Great name for a hair salon....!!
We spent the following day walking the streets of Darwin, trying to arrange 3rd Party Insurance for the Big Fella, who was still in the clinging embrace of Australian Officialdom…
Christie had spent a great deal of time trying to solve the mystery of 3rd Party Insurance, calling numerous organizations to inquire where we could obtain this elusive document…
Just in case I needed reminding of where I was....!!
The Channel 9 news crew had to be put on hold, as Customs had advised that the container that the Big Fella was in, had been flagged for additional inspection… I had to cancel the Quarantine inspection booking and make another appointment with the inspector in charge…
Paul and I tried half a dozen different insurance companies, before giving up in exasperation and heading home to figure out what to do about the large stock of beers in his fridge… Emptying them seemed to be the only viable solution, and we set about this task with gusto…!!
Besides the four bedrooms in the main house, Grungle Downs also has a fully serviced cottage in the grounds of the property, where guests and their pets can stay in complete privacy, and maximum comfort...!!
And, when the sun begins to beat down too harshly, as it does in this region, you can retire to the pool area...!!
By 3.00am the following morning, we had sorted out most of the problems on planet earth, and were searching for the telephone number of the Australian prime minister, to give her a call so that we could discuss our ideas for a “New and Improved Australia”…
By the time we got to the bonded and quarantine area, the Big Fella had already been removed from the container...
Day three in Darwin dawned much too brightly for our liking, but being the stout of heart fellows we are, we shrugged off the effects of the previous evening with ease, and set about getting the Big Fella released from Customs…
“This is no country for old men, my friend…!!” said Paul, “It is indeed fortunate that we do not fit into that category…!!”
Security down at the harbour was tight, to say the least…!! We had to wear closed shoes, (no flip-flops allowed…!!), sign in to get a security tag, don bright green safety vests, and then be escorted down to the quarantine area…
The inspector was already there when we arrived, logging into his laptop to begin the procedure of ascertaining whether or not the Big Fella would be allowed into Australia… I hid my apprehension by smiling broadly and offering to help unpack all my gear, something which is not normally allowed…
The quarantine inspection went as smoothly as I could ever have hoped for… The inspector was more than happy with the cleanliness of the bike, and only found one item that he suggested I get rid of in the large dustbin that had been hauled over and put next to the bike… It was a string of beads that Patricia had bought for me in Java, and which I had wanted to attach somewhere on the bike to carry through the rest of my trip…
Everything on the bike was checked... A torch was used to peer under the covers, the mudguards, and into every nook and cranny on the bike...
Free at last...!! My first ride on Australian soil, sans 3rd Party Insurance I might add...!!
One of my duffel bags had to be vacuumed to suck up a few dust particles he was not happy with, but apart from that, after a thorough inspection that involved opening and emptying all my bags, he pronounced himself happy, and signed off the documents that would allow the bike to be released…
Toll Marines charges came to a little over $50, and just after lunch, we were free to go…!! I followed Paul back to Gringle Downs, mindful of the fact that I was riding without any form of Road Insurance…!!
The Channel 9 News Crew had other stories to follow up, and could not meet me at the appointed time, and wanted to know if I would still be around the following day, so that they could catch up with me then…
I had no idea where I would be, and decided I did not want to be tied down to a set time of their choosing… I advised them that I would be in touch and invited them to interview me at Grungle Downs, which Kathleen said she would try to arrange…
By late afternoon, Christie had finally tracked down a company who was prepared to sell me 3rd Party Insurance, and I was able to transfer the $259 it would cost to buy a years cover… I was ready to ride….!! All in all, the cost of getting the bike from Dili in East Timor, and cleared through Darwin amounted to $850… A lot less than I had expected…!!
The sign on the fence made me pause and change my mind about hopping over to get a closer look...!!
Later that afternoon, we were joined by Erin, a friend of the Dickenson’s, whose husband Adam was an expert on crocodiles and had appeared on NatGeo and Animal Planet on numerous occasions… I discovered that Erin was also a biker, and rode a Honda 250 VTR…!!
Erin's Land Cruiser carried the name of the croc that they kept...
Adam and Erin also had a rather large “pet” that I was very interested in seeing up close…!! “Smaug”, a saltwater crocodile measuring over five metres in length, was housed in an enclosure on their property, and had been the star attraction in many documentaries… I did not need a second invitation to visit their property about 30 kms outside Darwin near Humpty Doo, and together we rode out so that I could take a closer look at what was one of the biggest crocs that I had ever seen…!!
I stood looking down into the water of his pond, at first seeing nothing to be concerned about, until slowly, rising from the dark depths, appeared the large broad head of a massive crocodile…!! I looked at the chain-link fence that separated us, and wondered when last he had eaten…!! The fence was all that separated his business end from my bare legs…!!
It was difficult to get a decent photo of him in the water, but I returned the next morning to find him sunning himself on the bank of the pond… It was only then that I saw how big Smaug really was…!!
Not something you would want to bump into while swimming...!!
One of the best and cheapest places in Darwin to enjoy a meal... Tables are set right on the waters edge, and from there, you can watch the sun go down over the bay...
A large plate of spaghetti and seafood was my choice...!! Surprise, surprise...!!
Later that evening, Erin joined us at the Darwin sailing club where we enjoyed a fine meal, and afterward, ever mindful of the “drink and don’t drive” laws here in Australia, we took a taxi home where we again chatted until the very early hours of the morning…
She suggested that before I leave Darwin, we take a ride down to Litchfield National Park on our bikes, as she hardly ever got to ride with anybody, and wanted to give her bike a “little run”…
It would apparently be about a three hundred kilometre round trip, and we planned to set off as early as possible the following morning, to avoid the heat that would no doubt become a factor later on…
I was only too happy to see a little of the countryside around Darwin before I left, so hardly needed my arm to be twisted…!!
The big Fella had also been cooped up in his container for too long, and needed a little “pipe-opening” run himself…!!
©GBWT 2011
Seems like you have met some great people again. Enjoy!