Day 176 / 2014 - Hanging in Darwin

We have been in Darwin for nearly 11 weeks of our 13 week stopover setup at Darwins Free Spirit Resort. The weather has been warm to hot prompting us to spend a few hours of each day in one of the three pools. The park has filled with travellers from the south getting away from the cold weather we are now in the busy season.

We have moved from our original site which had the sun on us from morning till late evening and are now in a spot which at least has some shade in the afternoon. Our original site was opposite the tenting area where the backpackers and families tend to camp. Now we are more around the grey nomad area. The park is large and has a Bistro where each night there is a meal special at a very reasonable price usually about $12.00 per person unfortunately the drinks are not priced the same and are at normal hotel prices. We have had a few issues aready one incident where an over exubrent mower man cutting the grass ended up richoceting a stone of the side of our van putting a dent in it. We also had a Gazebo up in front of our Annex which we were told to take down (along with everyone else with one up) as gazebos are not in keeping with a resort style park. We explained we put it up to provide shelter from some of the sun this started the negotiation for another site with some shade.

We were able to secure a site in the higher priced area with a discount of 10% which bought the price back down to near what we were paying in the original area. Unfortunately when we payed for the first week and they charged us the full price. When I explained we should be getting it cheaper the girl operating the system said she could see that we were to pay a discounted rate but couldn't work out the problem so we would have to go back during the week to sort it out. After a number of times back and forth over the week we managed to finally pay the price originally offered. The front office staff were great and really went the extra mile to help us sort it out.

When we shifted to our new site it was a little dry and the tree providing most of our shade had shed all its leaves leaving us with little shade. Someone had said this was more from neglect than being winter so we dutifully decided to take it upon ourselves to buy a sprinkler and water our patch. It has taken a few weeks but we finally had a nice green lawn and our tree started to grow back its leaves which it is now supplying us with shade again. The tree is so green even doves have started nesting in the branches. Our green joy is also spreading to the neighbouring site much to the appreciation of the other tennants. I am hoping we leave before the lawn gets too long as I don't want to have to buy a lawnmower.

Since we are here for 3 months I wanted to pick up some work to pay for our stay here and top up the travel fund a little. I am working as a Business Analyst with Thrifty Rent a Car. I'm not sure what a Business Analyst is suppose to do and after the interview I got the impresion it is Business Information Analyst or Business Finance Analysit. There was no real scope to the position so if it didn't work out at least I could say I gave it a try. I am still there.

We have done some tourist activities such as took a harbour tour on an amphibious vehicle and take in a movie at the deck chair outdoor cinema. Elaine and Mike came to visit it was a such a joy to see familiar faces. They spent about 5 days looking around. We shared a sunset dinner cruise around Darwin harbour on the Charles Darwin with them sipping sparkly wine and taking in the sunset then a sumptious buffet finishing on the top deck taking in the panoramic view of the city lights. I think they enjoyed themselves and I am sure they will be back as there is so much more to see.

Mike and Carley have arrived with Blake and Oma is now in Grandma Heaven. Mike wasn't here long and has now flew out for his next 3 week stint at work but Carley and Blake have remained in Darwin they are just across the road from us in their caravan so Oma and Blake can visit each other when ever they want.

We have pretty much slipped into the routine of everyday life but I have to admit the weather makes it that much more bearable. Life has pretty much become work with looking forward to weekends and public holidays. We both agreed if we decided to spend a year or 2 up here we wouldn't live in a caravan and most likely in a flat or a small house. During the dry season the caravan is fine as you can get outside but in the wet it could get a little claustraphobic.

At the moment our scheduled date for getting back on the road is August 15th where we will head back south to Threeways roadhouse then continue east along the Barkley Highway towards Mt Isa and Cloncurry. I have a couple more weeks of work then hope to get in some last minute tourist activities. I still would like to see the JUmping Crocs again as well as Fogg dam and Window to the Wetlands. Anne would like to see Crocodylus park and we also want to revist the Avaiation Museum.