Journey's Beyond The Nest: Day 16 - Bramwell Junction to Seisia

(Kate)

Day 16 - Bramwell Junction to Seisia

The day did not start well, with the "pre-flight check" revealing that coolant had leaked from the car overnight. No obvious hole or crack could seen but the bottom of the radiator was wet with coolant. The low coolant alarm that Ben had installed for exactly this purpose had not sounded the previous day so it was a slow leak and we had not lost a lot of coolant. Ben added a radiator stop leak additive that he had in the spares box and we ran without pressurising the engine cooling system. The Delica didn't seem to mind all this. Since it is a Sunday, and the mechanic in Seisia wouldn't be open til tomorrow anyway, we decided to check and top up with water periodically and press on, taking it easy and keeping a close eye on the engine temperature. Because we had the time, we stopped at Fruit Bat Falls for a swim, which was great therapy, as we were all a bit stressed about the car. Sitting under the waterfalls themselves gave a great shoulder massage, which we all needed. We pressed on and crossed the Jardine River Ferry into the Northern Peninsula Area. We checked into the Seisia Holiday Park, and it was a couple of stressful hours of camp setup for Kate and Nicole, while Ben and Keith got the radiator out of the car to inspect it. It took us all to the limits of our resilience, but we got there in the end. Ben located the crack that was weeping coolant, and patched it, so that we can get to Darwin, where we'll be able to fit a new one.

There are free-ranging horses in the NPA, and one if them came within a few metres of our tent to check us out, and then moved on. We had visits from one of the town dogs too, who was adorable.