After fare welling the "The HarFirms" and the Woods we were on the road early to get to Darwin to start organising some things. We arrived at Robbie Robbins Reserve which is a cheaper option of camping in a caravan in Darwin with most caravan parks starting at $60 plus per night, Robbie Robbins was a steal at $35 per night. Now even though on the cheaper side, we were forgoing the usual pool and playground and we were situated backing onto the Stuart Highway. After we set up we noticed how noisy it was when Marty and l tried to have a conversation and were yelling to be heard....will be a long few weeks but these are the things you have to do to make your money stretch that bit more. Plus, we were only doing school most days in the mornings with the air conditioner on (which dulled the noise of the traffic) and were out most arvos.
The weather was heating up and l couldn't believe how different it was in a matter of days from leaving Kununarra to arriving in Darwin. We couldn't really spend much time outdoors due to the heat being unbearable, so most mornings were spent doing school and the afternoons were cooling off at one of the two free water parks around town. We loved Leanyer Waterpark mostly due to its many activities, it has water slides, a pool and kids splash park. We spent many hours there in the afternoons, and seeing school was in it was fairly quiet in that we didn't have to wait in line for the water slides for very long. We even ran into Brad, Andrea, Evan and Sam which was slightly awkward to start with as we hadn't seen them since that fateful day of splitting my knee open on the El Questro walk. After a little bit, things were less tense and we spoke freely and enjoyed some reflection on the events and a laugh. The kids all played together like nothing happened which was great, they were all very excited to see one another.
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| So love Leanyer Waterpark!!! |
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| You can open your eyes now Boo! |
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| Add caption |
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| Big kid even enjoyed the waterslides! |
Another water park we enjoyed a few times was at Palmerston. They have a huge racing steep water slide which l think Marty had as much (if not more) fun as the girls racing them. He, not surprisingly, won most times due to a slight weight advantage. He even became air born which was hilarious watching on the side lines, hearing a loud thud when he landed back on the slide!!! Lol...
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| That's Boo and Marty way up there! |
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| Race time! |
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| Boo in the lead... |
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| ..but he gains speed at he last minute! |
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| Marty rubbed in his win! |
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Meg had fun running around in the kids area
in between races! |
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| And going head first down the slide!! |
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Finally getting dumped with water from the
bucket! |
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| Chilling time... |
Since we were in Darwin for a few weeks we had time to kill which allowed us to hit the Mindil Markets a few times. We love the markets, watching the sunset (which is when hundreds of others flock to the beach to watch the massive red ball drop off the ocean), eating the scrumptious food and, of course, the fire show and whip cracking shows. Easy to waste the evening walking around filling your tummies and being entertained by talented people showing their tricks. The fire show is always a favourite of mine and it mesmerises me everytime, such talented and passionate people performing their craft with such enthusiasm. The girls couldn't wait to see "Mick the Whipcracker" bloke again seeing their Uncle Boofa and Aunty Ninny had bought a whip off him for them last time we had been in Darwin. Boo got up eagerly to show Mick what tricks she had perfected, while everyone in the crowd was impressed with her loudness of the cracking whip. Equally impressed were the crowd when little Meg got up and showed them how even a 'youngin' can make it look easy. Marty even got up and Mick told him off for trying to crack the whip up and down, saying it was a little dangerous. Marty wasn't too impressed! I found a market stall selling aboriginal art from the outlying communities and central Oz at the most shockingly reasonable prices. Was so surprised at how cheap they were going for, disappointed that l couldn't purchase any as seeing l couldn't hang it up anytime soon, Marty promised me we would return to Darwin before settling down in a house and l could go wild!!! Am going to keep him to this, and l have written documentation now! We even met an indigenous woman finishing off a piece of work, we chatted to the girls telling them the story behind the paintings in which she was impressed when Boo correctly pointed out a few of the pictures and their meanings. Boo is really interested in aboriginal art and has done many of her own story's using aboriginal pictures.
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| Girls were mesmerised! |
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Everyone was pretty impressed when Meg
could crack a whip! |
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| Boo didn't hesitate in getting up for a crack! |
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| "Mick the Whip Bloke" showing his tricks! |
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Mick decided he needed to spice up his whip
show with a bit of fire too! |
One Saturday morning l was keen to check out the foreshore area as they had the Crocadilis Park visiting with some reptiles. Thought it would be a good way to pass the morning for the girls, ended up being smaller than expected and we were finishing looking around in half an hour!
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Meg loved the interaction with these
crawly creatures! |
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| Meg and Boo still can't get enough of crocs! |
Whilst in Darwin, Ton and Cam finally arrived in the second week after finishing Kakadu (which l was really jealous of their adventures and especially their interactions with the local mobs out there during a festival). We had missed hanging out with them so much, will be hard when we split for good. It almost feels like they are an extension of our family now. We ended up heading out to Humpty Doo Pub to meet them on the way into Darwin, with Mark and Amanda meeting up with us all there too. First time we had been to the pub, they are very strict on not letting the kids into the bar, even if accompanied with adults. So unfortunately we couldn't have a game of pool while we waited for everyone to turn up. Instead, we refreshed ourselves with a coldie why we waited! Was great to see everyone again, Mark and Amanda were on their way to Litchfield NP to explore, so after lunch we fare welled them with plans to meet up in Darwin when they got back. Lunch was hearty and beautiful, Meg was sooky most of the time we were there, and after listening to her whinging for a while, l kissed her forehead and nearly burnt my lips. No wonder the poor bugger was sooky, she was burning up. So lunch catchup was cut short as we took her home for bed and cuddles in the air conditioned comfort of the van....
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Can you see the poor thing trying to put a
smile on her dial....whoops! |
We had a great few outings with them, heading out to Leanyer Water park where the kids enjoyed the slides. Marty and Cam became little boys, racing each other down the water slides!!! Think these two have missed the company of one another too...
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| Boys racing....such big kids these two! |
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| Of course Marty celebrated his win!!! |
One arvo we set off to the Darwin Museum, which we all enjoyed, even if it was our second time visiting. The kids loved the sea creature exhibition seeing they had seen most on their snorkeling adventures on the West Coast. I loved the aboriginal art and craft exhibition mostly.
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| Sweetheart....what a beast of a croc! |
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| Cyclone Tracey exhibit... |
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Can't half tell these two are father and
daughter! |
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All the kids pointing out what marine life they've seen on their trip
around Oz!! |
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Love how the girls know their wildlife, purely from
seeing it in nature, not in a museum! |
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| Girls needing a rest! |
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| This is all hand woven! |
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| View of the ocean from the museum window! |
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| Meg loves the aboriginal artwork just as much as me! |
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| One of my favorite pieces.... |
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| Kids explore and creation area! |
After a few hours we then set off to the wave pool for the rest of the afternoon. Everyone had a ball riding the wave, especially the two older kids (yes, Marty and Cam). Marty was in a ridiculously funny mood cracking us all up with him walking around with the tube around his waist!
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Boo, Marty and Meg riding the waves...well really,
they were getting thrown around like they were
in a washing machine!! Lol |
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| Boo and Jordyn.... |
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| Ton and me enjoying the peace and quiet from the kids and boys |
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| Marty with his spare tyre! Oh what a man! lol |
Afterwards, we headed back to the vans and tried to unwind over a few beers but the midge's were out and we were getting bitten alive. Ton and Cam only stayed a few nights at Robbie Robbins before moving to Free Spirit Caravan Park, which was good and bad. Bad that we couldn't see them whenever we wanted, and the girls were back annoying us, but good that we could go and crash their park and swim at the resort!!! We did catch up with them one night in town, meeting them at Mindil Markets for a feed and entertainment, and of course, a gorgeous Territory sunset!
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| Mindil Markets..... |
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| Yummy grub at the markets! |
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| Mindil Beach sunsets....always captivating! |
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| Doesn't want the sun to go down, holding it up! |
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Have seen this bloke so many times and is such a great performer!
Totally mesmerising! |
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| WOW!!! |
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| So intense... |
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| Crowd was huge! |
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| Had some fun capturing his performance on my fixed Nikon! |
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| Boo having yet another crack at Mick's whip site.. |
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| Meg couldn't resist either! |
We headed over one arvo for a pre Jordyns birthday party, seeing we wouldn't be together. The kids all had fun playing with one another, having their party food and swimming at the pool. Ton and l enjoyed a bottle or two of wine, filling up on the bickies and dips. The Woods even rolled in, so we all hung and caught up with a few laughs. Think Jordyn was the happiest being able to celebrate with her travelling mates, such a great girl! Sadly, they were heading off again, but at least we got to hang out again...plus our time had just about passed now in Darwin and it was time to finish packing for our trip overseas.
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| Kids gone crazy! |
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| It's party time! |
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Jordyn has such a beautiful spirit...so grateful to everyone
for her gifts! |
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| Gorgeous group pic! |
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| Boo's turn... |
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| Hugs of thanks! |
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| So cute together these two... |
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| Lucky girl! |
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| Loving the creatures! |
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The big kids together for the last time...me, Mark, Amanda, Marty,
Ton and Cam. |
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| Cam and me gettin a little crazy! |
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| Cake time! |
On one of our last arvos in Darwin we headed out to the Wharf to catch up with Karin and Mark, a couple we had met in Geraldton when we had first arrived. They had only stayed a few nights, but we remained in connection thru facebook, and were so happy to be able to catch up with them. We enjoyed a late lunch at the Wharf, having many laughs, with Marty finding that Matso's Mango beer was in stock, which was also enjoyed! The girls were slightly restless and annoying, but thankfully Mark and Karin didn't seem to mind. After a few hours, and a few beers, we finished off the catch up with an ice cream as we strolled along the wharf. We were all so shocked at how much the tide was out, we had never seen it so low!
We had our last goodbyes with "The HardFirms" which the kids got more emotional than the adults, l think we silently know we will see each other in the near future. We will definitely hanging out with this guys though, Riley and Jordyn are just beautiful kids and our girls love them to bits!
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| Fun on the jumping pillow....of course, Cam can't resist to join in! |
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| The awesome foursome strutting their stuff! |
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| Group hugs!! |
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| So cute....they didn't want to let each other go!! |
So our two weeks in Darwin had gone so quickly.....thank god seeing it was so bloody hot! Funny thing is that we didn't remember it being so hot last time we where here. Don't know if its because we had been here slowly climatising to the start of the build up or that we were working and near a pool? Who knows, but l was glad to be heading off overseas, having enjoyed our time down memory lane in Darwin. We decided not to do all the touristy things seeing we had only done them last time we were here, so was great to relax and unwind before our 18 night trip overseas. We had a blast catching up with our mates, which made the second week go even faster. I even found this hairdresser thru Billy who fixed up the Broome hacking that was done! Finally l am back loving my hair...... With a great do, all the packing done, we were in bed early ready to wake in the early morning for our flight to Singapore........
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