Darwin Days

May 8-10

Darwin, NT

An original Jackson Martine colored pencil design:

Beginning stages of Isee's watercolor landscape of the Ord River:

Dunno if it's the "h" that makes it so tasty, but this yoghurt is dee-lish!!  Australians make real yogurt/yoghurt, none of that crappy Whipped Yoplait in their dairy cases!!

Chris had a huge day in the NT Herbarium while I schooled the kids. He sent back to Bucknell 3 rather large boxes of collected specimens (biggest lot yet!) & hasn't slept for the last two days worrying that they're going to get lost or explode or get delivered somewhere else. 

It's funny.  He was "en fuego" in the field -- strong, agile, running on instinct, super focused, memory on full power, awesome at 4WD driving. Now that we're back to civilatization (like the kind of place where we live) his memory's shot, he seems to be in outer space, he keeps turning on the wipers instead of the blinker, and he's all antsy. Methinks he can start sleeping outside -- or we need to spread some grass seed on the floor & bring some bushes inside, just take the doors off the hinges and let nature in. 

Three markets in three days...

Last night after Chris made it back from the herbarium, we went to the Saltwater Flats Arts Market. Turns out that those kitchen towel things with the crocheted tops are a universal craft -- I don't know why it struck me as funny, but I giggled when I saw them and was nearly compelled to buy some as souvenirs (I didn't though...phew!!). 

Isee found a $15 piece of artwork that truly spoke to her person:

Went to the Parap Market today. It was packed with vendors and people alike with the most delicious smells wafting from the mostly-Asian food trucks -- soups & egg rolls & kebabs. There were enormous papayas and fresh mangoes and some peppers (capsicum) that looked absolutely deadly. 

We bought a couple tees from one vendor (subversive art) and he told us to check out his wife's booth when he heard Chris was a botanist. Turns out, we'd already been to (and admired) her jewelry booth where she makes bracelets and necklaces out of red seeds from an acacia relative. 

The kids had a hard time keeping their souvenir money in their pockets, so we walked away with a croc tail keychain, a tee shirt, a shell ring, coconut husk earrings for Jackson's teacher and four fruit smoothies. 

After a grueling afternoon working on permutations (Hate them.) and ecology and the Russian Jack biography, we needed to get out of this hotel room desperately. 

[Editor's digression:  I needed to get out of that hotel room. We've had A LOT of together time recently & we're getting a little punchy. My patience for whining/kid noise is hitting low & I needed a caffeine pick-me-up to take away the edge.  I mixed two different instant coffee packets & came up with a flavor reminiscent of Starbuck's finest.  (Iced coffee Aussie-style is really coffee flavored milk & leaves you with less of a caffeine buzz and more of a dairy overload kind of bloat.)  I chilled it in the freezer, took a few sips & then went to help Isee with permutations.  I thought about how delicious it was going to be with some ice cubes in it, but when I went to pick up my cup, it was hot & a paler brown than my elixir. Chris had dumped it down the drain thinking it was old.  Smoke, rockets, fireworks, tears, bloodshed. That chilled mug of blended instant coffee granules was the glue holding me together, the proverbial linchpin.]

So after a little time out for Mom and spaghetti & green beans a la Chris, we went to Deckchair Cinemas to see "Walking with Dinosaurs."  That wasn't my first choice in movie selections, but it was completely apropos watching a herd of dinosaurs trundling across a beach as we'd just imagined they'd done when we saw their fossilized prints in Broome. 

It started with this:

Fun signage:

And deckchairs:

We sat in the closer-up sling-back chairs plumped with pillows from the self-serve pillow bin & the kids had chocolate covered bananas, popcorn & ginger beer for snacks. An opossum walked across the screen before the movie started while fruit bats flew overhead and a gecko, or two, were spotted stuck to the movie screen looking for dinner. 

It's open every night during the dry season & serves dinners, local beer & wine, deliciousness like mango ice cream & locally made chocolates. We didn't even need to use the complimentary bug spray as the mozzies were kept at bay by a gentle breeze from the Indian Ocean.