We left in 1983. I have wonderful memories of Darwin, it was a different posting to any thing else. Among the fuel tanks at the northern ? end of the wharf was an old air raid shelter. This was renovated into a very desirable venue, called the CELL bar. Invitation only, I knew the Officer I/C, did him a couple of favours, so I was often there , especially on a Friday, sea food smorgasbord time.Originally Posted by vnx205
There was an ex English soldier, married to a beautiful Finnish woman , with two lovely daughters. They left Darwin for an acreage down past Tumbling Waters, laid a huge slab, used trees from the property to support a roof, divided the place in two with curtains and wardrobes , sleeping one side living the other. Stones from the property were used to wall in the kitchen, with a low wall around the lounge area. No windows. He laid another slab for a piggery, had a diesel generator for power. He got his fuel courtesy of the RAN. Every time a fuel tank was cleaned there was an amount of sullage in the bottom of no use to any one, and he who shall be nameless used to bring his old series 2 land rover in with a couple of 44's on the back, and fill them with sullage. All he needed for fuel, he said. Of course the whole pigs and legs of pork he left as a thank you went over well.
That land rover was a gem. There was a level of grease and gunk over where the carby was supposed to be. The RAEME WO kept telling him to bring it in for a tune up and clean. He refused, saying he could drive it through any creek or waterhole chasing buffalo or magpie geese [ which we used to shoot from the tray of the vehicle] and if it was cleaned, it probably wouldn't go. I've never seen him work on that engine, but it just kept going. We used to help him kill buffalo for his meat, and stayed for a BBQ, buffalo ribs , steaks, we slept in the lounge area and were woken in the morning by piglets snuffling around. My wife , a Sydney girl, loved it, totally different from any experience she had before.
He wanted to get a licence to sell pork in Darwin, but had to upgrade his piggery. The Engineer WO, had a shed full of roofing iron left over from before Tracy,with the first couple of sheets showing some rust. So he wrote the lot off, and he and I loaded up a truck and dropped it off. He got his licence. One day I'll talk about how a mate and I used to drive to Blacks Forest and shoot brumbies for dog meat, but that's another story.
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