29 May – 30 May 2013 – Darwin

After saying our farewells to the Hirst’s, we headed just out of the Mataranka Homestead where the replica “We of the Never Never” homestead is displayed.  I can’t say I’ve seen the movie, but now will aim to do so.  I should find out what this movie is about so that I can understand what it is I just looked at.  We had a fairly long drive today all the way from Mataranka to Darwin, almost 5 hours taking into account our refuel and pie stop just in Mataranka.  I’ve gotta say, the pie was pretty good, and it really is like 2 pies in 1.  There was enough mince in the pie to fill 2 anyway.  There wasn’t much to see today except for the back-burning that was being done along the highway.  The scenery was not much different to what we’d viewed over the past week, with lots of termite mounds, dead grass and many dried out trees along our way.  Admittedly, we did not stop at Katherine on our way to Darwin, but that is because we will be picking up Mum tomorrow and then doing this adventurous stuff with her.  When we arrived in Darwin we found a caravan park, unhitched and then went for a drive into the heart of town to see what was around.  It was getting pretty late by this stage so we didn’t stay out too long, but returned for dinner and a reasonably early night – all excited about our visitor tomorrow.

Thursday – and today is the day that my mum flies in to visit us all.  We just got some washing and groceries done this morning and then after lunch headed to the airport.  Mum had arrived safely and passed out lots of kisses and hugs from everyone back home.  We just picked up a new school package before coming back to the van to drop off luggage and have a snack.  Then we headed into Darwin for another brief look around before heading to Mindil markets.  These markets are really well-known and I think all tourists come here for at least one night.  They are only on Thursday and Sunday evenings but they are so popular.  I’m glad we got there early to get a decent parking spot.  The markets have food stalls galore, a great selection of little shopping stalls, bands to entertain, plenty on for the kids, and best of all, a wonderful spot to view the sunsetting (well at least it would be on a clear night).  We had plenty to eat while we were here, the kids had a fun time on the climbing wall and they even bought a few bargains including some tie died clothes which you will see in some future pictures.  We didn’t stay too long after the band began (it took them ages to set themselves up) as we were all really full and just needed to relax in comfort but it was a fantastic night and I would love to come back here before we leave Darwin.