All is quiet on the Southern Front

 

Sunset from our backyard

While things aren't so quiet in Ukraine, our family of two is leading a very calm life at Tanunda.

COVID-19 has slowed us as it has for billions of others. We haven't been on a cruise liner since early 2020; we haven't been anywhere really except for a two-day stint at Renmark that was rudely interrupted by a six-day SA state lockdown causing us to head home before it commenced.

We'd love to get away to either one or both of the SA peninsulas, however, we're busy with ANZAC Day preparations and a fund-raising Fashion Show that Christina is managing on behalf of the RSL.

Dale has been offered a second cochlear implant and has accepted, however, we don't know when it will be implanted because non-essential surgery at the Darwin Hospital has been suspended due to the C19 virus impact on hospital beds and staffing.

When he is given a date, we'll do what we did last time: drive to Alice Springs, pick up Dale, drive to Darwin and remain there while the surgery and follow-up are completed, and then reverse the trip. We'll spend some time at The Alice with Dale, Meredith and Tory before heading south again.

Post-operation, Dale isn't allowed to fly for a few weeks, so it all has to be done by driving. Additionally, he can't be expected to do it all alone, so Christina goes as his "carer" and Robin is the driver and odd-job, backup member of the team. We do get to spend some time with Dale.

We miss both of them being so far away after years living close-by and live in hope that one day they will move to South Australia. When Tory finishes his electrical apprenticeship, I'm sure he'll move somewhere, not necessarily south.

The Territory has a lot going for it at present with a lithium mine being developed, gas infrastructure, military expansion, an Albatross aircraft manufacturing factory being built, huge solar arrays to provide power for Darwin and Singapore underway, a tourist resort being built at Gove, Ammaroo ammonium nitrate fertiliser mine and processing plant, and finally, more copper and gold mining within the Barkly (Tennant Creek) region 500 km north of Alice Springs.

Robin lived at Peko Mine, a copper mine eight miles east of Tennant Creek from 1958-1965. He worked most of his school holidays with the Geopeko Exploration team exploring the region and identifying new mines, Gecko and Orlando. Now the area is being opened up again. That's great for the Territory and Australia.

If you don't mind oppressive humidity for most of the year, Darwin is the place to be as many "Mexicans" from Victoria and New South Wales are finding out as they move there in droves.

It's not all that exciting at Tanunda for we two retirees as it cools heading towards Southern Hemisphere Winter. But the sunsets are still enjoyable, the wine very drinkable, and the locals very friendly.

Life is good!

Robin and Christina

Adelaide River War Cemetery

We drove to Darwin from Alice Springs as son Dale was scheduled to have a cochlear implant operation. It's 1500 km so we usually stop somewhere overnight and make the trip over two days. 

We stopped at Mataranka and then drove the shorter distance to Darwin.

Enroute, we visited the Adelaide River War Cemetery which is a beautifully grassed and laid out area to remember those who died in the Top End during World War II. Of particular interest to me were those RAAF members of 31 Beaufighter Squadron and 44 Wing.

There were airfields all over the top end, numbers that ran parallel with the Stuart Highway and many of the deceased would have been victims of the Japanese bombing of Darwin and other areas.

Although I've driven past the cemetery, which is a kilometer or so from the highway, this is the first time I have visited.

I was pleasantly surprised by the beautiful lawns and gardens that comprise the cemetery and surrounds which is available for picnics and recreation.

This is a nice spot to stop and reflect on the many thousands of men and women who made the supreme sacrifice so that we could live in freedom under our own flag and with our own values rather than as captives of others.

Every day I'm reminded of how fortunate we are to live in Australia and I say a silent thank you to our heroes.

Robin

Visiting Darwin, Capital of the Northern Territory

We’ve been to Darwin dozens of times and for 18 months from 1997 lived there in the dreadful humidity until we could no longer stand it.

At this time of year it was much less humid (the Dry Season) and pleasantly warmish. My main objective was to have a growing cyst that was becoming increasingly a pain in the neck attended to while Christina’s main objective was to have fish and chips at the Stokes Hill Wharf which we had loved to visit during our previous times at Darwin.

Other tasks included the purchase of a new awning for our caravan. The old one had deteriorated while sitting in the sun at The Alice and after being battered by hail-stones during July, had numerous holes in it. We also bought a new side step since Christina had fallen off the plastic one and cracked it, and we bought two shade cloth screens, both to complement the awning so we look like we are in an annex, but aren’t and still have some privacy.

In the best medical care I have ever experienced (not that I have had much), a doctor at Palmerston Doctors who just happens to be a GP and a surgeon, removed my cyst which was infected. No ifs, buts, or stuffing about. He assessed the situation, agreed it was a cyst and cut it out the same day.

We attended Stokes Hill Wharf and much to our surprise found a joint Darwin WWII Bombing museum and Royal Flying Doctor display centre had been added since our last visit. Before our fish and chips, we paid the small entrance fee and spent an hour or so within the centre.

It’s very well presented and if anything, needed more content, but it had only been open for a week, so it’s early days yet. Many people are unaware of the massive bombing raids the Japanese carried out on Darwin so it’s a worthwhile addition to Australia’s war and flying doctor histories.

Robin

PS: Since writing this I have been to Broome which also has a history of Japanese wartime bombing. Much to my embarrassment, I never knew that.

Tory Does Palm Valley

Recently we took a day trip to Palm Valley which is within the Finke Gorge National Park, an east-west running valley in the Krichauff Range 123 km southwest of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, Australia.

It's a pleasant drive during the cooler months and requires a four wheel drive vehicle after one reaches the Aboriginal town called Hermannsburg, which was once a Lutheran mission township.

The Palm Valley palms are red cabbage palms found nowhere else in the Northern Territory. Although the region is now arid, the presence of palms reflects the time when Central Australia was tropical.

We've been to Palm Valley on several previous occasions and although it hadn't changed any since our previous visit, it's still good for the inner being to get out and be surrounded by the beauty and ruggedness of nature.

Christina and I took grandson Tory along for the trip and were accompanied by friends Robyn and Darrell Wallace.

Tory had a great time exploring the landscape here and there and running about like a ferret. We did quite a bit of walking and climbing before having a picnic lunch.

Apart from the walking we do among the hills surrounding our house, Tory hasn't done much "exploring" in the outback, so it appeared to be a good change from tennis, bike riding and football, to get some exercise climbing rocks and running along the dry Finke River bed.

We didn't see any lizards during our trip ... it's probably too cold for them at this time of year, but there were some lovely honeyeater birds, a few hawks and a variety of ants, butterflies, dragonflies, and various bugs with which to entertain ourselves.

When we travelled home, the sun was setting over the beautiful MacDonnell Range reminding us that both had been here for many millions of years and would be still here millenia after we are all gone.

By the time we had arrived back home at The Alice it was late afternoon. Tory sat in my chair (yes, MY chair), and within seconds fell asleep as can be seen in the strip photo at left.

He's such a handsome fellow, I have no idea where he gets it from.

Everyone had a great time. Our next trip will probably be to the old gold mining region of Arltunga which is north-east of Alice Springs.

Robin

From The Alice to Cawnpore Lookout (Queensland)

When you drive east from Alice Springs to Queensland, there are only two ways to go; via Tennant Creek, 500 km to the north and then east along the Barkly Highway to Mount Isa or via the Plenty Highway. The Tennant Creek route is bitumenised (asphalt) 400 km longer and, when you've driven it hundreds of times, exceedingly boring. The Plenty Highway is a mostly gravel road that commences about 70 km north of The Alice and although rough in parts, is suitable for four wheel drive vehicles and trucks with high clearance.

With diesel fuel at $1.75 per Litre at Alice Springs, it's cheaper to go via the shorter dusty route and of course, a little quicker. As we hadn't been across the Plenty Highway for quite a few years, we decided to go that way saving money and revisiting the route we had taken two or three times previously, a good opportunity to see if anything had changed.

As you turn from the Stuart Highway (named after explorer John Stuart) into the Plenty Highway, you face a number of signs telling you about the road condition and the need for 4 wheel drive, this time after Jervois Station. (See photo at left). For at least a few kilometres, it was bitumenised, something new since our last trip. The Northern Territory Government extends the bitumen a few hundred metres or kilometres each year, depending on what funding is available. By 2090, or perhaps a little sooner, it will be fully bitumenised, but by then it will be of little benefit to me.

For this first leg of our journey, we had decided to travel to Cawnpore Lookout, an idyllic spot (well, idyllic by our standards) somewhere between Boulia, the first town in western Queensland and Winton, the next along the track. The lookout is on top of a little hill and the surrounding views are magic; ancient hills turned into buttes and other rugged shapes by millions of years of wind, rain and sun. Cawnpore is about 950 kilometres from The Alice and therefore, a good day's drive away.

When we arrived where we thought Cawnpore should be, it was pitch dark with a miniscule quarter moon revealing very little of the surrounding hills. We had a little trouble finding our way, but eventually located the lookout and drove up the steep slope to park on the top. Not a sound could be heard except for some crickets. As is common in outback Australia, the display of stars in the sky was outstanding. The Southern Cross and Milky Way were particularly bright and a cool breeze came from the south.

We boiled the billy for coffee and tea, had a cold dinner and then sat for a couple of hours enjoying the isolation, peace, tranquility and the beautiful heavenly display before pushing back the seats in our Prado and going to sleep. As morning broke, a lone road train (truck with five trailers) rumbled along the road below towards Boulia and we prepared for another day's drive, this time to Emerald, a coal mining and cotton growing township close to Rockhampton near the Queensland coast.

Our new Landcruiser Prado handled the rough, dusty roads very well and was much more comfortable than our previous, beloved Toyota Forerunner. We still have a long way to go.

Robin

PS: Double click graphic to see larger size.