Nearly Last Leg...

May 11

Darwin, NT

6,282.5 clicks

Enjoyed a wonderful mum's day in Darwin. Was woken up by Isee bearing chocolate & black licorice & was fed delicious "shake 'em up" pancakes with fresh raspberries, bananas and passion fruit and a lovely iced coffee, mixed & chilled by Isee herself. 

Potato Man stopped by to thank me for all the "scrumpscious" dinners I've made...

We took a ride down to the waterfront & had a swim at the lagoon -- salty water from the bay, but sealed off from crocs & stingers. There were tons of families celebrating Mother's Day -- having breakfast at the surrounding cafés, sharing a picnic in the grass, swimming around like we were. It was a nice way to start our day, me and all the Aussie mums and our families. 

After a few hours of homework (Isee graphed the findings from her solanum project (comparison of male versus female flowers on bush tomato populations) & Jackson finished an ecology packet that would've been about rainforests if we were in the US, but we translated it to eucalypt forest/desert/monsoon forest) we hopped in the truck for our final Darwin destination.  

I think we've done a sufficient job of completing the enormous binders of schoolwork we've been hauling along with us. Isee & I kicked Algebra I's butt with the exception of one section -- permutations. (Blech.) There were days I just wanted to toss those binders on the fire because I felt like we were, at times, sacrificing real, in-the-moment learning opportunities for book work. It wasn't always easy to motivate the kids when the skies were blue & the cool ocean waves or a climb-able boab were calling out their names. We did learn after a few weeks to completely remove electronics from the picture & that seemed to help with their ability to focus. Anyway, it is what it is. My kids soaked up Australia geography/history/culture/flora/fauna like a couple of sponges & we fulfilled the sanctioned Pennsylvania 3rd & 7th grade curriculum as promised in the affidavit I signed those many weeks ago. 

I digress...final market at Mindil Beach last night. Packed with people & more delicious food treats. 

Isee had a dark chocolate churro:

Jackson had a potato spiral -- giant french fry/potato chip kinda thing and he ate it without ketchup!!):

There was a band with a drummer & didgeridoo player in the back of the crowd. He had 4 didgeridoos strapped together & had a small mosh pit of Aboriginal teens dancing in front of him. The music was really energetic & fun & kind of frenzied -- you couldn't really help but get caught up in it. 

At last check, the Wombatmobile took us on the most spectactacular 6,282.5 kilometer journey. Here she is resting in the hotel parking lot.  

We spent most of the evening packing & our bags are STUFFED, like can't fit an extra pair of socks in it/straps extended to their ends/no more souvenirs kind of stuffed. For all the underwear we burned, nasty tees tossed & the pairs of shodden shoes we ditched, I thought we'd have room to spare. No dice. 

We tried to eat as much of our leftover food as possible this morning. For breakfast, Jackson had: a bowl of cereal, 2 bananas, a crumpet, a hunk of baguette, 3 Baby-bel cheeses, ice cream, pizza flavored crackers and 3 glasses of pineapple-mango juice. Kid took one for the team, that's for sure. 

Presently, we're camped in the Darwin Airport awaiting our flight to Sydney. Two days there & we'll be on our long flight home.