Bittersweet
15th August – 1st September 2025
Our trip to Kingaroy was a bittersweet experience. It was great to see all the family, but oh so sad was the reason. John was a big man and lived a big life. His heart was as big as the outback he loved, and his humour was twice as dry. He was Peter’s go-to man for all things to do with life on the road, he was my challenge to outwit or be outwitted, and he was everything to Hazel and their family. He will be overwhelmingly missed.
Back in the NT, we were getting ourselves ready to travel again. One of the things that needed to be done was to get Arnie his 30,000 km service. It takes about an hour and twenty minutes to drive from Rick and Michelle’s (Richelle’s) home in Wagait Beach, to the city of Darwin. Arnie was booked in close to the city, so we thought, why not have a day exploring, followed by date night in the big smoke. This was one of three days we spent in Darwin and included a very enjoyable few hours in the Darwin Aviation Museum..
We booked the car in, got a loan-er, and went exploring. After we got Arnie back we freshened up and got into our glad rags. I owed Peter a night out for his birthday, (22nd Aug) so we went to the Darwin Casino at Mindil Beach Resort for a bit of fun. I can’t say that we won at the casino, but our allocated funds had us playing (mainly roulette) until nearly midnight. We had a ball. We also had the best Chinese meal ever at the Dragon Court restaurant. It only had a small menu, but it was all traditional food, and it was delish. I’m a bit disappointed we weren’t able to go back.
Wagait beach is a lovely area, and when I say Richelle live on the beach, I mean right on the beach. The house is great, nice and high to get those sea breezes and open to enjoy the view.
So far, there hasn’t been that much in the way of wildlife. So, I’ve had to get my fix of photography anyway I can. I hope you like insects. I was fascinated by these green tree ants. Such a pretty colour. I discovered later that they are actually distilled, here in the NT, to make Green Ant Gin. Surprisingly tasty, so I’m told. The ants spend most of their time building, moving or rebuilding their nests. There can be as many as a dozen nests in any one tree, and if you leave your car under one of their trees, they will find their way to it by building an ant bridge.
Then I got really excited when I saw these spiders. Don’t know why, it was just a common St Andrews Cross spider amongst the passion fruit vine, and the cutest little jumping spider, sharing the green ant’s tree. And just because nobody loves the Flesh Fly, I thought I’d give this one a chance of fame. Told you I was getting desperate. 😊
We had a few walks along the beach, and we even borrowed Ricks four-wheeler and that was fun. Did we swim, no, not in the sea anyway. There was talk of crocodiles in the area; let’s face it, there’s talk of crocs all over the NT, but more about that later. Richelle haven’t seen any on the beach, though have heard of one being sighted way offshore by a fisherman, and there was one in a tributary up the beach a-ways a few years back. Rick often fishes off the beach, and the only bites he gets are from the fish. We have to remember. if you want to swim in the oceans in Australia, you have to take your chance with the Sharks, the Bluebottles, Box jellyfish and the itsy-bitsy Crocodiles, etc, etc. 😉
I have often seen, as have we all, shells on the beach. But it’s not as often that you see the little critters inside those shells. I don’t know if it was the time of day or what, but there were hundreds of little sand crabs on the move. I had to sit still and wait for these shots as the smallest movement had them withdrawing back into their shells.
One of the other beaches in the area is Dundee beach.
We drove out there and had lunch overlooking the ocean. A very popular spot for charter fishing trips.
Other than that, there’s not a lot else to do in the immediate area, unless you go to Berry Springs, (we did that later) or Litchfield National Park. We went there next.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
Thanks for the update on your travels Jo and Peter.
Sounds as though there have been ups and downs but both of you have made the most of every day – as I would expect.