Welcome to Darwin, its HOT here and its winter people! But don’t get me wrong! It is lovely, that warmth and the late setting sun, it brings a smile to our faces.
We started our first day in Darwin by waking up late and taking our time. However we were disgustingly sweating just by standing in the shade after only 10 minutes. Just in case I didn’t say it clear enough it was bloody hot…
We decided to try get away from the heat at our campsite by driving into town, because after all there is nowhere you can escape the heat when camping, except you car and some shops. So with the air conditioning on full we were able to cool down with the 30km drive into town. I was driving which is not a thing except when we try park our giant car in a city. Normally I would be fine in Perth, but as Darwin is new and unfamiliar my ability to park disappears and is replaced by annoyance at myself and an impatience to park.
After maybe a half hour driving in circles, and the city is not that big, I found a spot right near the waterfront. Out of the car we walked to the visitors center, which did not have parking just for you to know. After that little visit we found a cute little dumpling place to have lunch. Alex and I have a small obsession with dumplings and leaving our resident dumpling place in Perth; Authentic Bites Dumpling House, we were very excited to have some after so long! If you are in Perth go try them now! And if you are in Darwin there are dumplings available, you don’t have to look hard to fine them.
After satisfying our dumpling obsession we walked around town a little taking in all that it had to offer. I finally got to visit a shop I had been following for ages on Instagram; Embella. I also may have had the chance to spend a little money…
Later on we walked back down to the waterfront and then down to the beach front. In Darwin you are not encouraged to swim in the ocean because of crocodiles, sharks and box jelly fish, just in case only one of those did not scare you off already. So sadly whilst melting away in the heat we just looked at the stunning clear blue ocean, enviously, and then walked away to our car.
After a nice afternoon back at our campsite we then got ready to head back into the center. A girl from the Netherlands that Alex had studied with was also in Darwin and contacted us. It was a great coincidence so we headed to a bar and met her for a few drinks, after all it was Friday and a night out in Darwin is a must. A great catch up and some very entertaining people watching later we headed back to camp and found ourselves still awake at 1am, we really are party animals!
The next day we decided to just stay at the campsite by the pool and enjoy the warmth in a nice way. The only thing we did other than lie by the pool was to drive to the closest Woolworths to get food for lunch and dinner. The wonderful thing about the Woolworths we found was that it was firstly massive, and secondly they had the fresh sushi counter. So you can guess what we got each time we went there.
On Sunday we packed up our campsite, cooking the remainder of our fresh food and heading into town. We decided to check out the Wave Park where as its name somewhat suggests they had a pool with waves next to the ocean, where you cannot swim. It was surprisingly quiet for a Sunday, but for us it was great. We spent a good 4-5 hours lying in the sun and swimming when the waves were on. We are beach people so it was sad to not enjoy the ocean, but with it in sight we could still cool off and enjoy waves in this park.
We no longer had a caravan park to go back to and shower up at, but the toilet block next to the wave pool had some showers, so in gypsy traveller style, we had free showers with very cold water. Seriously nice and free so bonus!
Afterwards we headed to the Mindil Beach Markets to just check them out. I love markets in every form but Alex is always less enthusiastic. However after a handmade banoffee doughnut he warmed up to the market a little. He then went onto trying a homemade icy pole and some poffertjes (Dutch pancakes). We just stayed a short while to look at everything (and taste everything) and then we headed to my mum’s friend Tasha’s house.
They were wonderful enough to look after our car while we took a small trip to Bali for a few days. They had also invited us over for dinner that evening and then would drop us at the airport afterwards. As soon as we walked in the door we felt so welcome and it was as if we had known and been friends with them for years. We sat down, had dinner with them and their four kids and it was just great! After a delicious dinner the kids disappeared with Tasha for a few minutes and then emerged with a chocaholics dream cake. Everyone started signing even Alex, until he realised everyone was looking and signing at him. After a little giggle he blew out his candles and we enjoyed the amazing cake Tasha had baked for Alex for his birthday.
We chatted with Tasha and Des, her husband, for a few hours and then when the time came they dropped us at the airport. After checking in we waited a little until boarding. It seemed like we were not the only people heading to Bali for the week…
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Crocodiles, sharks and box jelly fish would make me avoid that ocean no matter how hot! Glad you did get to cool down at the wave pool. Tasha and Des are awesome. So pleased had time with them.
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