Well its nearly been a month in Darwin and we have settled into routine again. Marty has picked up a job contracting at Royal Darwin Hospital doing maintainence through the company Air-Ducter. He is finally getting paid true mechanical fitter wages and l reckon his chest is puffed out and feels so chuffed with himself. I also have got work up at the Royal Darwin Hospital on the casual bank, mostly doing shifts on the weekends in accident and emergency. Not really liking the hospital, finding the staff slack, immature and unprofessional and really inappropriate with patients at times. They also dont really care about the aboriginal cliental and treating their culture. Compared to Alice Springs, l am really disappointed with the way they dont focus their care on their culture and seem to have no interest in learning about them. Cant wait to get back down to Alice Springs to do some more work in a more culturally sensitive and professional environment!!!

Anyway, with work organised and money starting to roll back in, the other thing that we had to get going was Boo's schooling. Has been a bit tough to get motivated again, especially with Bronny and Johnny being around to hang out with. Have found that we are doing probably half the school work required for the week as the other half is spent hanging out and swimming. The kids are all having a ball together again. Have their own little bikie gang happening with them riding around the park looking for things to do and hanging out at the jumping pillow for hours on end. Nice to have the time apart from the girls really. Love them to bits but having spent the last four months with them 24/7 due to no kids around for them to play with, nice to see them having a ball and me getting my sanity back a little.

After being here for nearly a month, it seems that work has taken over a little. I havent even been into the Darwin city yet!!! Marty is getting a bit sick of hearing about it really. So this weekend we decided a few family treats were in order. So after l finished work on Saturday, we took the girls off to the Royal Darwin Show. We had a blast, just what we needed. It was the first 'show' that we'd been to as a family, the girls had such a great time. We went on the 'ChaCha' together, the girls screamed with delight, Marty laughed the whole time the ride was going and l felt quite nauseated by the end. We also had a turn on the 'Dodgem cars' with Boo and l teamed up against Marty and Meg. Boo had fun trying to work out the stearing, most times turning us in circles, but we did get a few hits into the side of Marty and Meg. The girls had each picked out their showbags the night before online that they wanted, but when time came to going and getting them they were all sold out of the ones they wanted werent they?! So after a few minor tears and some persuasion, the girls picked another, Boo getting the Barbie one and Meg a Dora bag. We headed down to watch the fireworks on the oval at the end of the night and they were fantastic!! The best lve seen in ages, went for so long and were amazing. A great night out was had.....

The next day Marty and l were down hanging out with the Hambrooks and we were all talking about what things there was to see and do around when we all got talking about the Moodamah Pub and Dundee Beach. Before we knew it we were all getting the kids and cars ready to go on a spontaneous road trip. We left late morning and headed south on the Stuart Highway, turning off to head out to Litchfield NP. It took us a couple of hours to get to Moodamah after having to stop a few times for wee stops for the girls. We pulled up at Moodamah and the scenery was breathtaking. We all got out excitedly, glad to be away from the caravan park for the day. We walked down to the jetty and looked out at the amazing view of Darwin city across the blue/torqoise colored sea. It was simply stunning. There were a few boats out sailing around and the pub was set just on the beach, we could hear some music from there in the distance. We moseyed along the beach, dipping our feet in the glorious tempered water and made our way up the steps to the pub. We had the best lunch of Barra and salad, Marty having the steak sandwich. We relaxed listening to the live acoustic band and had a drink while the kids looked around. After a few pics, it was unfortunate that we had to make tracks and head off to Dundee Beach. We could have stayed at the pub all arvo, it was so relaxing with the music and the glorious backdrop of the ocean. You can actually catch a ferry from Darwin to Moodamah but it was $50 for both adults, bit pricey we reckon for just a ferry ride. Anyway, we rounded the kids up who cracked the sads as they were all having a ball with their buckets and spades in the sand, also collecting shells as they went. Off we went for another hour drive and after a few minor wrong turns, Marty took us down this road that looked like a dead end when suddenly we pulled up at a cliff to overlook a stunning stretch of beach and sea, that of Dundee Beach. Bronny was ecstatic!! So excited and Johnny looked like a kid in a lolly shop. As we were putting our tyres down two Commodores pulled up and 14 aboriginals piled out. Yes 14 people, l think there was at least 6 adults. We were amazed at how many people piled out of the cars, had a little chuckle to ourselves. Anyway, we headed off down to the beach, which would be the Hambrooks first ever drive on a beach!!! So glad we got to experience this with them. We all had a blast. Marty was glad to be off doing some beach driving, havent done any really since Cape York. We drove along until we could get no further. We pulled up and parked the cars on the beach, the kids jumping out straight away and were out in search for hermit crabs. We all had a ball. Great to chill out, unwind and have a few laughs with friends. We saw some mud crab shells on the beach and took some really cool photos with the kids in the backdrop. Was great to be on the beach again, havent seen the beach since Tasmania!!! Still couldnt go swimming, but was good to be able to put our feet in and see the kids having fun exploring. Sadly it was getting on in time and we had to head back to Darwin. Couldnt stay and watch the sunset as we had nothing to feed the kids for dinner.

It felt like eternity to get back to Darwin. The sun had set and we finally got back into town around 7:30pm. We saw a Domino's pizza and pulled in and got a few pizzas then headed back to the park and enjoyed a much deserved drink! Today was a surprisingly magnificant day and topped the weekend off. Was great to share these memories made with Bronny and Johnny and to get out and see some fantastic parts of Darwin (hopefully l will get into Darwin itself soon instead of seeing it from afar all the time, Lol!!). Pity tomorrow is back to the grindestone of work and school. We dont have long left with the Hambrooks, they are leaving us soon to head to the west coast :( So with that, we will have to jam the fun in until we say goodbye........ Dont know how much more my liver can cope with it but l suppose l just have to keep cracking on, hahahaha.........

Bell Xxx