Tuesday 30th July, 2024
Sunday was a good day. We celebrated Stephen’s birthday by phoning in to our walking group as they were enjoying their brunch at Kaffiene. The group walks to the café, then back, or drives if they don’t feel up to walking. After a bit of a catchup they all sang Happy Birthday to Stephen for his birthday yesterday.
At lunchtime we walked across to the shopping centre opposite the caravan park and had a lovely roast dinner. I counted a total of six vegetables with pork and apple sauce. We voted it as good as an English pub carvery meal, though usually there are several types of roast meat on offer and it’s carved in front of you. Well done Coolalinga Tavern.
We did some shopping, including buying a cream filled sponge cake as a birthday cake.
In the evening during our Facetime call with Matt we put candles on the cake and pretended that he was helping Stephen blow them out. Stephen and I sang Happy Birthday, with Matt joining in ‘in spirit’ even if it was hard for him to sing.
Of course, yesterday, Monday, was actually Stephen’s birthday. We were leaving that caravan park and had booked a couple of nights at Lee Point Village Resort. It’s a very large caravan park and Lee Point has ocean on three sides, which doesn’t make it cooler, but makes us feel cooler psychologically. Unfortunately it’s beyond the bus routes, but we have options.
It was too early to book into our caravan park so we went to the Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Territory to have coffee and perhaps lunch and also have a look through the exhibits. Starting with hot drinks, of course, on a beautiful balcony overlooking a park and the sea. There were lots of fighter aircraft overhead as there is a military exercise taking place here in Darwin. You can go the airport and watch them take off and land.
The artwork and natural science sections were the most interesting to me. There was also a whole section on the effect of Cyclone Tracy on the city all those years ago.
The café was very busy at lunchtime so we decided to go to the caravan park and have lunch in the van. We have an ensuite site, which sounds posh, but it’s a very basic ensuite with a concrete floor and no separation between toilet and shower and wash basin. Fortunately there is a good drainage system so we don’t wet the entire floor.
We also get a laundry trough which we are using to do dishes, but I can also use for handwashing. As getting things dry is easy in this climate I prefer to do handwashing most days, rather than chasing down a washing machine and having a huge wash.
We don’t have any shade, but otherwise it’s a pleasant section of the park overlooking grasslands and with a good view of sunrise.
As there was quite a saving in cost Stephen booked us into this park for a week. That gives us plenty of time to enjoy being here and catching up with my cousin Marnie. We will be here for Thursday and Sunday nights when we could go to the Mindil Beach Markets for a meal and to watch the sunset on the beach, as is traditional here in Darwin.
