Kim made up for breakfast by taking us to lunch at the mango place. I don't remember its name, unfortunately - Kim told us we could get the best mango smoothie in the world there, and she wasn't kidding. We rode through mango orchards to get there. They are one of the few harvests that thrive in that part of the country. I added a bag of dried mango slices to my stash of snacks. This was the one lunch we had to buy - the food and coffee was excellent!
Lunch finished, we set off on the long drive into Kakadu National Park, much of it over dirt roads. We began to see more and more termite mounds among the trees and in open fields. We stopped at a viewing boardwalk which encircled a huge cathedral mound (yellow) on one side of the site, and a field of magnetic mounds (grey) on the other. The cathedrals, as you might expect, are like tall rounded towers piled one upon the other, deep and wide and high. The magnetic, on the other hand, are wide shallow peaks so thin in the top half you would think they would break in a stiff breeze - more a wall than a mound. Appoarently, scientists tried turning them off their north-south axis and found the internal temperature changed immediately.
Warned that it was our last chance if we wanted to enjoy a drink by the fire that night, we stopped at a roadhouse to buy snacks and booze - a 4-pack of Jack and Dry (gingerale) for me. At last we arrived at Cooinda campground in Kakadu. I think we crossed the South Alligator River to get there - a notorious crossing where many people stuck in high water have had to be dragged out of car windows to safety by one of the tour boat operators. Lots of crocodiles! All branches of the Alligator river are tidal and the crossing was dry when we drove over it. What crocs there were kept their distance. At last we reached Cooinda Campground in time to select tents and make our beds - no swags under the stars. It was already too hot and humid for such heavy sleeping bags. Once our tent was ready, I set out to gather a bit more firewood and made the mistake of picking up a small log infested with green ants. Man, do they bite when disturbed! I tossed that stik away and added my meager bits and pieces to the pile. Kim made dinner quickly and I had a big plate of roasted veggies, avoiding the beef and veggie substitute on offer. JD and some of the others discovered that they could find small wolf spiders on the path by making their eyes gleam with flashlights. The campfire roared under the stars and I helped one of the women toast mashmallows - she did not like the burnt sugar result, funnily enough. I wonder what she had expected!
The night was stifling, so underwear was enough. But sometime in the night, I pulled the sleeping bag up over myself and slept under it until the sun crept into the tent.
No comments:
Post a Comment