Having recovered from the eventful night and after disassembling and disposing of the awning we hit the road. We travelled all the way to Darwin via Jabiru to complete the Kakadu loop. We thought of stopping and doing some more sightseeing but given how tired and worn out we were (my finger was very sore) we decided to just keep going. We arrived late in Darwin where we met Phil for dinner.

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In total we stayed in and around Darwin for 8 nights. It was a good time to unwind a bit while trying to organise a replacement awning and parts. We were lucky enough to find a repairer who had one awning in stock, exactly the one we needed and the parts in stock as these are a hot commodity at the moment and even brand new caravans are being manufactured and sent to owners without one due to global supply shortages…. we avoided having to get a portable gazebo instead! We were also pretty happy with that the insurance covered the bill. Pretty amazing and resourceful turnaround of about week to get repairs done.

Days are HOT and nights HOT and super humid. You can sit on the chair do nothing and sweat like you are in the gym. The build up to wet season continues.

While waiting for things to get sorted for our caravan we explored. Phil decided to hang around with us before heading back to Adelaide a couple of days before we left, unfortunately we could not convince him to stay with us for longer as he had things he needed to attend to.

Our Darwin itinerary looked the following:

5/10 – arrived late, set up in caravan park, went to CBD for dinner with Phil. 6/10 – went to nearby shopping centre to restock & have lunch, haircuts for Seb, dad and mum, back in the caravan park pool to cool off. At night set up our own private cinema and watched Outback Opal Hunters 7/10 – bit of shopping in the morning hunting for spare parts for the awning while kids stayed with Phil. In the afternoon Seb, Ania & Phil visited the Darwin Museum while Patrick and Marcin chilled in caravan park. Then pool and night cinema again. We watched Die Hard… Seb was supper amused by McClane’s catchphrase, “Yippee-ki-yay ……….”

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8/10 – brunch at waterfront caffee, visit to the WWII tunnels, afternoon spent in the water front (saltwater lagoon without crocs, safe for swimming.) Seb and Phil played in the inflatable watercourse. Some shopping for a more fashionable swimming outfit for dad. Outdoor cinema again. 9/10 – Ania went to do some shopping, we went to the pool, nice bbq lamb for lunch then played some monopoly deal and monopoly bid card games. In the late afternoon Phil surprised Seb with a gift of a bow. Some practice shooting. Phil will be the cool uncle forever now!

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10/10 – Phil left for Adelaide in the morning while we headed out to Litchfield National Park. We visited Magnetic Termite Mounds as well as hiking in for a swim in the Florence Falls. Ania & Marcin visited here before 14 years earlier so it was great to come back again. On way back to caravan park we visited Mindil market with its awesome food stalls and enjoyed sunset at the beach. 11/10 – visited Darwin Wildlife Park. Enjoyed a bird show as well as many animal displays. 12/10 – dropped off caravan for awning repairs while we went shopping for some supplies, then back to caravan park to relax 13/10 – quick stop for another caravan part fit out then hit the road.

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