Next morning we packed up and headed for Bramwell Station to pick up the caravans. Good job we did not need any fuel at Bramwell as the traffic was backed up from the service station out the gate and up the road out of sight. Apparently they had run out of fuel and more was on its way. We got in to our van to an awful smell, I knew what it was straight away and stepped straight back out of the van. I told Jock I was sorry but I would leave him to that! The fridge had failed, the batteries had failed so all contents of the fridge and freezer had to be bagged and binned and a quick clean of both fridge and freezer. YUK! Luckily there was not too much in there. We grabbed a bite to eat and got back on the track.
Next stop was Archer River, you may remember we stayed there on the way up and had said another stop was a must as Michelle, Emma and I wanted to have a dip in the river because when we passed it last time it looked so inviting. Once we were set up we headed over to the river and got in, it was so nice a great way to cool down and the water was so clear.
There were two girls playing near to us, they were taking it in turns to ride the “rapids” on a big tube. After about the third round one of the girls came up to us and said there was a croc!!!!! OMG I stood up so fast and was about to get out. Michelle asked, is it a freshie, yes it was a freshie and it was hiding in the side of the river bank. Oh thats ok then!!!!! Really??? Michelle convinced me we were ok, so we headed over to take a look. The girls parents were by now over there taking photos, I climbed back up on the bank and looked over but couldn’t quite see it. It’s better viewed from the water the father exclaimed………..yeh right!!! I stayed put, Michelle and Jock got in for a look and to get photos. Fresh water crocodiles are somewhat smaller than salt water crocs and they do not attack unless you corner them or aggrivate them. So leave them alone and they will leave you alone. We took our photos and then went back to enjoying the water but to honest I could not fully relax knowing he was so close by.
We left our mate the freshie to his water hole and headed back over to the campsite ready for a fire. Not as many campers here this time so we were not all crammed in. We had our generator going for a while to top up the batteries, they are playing up terribly. It wasnt long before we smelt a terrible smell, Scott reckoned it was coming from our van. We sniffed, smelt an awful off egg smell but could not work out what it was. Our neighbour came over and said our batteries were frying, they were over heating!! So, that’s it the batteries are buggered. A bit of a pain when it comes to the fridge in the van, thank goodness we have a fridge in the back of the car. Until we can get the batteries sorted we really need to be on campsites with power which is a bit of a pain as we like free camps.
Douglas's Downunder 