UHURU

GOODBY TO THE WAGON

BEV, KIT AND FULMAYA

Today we said goodbye Bev and Kit at UHURU. Such a nice couple. He reminded me so much of Dan Cavin.  He even looked like him with his beard and artistic demeanour.  He had been in Australia half his life, having been an accountant. I would put his age at about 70 so that would make it 35-years.  His wife had an Australian accent and seemed to be a bit younger.  We like the Wagon but it was bitterly cold at night.  There was a false roof and it was situated in the shade of a lot of vegetation – to keep it cool in the summer.  But inside, the heating was inadequate and my hands were always cold.  Only the walk in the morning sunshine would bring back the warmth to my body.  Having lived in South Africa, he's decided on the name Uhuru which in Swahili means freedom.  And there's a lot of that in this area.

After the cordial conversations outside their house, we left them and drove to the laid-back town of Denmark to the west which we’d passed through on the way to Albany.  After a visit to the tourist centre, we decided not to follow the recommendations of the chewing-gum-chewing clerk there who recommended The Hideaway and The Loft, both within our budget range of about $100.  Fulmaya suggested we just drive around and see what happens, a good idea because we ended up in Denmark River Caravan Park where we secured a chalet with a veranda overlooking the river mouth and the Wilson Inlet.  

AT THE PARROT AND KANGAROO FARM

A visit to the parrot and kangaroo farm introduces us to an amazing variety of parrots, some a bit over-friendly but amusing when you get to know each other.  I half expect to see blood with this one chewing on my ear, but he's a gentle little thing and seems to like me - too much.

I'm bit scared of the kangaroos as I seem to remember a Chaplin film that featured the marsupials with boxing gloves doing damage to an experienced boxer.  But again, their gentle things and hoppity hopping around with their clown's feet you can't help but laugh.

From the veranda in Denmark, we can watch the pelicans floating around and the variety of birds, what looks like oyster catchers and others I can’t tell the name of.  A visit to the town and we didn’t recognise any of the shops, no Boots the Chemist, Argos, Morrisons or Tesco, just little shops specialising in their own line of goods.  We rented a couple of dvds from a hire shop, the owner trusting us although we didn’t have our driving license, a prerequisite for registering in the shop as a customer.

A couple of shops sold Nepalese goods, one apparently for charity – an orphanage near Kathmandu. Another shop seemed to sell everything from shoes to fridges to outdoor wear.  I bought a pair of sunglasses and Fulmaya bought a pair of laces, the latter costing only 50cents. “That’s the least amount of money I’ve spent since I’ve been in Canada,” I said.  Fulmaya reminded me I was in Australia.  The town and the currency remind me so much of Canada that I have to remind myself where I am.   

I ask the giggling assistant, “Do you have an anchor?”

She replies, “I have a car anchor.”  She sees the puzzlement in my face and she explains, “If you get stuck in the sand you can winch your car with it.  You might be out in the desert somewhere.”

“Oh, I just use some old carpet,” I tell her.

The main thing about the accommodation is the size and the fact it’s clean.  There’s plenty of space with a Fujitsu heater and just so warm at last.  The shower is hot and above the cooker is a fan which takes the smell of our cooking outside.

Oh, and the sun does revolve anti-clockwise.