Quite a boring day today, but we were all happy not to be in a car. Halfway through our lazy morning I went out solo to try to get a walk-in appointment with an optometrist. I went to two offices and called three more. All were fully booked for the day. I miss Asian healthcare. Luckily things seem to be on the mend so I’m hopeful it will get better on its own.

The weather today alternated between drizzling, torrential downpour, and extremely humid. We had considered some water activities or playgrounds, but given The Wet, we decided to head to the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. “The Wet” is what Aussies call the rainy season. They really can’t just refer to anything normally.

Entrance was free which made me an immediate fan. As always, Millie groaned about not wanting to go to “a boring museum” and then had the best time.

The main hall was dedicated to natural history of the area: fossils and taxidermy and the like. Walking from each item to the next was like “this can kill you” “this paralyzes you but doesn’t kill you… usually” “this will definitely kill you.” They had specimens of deadly box jellyfish, blue ringed octopus, a taipan snake, and all the deadly Aussie spiders.

When we thought we were done with the hall of death, we came upon “Sweetheart”, a 16ft crocodile. We had heard a story about them swallowing people whole that I didn’t quite believe. Until I saw Sweetheart.

There was another exhibit showing the devastation of Cyclone Tracy that wiped out the city in the 1970s.

And there was a large exhibit of art done by high schoolers in Darwin. It was shockingly very good, and I even got a little emotional while reading all their artist statements. There is something very sweet (and kind of funny) about the earnestness of teenagers.

And last, there was an exhibit of an Australian artist named William Mackinnon. His work was of scenes from the outback. They all felt very familiar after being there recently. We loved it.

Millie befriended a kid named Henry and they ran wild for 30 minutes or so. By the time we left, it was raining heavily. We decided to just lean into it. We went to the grocery store to get basics for dinner and an ice cream cone for Ice Cream Friday.

We came back to the apartment and just hung out for the rest of the day. We spent much of our time on the covered balcony, listening to the rain. Millie made up a game where she acts like an animal she’s seen on the trip and we have to guess it. It made me realize just how many animals she’s seen in the last year.