Taking a flight in a hot air balloon had been on my list of things to do for a long time, and we were finally going for a flight. In fact, this was to prove quite a busy day for flying, since we were scheduled to take the more conventional form of air transport to Darwin later in the day.

The balloon flight was certainly exhilarating – and seeing the setting up and packing away process was fascinating, but the experience was otherwise not quite as exciting as I’d hoped. After the flight, breakfast was laid on at the date farm back in Alice, which was quite a lucky coincidence, since I hadn’t had time to go there myself. There was something a bit unusual about drinking champagne while eating a breakfast which included chicken drumsticks, in a date farm, with two kangaroos hopping around our feet looking for scraps.

After this strange breakfast, we returned to our hostel to pack for our trip to Darwin, and still managed to check out by 10am. A taxi took us to the airport, and I was once again amazed by its size – it was even smaller than Perth. The planes were getting bigger though – this one was a 737.

When we arrived in Darwin, accommodation was sparse, and as we hadn’t pre-booked anything, we were unable to get anywhere central. We ended up at Elkes Backpackers Lodge on Mitchell St, which turned out to be a good choice – bathrooms were a bit grubby but it had a wonderful pool, and the setting was lush green tropical plants. The receptionist informed us that there would be a market on Mindil beach in the evening, and so we decided to check it out. It turned out to be further away than expected – no surprise there – but we found it, and it was really good. There were so many different types of food available that my dinner consisted of elements from Italian, Chinese, Australian, and even Slovakian cuisines. I spent ages wandering through all the stalls (it was quite a sizable market), had a massage, bartered for a scooter David wanted, and bought some souvenirs to give to Mum and Dad.