Day Fifty Four - August 29th, 2013
Edith Falls to Darwin
The flies were everywhere this morning, and they made taking the tent down rather difficult as we were constantly swatting. We loved Edith Falls but wanted to get away from the pests as soon as possible! It was only around 300k to Darwin, easy by most of our driving day standards, but after so long on the road we have both become a little tired of it. It's extremely hot up here, and with our food supplies seriously diminished, we were feeling a little worse for wear by the time we rolled into the outskirts of Darwin. It was strange to see so many people and buildings in one place! We have also seen our first clouds in days.
We had looked on the wikicamps app for a good place to stay, but it was slim pickings. Bad reviews and high prices littered every page we visited! We drove into the city and found somewhere to park in order to get ourselves sorted. We opted to the park closest to town, a Discovery Park, which had bad reviews but we figured we'd check it out and move if we weren't happy in a day or so. We really did just want to get out of the car!
There was a long queue outside the park, and we gratefully waited inside the air conditioned reception. We weren't greeted with the friendliest of hellos however, as when we inquired as to the availability of a non powered tent site we were told there were some but we shouldn't camp there. The lay explained that there is a group of backpackers all clustered together who have been causing havoc, getting drunk, making noise and weeing on people's tents! We asked why they had not been moved on, but were told it was up to the discretion of the manager. Bemused as to why someone at the reception of a business would be telling potential customers all of this, we said we really couldn't afford the $45 a NIGHT(!) for a powered tent site a little way away from the troublemakers. After a few minutes um-ing and ah-ing we just paid the money. The prospect of getting back in the car was not appealing. Another young couple had just been given the same speech, and were baffled. The girl, Jo (and boyfriend Alan) told us they'd shopped around and this was the cheapest park in the area. $40 unpowered! Outrageous. We got to our site and found it directly opposite the noisy people. Great - obviously the lady at reception didn't care that much!
Too hot to argue, we set up the tent an had cold showers to try an wash off the dirt and the heat. Jo came to chat to us for a while and we followed her to the pool. We'd read about the Mindil Beach markets on a Thursday and were keen to go for supper! We headed out around 5 and spent a happy few hours browsing all the stalls and filling up on Greek food, with a slushie and Nutella and banana crepe thrown in for good measure. We're back in the tent now, and although the noise from the crowd isn't too bad now, I'm sure after a few more beers it will get worse. If that doesn't wake us, the roar of jet engines will - we're right on the runway of the Darwin International Airport! I can't believe we're actually here, it seemed so far off when we set out. Let's hope we get a good night of sleep and feel up to enjoying it tomorrow.