A month at the Top end - Darwin

A month at the top end with a family of cats, dog, chookies and fish - August 2017

What a wonderful time we had in Darwin and what a long way it is to get there!

Our house sit was on the north side of Darwin in a lovely townhouse that backed onto a large communal park.  The owners were so lovely, they organised a secure place for us to park the van and we even had an undercover park for our motorbike.

And did we use the motorbike?   I will never forget the evening rides into the city and along the waterfront, with the warm wind in our hair.  The Mindil Sunset markets were visited once a week for dinner and a browse, while we checked out the other Asian markets during the week for our fresh fruit and vegetables. They were fantastic.

We also loved the outdoor cinema down on the waterfront where we saw some beautiful films and had outdoor dining.  It was a treat.

Elmo got on great with dear little Polly, and the two cats thought he was interesting and seemed to know he was old and blind, whereas Elmo couldn't really see them that well and kept his distance, he wasn't threatened by them.  

Meal times turned out to be tricky, luckily the cats fed on the benches so the puppies couldn't pinch any.  The red bantam girls were a treat, easy to look after and they let you know when it was meal time.  I even got so friendly with them, I could pick them up and give them a cuddle and scratch.

The weather was hot and dry and we tended to walk Polly in the early morning or late evening when it was cooler.  There was a new housing estate across the road which gave us endless fascination looking at all the styles and colours, the houses are totally different to houses down south.

After feeding and walking, Louie and I would get our fold up bicycles, load Elmo on the back and ride for miles exploring the area.  The big shopping centre nearby had a great outdoor area where Elmo could sit, so coffee occurred here quite regularly.  

We did one trip to Litchfield National Park early one morning on the motorbike, actually leaving in the dark so we could get there early and come back early.  The waterfall s were beautiful and we managed to have a swim in twin falls.

We loved Darwin and will be going back again winter 2018.