Week 19 Weekly Blog 30/09/2021- 06/10/2021
Last week saw us enjoy a beautiful sunset cruise around Darwin Harbour with Allan’s work colleagues, explore more of Darwin’s coastal reserves and even attempt mud crabbing. Read on below for what adventures we got up to in week 19 of Allan and I exploring Oz.
Day 127
Today we were booked in for our second Covid vaccination. It still felt like we were herded around and almost like going to an exam at uni, but it wasn’t as busy. We got through very quickly and the nurse was lovely and took both Allan and I together to vaccinate us. She was very happy and even let me take a photo of Allan getting his jab done, but it was unfocussed and came out blurry. After waiting the obligatory 15 minutes after the vaccination, we went to Officeworks to buy a Bluetooth remote to take photos with both Allan and I in them. Officeworks had none in stock, so we went to Camera House and bought one. We went back to the caravan park, had baked beans and spaghetti for breakfast then went to check the crab pot at Buffalo Creek. Thankfully, the pot was still there, but there were no crabs in it and no bait left so we took it out the water. Allan tried his hand at 5 minutes of fishing with a lure, but got it snagged and lost it (the same one I lost and found the other day). We went back to the caravan park, went for a swim in the pool, had left over spag bog for lunch and chilled out before Allan got ready for work and left. I was feeling pretty good after the vaccine, I was just drinking a lot of water, so I decided to go for a walk on the treadmill in the gym for 25minutes. I typed up week 17 blog, then went for a swim in the pool. I cooked soy, chilli, garlic chicken with rice and veg for tea, then ate it. I did the dishes and went to bed.
Day 128
I woke up, washed Allan’s work uniform, then went to the gym for a workout. By the time I was back at camp, Allan had just made himself a coffee. Allan was feeling a bit worse for wear after having his second Covid vaccination yesterday and was a bit flat, so we just chilled out at camp, then got takeaway from “Lunch Heaven Take Away” for brunch. We rocked up and there were lots of local workers coming in for lunch, so we knew it was going to be good food. Allan ordered lasagna with chips and gravy, and I ordered chips and gravy with 2 pieces of fried chicken both to takeaway. We had to wait a bit for my fried chicken to be cooked. They had a large array of food on offer including but not limited to: chicken stir fry, beef curry, fried rice, lasagna, chilli squid, chicken schnitzel, Chiko Roll, different salads, rolls, and sandwiches. We went back to the caravan park, ate our food, chilled out for a bit, then went for a swim in the pool before Allan got ready for work, then left. I chilled out at camp and started to make wraps when I received a phone call from Allan telling me to put everything away that we didn’t want to get wet, because it was pouring with rain at his work and very windy and stormy. I didn’t think it would rain even though there were some very dark clouds in the distance, and I could hear thunder. I decided not to make wraps and put away things I didn’t want to get wet and chilled out at camp until I knew for sure it wasn’t going to rain. I had a swim in the pool, then went to the gym to walk on the treadmill. I went back to camp, had leftover chicken, rice, and veg for tea and chilled out in the camper researching things to do and places to see on the way back to Adelaide. I then fell asleep.
Day 129
I woke up, handwashed some clothes at the laundry and hung them out under our annexe, because the sky was looking very ominous and looked like it was going to rain any second. Within minutes of me hanging the clothes up, small drops were falling on the canvas roof of the annexe I was sitting under. Allan woke up as the rain bucketed down harder and harder and wanted coffee, but the coffee was in the camper pantry in the rain and neither of us wanted to go out in it and get wet. The water had started to pool under our camper as well, so I waited until the rain eased slightly and went out in the rain and got the coffee. We waited for a bit longer then ran to the camp kitchen to have coffee there, which was luckily less than 100m from our camp site. We enjoyed our coffee in the camp kitchen with dry feet. The rain had stopped after an hour, so we decided to get some food for breakfast from the camper and cook it in the camp kitchen. A few other people had decided to do the same thing and the camp kitchen was the busiest I had seen it since we had been at the caravan park. Once we had finished breakfast and done our dishes, we headed back to our site, which was surprisingly pretty much dry underfoot. Unfortunately, our neighbours were not so lucky and had ankle deep puddles under their caravan, so they decided to pack up and change sites. We went for a walk around the caravan park to see where the water pools, but it wasn’t too bad. We got back to our site and decided to go food shopping, which then turned into Op Shopping. It was a lot of fun and there were many nice clothes especially for women, not so much for men. We went to 5 Op Shops, most of them were Vinnies. I bought 3 dresses, 1 skirt, 1 pair of shorts and a flowy shirt. Allan found 1 shirt. We spent $35 total, which I thought was amazing for this haul. We got back to the caravan park, I put away the shopping and cooked some chicken chipolatas for lunch, while Allan got ready for work. Allan smashed down some lunch, then left for work. I chilled out at camp, had some lunch, went to the gym, cooked lamb chops, did the dishes, then ate chops and salad for tea. I spent the night binge-watching 90210.
Day 130
I woke early, put some washing on, wrote the blog, went for a walk around the caravan park and typed up the blog. Allan got up, so I made coffee and we chilled out at camp. It had been quite hot and humid since the rain yesterday and it feels like it is going to rain again. We had leftover chicken chipolatas and rice for breakfast before heading out to JB Hi-fi to buy a hard drive to transfer photos and videos from our devices and store it all. We got a 1TB SSD hard drive for $130.00 which Allan and I thought was a pretty good price. As we were leaving JB Hi-fi, Allan received a message from Annika to see if he could buy some things from the shops that they needed at the Sailing Club for their drinks menu on his way to work. Some of the things were obscure and Allan would have taken a long time to find, so we went to Woolworths on our way back to the caravan park. After Woolworths, we passed the airport on our way back to the caravan park and watched a large planes land. Back at the caravan park, we went swimming in the pool, had lunch (2-minute noodles) before Allan got ready for work and left. I chilled out at camp, went for a swim, went to the gym, and decided to cook roast chicken on the Baby Q. Unfortunately, we didn’t have any more roasting trays and we didn’t have enough alfoil to make a roasting tray and cover they chicken. I decided to take a rain check on the roast chook and cooked tuna mornay instead. I made the dough for wraps and while it was proofing, I cooked the tuna mornay. I did the dishes, cooked the wraps, then ate tea. I had a shower and went to bed and watched 90210, because I am now hooked on it. Allan came home, then I went to sleep.
Day 131
We started our day with coffee and chilled out at camp. We drove to Coles to get some supplies an so I could cook a roast chook on the Baby Q tonight. On the way back to the caravan park, we stopped and watched a few planes land at the airport. Back at camp, Allan cooked baked beans for himself, and I had muesli for breakfast. We went for a swim in the pool, then chilled out at camp. Allan got ready for work, then left. I chilled out at camp, went for a swim, went to the gym, and then planned how I was going to cook the chicken. I seasoned the chicken with Lanes Seasonings, stuck toothpicks in the chicken (to keep the alfoil off the skin of the chicken) and put alfoil over the top (to keep the skin from burning and keep the chicken moist). I put the chicken in the preheated Baby Q at ¾ temperature for 30minutes.During that 30minutes all I wanted to do was check the chicken, but with alfoil on top, it was hard to tell what was happening. Also, I could smell burning, which I later found out was the toothpicks burning. After 30minutes, I turned the tray and reset the timer for 1 hour. When the timer went off, I took the alfoil off and put it back in for 15minutes, then turned it over and cooked it for another 15 minutes. Now the chook looked ready, potentially slightly overcooked, but it still looked juicy. I ate some chicken with salad for tea, then watched 90210 in bed. Allan was home by 11pm and I was still awake, but I fell asleep soon after he got home.
Day 132
Started our day with coffee and chilling out at camp, before heading out for brunch to go to Sweet Brew and Co. again. I ordered a brekkie box and Allan ordered chilli beans. My brekkie box contained a pulled lamb with fried egg and hollandaise slider, a piece of cookie dough slice with lemon curd, home-made granola and Greek yoghurt topped with blueberries, apple and maple syrup and a shooter of apple, carrot, watermelon, and ginger juice. My meal was delicious, very filling and hit my sugar craving right in the spot. Allan loved his chilli beans and said they had just the right amount of chilli in them, so it wasn’t overpowering or lack lustre. We went back to the caravan park, chilled out at camp, then went swimming in the pool. We were the only ones in the pool, so Allan got his inner child out and kept doing “bombs” into the pool. We went back to camp and Allan got ready for work and left for his final “closing” shift at the sailing club. I finished typing up week 18 of the blog, went for a swim in the pool, went to the gym, went for another swim in the pool, which was only a very quick swim, because the water was hot, so hot that it felt like I was in a bath and hotter than a hydrotherapy pool!! I had an early tea of ramen (2-minute noodles with roast chicken and frozen veg). I then went to the food truck which was Hungarian. I ordered a Sweet Langos which was deep fried dough with Nutella on top which kind of looked like a pizza. It was delicious and killed my sugar-craving. I chilled out and watched 90210 until Allan came home just after midnight, then went to sleep.
Day 133
Had our morning coffee, chilled out at camp, then went swimming in the pool. The pool wasn’t cold at all, so we didn’t last too long in there. On the way back to camp, Allan realised that he only had 1 hour until he had to leave for work for his final shift at the Sailing Club. We went to the camp kitchen and made roast chicken and cheese wraps melted in the microwave. They were delicious and the chicken was perfectly cooked. Allan got ready for work, then I dropped him off at work so I could have the car. I went to Woolworths and stocked up on food, then went back to the caravan park. I put away the food, then defrosted the freezer and cleaned the fridges. I handwashed and hung out clothes because I am too stingy to spend $4 to use the washing machines. I went to the gym, then went for a swim in the pool, which was far from refreshing, as it was as hot as a bath. I then went to Bunnings and bought more moisture absorbers, then wanted to get Allan a present for his birthday on Sunday, so I looked in BCF. There wasn’t really anything I wanted to get him from there. I decided to just head back to the caravan park. Back at the caravan park, I had some 2-minute noodles to eat then had a shower. Allan messaged me while I was in the shower saying that he was knocking off soon, so I could come and pick him up. I met Allan at the Sailing Club and we had a few drinks, watched the sunset, and chatted about our days. Allan was given a home-made card from the Darwin Sailing Club crew, and it was the most creative card I have ever seen! It was a lovely sentiment and Allan loved it. We went back to the caravan park and chilled out. Allan ordered loaded chips from Uber Eats. It cost almost $40 just for loaded fries delivered, so it was a big rip-off! It was delicious and there was lots of meat, but not many chips and even Allan said that he would have liked more chips, which is a rarity for him to say that. We went to bed pretty much straight after eating.
This week we both got our second Covid Vaccination with little to no side-effect. We didn’t do anything too exciting, because Allan had a very busy week of work. It was Allan’s last week working at The Darwin Sailing Club, so stay tuned for next week, as we start our next leg of our adventure heading south.