Woonona Mob "Zig Zag Oz": Fauna, Rock Art & Sunsets

Darwin, beautiful one day…..and the next. The climate here at the moment is perfect, warm days, slightly cooler nights, just requiring a light blanket. Darwin is a spreading town, reminiscent of Canberra, but with palm trees. We have immersed ourselves back into “culture”, with a visit to the movies (Harry Potter), Mindil markets for the fabulous food and stunning sunset over the beach, and Parap markets for their delicious fresh juices. We spent a week in Darwin and then headed out to Litchfield National Park for some respite from the Grey Nomads and some more stunning waterfalls. Had fun on a 4wd track with a couple of dog-leg river crossings and camped at Tjaynera Falls. We enjoyed the refreshing swimming and the quiet nights under the always amazing star studded sky. Then back to Darwin for some minor maintenance (brake shoes), to restock before we head across to WA and for the exciting arrival of Camilla. Aunty Camilla arrived on Thursday and we have been swept along with her energy and that of her friends. The girls have been taken shopping and spoilt.

With another Couch in town comes the inevitable car trouble, not that she is cursed, but there is some coincidental alignment of planets or energy. We were taking Milla on a little drive when the car broke down. Much mirthful discussion of the Couch curse ensued whilst Russ tried to solve the problem. Thankfully a semi trailer stopped and towed us up the road and back to the caravan park. Russ and the Grey Nomads have diagnosed the problem as water in the tank, so Camilla is off the hook as a Jezebel, and we can blame “Dirty Darwin Diesel”! (But then again ….Couch’s and cars…). Camilla’s fabulous friends have come to our aid, preparing dinner when we all arrived on their door step, and lending us their car. Russ is currently draining the fuel tank, and replacing the fuel filter, so hopefully that will solve the problem. We are of course lucky that this problem occurred in Darwin and not in the middle of no-where. The girls were a little bored this morning (Sunday), so voluntarily retrieved their maths books out of the school box and sat and did maths! This is what can happen without television or the distraction of electronic toys…amazing!

So we maybe here for an extra day, as tomorrow is a public holiday (Darwin Cup Day…they love their horse racing up here). We are possibly going to enjoy some jazz music this afternoon, if the car is back on the road. Anyway, it’s a great place to stay a while…we’ll let you know for how long.

Warning! Achtung! The following pictures are very nerdy, so stop now if you find pictures of birds and rock art boring.