Sunday 13th to Saturday 19th February 2022
Sunday
Today was a quiet day around the caravan park.
Madeline and mummy went shopping briefly for some clothes. While out and about daddy had daddy-daughter time with Charlotte.
Madeline and daddy went shopping to supercheap auto, BCF and Bunnings in the afternoon.
Kids are brutal. Maddie running up and down the caravan “come on dad you need to exercise!” Jason “do I look like I exercise?” Maddie “No”.
Late afternoon we hired a pedal cart and took Madeline for a ride around the park.
Monday
A very quiet day today after an incredibly sleepless night.
We went grocery shopping and otherwise just entertained Madeline enough to keep her happy.
Tuesday
Today Jason woke up, after having had a low grade fever overnight, to a massive headache. We both had our Covid boosters yesterday.
Eva decided to take Madeline out for the morning to give Jason some “rest” with Charlotte. They were to Nightcliff Preschool Storytime.
Eva spent the afternoon having interviews for a new contractor position once we return to NSW. She has been offered 2 positions and is decision making.
9 more days until we leave Darwin.
Wednesday
We had a good night last night. Everyone slept as well as we could with a newborn in the van.
We had a visitor at the van this morning – a beautiful ringtail possum.
Today we spent the morning driving around getting things organised.
Our water pressure in the van, when connected to the mains, has been diminishing overtime. Jason sourced a new pressure limiting valve replacement.
We had our van logbook completed following its recent service. We picked up an insect net from BigW for Charlotte’s pram. Went into Bunnings for a few other maintenance stuff.
We bought petrol – 185.9 here in Darwin. Whowzers!!!
We returned to the van for lunch. The afternoon was spent hanging around the van. Charlotte slept and Madeline played with her PawPatrol figurines.
Eva has been applying for positions for work on return to NSW. We’ve also been trying to sought out childcare and preschool for the girls upon our return.
Trying to find a place to rent is the next big headache. Lucky we have 5 months of travel left before we return to settle into life again.
Thursday
We had a rough night with Charlotte needing to be held upright for a few hours. She’s suffering from colic and finds tummy lying most comfortable.
This morning after breakfast we went for another walk. We’ve been making a habit of taking Madeline on a nature walk most days. We are trying to increase her knowledge of nature and expand her vocabulary as well.
Today we learnt about; seedpods, lichen, palm fronds, jacaranda/poinciana tree leaf fern-like appearance.
Jason and I learnt something new today. We saw a stunning dragon fly glistening in the sun. We looked it up to find it was a Painted Grasshawk.
Painted Grasshawk (Neurothemis stigmatizans) is a dragon fly found in Northern Australia.
Madeline has been taking to helping with Charlotte. She enjoys brushing Charlotte’s hair.
Today Eva was lucky to score an early birthday present because it was so heavily discounted. She got a new metal detector, the Equinox 800. She’s very excited about trying it out at Tennant Creek diggings and the SA beaches.
This afternoon we returned to the Howard Springs nature park before heading home for dinner.
One week left in Darwin.
Friday
Today we woke to more blue skies after rain moved in yesterday evening and overnight.
We went on another nature walk and saw some new species of butterfly’s, dragonflies and birds. Notably the bush-stoned curlew, which we’ve seen before nesting in Morton Island, Tangalooma.
Another jump on the jumping pillow this morning followed by lunch.
Eva took Maddie to the shops to pick up milk and a new rashie for Jason.
Jason and Madeline played tag outside this afternoon. It was 35 degrees, feels like 38 by around 2pm today.
Madeline declined going to the pool or splash park. Instead she played indoors with her Paw Patrol stuff.
Charlotte had a tough day with some colicky pain throughout lunchtime, finally settling around 330pm. With a lack of a good lunchtime sleep , we hope she’ll sleep ok tonight.
So we’ve finally planned and booked all our accommodation for our trip home. Minister Mark McGowan has also decided to open up WA again. We are content with our decision to head home, although the chopping and changing of the WA borders really annoys us. We had so many great plans for WA!
We have 6 nights left in Darwin.
Saturday
Today we woke up to another sunny day. Mummy took Madeline back out on the Pedal Cart for 30min this morning. We had loads of fun!
Daddy played a lot of hide and seek and tag around lunchtime as the temps soared to 39 degrees Celsius.
After lunch and Charlotte’s nap we went back to the Howard Springs Nature Park. We had a splash and a swim.
Tomorrow we head into our final week in Darwin. We leave on Thursday for Nitmaluk National Park.
We will start posting daily blogs again this week as we hit the road.
Looking forward of travelling onward with you all!!
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