Darwin, NT – some wonderful gifts from home

Over the last 2 months we had become used to living in our own little bubble, isolated from both our life back home in Sydney, but also from the world at large, intentionally avoiding papers and other sources of news. We enjoyed the isolation, the simple life, where basic needs such as food, water and shelter were the main focus. The kids loved having our undivided attention 24/7, and we loved having them close to us, having meals together, sharing these amazing experiences, and getting to know both ourselves and each other in a way that would not be possible back in Sydney. In spite of this we were all really looking forward to arriving in Darwin, as Kat’s parents were flying up from Sydney to join us for a few days.

We had booked a campsite and a villa in one of the caravan parks so we could all be together. On the way into the caravan park, the kids spotted the swimming pool, so as soon as set up was done, they were in their swimmers and in the pool. The kids took turns ’surfing’ on my back, which involved me holding my breath under water on my hands and knees, forming a surfboard with my back, and then slowly rising up, testing their balance until they fell off. This went on for some time but fortunately John & Jane soon arrived, distracting the kids long enough for me to get out and warm up on one of the sun lounges. We enjoyed a lazy afternoon in their villa, catching up on news from home, and sharing some of the stories we had from our trip so far. It felt surprisingly normal all sitting in their villa together, only becoming surreal once we reminded ourselves where we were. After a couple of hours we headed to Mindil Sunset Markets, which are famous in Darwin. Each dry season they run every Thursday and Sunday, and Kat did not want to miss them. We headed down to Mindil Beach, and while the kids played on the jumping castle, Kat enjoyed a lazy stroll through the many stalls that were set up. The kids and I, not so excited about market stalls, headed to the beach for a play, and enjoyed the sunset. It was our first taste of a sunset over the ocean, something that a Sydney sider just doesn’t get to experience. It was funny to watch almost everyone that was at the markets descend on the beach, like moths to a flame, to watch the sun go down. It had a wonderful, relaxed feel to it, with fire twirlers entertaining the kids once the sun dropped below the horizon. We regrouped for dinner while the kids enjoyed a magic show, before we all headed home to get a couple of very tired youngsters to bed.

The next day was Kat’s birthday, and after her morning birthday snuggle with the kids, we all headed up to the villa for breakfast. Although it was Kat’s birthday, she was not the only one to get presents. Gagi & Papi had bought the kids each a couple of teddy bear biscuits, their favourite treats from the local West Pymble bakery that they would often get back home. The look on their faces as they saw what was inside the boxes was magical. Within minutes the only evidence of the biscuits existence was the photo we managed to take before they stuffed them in their mouths. After the festivities we headed to the waterfront, an area with restaurants, a marina and a beach to cool off in. The kids made sandcastles and dug holes on the beach between swims, and we all enjoyed watching some teenagers being catapulted off a massive blow up contraption that was set up in the water off the beach, with the catapultee locating themselves at the end of a long, air filled tube, and then being launched by the catapultor who jumped on to the other end from above. It generally resulted in some kind of aerial acrobatics before they crashed into the water below. That night after a BBQ dinner, we were almost as excited as the kids, as they were having a sleepover in bunk beds in the villa. The silence in our tent, especially at 6am the next morning, was golden.

Although a sleep in the next morning would have been nice, I had to drop Iggy up to Toyota for a scheduled service, and decided to run back to camp rather than wait an hour for a courtesy bus. The 10km run, although along a main road, was very peaceful and enjoyable, being the first run of the trip. Traffic in Darwin is nothing compared to Sydney, so even at peak hour there weren’t that many cars around. Kat and I enjoyed a couple of kid free hours pottering at camp that morning as the grandparents took the kids to the aviation museum where they saw a bunch of planes including a B52 bomber which they loved. They couldn’t believe how big it was, with other planes parked under its wings. That night, we enjoyed a special treat. Stu’s dad and his wife had given us a dinner out for our birthdays, and with John & Jane here as willing and able babysitters, we enjoyed a rare night out alone. It was such an awesome night. We headed to an all you can eat seafood buffet overlooking the water where we enjoyed a pre dinner drink with oysters as the sun set over the water. Stu in particular seemed be constantly hungry on this trip, and with Kat trying to balance the budget with his insatiable appetite, she had a very difficult job. We both decided this was an excellent opportunity to ensure there was no risk of hunger at least for this night, so we both (Stu in particular) channelled our inner Homer Simpson and ate until we could eat no more, then after a quick break we hit the dessert bar, twice, just to be sure. To be able to sit and enjoy a drink, a meal and some uninterrupted conversation felt like such luxury for us both.

After enjoying a sleep in the next morning thanks to another sleepover, we all headed out to the Museum and Art Gallery of NT for a bit of culture. It turned out to be a great place, full of heaps of insects, animals and minerals, as well as a really interesting Cyclone Tracey display which the kids loved. It also contained ‘Sweetheart’, one of the largest saltwater crocodiles ever caught. He was unbelievably huge, making us realise just how dangerous these guys can be. We then wandered down to the adjoining beachfront for a play before enjoying a picnic lunch looking out over the bay, which was so peaceful. As John & Jane continued their above and beyond performance as grandparents, they took the kids back to camp to allow Kat and I to head into the city to do some shopping that could only be done in a big city. With limited time we raced around town like a scene out of the Amazing Race, but succeeded in ticking most things off the list. Being the last night before Kat’s parents headed back to Sydney, we fed the kids early and got them to bed before enjoying a long and slow BBQ dinner together. It was so nice, just sitting around, talking and enjoying a few wines. Although we would often catch up for a lunch or dinner back in Sydney, it was generally a bit more rushed and chaotic with kids involved. It seemed funny to have to be half way across the country to enjoy this kind of dinner, but whatever the reason, we all had such a nice night, it was a wonderful way to finish their visit.

The next morning we said our goodbyes, having loved them being here in our world for a brief few days. We planned to stay in Darwin for a few more days, but given central Darwin was very expensive, we decided to move to a cheaper place about 20 minutes outside of Darwin for the rest of our stay. It was an interactive hobby farm with great reviews on Wikicamps and at half the price of the place we stayed in Darwin, we were sold. As we drove in we weren’t convinced, but we often thought that and were then pleasantly surprised, so we decided to keep an open mind. The guy running the place was lovely, and showed us to a massive site with plenty of sun for the solar panels so we set up and settled in. The place was a veritable menagerie of animals, ranging from an emu, goat, pigs and chickens to snakes, lizards and spiders. The kids were keen to check out the animals, and were most interested in the snakes, given Oli was now keen to have a snake when we got back home. The owner gave us a tour of all the snakes and lizards, getting many of them out so they could hold them, including a massive 4 metre python. Oli was in heaven, further cementing his desire to have us add a slithering pet to our family. That afternoon, we headed to a water park that we had been recommended by a few other travellers with kids. It was a free, council run water park complete with water slides, and the kids had known about it the whole time we were in Darwin so they were desperate to go. Every day we got the same question – “Are we going to the water park today?” We decided to wait until Kat’s parents had headed home for the trip to the park, but now that it was just us again, it was park time. When we arrived it looked awesome, with three huge slides, and play equipment with water spraying from every conceivable point. The kids raced over and as soon as they had their swimmers on they were all over the play equipment, getting drenched. There was a massive bucket at the top that would fill up with water for about 5 minutes before tipping over and completely saturating the screaming kids below. Once they had exhausted that area, it was time to hit the slides so I took them over for a closer look. We started with Blue Blast, the slowest of the three, and when both kids made it down with huge grins on their faces it was time to step up to the yellow slide, aptly named Go Bananans. We all agreed that the speed of the yellow one made it much more fun. After a few more runs down that one, it was time to conquer Funderstorm. This one was completely pitch black inside, and you went down with two people, sitting on a figure 8 inflatable. I took each of the kids down in turn, with their elated screams echoing through the slide for most of the way down. We spent the afternoon playing on the slides and equipment, absolutely blown away that such an amazing setup was free, and given it was mid week, there were only a few other people there so no queues at all. Once the fun was over, we all agreed that we would come back the next day for another round given it would be Friday and therefore our last chance to enjoy the park before the weekend crowds swarmed in. That night we headed back to the Mindil Markets, this time to just sit on the beach with some takeaway from the market stalls. The kids played on the beach as we watched the setting sun, and it was a beautiful evening. Unfortunately the big day finally took it toll on the kids and it was time to abort and get them home to bed ASAP as the moods and behaviour turned south.

The next morning was the first sign that this place wasn’t our best choice so far on the trip. The place seemed to be full of backpackers, with about 10 groups of them, and only one other family that we saw. They had been rowdy the night before, and then the rooster kicked in at about 4am, which meant I woke up severely sleep deprived and grumpy. After coming to early blows with Oli over something completely insignificant, the day started badly and I struggled to shake my mood. This place just didn’t sit well with me. The backpackers were all walking around like surly zombies, barely interacting with each other or us. They would sit in the common area on their devices, many of them with earphones, not interacting much at all. The kids were happy with the place, and loved the animals, but we didn’t love it, especially me. We could have moved but I decided either we left Darwin early or just coped here for a couple more days as I couldn’t be bothered to pack up and move again. We were surprised to see how these backpackers were travelling, it seemed very different to what we remembered from our days overseas. Back then we would chat with each other, play games, and generally interact, as we were far from home, with only sporadic communications from home, either via poste restante in our early days, and then via email when we could find an internet cafe. These days it appeared that people were so connected with their friends at home via mobile devices that there was less of a need to actually interact with fellow travellers. This may have just been how things were in this place, but it certainly looked a far cry from what we remembered. As we pulled ourselves out of our ‘back in my day’ moment, realising we were clearly getting old, we headed in to town to finish off the shopping we didn’t get to the other day. We took the kids to a tacky souvenir shop and gave them each $10 to spend on whatever they liked, as a reward for how well they had taken to this trip. In spite of the large number of teddies that we already had in tow, they each chose another one to add to the clan, with Oli choosing George the crocodile, and Em buying Penny the boomerang clutching koala. With the chores done, it was time to hit the water park for a second day. It was so much fun, just playing together as a family, acting like kids and feeling like our inner children that had been trapped inside for so long were finally reemerging.

On our last day in Darwin, we got up early and headed to the Adelaide River Jumping Crocodile Cruise. Having not seen any crocs in Kakadu, we were keen to see some while we were in Darwin so headed to this great, family run property where we cruised up the Adelaide river for about 1.5 hours, seeing crocs literally jumping out of the water to grab at bits of meat being fed to them. It was amazing seeing them up so close in their natural habitat (albeit a little orchestrated for the tourists). As their snapping jaws crashed against the metal grill along the side of the boat, we understood why the guide told us not to put anything outside the boat at any time. It was an awesome cruise, but once over we headed back to camp for lunch. My mood was still not great, and in spite of the owners being lovely, and the backpackers saying hi at times as we crossed paths, I just didn’t feel at all settled in this place. It was strange how a place could have such an impact on my mood but I could not work out why else I was snapping at everyone. Darwin itself was great, but the vibe in this place just rubbed me the wrong way. I took the kids to the indoor pool so Em could have a swim, and they also wanted to see and hold the snakes again so we got the owner to show them around one more time. With one more animal noise filled night ahead, I was looking forward to getting out of this place the next day, and leaving my mood behind.