Well this week took us from Litchfield NP to Darwin. We did a drive back into Batchelor and saw the mini castle in the park that is a replica of one in Europe before returning to Litchfield and looking at Florence Falls, Buley Rockpools and Walker Creek. Litchfield was beautiful and have put it on our “to do again” list.

We then headed off to the Big City of Darwin. We booked into Howard Springs Holiday Village – although the springs were closed “for redevelopment”. Howard Springs is not far from Palmerston which is about 25-30kms from Darwin city centre. Once checked in we headed for some groceries and lunch and then did the first of many trips into Darwin to have a look around. We ended up at Cullen Bay where we had afternoon tea. Cullen Bay is one of the more upper class areas of Darwin but also has several restaurants in the area. Dion was starting to feel unwell so we headed back to the van for the afternoon with the kids having a swim in the pool.

This week in Darwin, the kids finally got into the schoolwork and began completing some of the work we were given before we came away and also catching up on their journals. We also did outings every second day to see some of the sights of Darwin. On one trip into town we saw the Mall (coming from Brissy, there was not much to see), we did most of the heritage walk talking in NT Parliament House, Govt House, some ruins from Cyclone Tracy and markers of the OTL (Overland Telegraph Line) which connected Adelaide to Darwin to Indonesia via ocean floor cables. We found the Leanyer Water park which is a free park in Darwin consisting of waterslides, a pool and a kids play area with a big bucket that fills with water and tips over.

Unfortunately we have timed our visit to coincide with the hottest week in July on record and here we are in our little pop top with only a little fan to try and cool off, needless to say we bought a bigger fan to use which alleviated the heat in the van a little. The other event that happened this week was Britney’s 11^th Birthday so one day we headed off to buy the presents (not easy with 2 kids in tow!) and had the customary birthday dinner at Fasta Pasta. Of all the restaurants we could choose, she wanted this one! Overall a great day was had by our girl.

We did venture into the Mindil Markets on Thursday night and walked around looking at all the staff. After getting confused at what to decide to eat for dinner, finally we sat down and waited for entertainment but by 7pm, we were all so tired we left.  We will try and get back next week again and see the sunset as we missed it tonight.

Next week, we are still in Darwin.

Till Next Time

The Ross’