6/1 Long days driving

Friday 6 January                                                                   

Peter kindly woke us at 6am to put brekky together. Surprised that people didn’t seem to want to drink juice or eat watermelon (which, like the mangoes, are particularly tasty here). The toaster doesn’t stay down and limps along on the local 110 volt power supply. The laptop doesn’t seem to mind because the transformer takes care of it.

We had to fold the tent for the first time, which went remarkably well and slotted very tidily and easily into the bag. This was when we realised that we were standing in tiny but very bitey ants, which explained the nocturnal biting that we had blamed on mosquitoes.

First stop at the supermarket where we stocked up on drinks for the days ahead. The scenery was initially coastal bays and hills but after some time we swung inland and then experienced mostly thick jungley vegetation. It was a long day’s drive and almost dark before we pulled over behind a service station for the night. They had toilets and even a shower. There was a grassy / gravelly area where we pitched the tents and Yvonne supervised cooking of a very good chicken stir fry. We washed it down with the remainder of the old vodka bottle, which may have been excessive because we both fell asleep pretty promptly.