The One When They Buy ‘Lola’ and Hit the Road!

So we had a very busy and fairly stressful week in Darwin organising bank accounts, Aussie phone, tax file numbers, replacing the camera I lost, trying to fix the laptop cable and of course campervan hunting!  In-between the organising frenzy we did a little bit of sightseeing in Darwin, the highlight being our walk to East Point and Fannie Bay – we saw a crocodile on the beach!  It was only a baby one, so we were more concerned about where its Mum might be hiding!  No swimming allowed because it’s box jellyfish season, but after seeing the Croc I’m not sure you’d get me in there anyway!

Anyway, back to the van.  The van hunt was not as easy as we’d hoped.  There weren’t a lot of campers around in Darwin as it is approaching the wet season (we have heard some amazing thunder whilst we were there but not much rain....yet!)  so people aren’t really travelling up this way.  We had 3 failed attempts at buying, one sold before we saw it, one owner just messed us about so much we gave up and another van badly failed its service.  The 4^th beauty was a 1979 Toyota Hiace. 

We like to call her Lola.  You may call her old, we like to refer to her as ‘vintage’.  She belonged to an old couple for most of her life and then a Kiwi mechanic took her on before us.  She has only done 142,000KM and has classic features such as the yellow mustard classic Toyota coloured exterior, the delightful orange and brown pinstriped seating, the pop top with carpeted ceiling, the original user manual and service guide, and a spirit level on the steering wheel so that you know when you’re parked on a hill.  New additions to her spec. include a tele, a microwave, a fan and a new sound system up front!  She drives well, slow and steady – no power steering nor ABS breaking and the gears are on the steering column so it takes some getting used to!  She gets lots of attention, lots of comments from people (mostly compliments!)2 people have tried to buy her from us already and waves from passing vehicles.  It’s pretty cool that Chris’ first car is a ’79 Hiace that we live in, in Australia!!

Our first night in the van we got given a flyer to a local rodeo with the promise of free camping – so we decided it’d be rude not to!  The rodeo was fantastic, bull riding, horse riding, motocross tricks, fireworks and a live band.  The bull riding was brilliant, the guys that do it must be mad – some of the falls were awful but when a cowboy gets it right it looks amazing!  Our favourite bull was Saltrock, nobody has ever ridden him for the full 8seconds, there is a huge cash prize if anybody ever manages it – sure enough 1 buck and rear and the cowboy was off – 2 seconds flat...but then Saltrock, enjoying the limelight wouldn’t leave the ring after about 30mins of coaxing they gave up and built him a different pen to stay in!

Our first morning in our campervan did not go as smoothly as planned...we had managed to drain both our batteries by leaving the fridge on instead of switching it to gas...yes we are stupid.  But lucky for us some of the hungover/still drinking Aussies from the rodeo had jump leads and after taking the piss considerably, they helped us out and we were on the road again...feeling a little sheepish!

We headed to the Territory Wildlife Park.  This is kind of a zoo but only with native creatures from Australia and mostly things that you can find in the Top End.  We started the day feeding the Archer fish – you hold out a maggot as if you were a tree and they spit on your hand to release the maggot – very clever!  I then helped feed the Whiprays (a type of stingray).  Then we went to the Birds of Prey presentation which was just brilliant, we saw Buzzards, Kites, Owls, Parrots, Eagle and Storks.  We went on a walk to the Billabong and saw some Pelicans and turtles and then went to the Aquarium to see the Barramundi and the prehistoric looking Sawfish.  After this we entered Lichfield National Park and I organised and set up the van to our liking whilst Chris battled with hundreds of bugs whilst he tried to cook tea – note to ourselves, do not cook outside after dark with a lamp...!



And the next day...our van woes were not over – another none starter!  Confused as we had used a trickle charger over night and upset as we were stuck on site!  A bearded fellow called Ken came to our rescue!  His car wasn’t able to jump us, so he towed us until she started and we headed to a mechanic...long drawn out story, but basically the 2^nd battery had no water in it and wouldn’t hold a charge (who knew it needed water!) and was therefore flattening the 1^st.  So all sorted out, we headed back into the National Park and successfully started Lola the next morning.

Lichfield NP is much more green than we expected, lots of trees and grass, it’s not the rocky, barren Australia that we expected.  We’ve seen termite mounds that are about 15ft. High, beautiful waterfalls and lovely refreshing plunge pools to bathe in.  Also at both our camp sites we’ve watched wallabies and kangaroos!  It’s really quiet around the parks and you feel like you’re seeing an undiscovered secret.  For the friendly people, awesome wildlife and beautiful waterfalls I would definitely recommend Australia’s Top End.

We are now staying in a camp site that also seems to be a bar, golf course, rodeo stadium or horse track depending what day it is!  We’re heading towards Katherine tomorrow, hoping to pick up a bit of Mango picking to help pay for our van insurance and its registration.  From there we head over to The Kimberly and to Western Australia.

Lots of love,   Kat & Chris xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx