Back to Darwin for 2018 Again Yippee!!

We arrived on the 13th August to beautiful sunny weather and light breezes.  The first thing we noticed it was not as hot as this time last year, however, the city's parks and gardens looked much drier.  Riding our bikes around Darwin confirmed that the entire city is nearly in drought.  We did notice some of the big old Mahogany trees are missing due to the last cyclone, but not as bad as we thought it would be.
The animals remembered us and it was a lovely welcome when we arrived at our house-sit.  We got a lovely welcome from the Owners.  Louie dropped them at the airport and they were on their way to Canada and we were looking after one beautiful little Polly, 2 rather large cats and some very nice little Bantam chooks.
The animals really settled in early, because they remembered us, including Elmo.  The cats purred and rubbed up against Elmo, something he has never experienced.  Each morning we have the dogs on the bed wiggling in excitement, the cats come for a look and the chooky girls call out for their breakfast!  It is full on...
Once everyone is fed and watered, we walk the dogs around the neighbourhood, which they both love. Then we can decide on our day's outings.
This year Louie is busy on his laptop most days, due to becoming the editor of our local car clubs monthly magazine.  This month is the 30th Anniversary and is taking up a lot of his time.  So I have been hopping on my fold up bike and heading off to Rapid Creek and Northcliff for coffee and a ride along the beachfront for some exercise.
August 31, we have been notified the owners have had a miss-hap and broken an ankle and consequently in a moon-boot.  With the weather in Canada being very warm, lots of bushfires and smoke everywhere, they are going to cut short their trip and head to Bali for the last week.  
We went to the crocodile adventure on the Adelaide River and had an amazing boat trip, see the photos.  There was only 4 of us on a very quiet morning and the driver rode the boat up onto the river edge so we could see these magnificent creatures up close.  Normally it doesn't happen because the public doesn't listen to the safety advice and have arms and legs hanging out of the boat everywhere!

Doctors Gully is a favourite of ours - the fish are calm and friendly and allow you to pat them.  Close to Darwin, it's a fun place to visit.

The Parak Markets are on Sunday morning and we found them to be wonderful for a brunch and coffee, with a most varied Asian cuisine.  I particularly liked the fabric stalls.
We leave Darwin mid September and will meander East and visit friends on the coast and wait for the weather to warm up further south.