Sunday 4th August, 2024
On Friday we met up with cousin Marnie for lunch. She picked us up in her new car and took us to a pub on the beachfront. We had a lovely time catching up on news and getting to know each other again. She took us back in the late afternoon and we showed off our Sherwood.
Yesterday was a shopping day. I wanted to get a fan to help with getting cool air into the bedroom area. The air conditioning worked, more or less, plus the little fan in the dinette helped cool air to get up there. But, it is always partly blocked by Stephen.
I went for a Ryobi Fan and a battery. My hope is that when we are off grid it's battery, plus the van batteries and our Delta Mini will be enough to keep it running all night. We tried it out last night and found we slept comfortably with the bedroom windows open and the air conditioner off. The humidity increases a lot at night, which meant that the fan was able to keep us both cool. By slanting the fan upwards it hits the roof and comes over Stephen and onto me. He gets it as well, of course.
The next thing was to get some food. I didn't want to go to the big shopping centre, so we found a small centre not far from Bunnings in Nightcliff. Marnie had warned us that Monday is a public holiday (Picnic Day) and shops would not be open.
We spent time at another beachside location, then went to the Lee Point picnic area and did a walk along the beach to a bird hide. It was a lovely walk and there was no water in the swampy area that it passed through, but I was a bit worried about crocs. We decided to drive down to Buffalo Creek picnic area (where the walk ended, we only went part way along). Buffalo Creek is quite wide and deep and there are crocodile warning signs. Despite this people were enjoying hand fishing and crabbing, washing their fish in the water. There is a boat ramp and we saw a couple of small fishing boats being loaded onto trailers.
Cafe on the beach at Nightcliff, Darwin
Some photos from Buffalo Creek
Then, home to a snack type meal and a bit of TV.
Today we've come to the Botanical Gardens. We arrived a little after 9.00 a.m. and met up with Marnie for a little walk and breakfast at the lovely café. We were unsure of what to do for the rest of the day, but decided in the end to stay in our shady parking spot and wait for the day to cool down a bit so we could explore more of the park. We had our normal breakfast of cereal as lunch.
I've settled in and I can understand why people like to visit here and live here as well, at least in the dry season. There are ways of keeping cool and if you wait until evening, or walk in the shade, it's actually quite a lovely and a good place to relax.
We tried out the fan on the house batteries this afternoon. It needs 240v, so this was using it through the inverter. It uses surprisingly little power, with both fans going, plus running the fridge we were drawing about 25w. So, importantly, it will be good for keeping us cool when off grid. I tossed up whether to buy a camping type fan with an inbuilt battery, but I think this is a much better option. It's a little chunky, but lightweight, and when it contributes so much to our comfort I don't think we will mind having to stow it under the dinette when travelling.
Tomorrow we set off on our next adventure.
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