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Exody - Days 226- 233 : Darwin



We arrived after 24 hours flat sea motoring to anchor in Darwin's large but shallow Fannie Bay. Exody was dive-inspected then quarantined with disinfected seacocks and prohibited use of all plumbing for 10 hours - this to ensure no infestation from a foreign mussel that recently wiped out a marina gate here causing $millions of remedial costs. The 7 metre tides here mean all marinas are locked and so we are here with most other boats at Tipperary Waters Marina just outside downtown Darwin.

Here we have done major work- disassembling the vane steering gear to free up bearings, sending the pushpit and liferaft cradle for remedial stainless welding work, running repairs to canvas work and fitting a new alternator. It's hot work - 35-37 degrees but not humid- its still winter after all!

We've enjoyed the World ARC tour to see crocodiles jumping for their food on the Adelaide River and the informative Wetlands lookout centre. For the weekend we hired a 4WD together with crew from Allegro and Hugur for the 800km round trip to Kakadu National Park- aboriginal homelands with a fascinating range of geographies and habitats between the rocky inland escarpment and the vast wetlands. Overnighting at a crocodile-shaped hotel in Jabiru, we took in aboriginal paintings at Ubirr, visitor centres at Cooinda and Bowali, stops at the Nourlangie Rock and the Anbangbang Billabong (a lake).

All of these are oases of interest lying between long, very long, drives along mostly very straight roads with very consistent, mostly burnt, moderately dense vegetation- the fire a deliberate aboriginal, and still ongoing custom to encourage new growth. Far inland we regularly see roadside flood water depth guages up to 2 metres making the wet season landscape even more difficult to contemplate. The minimal traffic on the roads includes 50 metre long 'road trains' - comprising a massive artic-type cab hauling up to four separate trailers.

Once again the scale is simply stunning and we realise why the park requires at least a week rather than our whistlestop weekend. Back last evening in time for sunset at the Sunday Mindil Beach market where we dine on Indian street food and are not tempted by the many very good craft stalls.

Today Monday 31st August, the usual headlong rush into last minute provisioning and, this time, putting everything back together at the eleventh hour as the pushpit, canvas and alternator all arrived today!

Tomorrow 1st September Exody's lock out slot (one boat per locking) is at 09.15 for an 11.00 start - 920 miles to Lombok, Indonesia.

Peter (Skipper)


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