Darwin

Darwin – we love you – such a vibrant city – a city that is self-reliant, a survivor, a city that is resilient, having survived the invasion and the bombing in 1942 by the Japs and again 30 years later by Cyclone Tracy – Darwainese residents must be a resilient race.

We loved

·         the weather, the warm temps-30degs,

·          the water, the access to the city-easy to drive-to navigate,

·          the free weekend parking-anywhere,

·          the waterfront,

·          the restaurants,

·          the galleries,

·         the exhibits at the museum/art galleries-in particular-Cyclone Tracy, the history of fishing which included the lures, the reels, the rods, the fishing methods, we loved the displays of the Tjanpi Desert Weavers who wove a lifesize Toyota Landcrusier, the history of dot painting, the interactive didgerdoo.

·         We enjoyed a sombre moment at the WWII museum at East Point-opened in February 2012 at a cost of $10 million-the technology makes a worthwhile investment-a theatrette reliving the bombing of Darwin in 3d, the interactive display allowing the viewer to ‘touch’, to listen and see the bombing, and the listening posts with the old telephones as ear pieces and the outdoor exhibits, and not forgetting the digital story place ‘collects’ digital stories from anyone who cares to record or leave one.

·         The deckchair cinema – a unique cinema on the banks of the esplanade, sitting in the deckchairs watching the films, listening to the opossums screeching in the trees-they seem to do this during the ‘sex’ scenes.

·         We caught a ferry from Cullen Bay to Mandorah and enjoyed a ‘few’ at the local pub. We fished from the wharf and watched mackerel being caught, while at the same time watching the local police taking part in the manhunt. Fortunately the fugitive has been caught – in the area we intend to go camping tomorrow.

Murray’s senior card was accepted everywhere-allowing him to travel free on public transport and giving us both access to concession prices – we put it down to my white/grey hair!

Box stingers and crocodiles prevent anyone from swimming, however Darwin has several wave pools and a fenced ‘beach pool’ at the waterfront.

The city is safe to walk in at night-not once did we feel threatened-accepting the locals-avoiding their begging pleas.

We camped at Shady Glen – the nearest camping ground to the city-approximately 10 minute drive, but a very noisy park – next to the RAAF base and  the international/domestic airport. Expensive at $39 per nite, but, still everyday caravans lined up outside seeking a site-we counted 8 one day.

Sunday 1^st July – Territory Day – Fireworks – you could only  buy and let off on this one day, but that didn’t stop people letting off all week. The fireworks were extremely loud, sounded like bombs going off and I have never heard a fireworks display go for so long – we were next to the showgrounds and for 3 hrs we were subjected to a  continuous display of noise.

We are now leaving Darwin and heading out to Dundee Beach for a few days of fishing, then Litchfield National Park, down to Daly Waters and across the Barkly Highway to ........