Adapting can be easy. Run out of cereal? Have toast. Missed your favourite show because you don’t have tv reception in the middle of nowhere? Stream it when you’re back in civilisation.
Sometimes adapting means eating a little bit of humble pie. For example, you might run out of water halfway through a 12km ride by being a bit too ambitious on a humid, 36 degree day. The hypothetical ride occurred just outside Adelaide River, along deserted roads and led to a range of abandoned WWII storage bunkers, laboratories, and buildings. Realising our predicament, we hastily took a photo of a bunker, some fallen down buildings and a bridge, and turned around, heading back to water and leaving most of the site unexplored.
We had been reminded of the importance of adaptability only a few days earlier following an amazing visit to Edith Falls. Edith Falls has naturally formed infinity pools, fed by a waterfall at one end and draining away to another waterfall that feeds the next pool down at the other. We swam through the first and third pools, sat under their waterfalls, and snorkelled, not just seeing the beauty but experiencing it.
Somewhere in this adventure we had picked up an unwanted hitchhiker. A small screw developed a very strong attraction to our rear right tyre. And so, when we arrived in Adelaide River, our home had an odd tilt to it as if we were already three glasses in to our vodka.
Vaughn quickly diagnosed that we hadn’t accidentally gotten drunk, and we headed to the only mechanic in town, attached to the lone petrol station next to the single general store. Because we have incredible luck with weekends and public holidays, it was the Sunday of a public holiday long weekend. As a result. we pumped up the tyre and adapted our plans to explore the tiny community of Adelaide river, home of a taxidermy Charlie the bull from Crocodile Dundee, war graves, and the seemingly forgotten storage facilities 6km out of town from World War II.
Vaughn also, very generously, adapted his expectations of how he wanted to celebrate his birthday. We spent his birthday Monday by a chlorinated pool awaiting the opening of the mechanic, rather than a waterfall fed pool in Litchfield National Park, and his cake comprised a small brownie, the only cake like substance in the entire township, and a floor of balloons. Celebration central.
Tuesday arrived, and rechecking the tyre confirmed we had lost pressure again.
Adaptability is waiting for two hours outside of the mechanic in your car that is also your home, finding small ways to amuse yourself with some spring cleaning. Adaptability is also quickly revising your plans when after two hours the mechanic indicates they’re not really interested in helping you. Our trip to Darwin came a whole lot sooner than expected, as we pumped up the tyre and hoped it would hold all the way there.
Our tyre was fixed in less than 20 minutes after arriving in Darwin, and we developed new plans for our adventures.
We headed back down to Litchfield National Park, not for three days as planned, but for a day of highlights, lighter on the hiking than intended but with plenty of rock pools, waterfall fed pools, fish and turtles swimming around us, and vistas. Despite several poor wet seasons, Litchfield comprised larger scale waterfalls that what we had seen before, with the sandstone acting like a sponge in the wet season and slowly releasing all the stored water over the dry. And yes Jill, we visited Florence Falls!
Darwin also taught us to adapt our travel schedule to buy tickets to and attend the V8 Supercars, because Vaughn is a big fan of one of the evening performers, Vera Blue, and a full ticket was the only way to see her…
A core part of this trip has been seeing the vast range of what Australia has to offer. And so the V8 Supercars became part of that vast range.
On first entry, the deafening roar of the cars and the gunshot-like cracks as they changed gears was a wee bit impressive. We quickly learnt that races become a little meaningless unless you have commentary and an idea of who the competitors are, and so we ended up near a loudspeaker, following race stats on our phones like seasoned fans.
On night one, we headed down to the mosh pit to relive the last decade of pop with The Vernoicas, surprised at how much their songs had imprinted on our unconscious. We were somewhat disappointed with the follow on act, who you might have heard of, Jimmy Barnes?
Day two we explored the carnival atmosphere of the Supercars, uncovering a Disney Cars themed playground, motorbike stunts, and seeing the Darwin Triple Crown go for the first time ever in its history, to Scott McLoughlin. We also learnt that the impressive roar of the V8’s was nothing compared to the sonic boom of a flyover from an FA-18 fighter jet. Night two we suffered through very angry hip hop, until Vera Blue came on. Vaughn lost himself in her Celtic lilting over the top of dance beats, and professed his love for her repeatedly.
The final act was alternate suffering/intrigue through Illy’s performance, depending on which one of us you ask. However, one of us forcing the other to stay through the entire set was entirely forgiven (I hope) when Vera Blue came on for a duet for a final song of the night. I believe the conversation went something like “Don’t walk away from me, let’s go;” “What, why? Vera Blue is on stage! They’re doing the duet!”; “Oh, I love Vera Blue, this is amazing!” Birthday present greatness achieved.
And so yes, adaptability is sitting through sports, through rap music, to see an artist that brings you joy.
Darwin was also home of free waterparks, which had 25m long slides, and provided an opportunity to catch up with family friends not seen for a decade. Their welcome and kindness made Darwin feel like a home, as we explored stokes hill wharf, the amazing museum and art gallery of the Northern Territory, the botanic gardens, the air museum, and the various markets. We also visited the Darwin Military Museum with the bombing of Darwin experience. It may be that we have such amazing opportunities in Canberra, and Joan, please don’t be too upset, but it was here that Vaughn and I looked at each other and said “I think we’ve done enough WWII for this trip.”
We also shared a lovely evening with Sue and Pattie, two fellow travellers from Perth who work remotely for their clients. Laughter abounded, and meant a humble apology was required to neighbours the next morning. Adaptability also meant staying an extra two days in Darwin to share dinner, drink and a laugh with a close work friend who was passing through.
Oh, and as great as it was, we will not be attending the next V8 race in Townsville. Just to be clear. Although we may adapt our plans when we review the evening entertainment set list…
I think you have well and truly covered WWII to an acceptable standard but be warned there will be an assessment task on your return.