Back to Darwin, and home via Queensland

Saturday, August 08, 2020
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
On arrival back into Darwin after our overnight trip to Katherine we called in to see Georgia and Reid’s Place (and their gorgeous baby Phoebe) in Howard Springs (just out of Darwin) as Tony(Tim’s brother) is staying there at the moment and we all had lunch at a tavern nearby. 
After lunch, we returned to Darwin and checked into the Novotel on the Esplanade as it’s close to where we had to return the car, our dinner reservation, and Darwin’s nightlife. So we returned the hire car, had a few cool drinks at the Irish Pub and the Tap and returned to the Novotel for showers.
We then went to one of our favourite restaurants in Darwin for Thai/Indian and it was great food. Unfortunately you can only eat so much. And then more drinks back at the Tap which was by now very lively. Was a great night that felt normal Covid-wise to watch although we kept to ourselves. The weather at this time of night - amazing!
We tried at maximize our final half day in Darwin before our flight out. First - breakfast. As we had breakfast included in our room rate we had breakfast at the hotel. No more buffet breakfasts but I literally got a buffet breakfast on a plate. Whether I wanted it or not. After Covid, the buffet is one thing that can remain in history. Anyway, after that we headed to Parap Markets which we’ve never done before. They are a great market with good food and local jewellery and clothes. 
And then it was time to head back to the hotel, shower and checkout to head for the airport. For a normally bustling airport, there was virtually nothing open which was a bit sad. We were able to get a prepackaged sandwich and a beer from the only only shop which was good.
This flight was fantastic. We got a decent prepacked meal, the 4 of us had the whole row of 6 seats to ourselves, and there was a wine service which we were not expecting. And then the crew gave Tim an extra wine for us, and Kylie managed to sweet talk the crew in business class for more wine (that they brought to us in economy under a tea towel secretly). And really strong WiFi the whole way. A satisfactory flight indeed!
And then some Covid Reality on return to Brisbane. During our stay in the NT, Queensland closed the border to NSW. We had to stay across the rules whilst away, so knew we were ok, but thankfully we had been out of NSW for 14 days to allow entry otherwise we would have had to book an earlier flight to beat the border closure or a later flight to maintain the 14 days. But again, we have been very lucky.
On arrival there were police everywhere. As the border rules had just changed there was no online form to complete for the border crossing so we had to line up and complete a form on arrival. Thankfully we were in Row 7 so at the front of the line. Tim and I were through very quickly after answering a few questions. Mark and Kylie were detained for a while and had to prove where they had been for the previous 14 days including having to show credit card statements. As we waited, we overheard a story of a woman who claimed she didn’t know the rules and had to get home to NSW - anyway, she was off to hotel quarantine.
We collected Mark and Kylies car and checked into a Brisbane hotel. We met Bob and Alice (and Sam) for drinks and dinner by the waterfront at a German restaurant and we had a great night.
After a late night, it was up early for breakfast and got onto the road to head home. The border back into NSW was as per normal, and we arrived home after a lunch stop in Frederickton. The end of a great holiday, and hopefully not too long before we can again venture across borders!

Comments

Suey
2020-09-11

Great trip!! Pleased that you had such an enjoyable time!! Hope that the next one isn’t tooooo far away!!

Barb
2020-09-14

Enjoyed reading your blog, you have done an excellent job. Sounds like you had a fun trip. Keep on travelling and I look forward to hearing about your next adventure.

2025-02-11

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