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Sometimes these 60+ tourists get jobs in popular tourist destinations as was the case with Bruce who we met when we pulled into Cooinda Lodge and Camp Ground in Kakadu. It was a beautiful spot with grass and shady trees away from the small square slots that were the rest of the park. The girl at reception said we could take spot 31 or 32 and she had showed me where to go on the map which clearly showed the sites as two neat little squares on a map. In reality the sites where hard to distinguish. Luckily Bruce had met us at the entrance and was going to show us exactly where to go.
We got out of the car and Bruce showed us where to go, waving vaguely at a large area that had several trees to be negotiated before getting into place. Ater he finished explaining to us where he wanted us to park I still had absolutely no idea where to park. I looked at Garry who proceded to get back in the patrol to move the van into place which gave me some confidence that he knew where to park, but when I caught his eye I could see that he was equally eluded.
"Have you got any idea where he wants me to park?" Garry said, becoming just slightly annoyed.
"No" I answered. At this point it became clear that I was about to become the Mediator. So Garry proceeded to reverse into an awkward position between several trees. When he was in I could see that the branches from the trees where going to stop us from winding up the camper. On realising this Bruce said "I thought you would drive it straight through" and he indicated a route to drive the car into position. I walked Garry through the route the whole time Garry muttering under his breath and cursing the trees as he tried to navigate around them. When he was in position Bruce said "that's okay isn't it?"
We were squashed between two trees in such a way that the annex would not fit. I had began to interpret Bruce's vivid directions. I went to the car window and said to Garry "Okay this is what he is saying" Then Bruce suggested pulling up and reversing so that the van was closer to the other tree but this would have meant that our door opening would be right in front of the tree. Finally I said to Bruce " you know, my husband, has a very short fuse." Then I went to the window and said to Garry "You are just going to have to get out and talk to him."
As Garry got out of the car I could feel myself cringing at what he might say. "It seems like there is no specific area here, is that right?" Garry said
"Oh well pretty much" Bruce admitted
"Well how about I park here" Garry said.
My guess is that we had taken up spot 31, 32 and 33.
"Okay" Bruce said.
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