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Published: September 18th 2009
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Day 143 - Darwin
Wakey wakey, rise and shine! Another day at the Darwin Humidity Lodge beckons! No word of a lie, it genuinely seems to get hotter late on in the evening so by the time we go to bed we’re boiling and then at about 3am it finally gets cold. It’s the weirdest feeling! Not moaning, definitely not moaning, just expressing that humidity is perhaps not our thing as even Dar struggles to sleep, so it’s not just me!
We’re off into Darwin today to pick up a package from Aus Post. It’s the eagerly awaited arrival of Sydney with a Y from Cairns who is a pressie from the very generous
Kangaroojack! We told them of our search for the highly illusive Cassowary and they went out to find us one who wouldn’t be able to run and hide because he’s stuffed and a toy!
At the Aus Post mail collection counter I show my British driving licence as ID and the lady delves through the pile of collections under the letter ‘H’. She’s down to the last two cards in the big pile and luckily it’s ours - Sydney has arrived! I’m presented with
a rather large but light box and I don’t even have to sign anything! On the box above our names are the words “To the devoted parents of Sydney”! So it’s truly our responsibility now then! This should be fun! We go back to the safety of the car so that Sydney can be released from his cardboard box!
We find a note accompanying Sydney, we think it’s his care instructions so we read on. “Cooking instructions - Cassowary surprise! Take one young Cassowary, club him over the head with frying pan to subdue! Put oven at 220 degrees C until up to temp! Chuck in a large pot with shallot’s, chillies, carrots, potatoes, a good splash of quality red. Place in oven for a while, 2 - 3 hours until cooked. Serve on a bed of rice with wombat (big or little), giraffe or any other small stupid creature!” Those pair that are
Kangaroojack, they are a tease! Of course we’re not going to cook Sydney, he’s far too hairy for that!
So with new adoptee in tow we head off to Myilly Point Historic Precinct to check out what will probably be the last piece of
historical Darwin we see before we send each other and you guys historically hysterical! It was worth the visit though as the small group of houses were built in the 1930’s and with the exception of one, somehow defied Cyclone Tracy to remain standing albeit damaged. Burnett House is the only house open to the public and it’s staffed by volunteers of the National Trust. The downstairs is lined with information and leaflets, the lovely volunteers plus the kitchen for the High Teas served on a Sunday. Upstairs however is laid out as if it were still a home and it’s beautifully done, very stylish and the big louver windows give a very open and airy feel to the place.
We thanked the ladies who were on volunteer duty today and made our way to the Casino which is just around the corner! There was never any chance of us betting our hard earned adventure money, there’s not enough of it left for a start, but we took Sydney (with a Y from Cairns) into his first gambling den! He’s been leading such a good, clean lifestyle with Kangaroojack we thought he’d been disillusioned about real life for long
enough! Sadly the back pack that he was safely sat in was confiscated at security when we entered the building so Sydney spent a very entertaining 20 minutes watching us wander through the gaming tables via the CCTV unit!
The inside of the Casino is huge, there’s gaming machines all around the outside of the room with the poker, roulette and blackjack tables in the middle. We have a good look around and can’t help but notice there is a much a higher percentage of women on the gaming machines, not sure why but I hadn’t expected that at all. We didn’t have so much as a flutter, we’ll save it for Vegas, but instead went back through to security and collected Sydney before he caused chaos.
We’ve still got this situation with the car so drove out to a brake specialist in Willnellie which is about half way between where we’re camped and Darwin. It’s the only brakes specialist in Darwin and when we spoke to them yesterday on the phone it sounded as if they could help by ordering the parts and fitting them. However, when we get there and speak to them face to face
we find that they can only order us the parts, they can’t fit them and worse still, to be sure they order the right parts they will need to see the ones that need replacing and that will immobilise the car. That throws things up in the air again so we decide to go give Alan, the car who serviced the car, another visit to see if he’s come up with anything else. Luckily he’s not busy when we arrive and during the conversation Alan comes up with another contact who might be able to source genuine parts far more cheaply than he or we have managed to find so far. It’s sounding hopeful so Alan is going to give us a call later in the day but if everything works out then we should have a fixed car on Friday!
Back at the campsite we get the call from Alan to say that the parts will hopefully (fingers, legs, toes, arms crossed) be with him on Friday and if so he’ll do the work then. With this in mind we book into the campsite for a few more days which is no drama really as it’s a nice
place to be ‘stranded’ and if everything works out it will be worth it for piece of mind.
By this time we’d done the introductions between Sydney (with a Y from Cairns) and the Beanie Kids, Bella and Cherie (from Box Hill North, Melbourne!) plus of course Mousey (from Mum in England!). They all seem to be getting on very well and wander off for a bit of a chat and relax by the spa. Not long after that I find them crashed out on a sun lounger reading a book so everything looks to be fine!
We have a nice relaxing evening enjoying a pre-dinner cheese and biscuits session and the local Ibis and lady Peacocks take rather a fancy to our new arrival! Seems he’s got quite a way with others of the feathered variety!
For the last few days we’ve seen the numbers in the swimming pool double and the majority of the additions seemed to be school kids who appeared to be on some sort of trip. Turns out that they are from Mareeba and are part of their schools music programme so tonight treat us to an impromptu performance! It’s lovely to
listen to and the young 14 year old singer out front has a beautiful voice performing Georgia on my mind, Heard it on the grapevine and Beyond the sea to name a few. Bravo, cheers all around.
We get a Skype call from
Kangaroojackwho are checking up on Sydney (with a Y from Cairns) and making sure that he’s settling in, I think we convinced them that all is well!!
I’m off to the Shearing Shed in the morning to get a hair cut and of course it’s Thursday so I’m sure we’ll incorporate a visit to the Mindil Beach markets yet again!
Take care everyone
Dar and Sar
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kangaroojack
The Ts
Is it really fair
I thought the Picture of Sydney with a Y from Cairns with your Car was a little insensitive, you know he hates cars after his family were all run over. Shame on you, Poor Sydney, he looks so sad.