U Turn.........

So day 1 of the new adventure and as we are woken by the biggest storm. thunder, lightening, rain. Typical. But being the optimist I'm guessing it will pass soon enough, so grab my brolly and head on down to Travellers Auto Barn to pick up our campervan as planned. I was hoping to  be on our jolly little way to see some jumping crocs by lunch time but no. The van was not sorted properly. It still had to be taken into the garage to get registered (MOT) and 'it should be ready this afternoon' I was told. So after an aggressive snooze back home and a trip to the post office I get a call, "erm the van started shuddering when it reached 80km, it needs to be fixed, it will be ready tomorrow afternoon!"

Agghhhh......I feel like Sean Penn in the movie 'U Turn'. Hopefully we WILL leave tomorrow and my day doesn't get quite as bad as his.

Bye Bye Darwin.......It's been emotional

So considering we only planned on staying in Darwin a short while we have actually been here about 5 months. No idea where the time went, it's seems like a frenzy of work, beer and more work. 

 I wouldn't say Darwin is my favourite place of where we have been so far in Oz but It's definitely not the worst. The weather has been awesome and we have made some great friends here who I will miss so much. Hopefully we will be catching up with many of them in Melbourne which will be great.

Darwin.......definitely not the worst place to be!

So both me and Wal finished up our jobs at Shags at the weekend which seems a bit weird after being there so long and then we finished up our other jobs a few days after. Complete freedom, feels weird. Exciting though. 

I had some good nights out with everybody and the awesome treat of the fishing trip I won a spot on. I caught two little tiddlers all day which I was so very proud of then as nothing else was biting I decided to just take advantage of the free beer instead! Only way to fish I reckon. 

Me and Ruth taking advantage of the free beer!

The Shags team

Caught us a Dave...........

We also had a staff party which again consisted of lots of free beer (note. Most things in Darwin consist of some kind of beer intake), dancing and general carnage. I'd been sick for a few days before so was drugged up on many cold and flu caps so it took little over 2 Canadian Clubs to get me drunk. Good times. 

Shags Laydees looking all respectable...........

..........but then it all got a bit messy after 2 Canadian Clubs.

Happy Times

 

I was also weak from losing blood the day before through getting my AWESOME tattoo. I love it. The guy who did it (called Blue from Darwin City Tattoo's) is an amazing artist and I'm so happy that it actually looks like Marilyn as I've seen a lot of dodgy ones! Blue has also done Wal's sleeve and chest piece which again, is awesome.

Darwin City Tattoo's (Blue is first on the left)

Maz

Wal's arm art

 Ive been trying to pack a few bits on bobs in the week so I'm not rush packing before we leave and I came to realise what a lot of crap I have! I do not make a light traveller, too much mascara and lip gloss going on. So I'm trying to be ruthless and get rid of a lot of stuff, to be honest its not hard as I'm sick of seeing most of my clothes as I have been lugging them around with me for over a year now. But hopefully the camper wont be too cluttered and I've bought plenty of fabreze and air fresheners as I cant stand the crusty traveller smell!

Mine and Wal's final Darwin day was spent at the cinema watching Warrior (which was awesome) and then having our final supper at the all you can eat steak and seafood place on the waterfront. Perfect.

So bye bye Darwin, it's been a blast but now for the new adventure.................

Bye Bye Darwin.................hello West Coast!