'Wherarwee' in Oz: Log 25-06 Darwin

Sorry it's late n coming, Finding a place with internet connections is not easy. N.T = not today.

DARWIN Historical

Dynamic

Multicultural

Vibrant

Cosmopolitan

Bursting with energy

EXPENSIVE

We loved it!

We arrived at Darwin around 12 noon Monday, drove to Palmerston, stopped a young lady jogging down the street to ask directions to the local shopping centre &, upon arrival found a convenient 4 car spaces in a block to park. Walking through the centre we could not find the post office, asked, & were told it was a block away in another part of the centre. Upon arriving there we were told that, to pick up our mail, we had to walk yet another block to the boxes, find the window & achieve our gole, which, finally, we did.

Successful, we continued on to the c/van park which we had chosen from our lonely planet guide, only to find that the site was now for sale. Undeterred, we continued on to the city, the high rise buildings clearly in the distance. Upon our arrival we proceeded to the waterfront, drove along this magnificent stretch of road, past the wharves, past parliament house & government house & in to the city proper which seemed to be straight out of the ‘40’s, quite a contrast.

Returning to the highway we booked in to the first van park we came to, ‘Shady Glenn’, about 8K’s out of the city proper. It was O.K. it had power, water, sewer & showers, plus a lot of old decrepit, permanent vans. It also had entertainment on Tuesday & Wednesday nights.

On Tuesday we took the bus in to town, pensioners free! After our first impression yesterday, we must say that this town preserved the past, everywhere old buildings, but they were well cared for. We walked along the waterfront first, once again past parliament & government houses which were immaculate. Past the wave pool with people frolicking in the water & on to the open air theatre. Then on to the wharves which were like pincers protecting the inner harbor with restaurants along the left hand wharf. Returning to the city there is a mall along the main street, Smith Street. The whole mall was alive with people from end to end, going about their business. After picking lunch from the endless variety of foods, we walked to the end of town & caught a bus back to the park for a well earned rest. As it was Tuesday, there was entertainment at 6:30 so, after an early dinner, we were treated to Fats Thommo, a comedian with a wonderful voice. At some point during the night we heard the noise of 13 fighter jets taking off on exercises from the RAAF base nearby, (Darwin airport & RAAF base is right in the middle of the town) deafening!

Wednesday we had booked a sunset dinner cruise on the harbor. After relaxing in the morning we headed back into town on the scooter, parked on the wharf & strolled around until time to get on our cruise. The cruise took us out into the outer harbor, which is vast, then just outside the heads to watch the sunset. The ocean was dead calm as is the case this time of the year and we enjoyed a sumptuous 4 course meal while taking in the sights. Upon our return to the wharf we were amazed to see the number of people there, eating out, having a drink or just listening to the entertainment. We were told it’s like this every night.

Thursday we headed out early & took in the beaches along the Northern part of the city, we visited the sailing club, trailer boat club & spent a couple of hours in the WWll memorial museum, the ocean is a serene turquoise colour with fine sandy beaches, it’s a petty about all the crocodile warning signs. Returning towards town, we stopped at Mindil Beach for the evening markets. Once again we were amazed at the number of people there. As a markets goes, there was not much there for sale except prepared food, once again, food from every nation & entertainment galore. If there were a hundred stalls there, 70 would have been food. This market operates every Thursday & Sunday evenings &, once again, we were told it is always like this. You have to be here to appreciate the energy of this town, & the temp. perfect, 24-25º during the day & 12-14º min. at night.

Come Friday, we had booked the truck in for a minor service, ouch, they charged $110.00 an hour for labour! While getting the service we surfed the net for cheaper accommodation but found we were in the cheapest park in town. Deciding it was beyond our budget to stay, we decided to move on. A pity as we would have liked to stay for a couple of months.

Incidently, butchers here not only sell lamb, beef, pork & chicken. They also sell crock, roo, buffalo & camel.