Whips & Crocs, Darwin

Thursday the 25th of October ... was a quiet one. 
Richard the kids and I enjoyed sitting around the pool at the resort. 
Nina continued to play with her little friend Lily who we met in Daly Waters, while the boys played all day in the pool. 

Around 4ish we went back to the van to get ready to go the the famous Mindil Street Markets, the last one for the year.

The Mindil markets, along the beachfront

  
It's the reason why we got to Darwin when we did, so the boys could go to "Mick's Whips" and get their own whip and have a lesson from Mick on how to crack a whip. He's somewhat of a legend to Jack and Harry with friends they had met along the road telling the boys about him...

Nina, Harry and Jack with Mick

The markets weren't huge but the boys weren't disappointed. They both got to buy a whip each and were given a lesson from Mick...

Harry gets a lesson from Mick

Then it's Jack's turn

Even Richard got a lesson.

Mick gives Richard some whip cracking tips

The markets have a few stalls but consisted mostly of food where the locals and tourists buy their dinner and eat it while watching the sunset on the beach.

Mindil Beach

Nina had to have a Nina's Fruit Salad

We stayed for a while then headed to our friends house down the road for dinner. Richard and I have known the Ambrose-Pearce's for a few years, through business. They too have three kids, two boys Luke and JD and a girl, Indiana, so the kids all had a ball while the adults got to have a good catch up. 

A BBQ dinner and NO... the dog didn't kill the rabbit

It was a lovely dinner and we thank the AP family for their hospitality, even if we did outstay our welcome... It was a late night!

Friday the 26th of October ... We all had a sleep in after a late night. 

Richard had organized to go out for a business lunch so he was on his way before too long. I had to iron some nice clothes for him to go out in. Now there's a novelty! On reflection (but not too much reflection) it's the second time this year I have had to pick up an iron.

The kids went for a swim while I set about doing the washing.

We then went for a drive to the local shopping centre, again a real novelty. I can't tell you how long it's been since we had stepped foot into a shopping centre.

By afternoon we were home getting changed and back into the car heading to Cullen Beach to meet Richard and the Ambrose-Pearce family to celebrate their son JD's 7th birthday. It was a great evening, and mother nature turned on a spectacular sunset.

Cullen Beach

The sun sets as a cruise ship leaves the Port of Darwin

A Darwin sunset

Saturday the 27th of October ... I got up early for a walk, it is so hot and humid here it had to be done really early or else it becomes unbearable. By the time I got back the kids were up. Harry was writing frantically trying to get his diary up to date so he will be allowed on tomorrow's boys adventure of a lifetime. I'll keep you posted on that one.

We then decided to head off to Crocosaurus Cove, one of Darwin's major tourist attractions.

Richard met Mick Burns, the owner of Crocosaurus Cove, at the business lunch he went to yesterday. 

Mick has the only license in the NT to farm Australian saltwater crocs and he sells the croc skins to fashion houses around the world.

Other than crocodiles, there was also an aquarium filled with local fish...

A strange looking creature - a Sawshark

and an area with every reptile in Australia. The kids were excited when they got to   hold a python....

Nina

Harry

Jack

It was great to be able to see massive crocs behind cages (the best way to see them) and watch them being fed.

Feeding time for Harry the croc

Yikes

Up close

There is also what's referred to as The Cage of Death, where people climb into a tank and are submerged underwater while a croc swims around them...

Inside The Cage of Death

The kids also helped feed the little crocs (known as the teenagers), which leapt metres in the air to get to the food...

The hungry teenagers wait for their lunch

The hungry teenagers mill around us

Leaping for their lunch

They also took turns holding a baby croc, which at weeks old, still needed to have its mouth taped so it wouldn't bite. It's amazing how they are born with that biting instinct from the moment they hatch...

Jack

Harry

Nina

We then went to watch snake feeding time.
I watched on in horror (the kids didn't skip a beat) as the snake handler fed an Olive Python a big (dead) rat. It took the python 15 minutes to devour it... yuk, yuk, yuk...

OMG too gross

We returned back to the caravan to have a quiet afternoon in the air conditionng, with Richard keen to watch the Cox Plate. After the big race we all spent the rest of the afternoon cooling off  in the resort pool.

The best place to be on a sultry Darwin day

We all had an early night ahead of the boys big adventure the following day.