Darwin

Darwin (19^th – 30^th July)

Our time in Darwin has been quite interesting – things have changed in 26 years! Below are a few of the activities we engaged in whilst here:

After settling into the caravan park, our first trip out was by bus from the caravan park to the Mindil night market. Sonja had a great time – lots of jewellery and clothing! There were a number of food stalls and quite a few tour stalls (ready for all the grey nomads wandering into the area). We had tea watching a glorious sunset (the first of a number sitting on the a beach somewhere around Darwin).

We had a drive and a walk around the part of the port area before discovering Government House was open for the day. We spent some time having a look through the building (originally built as residence for the Administrator of the Northern Territory in 1871, it has gone through several transformations due to cyclones, white ants and the Japanese bombing in 1942. There has been extensive work done on the gardens, which are continually evolving with a wide variety of both shade and sun-loving plants).

Sonja at Government House

We caught a ferry across to Mandorah on the Cox Peninsula (opposite Darwin) where we had lunch at the hotel before heading back to visit the Darwin Military Museum/Defence of Darwin Experience (relating to the Japanese Bombings of Darwin in 1942). This was quite an interesting couple of hours and well worth the trip.

Sunset at Cullum Beach

We took out membership with the Darwin Casino (free $20 to use on the pokies and a book of discounts for over 50s – cheap lunch!). We met Garry (Sonja’s brother) and his friend Jill with another couple of Boolarra friends here for lunch and pokies – we actually came out ahead with lucky Sonja top-scoring with a $20 windfall (David managed to come out $6 ahead)!

We had a couple of extra power leads made – one to extend the length of the solar panel lead used to keep the second battery going for the car (so we can leave the car in the shade and place the panels about 15 metres away – hopefully in the sun) and a second long lead to let us power the Engel fridge from the 12volt plug on the caravan system (thereby extending the usage of the car battery).

We visited Burnett House at Mylilly Point. This is a National Trust Heritage listed house, built in 1937 – louvers on all sides allow any breeze to cool the house down. It managed to survive both the Japanese attack during WWII and Cyclone Tracey. After this, David went to the flicks (Dark Knight) and Sonja had a restful day reading.

We had a trip out to Lee Point and had a wander, ankle deep, in the water (eyes out for crocs all the time) and also made a stop at the Dripstone Cliffs (lots of colours in the sandstone cliffs). One afternoon was also spent on the waterfront where we lazed by a lagoon next to the commercial 'wave lagoon' (a large pool in which waves are produced for people to 'surf').

Sonja at Lee Point

Another lunch with Garry, Jill and the others and the some shopping at Casuarina Shopping Centre (the largest centre in the Northern Territory - basically, the same as any other large shopping mall in any part of Australia, but obviously very important for Darwin and the Northern Territory)! Bought some Barramundi at the Darwin Wharf for a couple of home-cooked meals.

Delight of delights, we went to the Royal Darwin Show (discount entry thanks again to the Seniors Card!) and spent a number of hours taking in the sights and sounds of a small county show. We enjoyed watching polo cross (Victoria vs Northern Territory – Victoria won) and saw the official opening by the Administrator of the Territory. Cricketer, Glen McGrath was there as ambassador for the Year of the Farmer (judging the cattle). Then, The Grand Parade….a six-piece Scottish pipe band, a number of cars (some, vintage, others, not!) and a very small number of livestock (most of which came from a couple of the area schools) – the cars went round twice! We looked at the livestock pavilions and watched the pig racing and diving (yes, pigs racing around a small track with the enthusiastic audience urging them on, and two pigs that took a flying leap off a platform into a small pool – exciting stuff in Darwin). We have also decided that without the support of the local schools, there wouldn’t be much in the art/craft field. This brought back a lot of memories for Sonja who organised children’s entries from St Georges Road school into the Shepparton Show. All in all, a pleasant, relaxing day. The weather helped by being overcast for most of the day with a light breeze (although it was still up around 29C).

We also went to another couple of markets looking at local craftwork and food stalls (although many of the stall holders seem to be at each market!). Parap and Rapid Creek markets also having fresh fruit and veg. Washed the car and borrowed a ladder to make sure the solar panels on the roof of the caravan were going to be clean enough to absorb all that sunlight the southern part of Australia is missing out on!