been given his portfolio and 'student progress report'. No surprises there...
The plate of food for the class Christmas party tomorrow is in the fridge -- but there's still washing in the machine that I couldn't hang up during this afternoon's rather violent build-up storm.
Namarrgon, the Lightning Man, has been throwing his stone axes around, making himself heard loud and clear!

Kakadu is not the only place receiving rain in recent days (87mm in approx. 2 hours the other day). We've been studying the Bureau of Meteorology's (BOM) website quite extensively, especially the weather radars and also the North Australian Fire Information's website (NAFI), to keep an eye on bushfire activity.

What shall I say, we haven't embarked on our epic journey yet and we've hit the first snag already!

The plan was to travel south on the Stuart Highway, take a day off in the Alice, show the children around, stock up on supplies and then head north again, only for a few kilometres to turn right onto the Plenty Highway to Boulia, then south to Birdsville, possibly making it down to the Cooper Creek and Burke and Wills' "Dig Tree" before heading over to the East Coast to arrive at Steve's parents' place in time for Christmas.

However, when Steve made some enquiries and called Jervois Station (about 350km from Alice Springs), he was told that the Plenty Hwy is currently closed between the NT/QLD border and Boulia.
Well, doesn't that throw a spanner in the works! We were looking forward to the Plenty Hwy, any road closures we were expecting a bit further down the track...
At the moment it looks like 'Plan A' might not work, but hey, we still have another 25 letters of the alphabet to fall back on!

So, we'll still be leaving Darwin on Sunday morning -- and we're still planning to make it to Daly Waters Pub as our first overnight stop. That's sort of a family tradition, we love that place!
Note to self: Remember to pack sense of humour, it's of the utmost importance!

We're also still in favour of spending night 2 at Devils Marbles...

...and from there we'll have to play it by ear, call the Bedourie Visitor Information Centre when we get to Tennant Creek to find out about road conditions in the Diamantina.

I'll keep you posted!

Boh boh!
Anja

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Anja,
schön,dass du uns auf eurer Reise mitnimmst.Ich werde euch folgen.
Liebe Grüsse,Anne

ParksAustralia said...

Ah, Anja, the thought of the open road...!