We are on holiday!

Wednesday 3rd August 2022

After packing as much of the campsite as we could last night, we managed to be up and gone by 8:15 this morning. Nice to know we can do it! 😆 We farewelled Kakadu, and it’s dry and dusty campsites, and the flies and mosquitoes that call Jabiru home – it is the first time on this trip we have been bothered by both of these insects! We headed towards the Adelaide River for a jumping crocodile tour.

We arrived at the river nice and early for the tour. I was hopeful about a nice coffee while we were waiting but it turned out it was instant on offer, so we decided to hold off. We were packed onto the boat, given the usual spiel about boat safety and life jackets (I loved the follow on of “not that a life jacket will do you any good if you fall in the water out here …” 😱).

The trip picked two crocs to tempt with a dangling bit of buffalo. We had great seats right behind the meat dangler, so the kids got a very close view of the animals, which was exciting. Richie and I have done similar tours a few times now, so we were happy to just enjoy the kid’s responses. They also fed some whistling kites at the end, which was beautiful to watch.

We headed straight to Darwin from there, arriving at our accommodation a little early – and during their lunch break, so we grabbed some lunch at the Nightcliff shopping centre while we waited.

We have booked an apartment at coconut grove for three nights – this was the easiest way to be close to Andrew and Tegan for the remainder of their trip, as they have swapped the Hilux for a small car and won’t be camping. Though it will be nice to not be in a tent for a few days, and hopefully catch up on washing. My hands and feet are so ingrained with dirt, I wonder if they will ever be clean again!

We relaxed for a little while in the apartment – it is small but quite nice – a king bed and a sofa bed for the kids. I say that, but currently I’m on the king by myself, and Richie, Bonnie and Otis are all on the sofa. I’m assuming this has something to do with the Commonwealth Games being on though!

We headed to Rapid Creek bridge – an old fishing haunt from Richie’s uni days. (unsuccessful I believe, except when Jess hooked a barra on fishing line wound around a beer bottle!). Richie introduced the kids to his study species – the fiddler crab – and showed them how to catch them.

The plan was a sunset picnic at Dripstone cliffs. We went to Woolies to pick up some food for the picnic, and for the next couple of days. The kids and I filled the trolley at Woolies, then Richie sent us back to the car while he went through the self checkout. Unfortunately the computer had a fault at the end of his shopping, the attendant didn’t know how to fix it and suggested Richie rejoin the now very long line up to try again at a different register, so Richie left the shopping there in disgust and we arrived at the beach empty handed. Thankfully Andrew and Tegan were already there with plenty of pizza to share with the kids, and a bottle of red and a spare glass for me, so all was fine. 😁

We enjoyed yet another amazing NT sunset – this time over the ocean, while the kids had a great time running all over the beach and getting sandy! Once it was pretty well dark we headed back. Richie dropped the kids and me back at the apartment, then went back to a supermarket to repeat the shopping experience. He returned to cook a late but delicious dinner of the barramundi caught the day before. 😋 The kids enjoyed tv on the couch, before couch was transformed into bed for sleep time. It might be hard to resist morning cartoons when the tv is right there!!