Hello Again, Farewell Again

If a town decides to advertise itself by being the “Beer n’ Croc” capital of Australia, you might not expect too much of it, apart from beer and crocs. Darwin is that place. We were swamped by the humidity on arrival, then welcomed by Jo and Pete’s air conditioning. And that’s pretty much how it played out over the next week; periods of calm sweltering, followed by periods of hectic activity.

Kids and baby croc

Because it is the croc capital of Australia, Darwin has a number of free water parks. We went to a wave pool, a speed slide pool, and a water slide pool. The speed slide was best, although Pete Leonard was unbeatable due only to physics, and definitely not because of any shortage of skill on my part… The reliability of the weather at this time of year means that almost everything is done outside. We ate laksa and pawpaw salad under the stars at the Mindil markets, and watched “The Lorax” with herbal types who frowned as we applied Aeroguard at the open air cinema. Maybe they were repelling the sand flies with their karmic wholesomeness.

Gerda, kids and Kev in Litchfield

Speaking of karmic wholesomeness, Kevin and Gerda, good friends from Melbourne had been able to junket their way to Darwin at the same time. We left three ecstatic kids in the van watching DVD’s brought back from Bali by the Leonards, and taxied into the Darwin Sailing Club for our first proper night out since we’d left. Barramundi, beef, beer, and bullshit followed in huge quantities. It was a brilliant night, and so good to hear Kevin’s stories, having not heard them for six months. The more things change etc.

Kevin decided against coming out to watch the Demons play Port the next day. His reasoning proved prophetic. “I can watch two crap teams play each other any time I want to in Melbourne.” Such an ordinary game of footy. The highlight for me ended up being a conversation I had with a drunk local who also barracked for Hawthorn. It went pretty much along the lines of “Hawks are hot, Pies are cold, Hawks are hot, Pies are cold, Hawks are hot…” and was repeated  whenever things became truly boring on the field i.e. often. I did meet an interesting bloke called Chris who had played for Melbourne in the sixties, and whilst working in communities and with asylum seekers now, had also published Allison Lester’s epic children’s book “Are We There Yet?” about a family who drove around Australia. Funny how things come together.

How the kids spent their $20 on icecream

We chose a Sunday, the last day of the school holidays to go to Litchfield National Park with Kev and Gerda. Crowded out by cavorting locals who were happy to sit, swim, and swill in the croc free water, the place struggled to hold on to its beauty. I’d love to go back if I could have the place to myself a bit, without the vomit and the beer cans and the buses. A bad experience, sure, but tempered by the company, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and the fact that Litchfield is spectacular. Next time we’ll organise ourselves a little better, and work out how to escape the crowds.

Matt, Ned, Zach and 3 soon to be deceased cane toads

Darwin ended with a visit to the aviation museum. I’d spoken with Dad earlier who’d reminded me that Mum’s uncle Archie had died during the initial bombing of Darwin. That brought things home to the boys a little more as they read about the war and the extent that Darwin was involved in it all. We’ll have to visit the Tindal RAAF base in Katherine named after him when we get there.







Oli and Ivy dancing



In the meantime, we had an important event looming. Nick Linton had accepted a job in Broome and they were about to do a 180 degree turn to head back there to live. We moved camp to outside of Darwin near Berry Springs in order to farewell them properly. One night turned rapidly into three as they so often have. We had more goodbyes than Nellie Melba, but the final hurrah came on the Thursday. Lintons, Leonards, and Backsons all together for the final? time of the trip. A concert of sorts was held to mark the occasion. Jo and I wrote a poem, Oli MC’d and danced a duet with Ivy, Sara spoke, Rosie did charades with Nick and Josh who spoke also, Zach wrestled a croc, Matt and Pete held a trivia contest, and Ned wrote a short speech. So brave of him to stand in front of everyone and thank them for “…giving us Andersons such a good time”, because in the end, that’s what they’ve done. Good luck Linton’s, we are so lucky you stopped to say hello.



Nick & Rosie charading



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