Darwin

22nd June - 3nd July
We loved our time spent in Darwin. We spent treasured time with many new friends. Took in the awesome sights, the wildlife, environment and unforgetable experiences. Here's just a brief outline of our time spent in Darwin.

22nd June:
We arrived in the afternoon to our new home - Lee Point Caravan Park.
After setting up camp we went for a swim in the pool.

23rd June:
We went for a shopping trip in Darwin and drove around to gain our bearings. A beautiful and welcoming capital city... tropical landscape and light blue water in the bay.

24th June:
A free day out at the Leanyer Recreation Park which has an amazing FREE waterpark, which is a Northern Territory government initiative built for the Darwin community and visitors. It has a big pool, 3 high winding waterslides and a water playground similar to the one at Wet n Wild on the Gold Coast - we just couldn't believe it was free and the kids loved it!




This evening we went to Mindil Markets on Mindil Beach - no doubt the busiest market I've ever been too! But the best part was the assortment of food stalls - atleast 75% of stalls were selling food. There were people enjoying the shady grassed area or watching the sunset over the beach. There were entertainers, whip crackers, a fire thrower and many musical entertainers. It had a great atmosphere and a market not to be missed - held each Thursday and Sunday evenings.



25th June:
This morning our dear friends, the Gallaghers, turned up at our carvaan park. We were so happy to be reunited and spent lots of time catching up over the next week or so :)

The Darwin Museum and Art Gallery was another free outing. Some awesome displays including one on 'Sweetheart', a renowned local mischievous croc that has been stuffed and placed on show in the museum. But the best display was the one on Cyclone Tracy, which has video footage of the aftermath of the cyclone, audio recordings during the cyclone, voice recordings of people retelling their experience and photographs of the area prior, immediately after and 6 months after the cyclone demonstarting the damage and restoration of a city. The building code in Darwin changed after Cyclone Tracy with a plan that such devastation would not happen again.

In the afternoon we met the Gallaghers at the Waterfront (Croc-free) Lagoon. When the Smith Family arrived the kids all went to the Wave Pool where they tired themselves out for a couple of hours.



26th June:
Fannie Bay Gaol was interesting. It held many historical stories and still had the gallows in place. This is a photo of the inmates...



We took a drive to East Point Reserve along the waterfront in Darwin. It had several WWII sites to explore, but honestly the heat got to us, so off to the waterpark we went!

27th June:
We went out to Berry Springs for a swim. It was pretty cool going behind the waterfall.



We stopped into Berry Springs market before driving out to Dundee Beach.



Dundee Beach was beautiful, yet untouched with only a small shop/pub. The drive out was mostly on dirt and the township was made of acreage properties with lush rainforest landscape. Apparently it is the place for a successful fishing tour, but as the wind had picked up, Rod decided to give it a miss.

28th June:
Our caravan was booked in for a warranty service, so we completed school work in the morning. After lunch the girls went shopping, while the boys went to the Aviation Museum.

29th June:
In the morning we worked on school work and then spent some time relaxing around our camp.
We took the kids to the Waterpark for some fun!

30th June:
More school work and some more shopping.

However in the evening Rod and I went out to dinner with Sharyn and Stephen at the Skycity Casino's Seafood Buffet. It felt strange being without the kids but really enjoyed the food and the company.

1st July:
Today we had the best adventure just south of Darwin on an Adelaide River wildlife, leisure and fishing one day tour with Hunter Safaris. We met our guide Harry at 9am, he drove us out to Fogg Dam and then to the Windows of the Wetlands giving us information along the way - the most interesting point he raised was how the cane toads are killing the saltwater crocodiles. The cane toads are loathed in N.T. and W.A.

We then boarded his 6m flat-bottomed boat to cruise up the Adelaide River. We spotted several saltwater crocodiles. Harry got some to jump out of the water .... 'Jumping Crocodiles' are a tourist attraction up here!



But the scariest-looking croc was the 5m croc that came towards our boat. It was huge, had an enormous, wide head and big blood-stained teeth. As it approached we all backed up in our seats with some apprehension, thinking that it may jump into our boat!!!!



We had a bbq lunch on some crown land along the Adelaide River that the tour company is leasing. There was evidence of alot of damage done to the environment by the wild water buffalo and although we went searching for buffalo we didn't see any this time.

We boarded the boat again and headed further upstream to 'Goat Island'. The only occupants are one man named Kye and his two dogs. We stopped there for a few drinks and a chat with Kye, a mad Scandinavian guy who told us some croc tales. You'd have to be crazy to live on such an isolated and dangerous island.... but Goat Island Pub is worth the visit!



After the tour we returned to our cars and drove into Mindil Beach Markets for the fire works display. 1st of July is 'Territory Day', which is a day I believe that Northern Territory celebrates it's independence. We watched the fire works display on Mindil Beach and residents and tourists were letting off fireworks all night! I'd forgotten how much fun we used to have as kids on 'Fire Cracker Night'.



2nd July:
Catching up on my blog and grocery shopping.

3rd July:
Off to Kakadu!!!