Darwin

Heading for Darwin, Glenno decided that Bruce, who is now christened and well equipped for offroad driving should venture along a corrugated road to knock off 60kms of travel time! Poor Nancy, our little campvan is not an offroader and was knocked about. Clearly peeved at not being consulted to be towed offroad her sweet revenge was later revealed when we stopped at Berry Springs for a quick dip. Mel opened the van door to collect something and saw Nancy’s fridge open with all of the contents spilled onto the floor! Mel (who is a clean freak) was secretly looking forward to opening the bottle of floor cleaner she stashed away for such an occasion as this. Berry Springs is another hot spring just out of Darwin and is a very popular spot with a little waterfall you can sneak into just fitting your body inside. Although keep your mouth closed as there are signs that little bugs can give you gastro (which we read after the swim!) Darwin to our suprise is a growing metropolis. Everywhere we drove there were people dressed in fluros, construction sites and road works underway. If you need a job then Darwin is the place to be. The city itself is large and the outer suburbs are stretch out wide and far. The city has many highrise buildings which are mostly hotels along the Esplanade although it is very clean, green with trees and parks and no smog or smell at all.  It’s definitely one of Australia’s best Cities. To fill the afternoon in we went shopping. Camo had a blowout on one of his thongs and Mel needed some retail therapy so we went to the Casuarina Shopping Complex to fix their problem/habit then laze by the Van Park splash park and four pools. We have decided to stay at an ensuite site since Glen’s dad Brian will be visiting us tomorrow. The ensuite has been awesome.

That is Mel under the bucket in the big 4 splash park

Darwin Harbour, the top of Australia!

The following day Grandad hit the ground running. After picking him up from the airport we drove straight over to Leanyer Water Park which has free waterslides, splash park, skate park, pool and a play park. We met our friends Matt and Kylee to help celebrate their son Will’s birthday and it was great. We enjoyed the free BBQ facilities and had a ball getting fit climbing the one hundred stairs for only five seconds of fun at a time. From there we trekked over to the Mindil Markets (only 5 min out of the CBD) and had about forty selections of food to choose from. A spectacularly glorious sunset to the west was shared by hundreds of people and is the place to be on a Thursday and Sunday night.

Leanyer Water Park

Mindil Markets Sunset

On Friday we did an 11am croc jumping tour on the Adelaide River. We would recommend the company ‘Adelaide River Croc Jumping’ to anyone who is heading this way and if possible do the croc jump at low tide as you see them resting on the bank. They are a smaller company but guarantee an awesome ride. Within five minutes we were watching our first croc swimming towards us and jumping for some tasty buffalo. This was only a 3 metre croc. There were bigger to come, in the name of Dominator and Brutus. Half an hour later we witnessed the enormous size of Dominator. He was extremely lazy and possibly full after the 9am tour. He bathed himself in the sun while we pulled up beside him only a metre away. We had a pleasant surprise watching a couple of Whistling Kite birds take meat off the side of the boat and they were just as impressive. Waiting for us in the middle of the river was Brutus, and he did not disappoint. The captain of the boat had him jumping out of the water right next to the boat. If we were stupid we could have literally patted him as he lunged up. The loud pop of his jaws closing was like a very loud hollow clap. It was an awesome cruise. After our buzz we drove over to the Fogg Dam wetlands and Window to the Wetlands. If we were into birds this would have been lovely. We did however learn that the Aboriginals used this area as their supermarket as it has an abundance of bush tucker. Our last trip was to Howard Springs but unfortunately we could not swim as there is a bacteria in the water. Instead Darwin council have built another wonderful free kids area with a little splash park and flying fox to allow people to cool down without getting in the hot springs. Mel felt like cooking again so made a roast, damper bread and chocolate cake. So glad she bought the cooker thingy!

"Ugly Croc" jumping for her lunch

Brutus

We woke up the following day ready for another big day of sightseeing. Glen got in the car and realised the switch which turns the Engel fridge on and off was broken. It was a case of Who Done It! Of course it was Camo or at least we all blamed him, so off to Supercheap we went. An hour later we were on the road, first stop was the Darwin museum. It was here that we met Sweetheart, the 5.1 metre, 780kg stuffed crocodile who back in the 80’s became famous for attacking boat motors and scaring the hell out of fisherman. Sweetheart (who is a male by the way) was caught and tranquilized and subsequently drowned due to the injection shutting down his breathing. He is a sight to see (dead not alive). We also saw the cyclone Tracy exhibition. The photos were truly moving and it is hard to believe that Darwin was flattended on Christmas Eve nearly forty years ago. From there we ate lunch at the lovely lagoon and Grandad and Mel visited the oil tunnels that were built nine months after WWII started. Four hundred 50 to 60 year old non-combatants, armed with picks and chisels dug out the tunnels to store crude oil for the boats. The humidity sorted out the boys from the men and this worthwhile self-guided tour was worth the money just to see the photos which tell a fabulous story in our history. After the tour Grandad and Mel caught up with Glen and the kids for a quick dip at the Lagoon Wave Pool across the road. Again this is a fabulous place for families to have some fun surfing some waves. As if we weren’t tired enough we decided to see the Military Museum. This museum is excellent even if you are not into history. We all learnt so much about when Darwin was bombed more than 60 times and was hit by twice as many bombs than Hawaii did ten weeks before. Mel even found a little family history on one of the interactive displays. Father John McGrath (a distant relative of Mel’s step-dad Jim) played a significant role during this time as he was the first person to raise the alarm that Japanese planes armed with bombs were on their way to Darwin Harbour. He was a missionary on Bathurst Island at the time and radioed through to the mainland giving them several minutes warning. He is logged in the military notes as playing a significant role. This museum has a short film re-enacting the day of the bombing which is eye-opening.

"Sweetheart" swallowing Cammo!

Darwin Wave Lagoon

Ready for another day full of crocodiles we decided to visit Crocodylus Park featuring more crocodiles of course, lions, tigers, monkeys, kangaroos, lizards and snakes. If you have already done a croc jump this might pale in comparison but good to see other animals! However the kids still enjoyed it and got to hold a very small crocodile. We also visited the Mindil Markets again since it was so good the first time. We watched a fire eater swing and juggle sticks alight with fire before eating it. The kids were in awe. We all tried something different to eat from Thursday night, except Taylah who ate hot chips again! We were lucky enough to meet up with one of Glenno’s mates Scott Sims who we haven’t seen in years.

Cammo doing a "Luke Skywalker" with his new buddy "Croccy", which he found at the splash park! 

Crocodilys Park

Finally, a lazy morning! Monday we just swam at the van park and visited yet another free water park at Palmerston this time. We did a Darren that evening and conveniently left our wallets in the car so Grandad paid for our buffet seafood dinner at ‘The Jetty’ at Stokes Hill Wharf. Awesome food, we would highly recommend it. We definitely made sure we ate our money’s worth. Mel told the kids there was no limitations to the amount of dinner and dessert they could eat. They were under instructions to Go for gold!

Cammo winning the race at Palmerston Water Park

Today we said Goodbye to Grandad who will be missed. We were absolutely spoilt and hope he had a great time in Darwin with us. We are off to Kakadu tomorrow and looking forward to moving on and seeing something different again. Darwin put on a great show with its weather and entertainment and is one of the best places we have been so far.

Saying Goodbye to Grandad

TIP: Don’t expect to stay in the heart of Darwin as there are no caravan parks. They are about 20 minutes out of town from the CBD. We are staying at the Howard Springs Big 4 which has a great kids splash park, two pools, two spas, a plunge pool and a kids park. 

Darwin has many fabulous facilities for families which are free and we recommend to use them all. 

Stock up on alcohol as you can’t take it into Kakadu.

An air conditioner or fan is great at night, not only does it keep you cool, it also drowns out Kenny Rogers, Leo Sayer, Rod Stewart, Roosters and any other Coughy McCoughcough who won't try a lozinger or a drink of water :/. Its not all about you dear Grey Nomad.