Day 58-62 Darwin

Leaving Katherine for Darwin - big city & near the coast, so perfect for preparations for the next part of the trip combined with beach time & markets & sunsets.

After exploring Darwin & around, we will be heading for the Gibb River Road, so every day preparations for this trip: remote area with no accommodations but only basic camp-grounds without power for our laptops to work, etc., so Stuart was looking for suitable stuff for this trip on our shopping days. After a couple of days looking around, we decided for a rooftop tent and as the original plan to transport it back to the camp-ground failed due to the size, we had to install it right away on the parking lot of the shop: after a couple of hours in the bright sun, we made it: it is installed to the roof of our car! After the physical hard work it was time to wrack one´s brain: how to transport electricity, convert it, recharge, etc.... Well with lots of brainpower, google and asking around in stores, we think, we have solved the issues, but the first test is yet to come...

But it isn´t all the time only shopping, but also beach & markets: first we went to Mindil Beach, a city beach said to be full of people and dirty. We arrived in the afternoon, completely empty except for the lifeguard on duty and no rubbish anywhere to be seen... So, it is time for beach walks till the Mindil Beach Market with all the yummy food stalls opened up. It is only August, but the first ripe mangos were on offer and Stuart was very happy about it! With some delicious ice-cream sitting on the beach watching the sunset - simply perfect!

Another day it was time to have a look at the city from the East Point Lookout. At the East Point Lookout was no swimming or walking to the beach, so we were heading to Casuarina Beach. This Beach is huge, but almost no people although it is in a big city. There is a fresh breeze and lots of sun, so perfect time for another long beach walk watching crabs running away in the shallow water. By the time we were going back to our stuff, our blankets were completely covered in sand...

Darwin time all in all a stressful time organising, finding, buying all the (probably?) required stuff for the trip to the Gibb combined with relaxing hours on the beach, markets and watching sunsets while enjoying the first mangos of the season.