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Published: September 11th 2009
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Day 137 - Aurora Kakadu - Howard Springs (Darwin)
Strange event in the middle of the night, the power went off which caused the fan to stop blowing cool air, which woke Darryl up (luckily) so he switched the fridge over on to gas and saved all our food! We reckon it was off for a good hour or so but did eventually kick back in.
We were up pretty early again, the final leg of the journey to reach Darwin. We made no stops en-route, just a straight forward drive to reach the Howard Springs Big 4 site nice and early! We did meet some unexpected ‘oversized’ army vehicles on the Arnhem Highway, we’re pretty curious as to where they’re heading! Unfortunately we’ll never know!
The benefits of getting to a campsite early are simple, you get a nicer spot, the swimming pool is generally empty and you have the rest of the day to re-search your new ‘backyard’! Not to mention the washing, organising a service for the car and finding a hair dresser!
We’re not sure how long we’ll be in Darwin so initially check in for four days but suspect we’ll extend once
we’ve got ourselves sorted out. We have our Big 4 passport stamped for the 19th time, only a few more to go before we’re entitled to some sort of reward - how exciting!
Talking of excitement, we got mail!! We’re thousands of miles away from home and a very special couple managed to send us a card through the post! Wow! We’re well chuffed I can tell you and would like to extend an enormous thank you to Aubrey and Alison, the new Mr and Mrs Hutton! Cheers guys, it’s a gorgeous card, what a beautiful photo of you both. The CD was a great hit with us too, fabulous photography Aubs - just beaut. We’ve used one of the photographs as part of our screen saver, of course it’s the one with Baxy, Hitman, Edge and Von Von le Bon with you both! Thanks again, you’ve made our day.
We ‘lost’ the rest of the afternoon to the afore mentioned chores - washing, booking the car in for a service etc but still had time for a swim before deciding to explore the Mindil Beach markets which just happen to be on tonight.
We take the
long route there, via a Woolworths Caltex fuel station but get to the markets in time to explore them in the light, see the sunset, grab some tasty tucker and soak up the atmosphere. There are more food choices here than we’ve ever seen before, it’s a very tough decision. There’s even the Roadkill Café with the slogan ‘You kill it, we grill it’ but we go for a Thai selection - we might have to come back again on Sunday to try something different!
Dar’s quite taken with the ‘Mick’s Whips’ demonstration that’s going on behind the stall selling…whips, as you would expect! It’s entertaining to watch and you can get up to have a go so that’s something else we’ll have to do on Sunday!
Wandering through the abundant buskers and market stalls is a great way to pass time, the sunset is terrific and everyone converges onto the beach with cameras at the ready. At either end of the market stalls there are didgeridoo players, one chap is called Jabaru and the other Emdee. They’re both fantastically different but we opt to listen to Emdee for a further two sets, it’s awesome and he’s really
got the crowd worked into a frenzy by the 8 o’clock show. The locals were putting on a great dance show, it’s all excellent to watch and it’s totally free, breathtaking. I think we found some footage on You Tube of a show Emdee did in Darwin so Google it and you’ll be able to see how amazing he is! Or you can check out his website
Rawdidge We find the car and the journey home doesn’t take too long. We catch up with a bit of blog work then sit back to ‘watch’ the action unfold at the Euro Finals back home. The Dogs Bollocks team are campaigning Ramraider in Pro ET, fair play to all the team as they’ve done a stirling job this year and are mopping up the championships left right and centre. We’ve had a quick chat over Skype with Ed earlier this evening and were delighted to find out he mentioned us in his
DS Racewear article on Tuesday 8th September in the
Get kitted out for 2010 news item! Thanks Ed, what a gent you are. We’re willing you on from over here! We watch through til 23:56 and we think we see Stripteaser, Destiny’s Angel, Wicked Lady and
Aubrey and Alison on their wedding day
with some of the Tradeteam gang. Thanks so much for sending us a copy of the photos Aubs. Ramraider all have good straight runs. Excellent stuff! The t’internet sure is wonderful!
The clock struck midnight, the caravan didn’t change into a gold carriage but there are a line of frogs outside the door! Ahhhh, we must be in the tropics!
Good night all.
Dar and Sar
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