There’s a moment in the silence at the other end of the phone. a moment after terrible news is conveyed, where it feels like the whole universe is suddenly empty, except for two people on a phone line. “How?” then, after my confession “Oh….”, And then, to my surprise, re-assurance. “Yes, I’ve lost a couple of budgies before and one time a quail got out but the dog found him hiding under a bush” Blindsided by the generosity of Jen’s response, I pledged profusely to make good with replacements for all that partook in “The Great Escape” and that was that. Pete proved an unlikely ally in all this, confiding he never liked them anyway and not to try too hard to replace them. But of course I did.
Still, when they returned and we both looked askance at the empty aviary, it was forgiven but not forgotten. The pond had been rippled. When your house sitting, you are a minder. When the owners return, you feel like an intruder. We should have been leaving as soon as they got back but couldn’t. Within a day Pete was towing our van to our new digs at Boomerang Caravan Park. We were OK with that. Win-win. Status quo for everyone.
Funnily enough, at this very moment, things started to get better. The Jeep was scheduled to be repaired on the following Wednesday and the spare parts arrived well in time. I bused in ‘my precious’ to the dealer to make sure they were the right ones and got the thumbs up. Four days later, we had our wheels back.
Our down time had not been wasted. Tamika now had 240W and became a whirling dervish in the kitchen. Trays of choc-chip cookies, lamb curries, anything that required a slow cook was now the chef’s specialty. Of course such culinary indulgence does not come without consequence. After three weeks there was some serious belt loosening going on. The daily walk was recalled off the bench and tuna salads made a comeback.
Well, with the Jeep back, our first mission was to drive around aimlessly, enjoying the giddy freedom we had missed for so long. For the first few days, pathetic excuses to go to the shops were conjoured out of thin air. but then, as we got more re-acquainted, we saw bigger horizons re-appear. We’d heard about Berry Springs, which is about 50klm south of Darwin, but only about 30klm from where we are staying. We had no idea what to expect but, for our first road trip in a month, we didn’t really care.
OMG !! Berry Springs makes Mataranka Springs look like a bird bath. It’s basically a thermal spring filled billabong, fed by two streams, one hot, one cold. Set in five acres of parkland, Berry Springs is managed by indigenous rangers and open every day. We met Tess on our way down to the water. A lovely lady and very helpful, assuring us there were no crocs today. How quickly that becomes the default question anywhere near water in the NT
Now, I’m pretty sure that if Tamika had read these signs BEFORE hitting the water, I’d be copying this from a brochure. As it was, the water was warm and delicious with plenty of pools to sit and soak it up with the option of drifting down to the billabong. It’s a great spot and we’ll be back.
We’ll be heading out to Kakadu next week, but this weekend is Territory Day and there’s plenty on, so another blog before we finally get that van window replaced and go bush.
