We are on holiday!

5th August 2022

Happy birthday to dad…….and me! 😁 Richie got up and cooked crepes for breakfast, then sent me off for a massage (perhaps I’d been complaining about a sore back too much!). The massage place was a pleasant 15min walk away which was nice in itself. The massage was lovely – my massage experiences are pretty limited, including a massage in Malaysia that was mostly painful, and included a very weird breast and stomach massage 🤨, a short massage in Fiji that was nice, and a heavenly hot stone massage in Canberra.

After an incredibly indulgent hour I walked out and noticed a patisserie next door to the massage place, which I took as a sign that we needed cake. It was, after all, my birthday! 😁 I bought a small selection of delicious looking cream filled cakes and walked back to the apartments. Andrew and Tegan had packed up their apartment and were loading the car to go back to the airport. We ate cake together, received their excess food (time to introduce the kids to baked beans!), and got a clothing donation. Andrew gave Richie his shorts, which is great because Richie’s aren’t looking good after 4 weeks on the road and questionable washing, and I got Tegan’s skirt that I have been admiring the whole time, and had decided I should buy my own – thanks guys! 😃

We farewelled Andrew, Tegan, Rufus and Genevieve, which was particularly sad for the kids. They’ve had so much fun having travelling playmates. It’s also been special for us having friends fly to Darwin to see us on our holiday! 💕 Having two weeks of planning and bookings done for us was also pretty amazing – it was nice not to think about it for a while.

Back on our own again, we headed to the museum and gallery. This was the fastest ever viewing I have ever had of a museum. Otis loved looking at most things, especially the natural history displays, but there was definitely no lingering! Richie and Bonnie had a somewhat more relaxed tour of the museum, so we were already out and having an ice cream when they were done!

We moved on to the Botanic gardens for a rest and picnic. There is a lovely playground section (thanks for the recommendation Aunty Judy!), with a climbing structure built over an incredible old tree. The tree itself would be amazing to climb, though they have cleverly built the structure to block any tree climbing attempts! We took a stroll around the gardens, which are so lush and cooling in the heat.

Time for dinner at the wharf – a regular during Richie’s PhD days! Richie was thrilled to discover that he was able to get his old favourite, Thai green chicken curry. Otis chose a noodle dish and Bonnie ordered crispy fried whole fish. I figured with so much food between the kids I would get a meal out of them! I was wrong about Bonnie – even though her fish was bigger than her head, she ate the whole thing, bones and all! She left the backbone and half the skull on her plate, along with a pile of chips that I thought we could feed to the fish, but she ended up eating after a short break! 😆 I got Otis’ leftovers, which was mostly pork and baby corn – an unusual dinner! We drank some wine out of some new yeti wine cups Richie got me for my birthday – we smashed one of our glasses (our Ben & Deb wedding glass!), so I’ve been drinking out of a jam jar the last couple of weeks!

After a lovely evening at the wharf we headed back – I was to put the kids to bed while Richie did the shopping run for the next few days. Though somehow the kids were still up when Richie got back just before 10! 😱 Getting back to camping should at least restore our sleeping habits!