Day 22 13/08/11

Crocodylus Park was our first and most important stop for Billy this morning. Crocodylus is a Crocodile Park ………………… so we saw lots of Crocs!! Feeding time was at 10am, so we watched that and Ron even was able to have a turn in feeding a Croc! Billy covered his ears at the sound of the Croc chopping on his Lamb or Chicken ………. As you can imagine their Jaws are quite strong and the snap is quite frightening. But the highlight of the tour was holding a Baby Croc, Billy was first in line with Dad and then stood at the back of the queue with Carol to happily have another turn! There are other animals at this park ……………. Kangaroos, Monkeys, Emus, Ostrich, Turtles – just to name a few so we had a wander around and enjoyed the park until just after lunch. We decided to head to the WW2 Plane Museum, which was just up the road next but lot long out of the car park Billy fell asleep! So we continued on and Ron provided us with a tour of Darwin City by car! Sailed past Government House and Parliament Buildings….. the Wharves and the Shopping Strips – if only I had more time !! As discussion started on where to head too next Billy woke from his nap, so it was decided to visit the WW2 Tunnel system. Interesting ! Theses Tunnels were built during WW2 to store Oil for the Navy and then transferred by a pipeline. Miners from around Australia were hired to complete this Government Project – they had to dig through Sandstone, Hard Yakka!! Sadly by the time 5 of the 8 tunnels were completed the Navy said “Thanks but no Thanks” as the war had ended so they were actually never used! It is an interesting part of our History all the same and the Tunnels display over 100 photos of our Soldiers during WW2 in Northern Territory Bases! A “steep” stroll back to the car involved looking at some interesting historical plaques etc Ron had organised for us to have Dinner at the Trailer Boat Club with Brain & Maree (Friends of Kerry & Russell’s, who Ron & Carol had meet on their last trip) so we headed in that direction, had a look at some more scenic spots of Darwin along the way. The Trailer Boat Club is on the Beach, so Billy & I made some Sandcastles. Enjoyed a Seafood Basket for Dinner and the lovely company of Brain & Maree! The sunset was another feature of the evening, just amazing to watch the sun drop down the Horizon. Ron had the tripod set up – so I expect some great shots to follow! Bad news for the day ……….. camera packed it in ! It has been playing up and a accidental knock off the Picnic Table today didn’t help the situation. Ron had kindly lent us another spare camera that he had, as we have decided to research a little bit before buying a new one! So I hope that pictures won’t be too limited but you may notice a decline due to memory space & battery power over the next couple of weeks!

Day 23 14/08/11

Turned out to be another Rest day, Toby & Ron headed out on a Chartered Fishing Trip in hope of catching some Fish for Dinner ……………… sadly no luck! Billy, Carol & I headed for the Air Conditioned Shopping Centre in Palmerston, enjoyed a leisurely wonder around! We needed to do our Supermarket top up so that was successfully completed! The Boys returned just after 4pm and joined us for a swim in the pool. Tonight we put together a small Birthday party for Billy, it’s his Birthday on the 18th but as we are parting company tomorrow we thought tonight was the night. Balloons were put up by Dad at the BBQ shelter, Billy helped me decorate a Chocolate Mud Cake with Lolly snakes and we cooked up an extra special BBQ with Prawns & Crocodile Snags! There was plenty of presents and we had a very excited little boy!