The night was a short one and we were all awake early again. As we were staying right in the center of Alice Springs we decided to hit main street for breakfast and found a nice little cafe. Prices for Europeans are rather steep here. So even a muffin and a cup of coffee seams like luxury.

People were just setting up shop for a bi- weekly market on main street and since we still had some time left before heading to the airport we decided to roam the streets a bit.

Look what we found on one of stalls:

What else can I say about Alice Springs? Well, not much.  We did not have much time. But to be honest: I don’t think that this town is more than a hub in the middle of the dessert. I don’t think it’s worth spending much time there.

Heading to the airport we took a detour to the travel company as B had left one small bag in the bus the night before. Unfortunately we couldn’t find it. There goes a bathing suit, pants, shirts and last but not least her hat. Well, travelling with kids certainly has its challenges.

The Alice Springs airport is small but it has the most beautiful carpet I’ve ever seen in a public building. This is what it looks like at check- in:

The flight with Quantas was smooth once again.

From the plane we could see quite a few fires burning in different places.We would learn later that a lot of controlled burning was done in order to avoid fires getting out of control when thunderstorms started in wet season. If you look closely you can see smoke going up into the sky on this picture:

Stepping off the plane in Darwin after a two hour flight hot and humid air hit us. Right above Alice Springs we had crossed the tropic of capricorn bringing us into the tropical climate.

This is what the approach to Darwin looks like:

We checked into the Argus hotel in Darwin. It’s fairly close to the water front and is very modern and really nice. It certainly can be recommended.

Taking any chance we got the first thing we did at the hotel was to wash a load of laundry as all our stuff was pretty dusty from the time spent in the red centre.

While the washing machine did it’s job we took a dip in the hotel’s salt water pool. Though it was quite small it was a wonderful refreshment and B especially enjoyed the splashing around.

Twice  a week there is a market on the Darwin beach front that I’d read about on the internet and that was highly recommend to us by the lovely lady who organized the taxi line at the airport. (The friendliness of the people here does not cease to amaze me!)
And indeed Mindil Market is an absolute must in Darwin. It’s on every Thursday amd Sunday. Located right at the water front it seams to be the place to hang out for families and groups of friends. People came equipped with folding chairs and blankets to watch the sun set and to grab some food. Bands played, kids were running around and all kind of crafts and the typical market nonsense could be purchased.

F and I agreed that the  sunset at Darwin was the most beautiful we’d ever seen, even beating the ones we saw in Aruba on our honeymoon.

14.8.