Lathams News: DAY 45 & 46 – DARWIN HERE WE COME…..

It is hard to believe we have now been on the road for just over 6 weeks. We only had a little over 200 kms to travel today until we reached Darwin. We still weren’t sure which Caravan Park we were going to stay at in Darwin,,,, They all seem pretty expensive to me, with most being around the $50+ mark a night…

One of the other things we discovered was that most of the caravan parks are at least twenty kms or more out of Darwin. The only one we could find in Darwin itself was right next to the airport and several people had told us that the noise of the big jets flying in day and night nearly drove them insane

. The Oasis Caravan Park was recommended to us even thought it was a good 20kms from the Darwin CBD. I rang them from Jabibu, but they only had one vacancy for the night, so that ruled them out.

I checked with our Top Tourist Park book, and there was another van park about another 4-5kms further out called the Darwin Boomerang, Motel and Caravan Park, and it looked to be around $40 a night, so we ended up driving there and they were able to accommodate us for at least overnight.

We had a couple of parcels that were being sent to us, to be picked up from the daughter of some friends of Ian and Kathy, and they lived out this way.

The van park was lovely, sites were a little on the small side but they were very shady. We were fortunate as our site was side by side and directly across from the laundry and shower and toilet block. The van park was no longer a Top Tourist park so we were unable to get a discount, however we did find out that if you booked for a week you were entitled to a 10% discount on the fee. We wanted to have our cars serviced in Darwin, as we had clocked up around 10,000 kms since leaving home, and we knew that by the time we got to Perth, the kilometres would be way over….

How long we stayed in Darwin, depended on when we could get the cars in for a service. Ian and Kathy’s friends, put us in touch with some mechanics that they felt were honest and reliable, so the boys rang them the following morning and found out that they could service our cars the following Monday, so that meant we were able to book in for another week and get the discount. It bought the fee back to $36 per night. Not bad for Darwin…

We then made our way down to the new shopping centre which had just opened down the road. It was quite large and had a Coles and K-Mart centre along with quite a few other specialty shops. We stocked up on our groceries and then headed home to cook dinner.

We also had to visit some friends of Ian and Kathy’s as both Steve and Ian had mail to collect that was being posted from home to their address in Darwin. We met Monique and her lovely children, and they were also able to give us some advice on where to get cars serviced and where to get haircuts.

Exploring Darwin itself would have to wait until tomorrow.

First thing Tuesday morning the boys rang around and also booked the cars in to have the wheels rotated at Bob Jane. The earliest they could do that was on Wednesday morning.. We spent the morning at the caravan park, rebooking for the week, talking to neighbours, and just generally catching up on a few little jobs, before taking off just after lunch to go exploring.

We decided to go and visit some of the beaches around Darwin. First we headed to Lee Point, this was the site of another caravan park and if we hadn’t been able to book in where we are, than this would probably have been our next choice for a van park.

Beach at Lee Point

Heading back up from the beach.

The area was lovely, but the park was huge, almost too big and I am sure there would have been a lot of insects and sandflies, because we were feeling them just whilst we were on the beach there that afternoon. We got out of the car and went for a walk down onto the beach. It was quite a nice area with lots of picnic tables, and green grass.

From here we continued our drive along the coast, passing the Darwin hospital, along the coastal road to Dripstone Cliffs. We found Nightcliffe and got out of the car here to go and explore the rocks and cliffs that jut out into the ocean.

The cliff edges there were pretty amazing, with lots of lovely colour in them.

Steveon the cliffs at Nightcliffe

Jetty at Nighcliffe

Kites flying overhead

Amazing lines and colours in the rocks

Just some of the amazing colours in the rocks around Nightcliffe

I think the rock though is crumbly, not at all like some of the other rock surfaces we have seen in the NT. There is a lovely jetty here also, so we decided then and there to head back out this way later in the week to have fish and chips and watch the sun set from the jetty over the water…

We continued our drive around the coast just getting a feel for Darwin and ended up at Mindil Beach.

Mindil Beach - Darwin

Sitting on Mindal Beach in Darwin waiting for the sunset

Sunset is getting closer

Enjoying a sunset on Mindal Beach in Darwin

We had about half an hour till sunset, so though we would just send some time on the beach here and wait for the sunset. Even at this time of day the sun is still very hot, it was a huge orange ball that just lit up the sky. Quite spectacular. It seemed we weren’t the only ones that head to the beach to watch a sunset, as more and more people started to arrived for the daily phenomenon. I must admit it was lovely to watch, particularly as the sun sank below the horizon with the water in front of it.

Sunset on Mindil Beach in Darwin

Amazing Darwin sunsets at Mindil Beach

Just trying to catch the sun...

It has touced the horizon

Disappearing fast

Glorious Mindil Beach sunset in Darwin

Down below the horizon now.

It didn’t take the beach long to empty after the sun went down. We stayed for a little longer, in the hope that the sky would light up with wonderful shades of apricots, pinks, and purples but it wasn’t to be today.