Darwin

Parks of Darwin

This was our first actual Australian City so far and after what felt like eons in the remote bush the northern outpost of 122,000 people might as well have been heaven. It had showers for crying out loud!
We parked down town, unsure of our evening plans. No one had decided if we would break down after almost 2 weeks of camping and book a hotel or stay strong and endure the grime some more. There was a beautiful park running the border between buildings and ocean. Even though it was the heat of the day we walked up and down, enjoying the feel of grass under our red dust covered toes.

Spoiler alert: We caved.
Michele got on the Internet after some delicious donner kebabs (A large improvement over canned camping fare) and found us a heavily discounted hotel with a great location. For 24 hours we just napped and showered in the glorious air conditioning. Ahhhhhh.
Now that there was internet that lasted more than 10 seconds everyone tied up loose digital ends they had been neglecting in the wilderness.

Nick does some homeschool 

It took a lot of will to leave the hotel the next afternoon to explore our surroundings. Not only is it the hottest time of the year in the north it’s also pretty humid! We meandered through the empty streets towards the water front. If there was one thing that struck me about Darwin it is how dead it was. The capital city was practically a ghost town during the off season. Friendly locals informed us it does fill up during other times of the year but we were the only ones in the streets. It wasn’t bad or creepy, in fact it was very relaxed after the crazy Asian cities we’ve been to recently.

Down by the waterfront we admired all of the public infrastructure. Because the water is too dangerous to swim in (Salt Water Crocodiles and jelly fish) a large pool is closed off for recreation. We had a nice meal looking out over the ocean and we were all wondering the same thing-
How could we go back to the empty, buggy, outback after this?

Forget the pizza, I’m eyeing the fresh greens I have been missing for 2 weeks!