999-There seems to be a fire........

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We were up and about today to drive to a little place called Batchelor about an hour away from Darwin. Sam had the opportunity to have flying lessons at school (as I said to Ali- it beats the cycling proficiency we did back in the day!) anyway, we thought we'd make a day of it, so as we arrived at Batchelor airfield, we managed to catch a glimpse of Sam who was already airborne before he flew off in a northerly direction.
One lad hadn't turned up, so the 3 boys flying today would get a longer flight, and the instructor said if we returned at about 1230, we may be in time to see Sam take off on his second flight. With an hour or two to wait, we drove to a place called Litchfield national Park. Here we saw Magnetic termite mounds, which along with last weeks skank party-possibly another one of the strangest things I've seen. Most termites live underground, but these magnetic ones don't for some reason, instead they build and live in these things, and with some internal compass, always manage to build them in the direction of the sun so as to get the most of the heat ( sorry if this bit is boring, but you never know- you may have this in a pub quiz one day) anyway, these termite mounds were huge- 3 times the height of me, quite an impressive bit of insect architecture. On the way back to the airfield, we stopped off for a coffee and one of my now favorite biscuits ( white chocolate and macadamia) at a little retreat called butterfly farm. Here you could have massages etc, and the oils smelled lovely, a good place to relax I bet. We made it just in time to see Sam take off on his second flight, and I was really glad that we came, as it was great for Ali to see her sons first flight, and take off by himself on his second. A prouder moment than any sports day I think.
We left top gun to it and drove to a place called Lake Bennett. I don't know if we intended to stay as long as we did, but it was just such a lovely place, and with life so laid back here, why rush? We sat on the deck and dipped our feet in the lake to cool down, as we watched a helicopter siphon water to take to a nearby bush fire. We had a walk around, and by now it was hot. Very hot. I discovered sweat glands I never knew I had on my body, I swear- my knees and eyeballs were sweating. Ok I exaggerate, but it really was a tad warm. Luckily as there were holiday bungalows at lake Bennett there was also a pool, so after ordering a toastie for lucnch, we stripped off to our bikinis and plopped in to cool down. It was a lovely little pool overlooking the lake, and with only ali and I there, so peaceful. We ate our lunch then spent another couple of hours in the pool or sunning ourselves-lovely.   
On the way back to Darwin, there was a bit more traffic ( if you can call it traffic- by this I mean maybe a total of 5 cars on the road instead of 3) and the trees on the left hand side of the road were on fire. Now Sam reckons it was just a case of burning back- something they do to prevent the spread of a bush fire, but for the purpose of a good story, (and never let the truth get in the way of a good yarn) I'm saying it was definitely a bush fire- after all it was another day of 30* heat.
Ali drove through Palmerston where they initially had to live before moving to Bay View. There were far more aborigines (indigenous people) round here and Ali was saying that if you run one over, you're not to stop, but keep going and inform the police. This is because at times some Aborigines have been hit, people have gotten out to help, and been attacked by more aborigines. Some even get knocked down on purpose to get admitted to hospital for somewhere to get fed etc. Quite a shame really- but nevertheless, with my driving, I was hoping I would never have this encounter.
Back at Alis, she cooked another lovely dinner, and we tried again to watch the rest of the DVD that  I'd fallen asleep during, last night. Unfortunately, same again, and by half 9 I was nodding off. 

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