Katherine to Darwin, Wed 15-6-11

   I checked the thesaurus and there isn’t a big enough word for ‘huge’ to describe the size of the guy’s breakfast at the next table. Amazingly the plate didn’t snap in half as he carried it from the buffet. ‘Filled a hole, did it, sir?’ the waiter said, clearing the spotless plate. ‘Central QLD Bauxite mine,’ I thought.

   Ben makes a three point turn at a T-junction next to the motel. In one go. Done. Sheesh, I have a hard enough time with a 6x4 off the back of the car.

   The ever present termite mounds decrease in number but increase in size on the approach to Darwin; the ‘high-rise’ mounds of the CBD in contrast to the ‘suburban-sprawl’ of their southern counterparts. A good camp fire story to scare the kids would be that each 4m high mound contains one giant termite…

   Hidden Valley racetrack, 20 kms south of Darwin city, is the next venue for the XXXX Retreat and host to this round of the V8 Supercars season. After entry-pass and safety talk shenanigans, we drive a complete circuit of the track to the gate where the truck can get in. On the way we pass a temp bar on a hill, its sign says ‘Shenanigans’. Aha. Ben swings the truck onto the hill in the centre of the track. From the top deck of the bar the view will take in most of the raceway. The space between a giant marquee and the hill dropping away is tight. Big Bad Ben positions the Retreat after a few goes only to be told that it has to go ‘4ft that way’. Much arm waving and a 900 point turn later it’s done. We couldn’t really tell who was in charge of co-ordination of Hidden Valley, but there were so many 2cents being thrown in we could’ve bought Buckingham Palace.

   We had all day Thursday to open the truck so we high-tailed it out of there to dump bags at our rock-star accommodation and take in some city sights through the bottom of an up-ended schooner glass. The Beachfront hotel is packed with punters ready for the second rugby league State of Origin game. QLD vs NSW and XXXX vs VB. PA speakers are set around the beergarden a very large TV screen faces the pub from across the road. At half time the XXXX GOLD ute tows a stage in front of the crowd and the XXXX Angels perform their ‘Kickstart’ routine. The Retreat has now been booked for the Origin ‘decider’ outside the casino in Townsville.