Sue and Tony’s Travels to Darwin

  Ossie picked us up from the park at 11 am & drove us back to their apartment here.   They have a very nice apartment overlooking the Bay.  We sat on their patio catching up on news & admiring the views over a few wines.  Eventually walked around the waterfront restaurants to try to & decide on where we would eat!  There were so many it was hard to choose, but eventually settled on the Green Fiddler.    Beautiful sitting in the open air under the fans catching up.    After a beautiful lunch we walked on to the Smith Street Social Pub for another wine  & beer, then onto the Darwin Hotel where we indulged in another bottle of wine.   Walked on home to Maria’s & sat on their balcony watching the sun set sipping on a few wines.   Was a great day catching up & didn’t want to over stay our welcome so called an Uber to get us home.  We are seeing them again tomorrow 😜 View from their balcony Lunch at the...

  4 of us decided on the Darwin Sailing Club for our happy hour & dinner.   The temperature was perfect outside, lovely sunset & beautiful views of the bay.   Can you spot TONY, Dean & Jude in the picture 😜

  A little retail therapy down the mall in Darwin this morning & everyone managed to make a purchase, including the boys 😎 Onto Stokes wharf to visit the RFDS where we watched the bombing  of Darwin through virtual reality headsets.  This was amazing to see!     It was showing the ships & planes being attacked in Darwin Harbour.   It was however funny watching everyone swivel their heads watching the commentary through the headsets.   Another video showed a patient being transported to Adelaide on the RFDS & also the pilots version of what happened.   Well worth the money to visit.    I did however lose one of my lenses to my glasses 🤓  Sitting in the RFDS plane on the stretcher Not much room to move in the plane! Tony, Jude & Dean watching the through the virtual reality movie - they looked funny 😜 Hmm lost my lense to my sunny’s😎

Boys both had cars booked in for minor repairs so Jude & I did a quick food shop before Tony, Jude  & I headed over to the pool for a refreshing swim.   4 pm we all headed off to the Mindil Markets.    Arrived early enough to get a close park but we did hear someone say they hadn’t seen it this quiet in a lot of years (COVID will do that 🙄).  Wandered around browsing the stalls but there was no where near the amount that are usually there so a little disappointing.  Sorry Cailin & Evelyn - we didn’t see anything suitable for you 🙄  Jude & I still managed to find a few things but in the heat was exhausting trying clothes on 😜 Think the boys were tired of waiting for us so they headed to the Casino Bar around the pool for a few beers while Jude & I finished our shopping & then we joined the boys for a wine.   Beautiful sitting around the pool with a wine watching the sunset.     Back to markets to choose our din...

  Left Dundee Beach around 9.30am & had a pleasant trip to Darwin (only 130 kms today).    We haven’t seen traffic lights for a long time or traffic for that matter 😂  We were lucky enough to get a site together again, and thank goodness we booked months ago as accommodation up north is hard to get!   Lazy day today, although after setting up camp we all needed to do a little shop. I have been eaten alive from midgies.   I look like I have chicken pox on my legs, they sting & itch like crazy 🙄😥 & was making me feel a little unwell.   Off to the chemist - I am now taking an antihistamine, a cream to plaster on my legs (Soov) to numb the bite & spraying constantly with Bushmans!  Seems to be working so far 😀 My dress code has also gone from shorts to longer pants to cover my bites.    Hard when it is 32 deg every day 🥵 Jude & I had a lovely champagne 🥂 & had an easy meal - pies we bought from Mataranka, mash ...

  Had a very relaxing day today sitting on the rocks in the shade catching up with phone calls, my blog & a chance to read my book!    We sat there from 10 am - 4 pm in the cool breeze watching the boats come & go. Home for a quick tidy & pack up before happy hour drinks watching the sunset on the beach & then over to the Bistro for dinner.

  Morning spent washing in the laundry & gossiping with other campers, so nice to have clean sheets, towels & clothes again.   Van cleaned & decided on a trip to Crab Claw Island Resort (about 50 kms away) The restaurant was like being in Bali or Fiji with open air tables on a deck overlooking the beach with overhead fans blowing in the breeze.  Tony enjoyed a chorizo & prawn pizza & I had my fish & chips! Lots of helicopters landing on the beach dropping people off for lunch.  We have 4 helicopters at Dundee which take off quite regularly. Had a swim in the resort pool after lunch & chatted to an interesting 31 yo travelling with her sister & brother-in-law.  She was in her own van.   Also an interesting family with 2 small boys.   Back to restaurant for our first mango Icecream. Back to camp for Happy hour at the beach & watch the sunset again.  Talked to Rochelle & Thor - glad to hear Evan back home but s...

  Early start Jude & Dean heading to Kakadu for 3 nights & we are heading to Dundee Beach.  Will meet back in Darwin on Wednesday. Stopped at Berry Springs for a quick shop but things were quite expensive (small butter $6.50) 😲 Arrived at Dundee Beach around lunch so set up camp, air con on to cool van.  Walked over to the beach which is like being in Fiji or Bali but can’t swim due to the crocodiles that live here as well 🐊 This photo is where I’m blogging at the moment 😎 There are lots of hire boats to go & catch Barramundi - TONY checked out the filleting table & evidently the fish are huge!  Quite comical watching them all come in while we have a happy hour with campers from the park & watch the beautiful sunsets! Checked out the Hotel/Bistro/cafe/convenient store for an Icecream & check the menu out for a meal. Back to pool for a swim & finally a hair wash - felt like a new woman again although my hair does not like the humidity 😂...

  All needing a rest day today as it is getting quite hot days now. Packed a few things up before having happy hour at a beautiful rock pool with just us in it for most of the time.   Great swim which cooled us off & then sat under the shade of the trees on rocks & had our wine 🥂 Another successful dinner with beef & red wine casserole on a hot potato & a very successful beer damper again! We are all looking forward to a shower & washing our hair after 5 days with no shower - think that is a record!  The cool waterholes have kept us clean though 😜😂

  Quieter day today as it is getting up to the mid 30’s which is quite hot for walking in the middle of the day.  Drove to the lower camp ground & walked along a beautiful flat path to Florence Falls instead of the 135 stairs.    A lot of people here cooling down, all ages!  We have had a few people jumping from the ridges around the waterhole which is quite dangerous & prohibited.   I’m glad we didn’t see anyone hurt themselves as it would be very hard to get them to help 🙄 See if you can find Jude & I here 😜 Another swim at Buleys but in a different water hole - very nice, except I managed to sit rather hard on a rock & then walking back to camp slipped in wet thongs & sat rather hard on a step in front of a few people 😜 had a sore bum cheek for awhile 🤦‍♀️ Camp meal tonight was another success - 2 damper in the camp oven, 1 with cheese & bacon for entree & beer damper for our jam & cream - yum!