Darwin

Our bad as luck as far big cities continues. This time we managed to arrive during Darwin Cup so once again a bit full town but I insisted on getting here on Saturday as Sunday is the market day. After ages of driving around and trying to find the market we finally got there and it was very cute. Heaps of pretty stalls, stacks of awesome clothes and bits and pieces. The afternoon we were going to spend at the swimming pool in the camp before the main attraction - the Night Beach Markets! Which was the main reason we decided to go to Darwin in the first place. On the way back to camp we suddenly heard this weird noise in the back of our car. Oh well, not sure what it was. But shortly after that we smelled something funny that quickly became something awful. So we realized we better turn off the busy highway and check it out. So we drove into the left lane and the red light came on. While waiting at the lights, smoke started to pour out of one of our cupboards. Obviously no time to drive anywhere we jumped out of the car and while I was yelling:"Fire, fire!", Gordie picked up the fire extinguisher and dived into the smoke. People started to gather around while I was pulling out stuff from the car and shortly Gordie emerged from the smoke announcing that the fridge cable caught fire but all good now. Despite the fact that we blocked one lane of traffic everybody was really nice and offered help except for one guy, who was wildly gesturing that we should get out of the way and who got quite an earful from his wife for that. Because we pulled over so quick and emptied the cupboard the only loss was the cable but we were lucky. It was the cupboard where we keep our DVD  player and laptop and some other bits and pieces. Unfortunately the smell and mess was horrid. If anyone has seen a fire extinguisher in action in such a confined space will know what I mean. So we spent the rest of the day airing and cleaning our van. But anyhow, we were still able to make it to the night markets. So in the evening we set off to drive to the beach for the night markets. Along the way we pulled into a McDonalds to get some free internet as Gordie insisted he has to check his email (for the second time today). Unfortunately this MC was drive-through only so we wanted to drive off again but… the lights were dead. It was starting to get dark so we decided to head straight for the caravan park and even so we got there in near total darkness, so that was a bit scary. And no night markets. Luckily we found auto electrician who fixed it real cheap the next day and we could get out of Darwin.

Before we did though, we went to a Crocodile Park. That was cool, they had thousands (yeah, thousands, not kidding) of crocodiles and the entry fee included a  tour where I got to FEED a CROCODILE! Well it wasn’t as cute or as close encounter as feeding a dolphin as  I was dangling a piece of raw chicken on a string above the croc’s head from safe distance and suddenly WHAC! – the 4 metre croc jumped out of the water and swallowed the chicken while I nearly dropped the stick with the string. Later we all got to hold a baby croc for a photo. We were explained how to hold them and they looked totally adorable. Also total phlegmatic – they just didn’t care. Until I touched him that is. As soon as I took the sleeping creature in my hands he started to move like crazy and I didn’t know what to so I did the only thing I could come with – panicked. And also ran to the guide for help. “Hang on!” was all the advice I got. The croc sort of settled down eventually so I could get my photo taken and then hand I over to all the lined up people, who wanted this one “because he is awake”. As soon as he left my hands he fell asleep again so it must have been something about me he didn’t like. So no Crocodile Anna in the making unfortunately. The info talk was super interesting and I have to say that the saltwater croc’s are seriously scary creatures but really impressive ones as well.