By mid morning we all headed towards a local shopping centre called Casuarina to get a coffee and pick up a few bits and pieces.
Jack found an RM Williams shop that sold kids clothes and with a Birthday voucher from Pop and Huggy burning a hole in his wallet he decided to spend it.
We left the shopping centre and headed straight to the airport to meet Mark & Lisa DiMasi who were coming to spend the weekend with us.
We were all really exited about seeing them and spending a "quality time" weekend together.
Nina and Harry had spent a few hours the day before making a welcome sign....
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| Nina & Harry's welcome sign, Darwin Airport |
Hugs all around we all headed back to the caravan park to settle in and have an afternoon swim in the resort pool.
Dinner was a Barbie and salad and lots of champagne and wine, over a year's worth of conversation.
Saturday the 10th of November... A little dusty we all hit the streets of Darwin together in the mini van that Mark & Lisa had hired for the weekend.
Our first stop was the Parap Markets where we had a wander and picked up a coffee and some brekky. The Asian influence in Darwin was evident at those markets, with the smell of Asian food coming from all directions.
We then stopped into a Darwin Museum which was full of information about the wildlife in the Top End and the devastation of Cyclone Tracey.
We all laughed when we saw this Darwin Water Ski Club sign, the fact the place was closed pretty much said it all...
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| Who would want to ski in these croc infested waters? |
Next stop was the city centre, where Harry wanted to buy himself some RM Williams clothes. We then wandered the streets, seeing the odd sight that you would only ever see in the top end, like locals passed out in the mall.
We did stop to make sure one of them was breathing and it wasn't too long before an ambulance arrived to take him away.
It was good to know that someone was feeling dustier than us after a big night.
The mere mention of the possibility of mud crabs, Singapore style for dinner had us all excited, especially Lisa, and we were back in the mini van and on the way to the wharf ready for a big spend up on seafood. Bags of mud crabs, baby octopus, salmon and oysters later we were walking out and heading back to the caravan to put dinner on ice.
We did divert back to the wharf when Lisa decided it would be nice to take some mud crabs home to Perth, they were good value.
Dinner sorted our next stop was the Humpty Doo pub, where else would you want to spend a Saturday arvo in the Top end.
A gamble on a few of Richards bad tips a few ales and we were all ready to head back to the resort to cool down in the pool.
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| At the Humpty Doo pub |
A gamble on a few of Richards bad tips a few ales and we were all ready to head back to the resort to cool down in the pool.
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| Cooling off |
Dinner was a seafood feast, Richard took over the kitchen and after an entree of marinated baby occy, salmon sashimi and freshly shucked oysters we then washed it down with Singapore Chilli mud crabs, rice, salad and crusty bread. We all ate until we were about to bust, it was perfect.
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| Richard serves up for Mark |
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| Richard's Singapore Chilli Mud crab |
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| Mark & Nina |
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| Lisa & Harry |
We all rolled into bed around 11 after an unplanned but classic day of just enjoying being all together with no plans.
Sunday the 11th of November, it was Mark & Lisa's last morning with us so the plan was to meet in the resort pool for a 9:30 swim before getting brekky, but with the resort restaurant closed, we all had a swim and then headed off to the local shopping centre for brekky.
We arrived back at the resort late morning. Mark & Lisa began packing up while we contemplated whether to leave in the afternoon or stay for one more night and go for an afternoon drive.
Mark was at the caravan about 15minutes later looking for his unit keys. They had searched all over and couldn't find them.
It turns out that the keys were left on the table on their verandah and a young opportunist pounced, taking them to reception, checking out and claiming the $20 refund for the keys.
We we all gobsmacked by the news and only too happy to come across this lad and hand out our own punishment. He was caught on camera in the resort reception so hopefully karma will find its way to him.
The missing key mystery sorted, Mark & Lisa were packed and ready to go. It was sad to be saying goodbye already but we were all so grateful to them for coming up to Darwin to spend time with us.....
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| Lisa, Mark & the kids |
There were hugs and kisses before we waved them goodbye.
The afternoon was touring the outskirts of Darwin with a trip to Wagait Beach, 150 kilometers away from Darwin but just a stone's throw across the Penninsula by water.
Along the way we saw some more wild brumbies on the side of the road. I can't even begin to imagine what damage they could do to a vehicle...
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| More wild brumes on the roadside |
Ariving in Wagait the boys went to have a look at the jetty and see what was or wasn't being caught.. they came back excited when they saw a fisherman pull in a 2 metre long hammerhead shark....
On the beach near the jetty was the Mandorah pub, owned and run by a good friend of the Wendt family, Nic.
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| The Wagait jetty, across the peninsula you can see Darwin |
On the beach near the jetty was the Mandorah pub, owned and run by a good friend of the Wendt family, Nic.
While Richard and I chatted to Nic, Nina had a swim in the pool while the boys did some fishing off the jetty. They came back an hour later, with Jack upset that he'd lost a Spanish Mackerel because he didn't tie his hook properly. (a lesson learnt the hard way)"
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| Nina, Harry & Jack at the Mandorah pub |
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| Nic, the kids, Jessie the dog and I |
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| A family snapshot |
By 5 o'clock, we said goodbye and thanks to Nic for his hospitality and headed back towards Darwin, ready for dinner and an early night.
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