Darwin had been a whirlwind and our first week went so fast that we decided to book another 6 nights here and extend our stay,
Andrew and Niamh had gone home on Tuesday night and we jammed a lot of different things in. So another week will give us time to wind down and explore Darwin at a bit of a slower pace, and catch up with Ned and Peta some more.
Wednesday, Aug 9th – (Day 125)
The start of our second week in Darwin. We were actually meant to check out today and didn’t even realise, so lucky we’d went in and booked extra time otherwise we wouldn’t have realised.
Andrew and Niamh left last night and we didn’t get back to our caravan until around midnight, so after a busy week, today was to be spent relaxing at the caravan and catching up on some rest.
But damn, this place is hot! There is no where to cool down really, so by 2pm come around we decided we’d had enough and went back into town to the waterfront area for a swim.
We finally got to have a swim in the wave pool which was good fun, then after that we went for another swim in the lagoon. Gotta enjoy this awesome water area while we can, as it will start getting cooler as we drive further south.
Rather than head to Coles and get some stuff for tea, we chose the lazy option and opted to dine out instead. We found an amazing little restaurant called Fat Tuna which was basically poke bowls, but with tons of vegetarian options.
The meal was absolutey delicious and we’ll certainly be back sometime later in the week. After tea, we went and checked out the sunset at Bicentennial Park, before heading back to the caravan.
Jamie and Rach were available, so we thought we’d catchup online for a few boardgames and our first chat in a little while which was great fun. Then the rest of the evening was spent catching up on work.
Thursday, Aug 10th – (Day 126)
This morning we woke up around 9am which would be considered a big sleep in around here. Already it was getting super hot in the caravan, so just another normal day in Darwin.
We also saw a sign saying someone was selling cinnamon scrolls in a caravan a few blocks away, but by the time we got there they were well and truly sold out. Apparently they’ll be back tomorrow, so we will try again.
By about 11am we decided we ought to do something, so planned an impromptu trip to Litchfield National Park. The GPS said it was about 1h30m away so we quickly hit the road.
Turns out it was an inspired decision as it was a stunning trip. We visited three waterholes at Wangi Falls, Tjaetaba Falls and Buley Rockhole.
The water here is so clean and pure and refreshing. You could stay here for hours and enjoy yourself. It would be good to visit them again before we head off, but we’ll see how we’re going for time.
By about 5pm we decided we should hit the road as we were meeting Ned and Peta at 7pm to watch Oppenheimer. So we hit the road, quickly had a shower and then got to their house about 6:45pm.
The movie was on at the VMax cinema which was pretty awesome. The movie was ok but bloody hard to understand. There’s something about politics type movies that make it hard for us to enjoy.
Friday, Aug 11th – (Day 127)
Today would be a belated birthday present for Linnie with a horse riding lesson booked in. But that was not until 4:30pm, so until then we had nothing planned.
In fact it was a good day of doing absolutely nothing. Most of the day was spent either sitting by the pool and swimming, or sitting in the shade near the caravan and reading.
A pretty good day I would say. Then 4pm come around and it was off to Bees Creek Riding School.
The lady who runs the farm is a professional equestrian level 1 teacher and she agreed to do a 1.5 hour birthday special. In other words, a 1 on 1 lesson, so it was going to be pretty special.
It was money well spent as it was a great lesson and Linda learnt heaps. We even hung around afterwards and had a few beers and learnt a few other things. In fact, we left when it was night so we definitely weren’t expecting that.
She even got to wash the horse down, give them a feed, as well as giving one of them a haircut, it was good fun!
By now it was getting to late to cook anything so we decided to go back to the mall where we saw the movie last night to grab a bite. The sports bar was way to loud, so we looked around for somewhere else to eat.
There weren’t a lot of options so we ended up just getting a Subway, then headed back to the caravan and chilled out. We listened to the end of the Collingwood vs Geelong match on radio as well.
Saturday, Aug 12th – (Day 128)
This morning was spent at the caravan park. We kind of just bummed around trying to find shade and read our books and what not. Nothing too exciting.
Around about 2pm we headed to the Waterfront area yet again, having another swim in the lagoon area. Then about 4pm we headed to The Precinct Tavern to watch the Matilda’s vs France Quarter Final.
The buzz around the Matilda’s has gone into overdrive lately, the whole country is going mad about them. The AFL even delayed the start time to accommodate tonight’s match, so it was going to be big.
Luckily we stumbled onto the only unreserved table in the building, I have no idea how. It was a good idea coming here as the atmosphere was electric. The game was even better too!
Australia won 7-6 on penalties after an entertaining 0-0 draw. Each team had 10 kicks in the shootout, easily one of the most exciting games we’ve ever seen. The next game is on Wednesday in a Semi Final against England, so it’ll be even bigger again.
If that wasn’t enough, the Carlton versus Melbourne game was one of the more epic AFL games of the season, which we listened to on the radio back at the caravan. Carlton won by 4pts, narrowly avoiding defeat with a controversial late goal review. A good night of sports for Adam’s teams!
On the way home we got ourselves some Pie Face for tea, which were also randomly selling some mallard duck and dachshund stuffed toys with the nametag Puppy. Pretty weird! We may have to go back and get the puppy one.
Sunday, Aug 13th – (Day 129)
We didn’t really have any plans today other than a 7pm movie tonight at the Deckchair Cinema, so a lazy day was planned.
Most of the morning was spent researching and booking places for the remainder of our trip. It turns out school holidays were coming up in a few weeks, so experience has told us we better book ahead. Especially so given we were going to stay in Gold Coast during the holidays.
Then Ned rang us and asked if we wanted to come around for the arvo and we worked on Peta’s new business website for the rest of the afternoon which was good fun. It is coming along well!
We left around 5pm or so and headed back to the Mundil Markets again to grab something to eat for tea and have a little look around. On the way out we grabbed some popcorn for the procedings.
The movie was Ferris Bueller’s Day Off which amazingly neither of us had ever seen. We got ourselves a seat on the beanbags at the front, coated ourselves in bug spray and enjoyed the festivities.
As expected it was an awesome movie at one of the better cinemas we’ve been to. Yet another awesome day here in Darwin!
Monday, Aug 14th – (Day 130)
It was an early rise today. Our mission for the day was to get the wheels realigned on our car as it’s rattling like mad, plus it swerves to the left, which is never a good thing.
We were taking it to My Car which was right next to the shopping mall, so at least we’d have a good spot to kill a few hours.
The next 2 hours or so were exploring the different shops. Adam got a new pair of $15 sunglasses, we got some new sodastream bottles and also went to Grill’d for lunch, the same place we had tea at last Monday after the Darwin Cup. We even helped an old lady carry her bags to the taxi, our good deed done for the day.
We got our car back just after midday and it was a ton better. Then the rest of the afternoon was spent trying to avoid the heat back at the caravan park.
For tea tonight we were catching back up with Ned, Peta and Helen at their house. Helen was leaving tomorrow so it was our last time seeing her this trip.
Tea was really nice and we spent the rest of the evening introducing them to some of the boardgames we love like Ecosystem and Exploding Kittens. I think they were fans. Then it was back home and into bed by about 11pm, which is early for our standards these days.
