Day 27

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Day Twenty Seven
A REALLY early start for some 13s this morning. Rob, Jack, Ro and Jemima were up at 4.45am and ready for some fishing on the open seas. They were hopeful of a big catch. More later.
The rest of us went into Darwin for some souvenir shopping. The adjective most used was ‘tacky’ and we laughed a lot about suitable recipients for some of the more atrocious souvenirs. For example: Stuffed Cane Toads holding mini bottles of Jim Beam; kangaroo scrotums; crocodile-hand back scratchers; koala purses; Aboriginal baby dolls; platypus salt and pepper shakers; wallabies made out tiny white shells; stationery sets complete with singing birds; koala air fresheners; and cane toad head key rings. We were so overwhelmed by bad merchandise made in China that we had to sit down for a coffee (in a shop attached to a souvenir shop). We did see some great didgeridoos and some wonderful art and sculpture, so all was not lost. We shopped for some lunch and headed to a park/playground at Fannie Bay. Sushi for some and rolls for Mima and Emma.
Next stop was the Military Museum at East Point. This is museum solely run and funded by a non-government organisation - retired diggers from this area. It was really interesting for all of us. It was housed in an original bunker, where the army planned top end defence strategies. There was plenty of war memorabilia, plenty of maps and equipment, and, outside, plenty of guns. We watched a video about the bombing of Darwin and Bron fell asleep and Rob had to leave to get some fresh air before he fell asleep.
Next stop was a water park in Leanyer. Linda Hunt had given us the heads-up on this park and it was a great tip. The park is FREE and has a large swimming pool and a water playground. It was kid heaven. They played on the waterslides, water cannons, water pistols, water mushrooms and under the huge water bucket that tipped over them periodically. It began to rain whilst we were there and dark clouds loomed. The life guards decided to close the pool and park for a while, until the threat of lightening passed. So we sat out for a while and once it was safe, we were straight back into the water.
We didn’t realise that the rain downpour had sunk the Martin tent. We arrived back at camp (Bron and I) to find the annex of their tent heaving under the weight of water. There were some bent poles and plenty of water on the floor of the annex. So we set about drying up and cleaning up. Ro and Rob turned up a bit later (they'd been out shopping) to survey the damage and see how we’d gone with the clean up. All ok. Everything dried out eventually.

Jack here: We had to get up at 5 o’clock, but Jemima woke up half an hour before that. I had a banana for breakfast. Whoops! I left my sunnies and my tissues on the bench and Dad went to the service station and bought me new sunglasses and tissues (which I didn’t even use). It took us 50mins to get to the first fishing spot. Mima caught the first fish of everyone on the whole boat. And then one guy tried to catch a shark, and he nearly did. They had some croissants for us. We moved spots which took about 15mins. Then Dad caught 2 or 3 little redfish which we couldn’t keep because they’re no good for eating. And then Ro caught a fish we couldn’t keep. I had a big fish on my line but Dad bumped into me and it fell off the line. We moved spots again. Dad caught another redfin. One of tour guides took the fish over to the table and began to poke it with a knife because, apparently, fish don’t feel pain. We then moved to our last fishing spot. Dad caught a fish, one of the only fish caught and taken home. He caught a cod and I caught an 8ft marlin. It took about an hour and a half to get back to shore and that was it.

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