Monday, 4th of July
Today is our Wedding Anniversary. Blimey, 13 wonderful years. Where did they go? High on Christel’s list of priorities for the day was to buy a dress suitable for our Celebration Dinner out tonight. Apparently jeans or shorts weren’t quite appropriate. We had also decided to see if we could get a bike for Cameron, as we had found that quite a few of the kids he was mixing with had bikes, and he was getting a bit left out.
We had discovered a huge shopping complex which had K Mart, Big W, Coles, and a thousand other shops in it, in a suburb called Casuarina so decided that would be our best bet to satisfy all our shopping needs. While Christel was trying on dresses, Cameron and I went shopping for a bike. After comparing prices in Big W and K Mart, we settled on a beauty BMX for $89 from K Mart. It was on special and included a helmet, and was the last one left.
Christel met us outside K Mart with a huge smile on her face. Obviously her shopping expedition had also been successful. Two very nice dresses, one short, and one long, for the princely sum of $35!
Then it was back to the park where a very excited boy couldn’t wait to jump on his bike and head off to meet up with his mates. Needless to say we never saw much of him for the rest of the day, and had to go looking for him when it was time to get ready to go out for our Dinner date.
The restaurant was called Seafood on Cullen, and was about 100 meters from the water’s edge. We had booked a table out on the balcony overlooking the harbour. After selecting our food from the huge buffet selection, we sat and ate our meal and watched the sun set below the horizon. A lovely evening.
Tuesday 5th of July
Our Pajero was due for a Service and we had booked it in at the Darwin Mitsubishi Agent. They had told me that if I got it into them by 7.30am it would be ready by 9.00 or 9.30 at the latest. Besides the basic service, we were also getting the transmission oil changed, a recommendation by Howard, the guy we bought the Pajero from. Not normally needed, but seeing as we were doing a lot of towing, a good precautionary step.
I duly arrived at the agency at about 7.25am, and after filling in the necessary paper work was pleased to see a mechanic come in and grab the keys to start the job. Great I thought, I’ll be home by 9.00 or soon after. To fill in the hour and a half wait, I wandered across the road to McDonalds and had some breakfast and read the paper.
I wandered back to the Mitsubishi Agency just after 9.00.
‘How’s the service on the Pajero for Broadmore going?” I asked. “Hang on I’ll check. Yep, just about finished. You wanted the transmission oil changed too didn’t you?” “Yes” I said. “Yeah, um, there’s a bit of a problem there, you see we thought we had some transmission oil here, but apparently it’s been taken up to the other depot, so we’ve rung them and they’re on their way down with it.” “Ok, how long’s that going to take?” “Oh they should be here in a few minutes, so she should be all go by half past nine.” “OK, I’ll just sit in your waiting room. Luckily I bought my book with me.” “Yeah. No worries, mate. I’ll give you a yell when she’s ready”.
Oh well, another half hour’s no problem. Quarter to ten I went back to the reception again.
“How’s the Pajero for Broadmore going?” New bloke on the counter this time. ‘Don’t know anything about it, mate. What’s it in for?” “A service and Transmission oil change”. “Hang on I’ll find out”. He disappears out back then comes back five minutes later. “Apparently we are waiting for the other depot to drop some Transmission oil down for it.” “Well the other bloke I spoke to at about 9.00 said you guys had rung them and they were on their way down with it, and the car would be ready by about 9.30.” “Sorry mate, don’t know anything about that, we’re pretty busy in here this morning.” “So when’s this oil going to get here?” “Dunno mate, like I said we’re pretty busy here this morning”.
Back to the Waiting Room. I decided I would check on progress again at 10.30. That would give them heaps of time, wouldn’t it?
10.30 and back to reception. First bloke I had spoken to was back. “How’s my Pajero going?” “Oh yeah, that should be ready. Hang on I’ll find out”. He disappears out the back, and I wait. Ten minutes later he’s back. “Sorry mate, it seems the other depot didn’t bring your oil down so I’ve sent some one up to get it”. “How longs that going to take?” “Oh, only about quarter of an hour, they’re just up round the corner, and then it’s just a matter of changing the oil, should be ready for you by 11.00.” “OK, I’ll wait in the waiting room, lucky I bought my book.” “Yeah. No worries mate, I’ll give you a yell when she’s ready”. Sound familiar?
Quarter past eleven and back to reception. “How’s the Pajero for Broadmore going?’ “Hang on mate I’ll find out”. He’s back in five minutes. Yep he’s just starting it now, should be ready in about quarter of an hour”. “Fine, I’ll just sit here and wait, lucky I bought my book”. “Yeah, no worries mate”.
Finally at ten past twelve the car was ready, and so was the bill. “Here you are mate, that’s $379. We didn’t charge you for the labour to change the Transmission Oil seeing you had to hang around and wait a bit.” “Gee, that’s very generous of you”. “‘No worries mate, have a good day”. “Bit late for that mate, there’s @#$%^ all left of it”. “Yeah, no worries mate”.
So, there you go, the shortened version of how to get your car serviced Darwin Style. No worries mate.
Back at camp Christel was about to organise a search party for me. Cameron had finished his school work and promptly disappeared on his bike. We had to go looking for him so we could have some lunch before heading off for some more sightseeing.
After lunch we visited the Australian Aviation Heritage Centre, which was basically just across the road from our motor camp in the grounds of the Darwin Airport. We spent a very interesting couple of hours there looking at the planes and displays. By far the biggest attraction is a giant B52 bomber, which takes up the whole hanger, the smaller fighters and other displays fitted in around it. Other planes included a Mirage 111 swing wing fighter, a Sabre Jet, and a Spitfire.
Then it was out to the suburb of Nightcliff to pick up some more Correspondence School work that we had arranged to have forwarded to the Post Office there. We had chosen a small suburban Post Office after our earlier experiences in larger Post offices, where it is nothing to find yourself standing in a queue of 20 or 30 people every time you go for something.
We had some concerns about whether or not it would be there, as twice before, the stuff sent from the correspondence school, and addressed to us in Australia, had ended up at Phillip’s place in New Plymouth. Work that one out. Something to do, we think, with the fact that we arranged for all our mail addressed to 87 Upper Norfolk Road, to be redirected to him, but I guess only NZ Post can really answer that one !!!
However, third time lucky, and after joining the queue of only about 10 people, we finally had some more school work.
Wed 6th July
We had arranged for a Mobile Caravan Service Man to come out and give our caravan its 10,000 km service this morning. He duly arrived bang on the appointed time of 10.00 and proceeded to give our caravan wheels bearings and brakes a complete overhaul. Two hours and $340 later we were as good as new again. It’s been an expensive couple of days, but at least we are all good for another 5000km for the car and 10,000 for the van. That should see us back in Melbourne.
After lunch we headed in to town to try out the Wave Pool. This is a bit like New Plymouth’s Aquatic Centre‘s wave action, only this one is outside, with a variety of wave patterns, creating waves up to 1.7 metres high. We spent a very enjoyable couple of hours there, with Cameron surfing a couple of waves on a boogie board.
Following that we went back to the wharf for a feed of chips and a couple of beers before going back to camp for tea.
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