Grantly - 11. Grant Chapter 11

About twenty minutes later, as we sat in the lounge area, chatting about what we could do for the rest of the day, we heard some noise outside and we went out onto the patio to investigate, where we found Simon and Nicholas in the swimming pool. William and I looked at each other, dropped our shorts and jumped into the pool with just boxers on before a water fight began.

“How did you guys get here, and where do you guys live?” I asked the lads once we had enough of splashing water at each other. “Each of our families owns half of a duplex townhouse, and depending on which way you travel, we are between 300 and 450 metres away from here,” Simon replied. “You live next door to each other? Wow! That must be interesting!” William responded.

“It is great, as our fathers are work partners, so they are right next door, and we are best mates, so being neighbours is awesome, but our brothers are not so excited, mainly because one is older than us and the other is younger, but they are enjoying the new environment as are we,” Simon added.

“Where do they base their business from?” I asked, “They managed to buy a whole commercial building in the city, which we think was a car sales yard or car hire yard, as it has a great open reception area and conference room, plus a small office and bathroom on the ground floor, and upstairs there is a lounge, kitchen dining area, bathroom and three offices,” William replied.

“We call in there sometimes when our dads have been working too much and are being summoned home when they ignore calls from our mum,” Simon explained. and I chuckled at this bit of information. Where do you guys go to school?” I asked, “We go to a Christian independent college in the suburb of Marrara, which is about a 45-minute school bus ride away, with several pickup stops on the way,” Nicholas replied.

“What did you mean by depends on which way you travel?” William asked the lads, “Well as you can guess you are on a small island in the middle of a marina, and we live on the outer side of the marina, so we can either travel by Kayak as we did today, or we can walk,” Nicholas responded. “How about we get out of here and show you guys around the area,” Simon suggested, so we headed off indoors, where we took turns to shower, and for us to change, before we headed out on foot to explore the area.

As we walked along the road, we chatted and about five minutes later, William and I were told that the big open area to the right of us was the site of the former Darwin Hospital which managed to receive minimal damage when Cyclone Tracy hit Darwin in 1974, and later on it became the Myilly Point Campus of the University, then when the Palmerston campus was built, the campus was closed down.

After a short walk, which included walking through a small park and past a large car park, which I learnt is part of the Myilly Resort and Casino, we arrived at a mudflat beach, and it was easy to see that it was currently low tide in the region, as we walked along the beach in a northerly direction, passing the front of the hotel and casino, where the beach widened and there was plenty of white beaches.

“Welcome to Mindal Beach, home of the Dry Season Mindal Beach Markets, held every week from April to September and man do they have some interesting stuff here,” Simon announced to William and me. “We will be taking you back here in a few days so you can experience it for yourself,” Nicholas added.

We walked the full length of the beach, which was a good 700 to 800 metres, before turning around and retracing where we came from, but this time instead of heading back to the island, we followed the road around to the right, and we soon arrived at the duplex townhouses where Nicholas and Simon lived.

Surprisingly the houses were identical, and they were quite roomy for townhouses, William and I were shown around the place and later we headed back to my mum’s place to swim in the pool, which was always great fun. Later that evening, all three families gathered to have dinner together at Darwin Wharf for dinner together, which was great, especially with William permitted to stay with me for the rest of our time in Australia,

During the weekdays, with William and I on holidays, and the other lads having to attend school, Mum took us to various places to see, including the NT Museum, which had a display of the Damage that Cyclone Tracey caused, as well as the Crocodile Park.

We also checked out the WW2 Underground Museum, which features the Oil Tanks and exhibits about life during World War 2 in Darwin, and the old Fannie Bay Jail, which had its last double execution in 1952 and was badly damaged during Cyclone Tracey in December 1974, before closing in 1979, plus we explored the Military Museum at East Point.

Once the lads were free from attending school for the week, the four of us explored the city coastline by mountain bike, from East Point to Nightcliff, and up to Lee Point, which is the most northern point of Darwin. Once Mum was free to spend time with us, she had us pack a bag each with two or three days’ worth of clothes, and we took a road trip down the highway to Berry Springs Nature Park and the Territory Wildlife Park.

From there we continued down Cox Peninsular Road to the Litchfield Park Road at Blackmore, where we turned off and travelled for nearly 45 minutes, where we stopped for some lunch at the Litchfield Café, and ten minutes after being on the road again we reached the turnoff to Wangi Falls, which is located just under two kilometres down the gravel road, with a short 250-metre walk from the car park to the falls itself, and oh boy was it a spectacular sight to see.

After a quick change, we were soon in the swimming hole and although the water was a little cold, it was a relief from the very dry heat of the tropics. After a wonderful cooling swim, we were soon back on the road, and half an hour later, we turned off the main road 3 kilometres later, we arrived at the Buely Rockhole car park, and after a short walk we arrived at the Buely Creek, and we jumped into the rock hole in the creek to cool off again.

Ten minutes after getting back on the main road again, we arrived at the Magnetic termite mounds, that are very tall, and all of them face north and south. From there we continued onwards and half an hour later we arrived at the Rum Jungle Road turnoff, and five minutes later we arrived on the outskirts of the township of Bachelor, where we pulled into the Litchfield Outback Resort, where Mum announced we would be staying overnight.

Once we had checked in William and I headed for the pool, as the temperature was quite high with a large amount of humidity, which made it quite uncomfortable, and we relaxed for the rest of the afternoon, before having a nice meal at a local restaurant, and heading to bed early, with William and I sharing a room.

The following morning, after a large breakfast, we checked out of the motel and we were on the road again, fifteen minutes later we arrived back at the main Stuart Highway, where Mum turned right, so we were heading south. “Where are you taking us now?” I asked Mum more out of curiosity than anything, “You will soon see boys, just sit back and enjoy the Northern Territory scenery,” Mum replied.

“What scenery, all I see is a lot of thin bushland, a lot of tall grass, and a long highway,” William commented quietly, and I nodded my head in agreement. We had only been travelling for about ten minutes before Mum slowed down and turned left off the highway, and shortly after she turned right onto a property, where a sign stated, “Outback Horsemanship and Retreat.”

“Err, I’ve never been on a horse before,” William saw when he saw the sign, and I smiled, “It is easy, I will show you how it is done, and once you get used to it, travelling by horse is enjoyable, you get to see your surroundings at a higher level,” I responded. “I’m still not sure I want to do this,” William replied, as we pulled up at what looked like the main homestead.

“Hello Eliza, welcome back to Oakley, who are these two strapping young lads?” a lady about Mum’s age said as she stepped out from a shady verandah and approached us, and Mum gave her a warm hug. “Sarah, this is my son Sebastian and his good friend William. My son lives mostly with his father in the UK, and they are currently on school holidays,” Mum replied.

William and I looked at Mum, wondering what on earth we were doing here, and why was she so familiar with this lady. “Well boys, welcome to Oakley, I am guessing that Eliza has not told you what her connection is to this place,” Sarah asked us boys, and we both shook our heads no and both Sarah and Mum chuckled at this.

“This property was put on the market not that long ago when my husband passed away due to an accident, and I agreed to stay on to manage the property for Eliza, the new owner. As well as horse rides and horse skills training, the 296-acre property also runs a small herd of cattle and has an equestrian centre for horse events for the various horse associations and clubs in the top end, plus we also have a cottage and five twin-room bunk house for accommodation,” Sarah informed us.

We ended up staying the full four days on the property at Tortilla Flats, riding horses every day, which William grew to love and we also went for wonderful evening walks. We were reminded that it was also Christmas, which seemed to have slipped our minds, and spending Christmas and Boxing Days on the property, in the middle of know where was a new and interesting experience for all of us, but it was also nice to be around family and freiinds too.

We arrived back at the house in Cullen Bay just after dark, having picked up some takeaway dinner on the way through, and we relaxed after eating. “Boys, what do you want to do for your last weekend and week in Darwin and Australia?” Mum asked me. “Well, for the weekend, I would like to just relax and hang out with my friends, if that is ok with you?” I replied and we saw William nod his head in agreement.

“What about for your last week here, as you don’t leave until Saturday afternoon?” Mum asked, “I’m not sure Mum, can William and I think about it before we decide please?” I answered, “Yes, of course you can, it is your holiday after all,” Mum replied smiling.

At dinner that evening, Mum suggested that we try experiencing a long-distance train ride, from Darwin to Adelaide, which leaves on a Wednesday at 10 am and arrives in Adelaide on Friday at 1 pm, and we could fly back to Darwin, that evening, in time for our flight back to London the following day.

Or we could fly down to Adelaide, on Saturday evening, staying overnight there before boarding the Ghan northbound, departing at 12.15 pm on Sunday, and arriving in Darwin on Tuesday at 5.30 pm, which would give us a few days rest before our flight to London.

Although it sounded interesting doing this train journey, after some discussions, William and I announced to Mum that we would prefer to stay in the Northern Territory for the rest of our stay in Australia, just as I received a text message from the lads. “Are you home? Where the heck have you guys been?” and I smiled as I showed the message to William, before sending a reply.

“Merry Christmas guys. Went on a road trip with William and Mum, to Territory Wildlife Park, Litchfield N/P, and a Horse place at Tortilla Flats. Had to do something while you guys were attending school.” Moments later I received another message, “Yeah, well we finished school on Wednesday for the Summer break, and we were looking forward to hanging out with you guys. So what are your plans for this weekend and the last week here, before flying back to the land of motorbike racing?” Nicholas asked.

“Lol, we only have that race for two weeks every year, not all the time you know. We are still discussing what to do next week, but we want to hang out with you guys all weekend if that is possible,” I replied. “Ok mate, we will see you in the morning, in that case, goodnight,” Nicholas responded. For the weekend, the four of us just stayed around Cullen Bay and Mindal Beach, swimming, kayaking and walking around, and we had a great time.

I informed the guys that our flight to London left Darwin via Singapore on Saturday afternoon, so we could catch up on Saturday morning before we left for the airport, which Nicolas and Simon were pleased to hear. On Sunday evening, Mum announced to us that on Monday afternoon, we were going on a trip to Alice Springs, where we would stay at a resort for two nights, and check out the MacDonnell Ranges and Trephina Gorge.

After that, we would be flying to Yulara and would stay there for two nights, to see Uluru, Mount Olga and the Valley of the Winds before flying back to Alice Springs and back to Darwin late on Friday afternoon, where we would have less than tent four hours before boarding our international flight.

Those four and a half days in Central Australia were amazing, especially seeing Uluru up close, but we were also happy to be back in Darwin relaxing, although I was feeling a little down that our Australian holiday was almost over. For our journey home to the Isle of Man, our first leg of the journey would be in Economy onboard a Boing 737 Max aircraft, for nearly five hours, which I found to be very uncomfortable.

We had a 4 ½- hour layover there, and William kept a close eye on me for the whole time that we were there, to make sure nothing happened to me again. The next stage of our journey home was onboard an Airbus A380, and we would be upstairs in business class for this part of the journey, which was an awesome trip, as I managed to get a good amount of sleep during the 14-hour flight, arriving in London at 6 am on Sunday.

We had a 7-hour layover time in London, plus we had to change airports, before boarding our last flight to Douglas, Isle of Man, arriving there at 4 pm local time, with Dad there to collect us, and to drop off William at his home before we arrived home. I was so glad that I was able to sleep on the second leg of the trip, although I was still feeling quite trip from the long journey, but it was good to be back home again from our Australian Tropical adventure.