We arrived in Darwin three days ahead of schedule, and the caravan parks were so full, we had to take the last site we could get in the Free Spirit Park on the outskirts of Darwin. It was OK, but only just. Our neighbor on one side was the ablutions block and garbage bins, so the smell drifting in our window of a night was a pleasant mix of various types of waste!! That mixed with humid sticky heat, made for an interesting stay. The green tree frogs had taken up residence in the toilet, and various types of mould had taken up residence in the showers, so our ensuite in the van proved to be an absolute lifesaver.
I was in desperate need of some civilisation, so we aimed ourselves in the direction of Casaurina Shopping Center for some serious retail therapy. Kevin was not as keen for therapy as I was, but he decided to come along for the ride. With the iPad assistance, we found the shopping centre without much hassle. We spent the next few hours wandering around, drinking coffee etc. For someone who was just along for the ride, Kevin was able to find quite a few things that made it into our shopping bags for the trip home!!
We left Casaurina, and Kevin suggested a trip into the city - my goodness, what had happened to him!! Anyway we headed towards Darwin City. We had a 'moment' over which carpark to park in, but we managed to recover from that and then spent some time wandering the streets, till we decided we'd really had enough of shopping (it was way too hot) and we turned the car towards the caravan park. Kevin spent the next hour flat out on the bed snoring, while I caught up with boring stuff - I liked Kevin's choice of activity better!!
We filled in the next few days running around Darwin getting stuff done that had been on hold until we were somewhere near civilisation, and then it was time for our visitors from home to arrive. I was pretty excited as we'd been on the road for two months with just each other for company - don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed that company, but it was time to expand our conversation pool for a while, and our buddies had arranged to be in Darwin when we were here so we could have some fun before we started back home.
The plane arrived about 20 minutes late, but we were pretty happy to wait a few extra minutes for the fun to start. Brad and Janine, and Jane and Maureen arrived pretty hot and removing layers as they had come straight from a very cold Tasmania to 30 degrees. So once in the Caravan Park, we all headed to the girls cabin for a few celebratory beverages, and that's when the first disaster happened!! Do you know how quickly a man and a chair can fall backwards from a balcony? Pretty quickly!! Brad moved his chair to get a photo with Kevin, and the leg went off the edge of the balcony, and Brad, his chair, and the glass top table all went off the edge backwards. Brad landed on his back on top of two very large, very sharp rocks!! We couldn't believe it - he was so lucky even though he was hurt, it could have been so much worse!! And he was stone cold sober! So after the balcony incident, the party folded and everyone headed for their beds.
After their night's sleep our travelers were all rested and we had decided to visit the Casino for the BIG Breakfast. Kevin had been waiting for this and was very very excited at the prospect of the buffet breakfast. We had to have seats outside, as the visiting Tasmanians wanted to soak up the sun. The rest of the day was filled with Parap Market, a barbecue tea, and a return to the Casino to watch St Kilda play on the big screen.
Over the next few days, we did various markets, went souvenir shopping, visited the city, did Mindil Beach at sunset, paddled in the man-made beach, checked out the wave pool and the waterfront district, ate ice-cream, drank coffee, walked the streets, sailed on the harbour, and generally had a fun time. Tomorrow we plan to have a bit of a rest from all our recreation, and get ready for a big trip on Thursday out to Litchfield National Park. That will be my next blog .....
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