Nourlangie Safari Camp, Episode 12
Our author, Flemming Jensen from Denmark, with what we hope is a harmless python.
Nourlangie Safari Camp, here is 9SLK is anybody listening? (My radio code) The Diaries of Flemming Jensen, 1968-1969
Drama in the previous episode included wild buffalo hunting, deadly snakes, heroic pilots and missing Socks.
Wednesday 29th January 1969
The airfield which in the rainy season is our main connection with the outside world had got a large hole because the rain had run down the centre of the field. We have tried to repair this hole with different things but it was washed away again.
Today I simply put some concrete in the hole and then we hope that will do. I was ready at one pm and at five pm the rain started and it did not stop until after midnight. The rain here is different than at home. It is simply heavy torrential rain all the time. I fear that the cement has not completely dried before the rain came.
We will find out tomorrow.
Thursday 30th January
The concrete held! That means that one of these days I can continue to improve the airstrip.
To stay here when it rains is really depressing. It almost rained all day and the only thing you almost can do is to read. You start to think about your friends at home. They certainly get the impression, ‘now he has all the fun, enjoying the sun and heat while we are freezing here in Denmark!’ They never have heard about the wet season here in Northern Territory!
I think once again of my future plans but I also took the time to sew my jeans. They should have been discarded in Malaysia but they are still all I have.
Here in the late afternoon Blackie one of the dogs (it is a fox terrier) caught a swamp tiger under my hut! I really do not like that the dogs are there because they make a lot of noise when I try to sleep. But from now on they are very welcome and they will not hear one bad word from me. If they keep the snakes away I'll ignore that they are noisy!
Friday 31st January
Over the radio we were told that Allan would arrive on Sunday. When he comes I'll ask about my salary. If he will not pay I will quit. We do not have any real agreement but I have a feeling that we'll get along if not I do not think I have lost that much.
It has been a busy month and I have seen and tried things that I just could not have dreamed of. Today we tried to save as much gasoline as possible. Toby had discarded a drum of gasoline because it was mixed with water but we managed to save more over fifty litres. We cannot get gasoline from the city until at least April or May so it comes to saving.
Saturday 1st February
Saturday back home, a day with friends, fun, booze on the table and all that. Here time and days all run into one with no difference in a weekday or a holiday. It's not as bad as it sounds but sometimes I get homesick and probably there is not something unnatural in that.
A telegram from Allan ‘first home on Monday’. It meant we had to hunt because our dog food cannot last until Monday. We took off in the afternoon. However first we had trouble with changing the battery. This we have been obliged to do since Allan destroyed the machine that produces electricity and recharges the batteries for the radio. Now we charge the batteries in the cars. We did not shoot any buffalo today. It seemed to become more and more difficult. Since we have only ‘soft’ cartridges we have to sneak close to them and although they have a miserable sight, they hear and smell very well.
I have not said it before but Pat's way to say things has a tone of command and it is sometimes quite annoying, especially when she is behind me and tells me how to do and when. She knows more about hunting than I do. No doubt about it but she could wait until afterwards. By the way, she has never shot a 303 and never shot a buffalo. She has however, her experience from the times she has been out hunting with Toby and he is a champion.
On the way home we tried to shoot a wallaby but this too was unsuccessful. It was dark when we got home and I had to start the water pump because we still have no pressure on the taps. So for the first time I sailed into the dark and started the pump. Back again along the dark paths and up to the house, happy that I did not meet either crocodiles or snakes. It's no joke to go out there when it is dark.
There was a greeting from Allan over the radio. He had won in horse racing so he is properly celebrating his luck tonight.
Nourlangie Safari Camp owner Allan Stewart (right).
In the next episode, Pat flies to Darwin to join Allan, leaving Flemming with a few problems.
Reproduced with permission: Kakadu National Park Cultural Heritage & Biodiversity Management Unit.