diff --git a/monero-harness/src/lib.rs b/monero-harness/src/lib.rs
index 0e3b2127..27521b7f 100644
--- a/monero-harness/src/lib.rs
+++ b/monero-harness/src/lib.rs
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ use std::time::Duration;
 use testcontainers::clients::Cli;
 use testcontainers::{Container, Docker, RunArgs};
 use tokio::time;
+use tokio::time::sleep;
 
 /// How often we mine a block.
 const BLOCK_TIME_SECS: u64 = 1;
@@ -251,12 +252,24 @@ impl<'c> MoneroWalletRpc {
             .get_host_port(RPC_PORT)
             .context("port not exposed")?;
 
-        // create new wallet
         let client = wallet::Client::localhost(wallet_rpc_port)?;
 
-        client
-            .create_wallet(name.to_owned(), "English".to_owned())
-            .await?;
+        // Create new wallet, the RPC sometimes has startup problems so we allow some
+        // retries
+        tokio::time::timeout(Duration::from_secs(10), async {
+            loop {
+                let result = client
+                    .create_wallet(name.to_owned(), "English".to_owned())
+                    .await;
+
+                match result {
+                    Ok(_) => { break; }
+                    Err(e) => { tracing::warn!("Monero wallet RPC emitted error {} - retrying to create wallet in 2 seconds...", e); }
+                }
+
+                sleep(Duration::from_secs(2)).await;
+            }
+        }).await.context("All retry attempts for creating a wallet exhausted")?;
 
         Ok((
             Self {