Week Ten | Kindred Spirits

SNAPSHOT

There was a whiff of anxiety from me driving into Darwin - my memories of this place are mixed and range from happy-nostalgic to happy-sad.......but I have to say that on arrival, reality was not even close to what I expected - Darwin has executed somewhat of a magical change over the last 20 years - everything that was rough around the edges is now smooth and shiny, however it has managed to lose none of its chillaxed atmosphere......in some ways it was like coming home and it made me super happy to see my family embracing all things Darwin, the good, the bad and the unusual!

We are halfway through our adventure and as planned, a long time before departure, we celebrated in Darwin the fact that a) shit-a-brick we actually made it halfway and b) Leigh and I are not getting a divorce - I should mention that the last owners of our van set out on their adventure and only made it to Darwin before getting divorced ....: the girls felt like it was an omen and nicknamed the van "Divorce-a-van".....awesome!

We made some very special friendships this week, Melinda, Bill, Anna and Will - thank you! Melinda and I etched a vague promise to try and catch up (somewhere along the way!) 6 months ago when I was naked on her examination table at the Skin Clinic in Ballarat - nothing awkward there at all! 😂 The warmth and hilarousness of this wonderful family was just what we all needed this week and we hope the feeling was mutual! Here's to many more adventures together!!!🥂🍾🥂

WHERE ON EARTH ARE WE?

The Deightful Darwin of course - ALL WEEK!

We all rolled excitedly into the Darwin Free Spirit Resort - we had planned ahead for this and it was going to be a special treat for all of us!

Free Spirit is by far the most amazing park we have stayed in during this trip, not one to quibble about a bar right next to the pool that serve crispy cold jugs of Pimms, I think this was definitely a great choice for us and for once we got our money's worth!! We headed out early each morning (by 12 it was ridiculously hot, the grizzling started and the girls said I was annoying lol) and when possible, spent the afternoons swimming, reading and champagning 😂

It's really hard when arriving into a place that has so much to offer - you just can't possibly do everything so we had a pow wow, made a list, culled that list in half and pretty much managed to tick it all off!

Crocosaurus Cove was really awesome! Right in the middle of Darwin city, the space has been cleverly used and we learnt heaps! Even got to hold a baby Croc and have a family photo - I use the word "hold" lightly - Leigh managed to hold onto Fluffy for approx 30 seconds before the Croc lost his bananas and wrenched out of Leigh's hands into the floor - it was all shades of awkward and the photographer was less than impressed! 😂 not the Stollery's finest moment hah hah

The Darwin waterfront is incredible.....a million dollar wave pool, foodie prencinct and daily markets an absolute must see......One thing that has impressed me about the new and improved Darwin is how family and weather friendly it has become......everything is reasonably priced for family fun and designed to help tourists cope with the heat!

We discovered the Royal Flying Doctors and Darwin Bombing Museum and were blown away by the technology of the hologram presentations and interactive 4D visual masks which allowed you whizz back in time and be part of the horrific bombing of Darwin in 1942 - certainly it made it a unique learning experience for the girls who lose interest in reading boards of information!

Litchfield National Park needs no introduction - whilst Kakadu is undoubtedly amazing, Litchfield holds a special place in my heart and is really accessible for either a day trip or longer! We swam at Wangi Falls, visited Buely Rockpools, did a 4WD to The Lost City and took in the views from Tolper Lookout.....such a great day out!

Unbeknownst to my family I had pre-booked a sunset cruise on Cape Adieu Sunset Sailing boat which included a massive prawn platter and vino! Such a special and beautiful evening despite the fact Maggie announced ten minutes in that she didn't like prawns anymore 😱

Kudos to the Council for installing two free water adventure parks at Palmerston and Leanyer......great way to knacker out energetic kids and watch two grown men have a "water slide off" - it's probably just as well we aren't planning any more babies, it's fair to say some parts of my husbands anatomy came off second best during a "race to the finish line" competition with Bill 😂😂😂

BEST PART vs WORST PART

🐣Liv

Best part: The Wave Pool was amazing!! There are 10 different wave patterns and they are soooo big! We had noodles and blow up rings - heaps of fun and Mum got in too!!

Worst Part: Dad and I went to see the Demons play against the Adelaide Crows but lots and lots of people stood in front of us and we couldn't see anything so had to go home - probably just as well - the Dees lost!! Hah hah

🐴 Maggie

Best Part: Making new friends - Anna and Will are so nice and we had so much fun especially at the wave pool - we are going to see them again once we get past Perth ❤️

Worst part: Not getting enough sleep and being grouchy - I don't like it when Mum calls me Snoozle Moozle 😡

🏌️Leigh

Best part: Undoubtedly for me, the highlight of Darwin was The Bombing of Darwin experience - the 4D interactive virtual reality mask was so good - had to do it twice!

Folllowed closely by the sunset cruise aboard The Cape Adieu sailing boat - the views were breathtaking, prawns absolutely amazing and it was nice to share the experience as a family - the beer certainly helped - Rana was worried about organizing this secret agenda but she needn't have because it was an awesome experience! Notwithstanding that apparently Maggie doesn't like prawns anymore!

Well done Mum 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Honorable mentions to the wave pool, Palmerston Water Park, Litchfield National Park and the Darwin Military Museum!!

Worst part: The football. Still can't talk about it sorry.

Dropping a crocodile probably wasn't high on my list of proud achievements this week - in my defence, I was trying to save my child from being blinded - the filthy reaction from the photographer was surprising - I suspect Fluffy will be sold as a nice coin purse in the over priced gift shop very soon 😜

🌺 Rana

Best part: Too many to mention this week but highlights definitely include Litchfield National Park, the sunset cruise and getting to hang with the Bray family - was great to have a vent and a laugh, give the kids some rope and watch them have so much fun!!

Overall I've created myself some new memories of Darwin and really glad I got the opportunity to do so!

Worst part: I think we all struggled a bit with the heat during the afternoons, got the hang of it eventually - Maggie doesn't cope at all with lack of sleep and had a couple of testing moments which, given I was also hot and tired could have been dealt with better - we will move on!!

LESSONS LEARNT:

📝 Memories are transient - if you don't like the ones you have create shiny new ones 😂

📝 Crocodiles are for water, NOT 8 year old girl's heads with "reptile allergic" Dads holding them!

📝 I managed to fix a myriad of child issues and tears this week with a simple hug and zero words - no mean feat for me so I might try it more often!

NEXT DESTINATION: Back down to Katherine, across to Lake Argyle before finishing up in beautiful Broome just in the nick of time to celebrate Liv's 12th birthday ......This will be a test to our parental skills this week with little to no phone reception and wifi for ten days!!! See you on the flip side folks!

The road thus travelled for Week Ten!

Birds eye view of the Darwin Waterfront - nice work DCC! You hit the nail on the head with this!

My loving family snatched all the flotation devices first so my swim/fight for my life in the surprisingly big dumpy waves of the wave pool was exhausting (and hilarious 😜)

Liv's handiwork! She's proving to be quite the wee photographer ❤️

When in Rome......

Fabulous entrance to a fabulous National Park!

The Lost City - best kept secret of Litchfield - if you don't mind the 4WD trip in for 10km that is! Funniest thing about 4WD'ing - always faster on the way out than the way in!