I suffered through a fitful sleep last night, causing me to wake up this morning feeling like a cocky had nested in my mouth and speaking like one of Becs beloved frogs had taken up residence in the back of my throat. I could feel a jackhammer like thumping towards the front of my head and my neck and shoulders felt so sore, they may as well have parted company with each other. In short, I wasn’t feeling all too well.

Lucky it was then, that we had done the majority of our sightseeing in the last couple of weeks, and I will have the chance over the next few days to have a bit of a rest and recuperate a little. That doesn’t mean that I will be lying in bed all day and accomplishing nothing however, as there are still a number of things we want to achieve while we are here in Darwin, before our time in the top end comes to a conclusion.

So while we did indeed spend the morning doing very little, we spent the afternoon trawling about the suburbs, looking for a couple of antique stores that Bec had found advertised on the Internet. So much for the Internet being up to date as we struggled to locate our targets. We found that one was no longer, the premises sporting a big billboard out the front, advertising the shop as being up for lease. When we finally tripped across the second store, it was locked up tight, even though the sign on the door proclaimed that it ought to have been open. A peek through the heavily barred windows put our minds at ease, as there was not too much in the way of stock, so we hadn’t missed out on too much.

We made a few more stops along the way to the big Casuarina Shopping Centre, where we had what might be our final look about. I can’t see any reason for us to be coming back here in our final few days in Darwin, so we thought we’d give it one last look. Just to make sure that we hadn’t missed anything in our previous visits. I was right. We hadn’t missed anything, surprise, surprise.

Back at the van, we found that Bethany had repaid us for yesterdays bad behavior, with further poor conduct. Today, instead of finding a pile of smelly brown stuff, the floor of the van was littered with scraps of Weet Bix. We had left a box of cereal on the bathroom bench, still sealed in the plastic bag, within the also sealed cardboard box. Bethany was still able to sniff it out, identify it as being some type of foodstuff, before dragging it down to floor level. She then proceeded to tear the box and bag open, to get to the goodies inside. I think it was lucky that we arrived home when we did, as she hadn’t managed to consume a huge amount although she had eaten enough to give her belly a distinctly rotund, barrel like bulge.

We then had to undertake another clean up operation, sweeping up the cereal scraps that were spread across the floor like a bizarre indoor snow storm had strewn them across the vinyl. As well as cleaning up the mess, we also had to make an attempt to save the remainder of the box of breakfast cereal so we can eat tomorrow morning. I was manifestly unhappy with her, which I think she was smart enough to understand, as she kept out of my way for the rest of the afternoon, instead cozying up to Bec as we rested for a few hours. We hadn’t done much, but I was spent.

Despite my weariness, I wasn’t going to let that stop me from making it out to dinner tonight. I’ve been waiting three weeks for this, so by hook or by crook, we’re off to the casino for the buffet tonight. Before we could even think about leaving the dogs alone again though, we had to do something about the aromas emanating from Bethanys rear end that were eerily reminiscent of the smells that preceded yesterdays incident.

After taking the pooches for an evening amble, during which time we hope to have thwarted a repeat of yesterday, we headed off towards the casino. The last two Thursday evenings, we have headed for the Mindil Night Markets, but I have been itching to hit the casino buffet on a Thursday night. You see Thursday night is reserved for the ‘Bibs and Ribs’ buffet, an all you can eat hoedown on a wide and varied selection of ribs.

From deep fried chicken ribs, to giant marinated beef ribs and everything in between, I was in spare rib heaven. I tucked into a few plates of protein rich, juicy goodness, not wasting a spare inch of my plate space on anything as morbid as vegetables. The carnivore in me rose to the surface, as I sucked rib bone after rib bone clean of flesh, smacking my lips with every bite. It was well worth the wait. The only negative was that we weren’t provided with the advertised and promised bibs, so care had to be taken to prevent slashing rib juice down my front.

A flutter in the gaming room failed to excite us as it did on our previous visit to the casino however, as we lost a few coins to the glitz, glamour and jingling sounds of the colourfully lit pokie machines. It just wasn’t to be our night when it came to luck, so we quickly rescinded and headed for home.

It was with probably more than just a hint of apprehension that we unlatched the caravan door tonight, our minds in overdrive as to what we might expect to find within this time round. Thankfully, there didn’t seem to be anything out of place, we didn’t find any more unexpected presents, while Bethany had failed in her no doubt endless quest to secure herself a second (or should that be third) dinner.

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