I'm in trouble...

I have just committed (what I now understand to be) the ultimate crime.

Mum and Dad came up last week for a visit and I updated the blog without mentioning them at all (and have just been informed that I am going to be written out of the will...).

I'm sorry.

We managed to catch up a few times while they were here (unfortunately the timing meant that I was working every day during their visit)(stupid work :( ). They got Ryan to themselves on Saturday, and that was all the excuse Dad needed to visit the aviation and military museums (which were apparently pretty cool - the highlight being the B52 on display). The blokiness was balanced out by a trip out to Fogg Dam to photograph the birdlife (and ponder the source of a mysterious splashing from under their feet as they stood on the boardwalk at the water's edge)(I don't think I would have been standing there very long, personally...)

We also managed a trip to the Mindil Beach Markets with them, dinner at the Festival Park in the center of Darwin and a couple of reciprocal evening visits (they were staying in a caravan park down on the highway)(which had electric palm-trees)(what further advertisement would you need?)

They have inspired us to take a guided trip out into Arnhem Land sometime while we are here - sounds like it was by far and away the highlight of their trip. Anyway, I hope they enjoyed their visit (and appreciate being immortalized on the internet)(can I go back into the will???)

* * * * *

We finished off this weekend by seeing a few more sights around Darwin itself. We were initially planning to visit the Indo-Pacific marine display, but after turning up and finding an empty foyer with some relatively uninspiring advertisements, we decided to give it a miss and went for a walk on the wharf instead.

We followed this by a trip into the WWII oil-storage tunnels, which were pretty interesting (with a gallery of old WWII photos along the wall of the longest tunnel). It was a short visit with only a couple of the tunnels open to the public, but I had been itching to explore them since seeing the entranceway on our first weekend here (some kind of weird addiction to dark, narrow holes underground).

And (mostly because by then it was stinking hot) we decided to see Crocosaurus Cove in the city. The entranceway is right in the middle of an ordinary city street, and is like a big fake cave with prominent advertisements out the front for "The Cage of Death". We weren't really expecting much, but it turned out to be actually very good (started off on a good note when we found out that as NT residents, after visiting once, we could have free entry for the rest of the year)(guess where we'll be taking everyone who comes to visit :)

One of the highlights was seeing a huge aquarium full of barra (now I'm not sure at all what I would do if I actually caught one of the brutes)(despite all of Ryan's assurances that my line/rod/arms are not going to snap). There was also an excellent reptile display (with a huge albino python), plenty of giant crocs, the biggest croc skull I've ever seen and the chance to watch feeding time. Actually loved the whole thing :)

And one more try at fishing Buffalo Creek - where we didn't land any fish, but I managed to score about a dozen sandfly bites (Ryan has one - and likes to smugly sit back and tell me not to scratch)(just thinking about them is making me itchy)(aaarrrggghhhh...)