We were up with the birds again this morning, missing the sunrise by only a matter of a few minutes, all in an effort to be able to take in a couple of Saturday morning markets. Our plan was to get out and see at least one before being stung by the heat of the day.

The early morning wake up call didn’t exactly work to plan however, as we struggled to get moving, our lethargy and continuing weariness telling in our movements. Mercifully, we did manage to hit the road before the expected heat of the midday sun burst forth upon us.

The first market on our list was the Coolalinga Market, a 30 minute drive south out of town. It was a small market, held in a wide open field under the cover of a steel canopy. Almost like a large shed with no walls. Much like our Mindil Market experience, the stalls here were largely food stalls, with a spattering of stalls selling other goods. It took us hardly 15 minutes to whiz up and down the couple of aisles, stopping to buy a weekend paper, and a couple of treats for the dogs.

There was a woman selling a stunning variety of 100% natural and preservative free treaties for the babies. Since she is here every week, as well as holding stalls at a couple of the other weekly markets about town, we decided to start off small, only buying a couple of pieces, one each for Alvin and Bethany to try. Long thin, hard, dried sausage like things they call ‘bull willies’ they are exactly what they are called. Gives a whole new meaning to ‘beef jerkey’! Is there nothing that they waste? Bec won’t even touch them, but we are assured that the dogs will love them.

Being that this market was somewhat smaller than we had been led to believe, we pointed ‘The Beast’ back in the general direction of town, heading for market number two, the Parap Village Market. Located in the central quadrangul, of a local shopping square, from the outside, this market looked to be the better for the day. Judging by the number of cars circling the centre, looking in vain, as were we, for a spare car space, it was as popular with the locals as the visitors. After trawling about the outskirts for nearly ¼ of an hour, we finally managed to snag a car park, although it still left us with a walk of a couple of blocks to get into the thick of the action.

It would seem that the Darwin markets are different from the art and craft type markets that Bec likes, or even the second hand junk and bric-a-brac variety that engage me. This was yet another example of a small space over filled mostly with stalls selling food, and only a limited number of general merchandise type stalls littered throughout for good measure. Not only that, but many of the stall holders obviously do the circuit of the available markets, meaning we had already seen the bulk of the goods on Thursday night at Mindil.

On a more positive note, this meant that my author mate, Monte Dwyer had his little table set up to hawk his books. While I had listened to his sales pitch the other night, which could have been pre-recorded as he raved into his peroration of his works. Regardless of his speech, I was planning on buying his books in any case, as he writes of his travels about Australia and of those he has met along the way. It is these kind of accounts that I enjoy reading, and who could resist the chance to get an entire series of personally autographed volumes.

Whilst I spent $50.00 on the 4 books, ensuring another pilgrimage to Darwin to buy books will not be required, Bec made do with a souvenir of considerably lesser expense, snapping up a bargain pair of pants for $5.00. Apart from that, and an early lunch of Asian inspired crispy pork and pork in plum sauce, we found nothing else of note at the market.

We ate in the car, before calling in quickly at the nearby supermarket enroute back to the van. Given the early start we had made, it was still before midday when we returned home. In hind sight, we could have regaled in a couple of extra hours of much needed rest, but how were we to know that the markets were to be of such a diminutive scale. Not only that, but the expected heat that we had been attempting to avoid, failed to materialise today, as a fresh breeze kept the temperature to a moderate and bearable level.

Once back at the van, we discussed and decided that we have been spending entirely too much time locked up inside, watching TV. Upon much discourse, we concluded that there was only one reasonable solution to this issue. We switched the TV off, sliding it from the wall bracket from which it hangs. The media player and hard drive were next. Switched off at the wall and unceremoniously unplugged. Gathering up the ravel of cables, the TV, the media player and the remote controls, I hefted the whole kit and caboodle outside to the annex. There was to be no sitting inside watching TV today. Nope, not a minute would we fritter away our day, locked inside the van. Instead, we poured ourselves a couple of cold drinks, then with the dogs in tow, who by this time were both chewing animatedly on dried bulls private parts, we made ourselves comfortable out beneath the annex, where I plugged the TV components back together before we spent the next several hours glued to the oblong box of evil, watching episode after episode of ‘The Shield’. It might be a long bow to draw, but we were technically, enjoying the great outdoors.

Enjoying the great outdoors.

Lets just think of it…

…as a beef sausage.

Until next time, stay safe, have fun and don’t forget to write.