Another month has passed in Darwin and sadly we have farewelled the Hambrooks as they headed off to the 'West'. The week after they left l had a very productive one with getting all those jobs ticked off the list, but it was very lonely and quiet. I organised our passports, as Marty and l have decided that we are in need of a family holiday and Bali seems like a good choice to dip our feet into our first overseas trip!!!! Yes you heard it, we're heading to Bali for 13 nights, staying in Kuta at Hard Rock Hotel. We leave on the 24th Sept and return to Darwin on the 7th October, which we will then head south and make our way to Alice Springs for 6 weeks or so so l can finish some more work at the hospital. I also organised our Christmas accomodation in Adelaide and was so excited when l got a phone call from the Woods family to say they will be there also and we will have Christmas together!!! Then to complete the overly exciting list, we are meeting up in Adelaide with Dusk, Peter, Jackson and Liam for 7 nights over New Years!!! So excited, at the time had so many 'Big Kev' moments l nearly had a coronary. So with all my list complete, l just need to sort my photos out and get the blogs updated, and make sure our tax returns are getting done so we can afford to do all these things!!! LOL

Boo's school is back into swing, at first it took her a few tantrums to get used to doing school full time again. But with taking a few treats off her she soon got the jist that school was here to stay while in Darwin. I am so proud of her standard and efforts with school. Even though we only do a few hours a day, it must be hard watching your little sister and other kids running around and playing while she sits there working through her activities. Her reading and writing are coming along well and she has progressed so much since the start of the year. Meg on the other hand has been a tad testing in that she gets jealous of all the attention Boo gets with school, so interupts on a regular basis, which in turn makes school go longer and hence, Boo and l get cross with her. Poor Meg. So have decided that she to will do 'school' and have brought a reading eggs book for her to work through. Hopefully this will stop both girls being jealous of one another! We'll see....

So since Bronny, Johnny and the kids have left we have become friendly with a few families. Boo met and was joint to the hip with a few kids, one being Evy and the other Asher. Was great to see Boo get close with these kids. Evy and her would play hairdressors and make up together, and play all day. Unfortunately Evy and her mum, Simone (who l had a few great chats with) headed off to Bali. A couple of weeks after they left, we were greeted with a friendly surprise when Evy and Simone popped in on there way back from Bali to give us some advice for when we go over there and also to swap details so we can stay in contact. It was so great to see both the girls squeling in excitement when they saw Evy, couldnt wipe the grin off Boo's face! Was such a nice thing that Simone did dropping in, awesome to see them both. Then there was the Boo and Asher time. So when Evy had left Asher and Boo became inseperable. Now l think Asher was 8 and a boy, but they just got on so well. Was quite cute, l secretly think Boo had her first crush??? Wont tell Marty that hahaha. Anyway, they played around the park, making shops to sell things and looked for lizards. We ended up meeting Asher and his family (Julie, Mick and Kai) at the Darwin Museum and spent the morning with them followed by going out on an awesome lunch at the 'Boatshed'. Was scary at the time, but funny now, but when we'd finished in the museum (which was fantastic by the way) we were all waiting out front for Marty when Julie, Mick and l turned around and the kids were missing. We did think we overheard them wanting to go to the park but we were so intuned with our conversation that we didnt take any notice. Anyway, long story short, couldnt see them at the playground, then had an awful thought that they might have gone down to the beach (now crocs are everywhere here in Darwin), but couldnt see them. All four of us were running around shouting their names, when we thought we'd head inside to the kids discovery room, and low and behold there were the little darlings sitting and drawing having a great time. Bloody hell hey! When our hearts got back to normal rates and we resided to have a laugh, we headed out to enjoy a delicious lunch overlooking the ocean. Quite relaxing, the kids loved the playground there! Then the sad day came when Asher and his family had to move on, they are travelling for 6 months and were from Victoria too. Boo was again lost, until she found Holly and Riley. Then of course, they fell in love with Meg and so the foursome began. I made good friends with Sally, there mother, and Marty the same with Aaron, the father of course. They are travelling around Australia for 12-18 months also and have been on the road for 3 months already. They've stopped to work for a bit and Sal and l have had a great time with days out with the kids on the awesome public transport system in Darwin.

One Friday we thought the kids had done so well at school that they deserved a day off school. So we packed the swimmers and towels and took the bus into town to the Wave Pool. We got there by 10 am and got a family ticket for $15 for 4 hours. We all had a blast riding the waves on the tubes and boogy boards provided. The kids had a blast and time went so quick. I decided after a while to have a go on the tube and bounced into it heavily in which case l proceeded in bouncing back out and knocking my head on the pool floor. Was a total pissa, and Sal obviously agreed, because she was kacking herself a bit too much with my clumsiness!! I had a bit of a sore head also... All the kids laughed and screamed and had an absolute ball. Meg was a tad funny in that she was so scared everytime we got close to the back wall where the water gushes out. She thought we would get sucked in, and it didnt matter how many times l told her there are bars that would stop us, she still screamed with fear. So we made sure we didnt get too close. We shouted them to pizza for lunch and before we knew it it was time to head off. Luckily as the kids were getting a tad pink with light sunburn, even though we applied sunscreen!! We took the bus back to the caravan park (it costs $2 for 3 hours for the bus, fantastic value). The whole day out cost us $20 per family!! Amazing value. Am slowly falling for Darwin with its free activities and great bus service. Heat starting to come with humidity though, becoming a bit sticky. Hope the build up doesnt come too soon!!!

Anyway, l know this is ending up a long blog, didnt know how busy our month had been. No wonder lm tired!! The other big thing we did was that we headed into the waterfront on a Sunday arvo after l finished work, again meeting the Perkins family (Sally, Aaron, Riley and Holly). The Darwin Festival had been on for the whole of August and this is just where there are heaps of arts exhibitions and performances on around town. This Sunday was the closing of the Festival and we were treated to a great arvo out. We saw this woman do a performance involving hula hoops which was fantastic, she was part of the show Le Soir, which was meant to be absolutely spectacular, but we couldnt go and see it as it was for adults only!! So seeing the hula hoop girl was a treat. We also watched this great act called the "The English Gents" which just wowed everybody with their gymnastic balancing tricks. Totally amazing in that one of the blokes would balance the other bloke standing on his head. the girls looked on in amazement!!! We were also treated to a regae band called "Nicky Bomba's Bustamento". Was great to chill out on the picnic blanket under the shade of the the tree with this awesome band playing and watching on as Darwin folk got up and busted a move. The whole atmosphere was great. Everyone was out to unwind, relax and have fun. The kids even found some backpacker blokes to play soccer with! They also had a lot of fun trying to practice doing handstands. Meg being the total crack up with her tongue out concentrating, eventually she almost had it!! Determined little one l must say. Poor Boo struggled to get her legs up but did a fantastic job trying and also had a ball which is the main thing. At the wavepool there was a few water performances with some local old people sporting colorful flower lei's and surrongs doing hula dancing in the shallows of the pool. Pretty funny, kids loved it. I was mesmorised by this other act that was inspired by Esther Williams. The girls had cute little leather swim caps on and 60's style swimmers while they performed amazing choreographed dance moves in the shallows of the wave pool. Totally captivating, kids and l were star struck l reckon. All in all we had a great arvo and enjoyed the time out with our new friends, the Perkins. Great to have people to hang out with and chill out over a cool drink at the end of the day, while the kids are occupied with play together........not many fights to break up at this stage lol......

Bell Xxx