Territory Day - King Ash Bay

Happy Territory Day!

Today is Territory Day. Territory Day recognizes the day the NT was granted self -governance from the Commonwealth Government in 1978, and tonight there is a celebration and theme night (Grease) at the Groper Bar, with fireworks. The locals, members and visitors are getting excited and planning their outfits for the night.

It was a cool and cloudy start to the morning, only about 18 degrees. Brrrrrr.
We walked up to the office to pay for the extra night, then got a couple of things at the little supermarket. When we got back to camp, we chatted to the neighbours, Lynlee and Pete from Lake Eildon, and a family camping in a tent on the other side with 3 kids from Mudgee, NSW. Some young people in roof top tents are on the other side of Lynlee and Pete, including one young couple on their honeymoon. We are lucky that we have nice neighbours around us.

The sun eventually came out and we had a quiet day, enjoying the sun, pottering around, then had dinner of left-over chicken and salad, before walking up to the bar to join in the festivities. A lot of people had dressed up, but they were mostly members of the boat club or regulars who knew about the theme night and had prepared.

We sat with Bob and Jo and listened to the live band play rock and roll music, and even had a little dance. More roll than rock unfortunately! We are very rusty as we have not danced for a long time, and with the added difficulty of dancing on gravel, wearing thongs, and a few drinks under our belt, it was good fun but not a pretty sight!

The fireworks were great and lit up the sky for ages, probably scaring the wildlife and crocodiles. After a great couple of hours, we walked back home, but during the night, the wind picked up and we had a shower of rain. We think that it may be the edge of the rain band coming across from WA which has caused flooding on the Gibb River Road this past week.

Sunday 2nd July

Woke up to a cool morning (15 degrees). Staying another night here at King Ash Bay, but, where has the sun gone….? We are not used to this cold weather!

It was a very cool day, and we brought out the long pants and long sleeves. The positive thing is that it was a good day to do some housekeeping, washing, clean out a pantry drawer that had a spill of a can of coconut milk somewhere on a rough, bumpy road. I had only opened the drawer to get a ‘Cup of Soup’ packet for lunch to warm me up and had not opened the drawer for a while. Some items had to be thrown out, and we cleaned up other jars and tins and repacked everything.

We planned to drive up to Gove at the tip of East Arnhem Land, and we knew we had to get a permit to enter aboriginal land, but we were not sure if we had to apply for the permit first and then book a site or the other way around, so I rang the Gove Boat Club (one of only two places that you can stay), and was told that they only had 3 nights that we could book in for, in 2 weeks’ time, and to email them and they would get back and confirm the booking and include all the links and information we needed to get the permit.

We were a bit disappointed as we hoped to book in for a week, but we have come so far, so 3 days is better than none. There is a possibility that someone may cancel, and we can stay longer. Apparently, they are booked up a year in advance. It will take us 2 days to get there, and then 2 days travelling back, but we have come so far. Waiting for the confirmation email so we can apply for the permit.

Pete from next door has Starlink, and he has allowed us to piggyback and use it.

Theo was so happy, I never heard a sound out of him for 2 hours while he was checking FB, emails and YouTube. It would make life on the road so much easier for communicating and researching, but I feel it also disconnects us somewhat from each other and from appreciating our surroundings.Baca lagi