Darwin

Phew we arrived in Darwin and it was hot hot, real humid as we expected. Here we met Robert and Glenda who we parked next too. They had a huge brand new 5th Wheeler, awesome! plenty of room and slideout sides that gave you even more room.

The first week we pretty much stayed home and caught up on uploading photos blogging and just relaxing. Mum was arriving on Sunday so we were going to wait and do all the touristing when mum and Charles arrived.

We caught up with Sarah Mick and Lily, they were staying here at the Free Spirit Darwin and they were also in Broome when we were there just across from our site.

The Free Spirit was nice and cheap $30 a night kids were free. It’s the off peak too and Free Spirit had the best deals. The park was a Big 4 so we got our 10% discount as well. A very nice park with 3 swimming pools, they were a bit too warm not very refreshing, the kids loved it and guess as long as they are happy everyones happy.

They also had a restaurant and bar on site which was good for those hot lazy nights when you cant be bothered cooking and well used by us. The staff at the restaurant were Indian or Pakistan, everytime Isla saw them she would shyly giggle she thought they were great. I wondered whether she thought they resembled Michael Jackson as she is obsessed with him since he died. Anyway the staff thought that was great and gave them a lots of attention. Slade and Shelby called them their friends and had them wrapped around their fingers changing the Tv to the Simpsons or cartoons whenever we were there for dinner. On Sundays they had roast dinners, and Wednesdays was snitzel night, excellent meals and good prices.

We had the toilets all to ourselves for most of our stay but towards the end the park closed some of the other back sites and their toilet blocks for the wet season. They made people move to the higher ground which was where we were, supposedly. I say this because we had a rainy day when mum was with us. Mum and I went to the food shop and it started raining heavy and it didn’t stop, it was nice as it sort of cooled the place down a bit. I waited for awhile for the rain to stop but after an hour I thought its only water and I got drenched getting the car and loading the groceries. When I got out onto the roads the water had flooded in the median strip and I went through one puddle in the car that the water waved over the car and I couldn’t see where I was going. When I got back to the park Clint was out in the rain digging trenches around our pad for the water to run around it not over it. He was using his little shovel going flat out it was funny and he managed to have a laugh at himself. So higher ground my ass, it is now that Clint has dug away all the dirt.

I was really looking forward to seeing mum cant remember the last time I had been this long away from her. Mum and Charles arrived Saturday afternoon we picked them up from the airport. Surprisingly there were no tears just relief at seeing her for me. I think mum was going to cry but when she saw the kids she just smiled and smiled. Isla was asleep when they arrived sleeping on her daddy’s shoulder, when he put her in the caqr she woke up to Poppy knocking on her car window and she couldn’t believe her eyes she was so surprised and then she turned beside her to see grandma sitting next to her and that was priceless her whole body smiled and she grabbed hold of grandma’s arm and didn’t let go just in case she was dreaming. She smiled all the way home holding grandma the whole time. Slade and Shelby just talked and talked to grandma and poppy the while way home.

We got poppy and grandma a palm cabin and after a mix up with the cabin booking they finally got one right across from our van. That worked well as we could watch the kids come and go. The cabin was new just one bedroom but it had pull out sofa so the kids had turns at stay over. Mum did most of the cooking while she was with us here. She sure did spoil us We had curry and shanks all the things we had missed.

In the northern territory the speed limit is 130kms per hour, the newspapers in NT are always telling news on how bad the deaths on the road are. Didnt quite get why they had such a limit but when you start to drive around the NT, it does take a rather long time to get to places. Everything is pretty much on its own. We had a go at the speed limit when we went out to Litchfield park without the van, ooh yes that’s real fast.

We took mum and Charles out to Litchfield park and the best place was called Wangi falls. A beautiful swimming pool all natural of course, with a couple of waterfalls in the backdrop. There were croc sign near the swimming hole and while we were all in and swimming around the kids were asking me if there were any crocodiles in here and I was saying NO, not in here but I was scoping the place like an army sniper just in case. The bottom of the swimming hole was all rock but half way in is a sand bar where the water is shallow and up to you belly button. That was excellent because you could get all the way close to the waterfalls. We had a nice lunch, there was a burger van parked at the park because it was nearly wet season so they close the cafes and restaurant but they allow the burger van just to do the small amount of visitors they have at these times of the year. The best burgers we have had, it was so huge I could hardly get my mouth around it (dont worry I managed).

At Litchfield national park it doesn’t cost you a fee to enter which was different as most WA national parks charge a fee of 10 or so dollars but this one was for FREE. We went to the Lost City which is a place in the park just off the main road down a 10km dirt road, takes you about 40mins as the road is 4 wheel drive only and a bit bumpy. Well worth it when you arrive at the lost city, its all these gigantic rock formations all together like a lost city. You get the feeling that people once lived here.

Mum is loving this Mango Tree country and she has been having some of her tropical fruit delicacies like rumbutan and starfruit. Poppy is a frequent flyer at Tommo’s Pies which is next to the park, he loves the ned Kelly pie (steak, bacon, egg and cheese).

BATS! Clint hates the bats. Wherever we park the car, tree or no tree we wake to find bat poo's all over the car. You have to wash it straight of as it eats away the paint on your car. Maybe because the car is black they are attracted to using it as a toilet!!

The mozi’s are also a menace, we tend to get inside after 5 as they a get a bit vicious, you don’t really feel them bite you just see the welts in the morning.

FRENCHY- One night we wandered over to see Sarah and Mick and they were siting with some people camped behind them in a shamrock painted campervan. The couple Stefan who was French and his wife Joy who was irish. They were so funny, as usual when frenchy (Stefan) saw me he kissed me asking where I’d come from. He was sure I was a New Zealander and when I told him I wasn’t he was like ‘Nooo’ . When he found out Clint was born in NZ well then he started getting the kisses, kisses on the cheeks and head. Turns out that Stefan was a rugby fan bigtime and he loved NZ. They had another mate that was with them his name was Scott he was character too. We were listening to the radio and I introduced him to the song guess game which he loved. WE had a great night telling stories listening to jokes drinks games watching clint get kissed. Scott got his machete out and Mick who was full of beer took it and cracked open a coconut much to his wife’s disapproval.

There were heaps of these green ants in Darwin and Mick was told that you could eat them. Mick was then told by Scott that if you collect some green ants and squash the green bits you eat them or you can sniff it and get high?? Rightio fellas.

The kids have made many friends here as we have. We met Glenda and Robert in their 5th wheeler and had many happy hour talks in the afternoon. They had their grandson come and spend some nights as well and Slade and Angus and Shelby got up to a bit of mischief but harmless. Whilst we were having our happy hour sessions we discovered that Glenda was from Forbes and it seems that she knows some of my family in Forbes. Its a small world for sure.

The kids zoom around on their bikes all day and we usually find them over at the bouncy pillow which they love. Isla is just finding her feet on the pillow sometimes the kids jump near her and she goes flying.


OUTINGS

Fish feeding down at doctors gully great set up and you walk down a boat ramp with pieces of bread and the fish come right up to and eat the bread straight out of your hands. Isla was funny she was trying to catch the fish, grabbing them and giggling because they were slippery suckers. They were big fish too, big mullets, catfish some snapper.

Museum
A awesome Museum with some history of cyclone Tracy and war history as well as wildlife exhibits. They have a croc called sweetheart which is over 5 metres long, real but dead, caught in Darwin in the 70’s. The kids loved the museum. Every friday they have a free session in the morning for kids where they do painting, gluing and they have a play conrner with dress ups and books, they have microscopes where the kids can look closely at bugs. We happened to be there on a Friday so the kids had a ball.

Causarina
No not the prison but Darwins largest shopping centre, actually the biggest shop in Northern territory. A special shopping centre as they had the engagement ring that I am wearing. We were here every other day, its where the food shop is and its nice and cool when its hot outside. This is also the place where Poppy got his first ever brain freeze at 60+ years of age. He was thirsty so we bought him a red frozen sluggy and skulled it down like one of the kids…ouch! Grandma told him he was drinking it wrong and that he needed to drink it from the top of his mouth, everyone laughed at grandma until we went home and on Good medicine that had a segment on brain freezes and she was correct, you drink the cold drink and the nerve endings in your mouth freeze, you need to put your tongue on the roof of your mouth to warm the drink. Hey it works too.

WWII tunnel
This was pretty cool except for Slade who used the water channels inside the tunnels as a toilet, how embarrassing. These tunnels were built during the war to store oil fuel and food but they only just got it finished and then the war finished.

WWII memorial
It was a sticky day with mozi’s galore but very interesting history. They had loads of war artillery, tanks, big gigantic cannons and a fake one that the aussie's built to trick the japs. Everything has been well restored and they had an indoor museum with all the old newspaper clippings, bulletins boards and just really old interesting antique items, matchboxes, bandaids, wallets, coins, maps etc.

Qantas hangar
Clint went with Poppy and Slade and they said it was really interesting with lots of displays of really old machinery and cars.Slade took a few photos.

Casino Lunch buffett
This was great and very cheap. The typical smorgasbord of food food and to Slade's delight all you can drink softies. I even played a game of Keno.

Stiky Beaks was a nursery and knick knack shop with gigantic dinosaur displayed out in the gardens. The kids really enjoyed this place, Isla was a little afraid she liked to look but happy to touch the dinosaurs.

Air Museum
Clint took Slade to the air museum on a boys adventure and they enjoyed themselves taking some time to look around at all the old planes.

Darwin was ok but definitely would of been better in the dry season. We hope to go again then.

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