melanie ann designs: Man, it's good to be home!!

Hi everybody, I'm back did ya miss me?? Well, considering I have been a very bad blogger and neglected to tell you I was actually going away, the answer to that is probably no...lol!!
Hubby took a week of work (perks of being the boss;) ) to look after the kids and Mum and I went to Darwin for the week. What a simply beautiful place!! Talk about hot though!!! 34 degrees celcius, which in itself is not too bad, but when you add to that 90% humidity, OMG!!! The first day I thought I was going to suffercate the air was so thick! All I wanted to do was get to the mall so I could get into the airconditioning, only to find it was an outdoor mall!!! lol!
I slowly got used to it, and by the time we came home it was actually nice to get outside 'cause most places had the AC so cold I needed to warm up a bit!! Went on some day tours around the place, and saw some absolutely amazing things. (I 'll post some photo's in a bit so you can all see)

Here is a quick run down of the trip....

Day 1:
Arrived at the hotel at 3:00am and fell into bed (don't ask me why, but for some silly reason, most flights either arrive or leave in the middle of the night!)Woke at about 8:00am, ordered room service and for the first time in I don't know how long ate breakfast in bed....heaven!! Showered and decided to go for a bit of a look see around the place. Took some photo's, and jumped on a bus to do a "city sites tour". Saw a few interesting things, but most of the tour was focused on the houses in the area, and how some silly people build houses without eaves, maybe the tour guide was a realestate agent or an architect in former life!?!?!? Found the mall (even though it was outside, ugh) found the supermarket bought ingredients for cheese sandwiches, went back to the hotel, made and ate said cheese sandwiches and went to sleep.

Day 2
Decided today was going to be bit of a nothing day. Slept in, went downstairs to breakfast, and made an absolute pig of myself at the all you can eat buffet. (I wasn't the only one, mum had a pretty good go at impersonating a pig too!)Spent the rest of the day either watching tele or lazing by the pool (it's such a hard life!!)

Day 3
Got picked up early (6:50am, which is usually not so early for me, but remember, I was on holidays!) and went on a day tour. Went on a jumping croc cruise and saw real WILD crocodiles *shiver*. Left the croc cruise and headed down the highway towards Litchfield National park with the promise of swimming in a tropical lagoon, when suddenly the smell of something burning entered the bus. Smoke billowing into the bus from the engine compartment, we were politley, yet hastily asked to leave the bus and stand back. After walking 500m back down the highway to the roadhouse that luckily we had just passed, we were told that it was only the fan belt that operated the air conditioning, and that we would be safe to continue our tour, minus the AC. Ate a delicious lunch at a hotel in the middle of nowhere, and then continued on to the waterfalls. I have never seen such a beautiful place in all my life, well worth the drive in sweltering heat and no air conditioning. The drive home seemed much longer than the drive in, so we were glad to get home (or at least back to the hotel) and had chips and fish (it was actually called that, which I thought was very clever, rather than the traditional 'fish and chips') and slept very well that night.

Day 4
Made the most of our last breakfast at the all you can eat buffet, and headed out to do a spot of souvenier shopping (I daren't turn up home without gifts!) Ended up buying more for myself than for anyone else, but needless to say the kids were happy with there, 'Darwin NT' pencils and the glow sticks I got at the bargain shop. Went for a walk in the evening to take some photo's of the amazing sunset of Darwin Harbour. Ordered room service for dinner and had a little nap, before packing my bags and heading to the airport at 11:30pm ( I told you planes come and go at weird times!)

Day 5
Day 5 dawned whilst on the plane somewhere in between Darwin and Brisbane with very little sleep. (It's very hard to get comfy in economy class of a boeing 737) and watched the most spectacular sunrise I have ever seen! After sitting in Brisbane airport for 2 1/2 hours trying to keep my eyes open, finally boarded the plane for home. Getting off the plane to 15 degrees C was, needless to say, somewhat of a shock to the system!
The looks on my kids faces at the airport as I came down the stairs, were the best, and I nearly cried, but managed to control myself!! Usually I get embarrassed and tell them all to be quiet when we are out in public, but this time it didn't matter, as they all ran towards me screamming "Mummy, mummy, mummy!!"
I had a great time, but gee it's good to get home again!

Here are some pics I took...
(click on thumbnail to see larger image)