Sep 12 - 14 - Mataranka to Darwin (Day 224 - 226)

Saturday 12 September 

We woke to these beautiful peacocks walking past our van. I got some oats out to see if they would eat out of our hands and they did. I just love peacocks. I think it's the colour combinations or something they are just beautiful. 

 

Our intention today was to head to Darwin and stay at a place that someone at Mataranka had told us about. It sounded like a nice farm of some sort with extra facilities and not as expensive as a caravan park. So we gave them a call and they had plenty of room so we packed up and headed off after one last swim. :)

We made it to Katherine where I needed to get a few bits and pieces from the food shops with Matt, while Greg got swapped an empty gas bottle out and washed the car. It feels so unusual to see the car and a bit of the van without the red dust but I can say it's so nice to be able to get in without getting the fine red dust on our clothes! It can be quite difficult to get out of some clothes especially if it's mixed with some water.

Car wash time!

As we drove it was becoming clear that we weren't going to make it all the way to the farm/property so we stayed the night at Adelaide River. We had stayed here on our last trip so it was kind of nice to revisit. We called to let the farm/property that we were ok but just staying somewhere else on our way.

At the pool at Adelaide River

Sunday 13 September

We left Adelaide River and headed to the farm/property which was just out of Darwin in the Holtze area. When we arrived we found it wasn't quite the farm we were expecting. It was a large property with plenty of room to park a van but lots of trees and dry leaves everywhere and it was - SO hot! We expected it to be hot up this way but that didn't make it any more comfortable.

 

The kids had heard from some others before we left that there were a few free water fun parks in Darwin, so we gathered our stuff and set off to find the Waterfront fun park. This area had a man-made wave pool which was quite fun. It was nothing like the real movement of the waves in the ocean - the waves were all the same height and strength, they didn't really break either so you were just bobbing up and down constantly. I guess it's still better than nothing considering you can't swim in the ocean up this way unless you fancy coming back minus a limb or two! They turned the wave machine off after a while which was a relief for me at least because I found it so tiring.

 

 The next thing we wanted to do for the afternoon was go back to the Mindil Beach Markets. They had heaps of stalls last time we were up here so we wanted to revisit and see other things. There weren't actually as many stalls this time because of Covid but there were still enough thing to see. We then headed onto the beach for dinner and watch the sunset. There were so many people but all being safe considering the circumstances.

At the Mindil Markets

Mindil Market Time!

The magnificent sunset at Mindil Beach

Monday 14 September

Today we moved from the farm/property to a caravan park in Darwin called Darwin Freespirit Resort as it was just so hot where we were and nowhere to cool off. It's getting quite hot and humid up here now getting into the build-up to the the wet season, so being able to cool off in a pool is pretty helpful for sleep as well as just thinking during the day.

On our way closer into Darwin we had a few shops we needed to go to as always there are numerous things that build up that need replacing or just restocking. We have gone through a number of pairs of bathers with the kids as sometimes you climb on rocks or slide down them and it tears and I've fixed them a few times to keep them going a bit longer but once that's torn then it's time for a new pair. Also somewhere along the line we have lost or misplaced goggles and needed next size up in thongs etc.. so I think you get what I mean. So we spent a few hours walking through the shops getting what we needed then it was onto the Caravan park to relax and cool off. 

-- Mim