Our day started just after 5:00am when the alarm sounded.
We had to make an early start to be in Darwin by 10:00am to have our toilet fixed.
After a quick breakfast, “He” did all of the outside things in the dark. This was a new experience.
We departed the campsite just before 6:45am intending to take our time until there was full sunlight. We expected the 200k trip to take a little over 2.25hrs so we would be early for our appointment.
Much to our surprise, we saw very little wildlife before the sun came up. We had expected to see wallabies around sunrise but they must have overslept as they started to make appearances about 30 minutes after sunrise. We had several cross our path including one that came as close a 2 meters before doing a 180 degree turn and retreating into the bush. We also saw a dead snake, wild pigs and some buffalo in the distance.
We arrived about 40 minutes early for our appointment only to learn we would be delayed for longer than expected. The service people were out of the office and not expected back until 10:30am.
At around 11:00am, the toilet was looked at and the suspect solenoid was replaced. That did not fix the problem. It was then determined that the activation switch was faulty. The Thetford agent did not have a replacement switch and after they attempted to contact Thetford, we were told that Thetford was closed for stocktake and would not be open until the following Monday. “He” was far from impressed.
A temporary repair was made to the switch but were told it would fail again. We paid for the part that had been fitted and departed.
We were the third to arrive at our Darwin stopover, the Discovery Parks, Darwin caravan park. We were allocated a site that is in shade until lunch time and then the side where the refrigerator is located is in direct sunlight for the remainder of the day.
“He” decided to see if a small compressor fridge/freezer was available and searches on the internet revealed that Waeco has an 11 litre fridge/freezer that met the requirement.
We determined that Anaconda sold the 11 litre fridge/freezer.
Immediately after finishing our setup, we headed to Anaconda where they did have the item on display. It was too small but much to our surprise, Anaconda had a $300 reduction across their range of CFX fridge/freezers and had stock of a 28 litre solution. The price with the discount was just over $100 more than the smaller item. Without hesitation we purchased the fridge/freezer knowing that our portable battery pack would run the fridge for several days. The size was also perfect for our needs.
After returning to our caravan unpacking the fridge and connecting it to power, it took less that 15 minutes for the refrigerator to cool from 27c to 1c. We have space for the refrigerator and the overall additional weight will not be an issue.
Arrangements had been made for old friends from the Winnebago RV Club to meet us later in the afternoon. They joined us for happy hour. Seeing Anne and Chris proved again how the RV lifestyle impacts your life and how friends made whilst travelling can become friends for life.
We had a late evening meal and watched television until late in the evening.
Once again, the air conditioning remained on for the entire night.