Darwin

We were incredibly fortunate to be able to stay with Anya, Greg, Grace and Elly the Beagle at their amazing house in downtown Parap. The Ward Family had already nick-named it "The Darwin Resort" (Ward's Blog) and it wasn't hard to see why! For 2 weeks we were treated to our own self-contained little airconditioned bunker downstairs, swam in their beautiful pool, played with Gracie's toys, drove Greg's car around and were guided to all the hot-spots in Darwin. And hot is the appropriate word!!!! We called it Sweat City. The humidity was insane and the temperature only varied from 30 to 35 degrees day and night......and you couldn't swim at the beach. But we had an awesome time and hung out at some really great places including a free water slide park at Leanyer, the Wave Pool, Stokes Wharf, Crocosaurus Cove, the NT Museum and the Military Museum. We satisfied our cravings for Laksas, curries and great asian food at the Mindle Markets, Parap Markets and the Rendevous Cafe. We were also treated to our first night out to dinner without kiddies in 8 months! Anya babysat while we spoilt ourselves to meal at Hanuman (Patti's favourite). One day we went on a wetlands boat cruise at Corroboree Billabong on the Mary River and saw lots of wild crocs and birdlife including Jabiru's and Sea Eagles. On our final weekend in Darwin we went with Anya to her friend's place at Dundee about 100km SW. Tracey and JJ were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary and in true relaxed Territory style we joined in the party and hung out at their beach house. The coastline was beautiful with long wide beaches (huge tides), turquiose water (with crocs) and surrounded by Pandanas Trees, Paperbarks, Cycas and patches of magnetic termite mounds. We hooned along the beach on quad bikes because it was far too hot to walk and you couldn't cool off with a dip in the sea. Ashleigh loved it. We also dropped into picturesque Berry Springs but unfortunately it was closed for swimming. Our plan was to continue south after the Dundee weekend but we had to go back to Darwin to order a new bonnet release cable for Daisy, so our departure wasn't until September 30. We loved Darwin but the locals also informed us that it was full and there was no need for anyone else to move here.