Tuesday 7 August – Well today turned out to be another ‘move on to another place’ day.  We were up early and managed to get to the pathology department of the hospital by about 8.20, which was just as well, as soon after we got there it got very busy.  It was still about 9 before Grant was called in, and while that was happening I was having a big chat with a Ugandan woman who was sitting beside me.  She’s actually been in Australia since the late 1980’s and lived in Melbourne for most of that time before coming to Darwin seven years ago.  The pathology laboratory rang about an hour later, then this afternoon Grant managed to get onto his doctor, the dosage has been re-adjusted, and he needs to get it checked again in about a week.  So all is under control there.

Back at the caravan park we packed up and managed to leave there at about a quarter to eleven, so that was pretty good.  Filled with petrol at Palmerston then turned our noses towards Kakadu.  It was about a 300 km drive today, very warm again, with a strong head wind and not a terribly exciting drive.  We had a couple of stops for a bit of lunch, a driver change, a driver change again, and got to the Kakadu Visitors Centre mid-afternoon.  It is situated in Jabiru, which is the main town in Kakadu, and it’s at the visitors centre that you pay your permit to enter the National Park.  It is $25 each, and it is valid for 14 days, and like a lot of these fees, it is only applicable to non-Northern Territorians.  If you are a local then there is no charge which is fair enough I reckon.

While we were stopped there we had a cool drink and a sweet treat before the last 54 kms of the drive to where we are now ensconced – Gagudju Lodge Caravan Park at Cooinda.  It is an aboriginal owned complex, as is Yellow Water Cruises which are famous in this place.  It is here that today’s low point occurred.  Our site is like all the others – in an area dotted with trees, and as Grant was examining and negotiating the best approach to the site we had been allocated (they are largely drive-through sites) he reversed into one of the trees!  No major damage, though he did break the glass on the left hand indicator light on the back of the van, and put a dint in the body work around the tail light/indicator!  And no!  It wasn’t my poor directing – I was sitting in the passenger seat with my mouth closed!

He’s managed to get the indicator light to work, and interestingly, now when you put the blinkers on, the left one blinks, as does the tail light beside it!!  So we will have to have that repaired when we get to Katherine in a few days time.

We have a very early start tomorrow as we have booked into the 6.45am Yellow Waters Cruise, followed by an inclusive breakfast.  If we want to catch the shuttle bus down to the water, we need to be at the reception office by 6.15 in the morning.  So we had both set the alarms on our phones, and it will now be a matter of seeing if we have done that successfully.  Let’s hope so!

Well, that’s today in a nutshell.  We’re undecided how many nights we’ll stay here.  We’ve initially booked two, and we’ll decide whether to have another night after we see what we manage to discover tomorrow.