Day 173. Darwin

Warm wishes for a special family member...

This morning we all slept in and by the time 9am came around; it was a mad dash to get ready; as Scarlett had another play date with the caravan parks 'kids club'. This morning it was 'Jumping Pillow Games', and she couldn't wait.



Watch out! Scarlett is about to throw the ball!

 I dropped her off, and again little Miss Independent was right at home. A quick good bye to the 'old man', with a sly kiss on the cheek thrown in for good measure; and I was out of there. I returned about an hour later, and they were still flat out playing 'dodge ball' games. I could see that Scarlett was having a ball, so I left her to it and returned back to the van to enjoy a hot cuppa and watch the end of the morning news.

About another 30 minutes later Scarlett returned with a huge smile on her face. She had such a good time that she wanted to go straight to the next activity, but unfortunately that wasn't on until after lunch. So she grabbed something to eat; had a huge drink of water, and then jumped on her bike and disappeared for another hour. She was off riding around with the kids, stopping at the jumping pillow for a social every now and then. Caravan Parks like this are a blessing; and we are all enjoying our time here.

Not that much later and the next activity was about to begin. This time it was 'chocolate making', and the kid was in heaven. Bec took Scarlett, with her friends Grace and Max from next door also joining her. They spent over an hour and a half making a what looked like a million chocolates - but the good times couldn't last forever. On the way back to the van, Scarlett was so excited to show me what she had done that she tripped over while running with her bag of chocolates. As you can probably guess, the freshly made chocolates went everywhere; all over the road. They were ruined! She returned to the van in a shower of tears, as Bec explained to me what had happened. Luckily one individual chocolate survived; as it had been wrapped individually. Bec tried to clean up the remaining chocolates, but they were embedded with gravel and stones - they were not able to be saved. Again Scarlett was heartbroken; but after a short while she calmed down enough to quickly devour the last remaining chocolate before I had a chance to get a photo! Just goes to show that if you snooze, you lose.


Is this a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle dad?



Scarlett asking questions about the Tortoise

Today was supposed to be a special day, with the third activity an organised visit from the Crocodylus Park. They were bringing out a number of baby animals for the kids to pat and hold, but as we soon found out there was a small problem. They had double booked and all the animals were at Darwin Show. So unfortunately the kids didn't get to see all the animals that had been promised to them; instead Crocodylus Park eventually arrived with a solitary tortoise. The line up of kids must of been up to 30 deep - and all to touch and hold one small tortoise. Scarlett waited patiently, and she soon had the chance to meet the only critter who turned up. I was very impressed with her as she was the only kid to get really involved with the tortoise. All the other kids literally held the little bugger and then handed it back; but Scarlett asked a heap of questions like "Whats his name?", and "How old is he?" That's my girl!



This afternoon Bec caught up with a family that we keep running into during our travels. They are mother Karren, father Greg, daughter Grace and son Kale. We initially ran into the 'Nixons' back in Port Lincoln when Bec went for her shark dive with Rodney Fox; and we have been keeping in touch ever since. We since met up again in Esperance and Broome; and now here in Darwin. It was great to catch up and talk about our separate travels; including giving each other tips on where to go and what to do. The people and families you meet on the road are truly inspirational; and these guys are no exception. We hope to catch up again somewhere in Queensland if our paths should actually cross again. I'm sure we'll keep in touch long after we have finished travelling and returned to a 'normal working life'.


Rebecca and Karren

As Scarlett has been such a good girl ever since we arrived here in Darwin; we decided to treat her to a McDonald's dinner. (Not just that but we have run out of food, and nothing opens until tomorrow as its a public holiday here: Darwin Show Day and all). I'm sure Bec enjoyed the opportunity not to cook dinner; and I was glad that there was no washing dishes!

Unfortunately today was not all fun and games. Bec is being harassed by a wayward molar tooth that started giving her grief yesterday. Today she is in terrible pain, and there is nothing we can do about it. Nothing is open due to the public holiday; so luckily we had some medication in our first aid kit that 'dulled' the pain considerably. Apparently Bec was up most of the night with the pain from the tooth, but she didn't let on how bad it was until this morning. I ended up finding a 7 day Chemist close by, so I went and bought some more 'drugs' to get her through the weekend. Hopefully we can get her to a dentist as soon as possible, as I don't think I could survive another few days with Bec's pain! :-)

Lastly a small message to Bec's aunty Karen. I just want to say that Bec, Scarlett and myself are thinking of you! All our love and wishes go out to you. ;-) Karen is Bec's mum Wendy's little sister, and she is going through a rough time at the moment. We'll see you soon when we return to Sydney, so take care and keep your chin up. xxx