Friday 10th August - Sunday 12th August 2012 - Darwin

After a big day yesterday in Litchfield yesterday the kids crashed into bed. Unfortunately 'Exercise Pitch Black' is on at the moment. RAAF and pilots from Singapore, Indonesia and the USA are doing day and night flying exercises and the caravan park is close to the airport. Those jet fighters are so loud taking off and landing!
Today was spent doing school work and journals. After lunch we went to one of the free water parks in Darwin. The girls had a ball going on the 3 different water slides. Thomas went once and then decided to play in the pool and water park with Ed. They all had a great time and it was good to cool off.
Saturday was a day of exploring.

The first stop was the old WW2 Oil Storage Tunnels close to the harbour. They were designed to protect oil stores during the bombing attacks on Darwin by the Japanese during the war. Of the 11 tunnels designed only 5 were built. They did not get successfully used as water kept leaking into the tunnels.
Our next stop was the wonderful Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. We had a wonderful time exploring the history of the Territory from the indigenous stories through to Cyclone Tracey and the amazing natural beauty all around. And we couldn't miss the fishing gallery! The biggest item on display was a huge croc called 'Sweetheart.' Apparently Sweetheart was harassing the locals in a particular river so they decided to catch him (yes Sweetheart was a boy!) and put hime in a croc farm. Unfortunately he drowned after they had caught him and before they could transfer him so they stuffed him and put him in the museum. We don't have any photos as they don't like photos taken of anything in the museum.
After a late lunch we returned to camp. Thomas wanted a quiet afternoon back at camp with mummy so Ed took the girls to the RAAF open day. The girls had a ball there and came back with posters and stickers.
Ed had the offer of a spot on the boat so it was early start to drop him off to Tony & Wendy's house and then the kids and I relaxed for a while before going to visit a cousin of mine. Jan lived not far from where we were staying. She is Dad's first cousin and it was great to have a catchup for a few hours. The kids and I had lunch on the road before going to Crocosaurus Cove. We had a ball seeing all the large crocs in there enclosures. They had names like Harry, Chopper, Burt (apparently famous in the Croc Dundee movies) and a loved up pair whom they have nicknamed Wills & Kate!

Harry the Croc

They also had a pool full of freshwater crocs which we got to feed and the kiss and I also got to hold a croc!

The freshwater crocs jumping for food. We all had a turn later on feeding them with meat on the end of a fishing rod.

Unfortunately Charlotte closed her eyes but she loved holding the baby croc!

Thomas was so cool and calm when he held the croc.

Olivia was so excited to hold a croc.

I couldn't miss out on all the fun!

We had a great afternoon exploring all things croc and also enjoying the reptile displays.

After picking up Ed from fishing we decided that we couldn't miss out on seeing the famous Mindil Beach Sunset Markets so off we went. We enjoyed the atmosphere of the music and food at the markets and had a yummy dinner sitting on the beach enjoying our dinner as the sun set over the water. A lovely finish to a great day in Darwin.