Our last day. We have had a great trip and are sad that it all has to end. We had breakfast then had one last swim in the wave pool! We packed up and caught a taxi to the airport. We checked in and put our bags through the scanner before going to a coffee shop in the airport to wait for our flight to be called. We boarded the plane and found our seats. The plane took off and once it was flying level they served the lunch that was included. You could either have lemongrass chicken and rice or pasta and meat balls. I had the pasta, it was very nice. We settled in for the 4 hour journey home. We landed in chilly Melbourne at 6pm. We got our luggage then caught the Andrews bus to the long term car parking. We collected the keys to Trish and Marks car that we used to get home. We arrived home and said hello to Bella and Nan. Nan cooked us a very nice casserole as a welcome home dinner. Our friend Mormie came over to say hello and have a cup of tea.

We added up a few stats from our trip:
☆ Cost of fuel = $2,860
☆ Total driving distance = 13,410 km
☆ Most expensive fuel = $2.15 Doon Doon
☆ Cheapest fuel = $1.59 Leamay
☆ Distance on plane = 3,135 km
☆Longest drive = 739 km
☆Shortest drive = 80 km
☆Cheapest stay = free camps
☆ Dearest stay = $78 Monkey Mia
We had a wonderful trip!

Tess

After breakfast we went for a little wander down the street. On the way back, we stopped in at Parliament house. We had a bite to eat for lunch at the cafe there. It was very nice food, and a very nice setting over looking the water! Apparently Parliament House is known as the wedding cake, because it is very big, white and square, also people say that it is filled with fruits and nuts.

In the afternoon we had lots of fun swimming in the pool! We went to the Hanuman restaurant for dinner, which was a co-ink-i-dink, because Trish and Mark happened to be at the Hanuman restaurant in Alice Springs! We had a very nice meal. After we had finished eating our meal, a gecko fell on our table!!

Tara

We had a nice swim in the wave pool and then anouther great swim in a section of the actual sea that has a net to stop crocodiles and jelly fish. We also had a swim in the hotel pool they were all lots of fun! We then caught the double decker red bus to Fannie Bay. We sat on the top level on the bus. It was mostly open but had glass at the front. It was a fun ride! We walked into the shops in Fannie Bay and had lunch in a nice air conditioned cafe. We then walked over to the old Fannie Bay gaol but found we just missed opening hours. We had to run to try and catch the next bus. We made it just in time, the bus was already there! We had another fun ride on the top level of the bus back to the hotel. We had a refreshing swim in the hotel pool before getting ready to go to a Greek restaurant in Cullen Bay for dinner. It was very nice.

The double Decker bus.

This is all we saw of the gaol.

We had a lovely view at the restaurant.

Tess

After a yummy breakfast at the hotel restaurant, and a fun swim in the pool we embarked on a heritage trail walk around Darwin.
We visited several interesting places around the city of Darwin.

☆WWII OIL STORAGE TUNNELS
The original above ground oil tanks were bombed by the Japanese in WWII, so some underground oil storage tunnels were built in secrecy. By the time they were finished building the new underground tunnels, the danger to Darwin had subsided, thus these tunnels were never actually used to store oil!

☆THE COURTHOUSE
Pictured below is the Old Courthouse. The original Courthouse and the Police House were situated right next to each other.

☆CHRIST CHURCH ANGLICAN CATHEDRAL
Cyclone Tracey knocked down 90% of the original Cathedral, leaving only the front entrance standing. Today, they have built a new modern Cathedral, incorporating the original entrance. It has been designed to blend into the surrounding park.

☆TREE OF KNOWLEDGE
This is a very old Banyan tree. Chinese people used to pass on traditions to the younger generation under this tree, hence it’s name The Tree Of Knowledge.

☆STAR CINEMA
The Star cinema screened the first talking movie in the NT in 1933. In the photo below there are some Aboriginals that have their eyes closed, this is because they believed at that time that the camera might steal their spirits. Also there is a buffalo hunter with his gun and hat over the barrel!

After the walk, we had a nice lunch at Stokes Hill Wharf. Then we had another fun swim in the hotel pool!

Tara

First up we caught a bus to the Nightcliff market. It was busy but not even close to how busy Mindel beach market is! We caught the bus back and had a fun swim in the wave pool as well as at the hotel pool. We had a 45 minute walk to Burnett house. Burnett house is now a museum and serves devonshire teas on Sundays. The house is a National Trust house built in the 1930’s. This old house had tropical architecture that made it stay cool. For example the inside door were swinging doors with large gaps top and bottom like in some cafe’s. There were lot of vents and louvered windows. This house was one of the very few that completely survived the bombings of Darwin and Cyclone Tracey! We had a nice afternoon tea there before walking along the beach to Mindel market. We arrived and had a light dinner on the beach. We then walked back to the hotel.

Tess

This morning we went to the Parap Village Markets. We had some very yummy Asian food for breakfast there. It was a very nice market! At lunchtime, Trish and Mark came over and we had some very yummy Thai salad. After lunch Dad handed over the keys to the caravan over!

Dad handing over the keys!

When we got to the hotel, we settled in, then went down to the hotel pool for a swim. It was lots of fun! We just had a quiet evening at the hotel.

The hotel swimming pool!

Tara

We got up early to get our car into VW for a service. We were dropped off in town so we went to get some breakfast in town. We were on our way to the water front when we saw a big crowd, the army was there as well. It turned out to be an Aboriginal and Torres Strait islanders celebration day for them joining the army, (NAIDOC- National Aboriginal and Islanders Day Observance Commity). They did some dancing and singing as well as a parade. We met Trish and Mark at the wave pool and had a swim it was very fun. We then went to have lunch at a crepe place. They had lots of different flavours. We went to pick up the car then went to a shopping centre in Casuarina for a quick look. We went back to the caravan and got ready to go out for dinner with Trish and Mark to a Thai place. It was very nice.

A Tiwi Islander girl doing a dance.

There was lots of traditional dancing from various indigenous communities.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island flag.

Dinner at Thaialicious!
Tess

We left our beautiful site at Litchfield about mid morning. We drove until we got to Berry Springs where we stopped at a lovely little cafe call Crazy Acres Farm Shop where we had some very nice ice cream! We got to Darwin with just enough time to have a swim in the pool and get set up before heading off to the Mindil Beach Sunset Markets. We met Aunty Trish and Uncle Mark there and we had a very nice time looking at the stalls, eating lots of food, and watching the whip cracking show!

Oysters at Mindil Beach Market

Mum buying her thongs!

A Mindil Beach Sunset.

Tess having fun on Mindil Beach!

Mick the whip cracker! The whips were lit up with fire!

Tara

This morning Dad went for an early morning run to Wangi falls. We drove there to meet him for a refreshing swim. We were the only ones other then one other person. It was a lovely swim. We went back and lit the fire to do some cooking. We made damper and a cake. After a while we went for another swim in Tjaetaba again. We all did some dive bombs off the small ledge including Mum! It was really fun

We had a great time but eventually had to go back. We had chicken for dinner with potato. We had a great day.
Tess

After a quick breakfast we jumped in the car and drove to Greenant Creek. From Greenant Creek we followed a lovely 1.5km walking track to Tjaetaba Falls. Swimming is permitted at the top of the falls, but not at the bottom because it is an Aboriginal sacred site. There is a very nice little plunge pool at the top of the falls. We spent quite a while swimming and jumping in that pool!

From there we drove on to Florence Falls and Buley Rockholes. Florence Falls was very crowded, so we didn’t swim there.

We walked from Florence Falls to Buley Rockholes. We were almost the only people there! We had a splendid time swimming in one if the bigger holes. When we got back to the car park, we found that the Park Rangers had evacuated everyone they could find, because a helicopter had to land. The helicopter was there because unfortunately someone had badly injured themselves jumping from very high. The person was going to be flown to Darwin.

At Buley Rockholes, we saw lots of green ants. They were carrying a piece of chicken that someone must have left there.

We stopped at the Tolmer Falls lookout.

We also stopped in at Wangi Falls. That is really spectacular! We swam all the way out to the falls.

We cooked some very yummy damper on the camp fire tonight! It was lots of fun!

Tara