Featured Image: Sunset at Mindil Beach.

While in Darwin, a friend from way back in Digital Equipment Corp (DEC)/Compaq/HP days, Simon (another Simon, we’ll call him SimonW) & his lovely wife Tina were kind enough to let us park the van in their front yard.

Workaholic SimonW also took the next day off work to show us around. This started with a bicycle tour of the foreshore. It’s been a while since either of us had been in the saddle but it was a great way to have a look around and good fun.  

Just like falling off a log one never forgets how to fall off a bicycle. During the ride (without incident/accident) we stopped by for a much needed coffee at the Surf Life Saving Club

Not a lot of surf in Darwin, none actually, well not unless there’s a cyclone. Most people rarely swim in the ocean, mainly due to killer stingers and a fair degree of crocadilia phobia. But, as is the way in these parts, just because it doesn’t make sense doesn’t mean a Surf Life Saving Club won’t be hugely successful. It was a great spot for a coffee & a quick lie down.

Later that day we looked around the city centre & checked out the parliament & high courts.

A lot of house for the population.

We even got to visit where Tina works & waved at her from the street like the mad tourists we are.

Come dinner time Tina & SimonW took us to Stokes Wharf for fish & chips, the feeding of the batfish off the pier and a fireworks display. Later that evening we took in a movie at the Deckchair cinema.

Much later that same night we were dropped off at the airport to fly back to Newy (via a 6 hr wait in Brisbane). By the time we made it back to Newy it was a pretty full 2 days with out much sleep.

Upon our return from down south we arrived mid Wednesday & let SimonW know we were back by texting the shot below from their backyard pool. Cruel but fair!

Tina managed to put on an amazing GF feast (after a big day at work) and I think we had too much of Simons’ (both of them) good wine & possibly a nip or two much of rum?

Darwin doesn’t need much of a reason to celebrate anything. There always seems to be something on. We had a couple of visits to Mindil Beach markets. Lots of nik-nak and food stalls plus free entertainment spread about the place. Thousands of people flock here at least twice a week, sometimes more often when some other special event is on, like Territory Day!

Territory Day is the only day you can buy, sell & let off fireworks (legally) in the NT. We mixed it with the crowds on Mindil Beach to see a stunning sunset, a live concert (Casey Chambers & Cat Empire) as well as an impressive display of Fireworks. 

There was an enormous variety of foodie offerings available at Mindil Beach Markets for our evening sustenance.  

Our fav was the Laksa stall. It was world class. Nom, nom, nom!

A couple of times a week SimonW has a push bike ride thru the bush with a bunch of like minded mates. Bush bike riding is not something I’ve ever done before. SimonW & I had two bush rides over the week.
Lots of fun & a dang good workout. No bad stacks to report but my bike would occasionally head off the track & into the bush for no apparent reason.

Our stay in Darwin far surpassed our expectations (mainly due to how well Tina & SimonW looked after us) and we began to see how many people come here for a few months & end up staying.

We were very sad to leave SimonW & Tina as we’d had such a fantastic time during our stay in Darwin. They were truely the hosts with the most. We’ll be back next lap.

04 Jul This entry was published on 04/07/2016 at 7:33 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.