Sunday May 9th, saw us packing up camp in Mary River and heading into Darwin. Unfortunately it rained quite heavily in the early morning hours before we got up. No big problems, but meant we were packing up some of our stuff in the wet again. I have to say I got a bit of fun out of it as the loud group next to us in tents and campers had kept us up much of the night carrying on. My evil side enjoyed watching them pack up everything wet with hangovers!
It was only a short 2 hour trip into the Oasis Tourist Park near Howard Springs. We had stayed there the last time and decided to return. New owners/managers from our last trip, Andrew & Tina. This is a very nice caravan park. Lovely green, shaded sites with spotless amenity blocks (4.5 Stars). There is a small pool that gets fairly crowded in the afternoon. We had a huge site with a lovely green area out the front of the van. The park is fairly cramped and access into many of the sites is a bit challenging. However, Andrew guides everyone onto their site and even helps with getting the vans level. Also gave us a hand leaving as we had a tree that made our exit a bit difficult. Great service and highly recommended caravan park.
The first few days were spent shopping, getting the Jeep serviced, and helping the Ransleys prepare for their Singapore trip. We took the girls out on Sunday to the famous Mindil Markets to celebrate Mother's Day. Enjoyed a nice gluten free meal topped off with an ice cream. We also enjoyed a lovely meal at the Trailer Boat Club with our niece Emma and boyfriend, Andrew on Monday night.
Tuesday we had lunch at the harbour before seeing the Ransleys off to the airport hotel. Lovely Vietnamese restaurant called Chows, that had several Gluten free options. Sandra and I enjoyed a few relaxing days after they left as we both had a bit of a bug. Just a bit of ear and throat colds, but it took our energy away. Could have been the high humidity as well.
Wednesday we celebrated Stephanie's birthday with a Skype catchup. Tim and Stephanie also announced their engagement on the call which was very exciting! Sandra and I are both very happy to welcome Tim to the family; but I think we have both been introducing him as our Son in Law for a while now anyway. Congratulations!
I had the Bushman fridge looked at in Darwin as was having trouble starting up. Also had our Ark Pak battery pack checked out. The Bushman was repaired quickly and fairly economically while the battery pack checked out fine and our battery was judged to be very good. Got great service from both places. A shout out to RADO Refrigeration and IBD Batteries for their top notch service.
We had Emma and Andrew over for BBQ dinner on the weekend. Had a great visit with the two of them. They have been living in Darwin and working in the aviation industry for a couple of years now.
We had planned to check out on Sunday after our first week but ended up extending for another week. The caravan park was lovely and Darwin is a very nice little city. Lots of things to see and abundant shopping and services. We decided it was as good a place to be as any while we waited for the Ransleys to return and we recovered from our colds.
Our second week was spent with lots more relaxation although we ventured out for a bit more activity and sight seeing. A few of our activities in no particular order were: the Parap Markets, Cullen Bay Marina, Stokes Wharf, Waterfront Precinct, Darwin Memorial Park, Lake Alexander, and the Military Museum. We also enjoyed a few more meals at Chows and some picnic lunches on our day trips. A few photos below of some of the sites although very little camera work was attempted during our stay.
We were lucky enough to enjoy a couple more visits with Emma and Andrew during our second week as well. All in all we really enjoyed our time in Darwin and I could see myself spending an extended time their during the winter. The only negative during our stay is that the temperature/humidity is still unseasonably high. Even the locals were complaining about it. I don't think I would enjoy the wet season/build up but would be lovely once the dry weather sets in.
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