Darwin 29.08.12 to 10.09.2012

After our hard slog (lol) at Litchfield National Park we head north to the lovely city of Darwin where we decide to base ourselves for about a week to make sure we explore all of the surrounds. Darwin offers some great things to do and see, but an easy city to get around and see the sights. It is getting quite warm now with most days getting up to 38 degrees and just a touch of humidity in the air. If you start doing stuff the sweat just starts pissing out of you, good for the skin though. Midgies have been an eye opener for us here. Those tiny little insects that you can't see and feel, bite you all the time until you wake up in the middle of the night and want to scratch the hell out of those itchy bites. We soon wisened up to them, covering up, spraying everything imaginable on them and not becoming complacent even in the mornings.

One of our first "must do" things in Darwin was the Mindle Beach Markets, which happen every Thursday and Sunday evenings. It is hear where the locals and tourists all gather and not only enjoy the many market stalls of arts, crafts and food but also to sit on the beach and watch the sun go down with some beautiful sunsets to photograph or just sit back and munch on a satay stick, prawn stick or whatever grabs your fancy. We actually went to this market a couple of times during our stay, mostly for the atmosphere, cheap food and a lovely way to watch the sunset, with the sunsets coming in all sorts of colours.

Mmmmmmmm, what will I have??

action at Mindil Markets

 

Amongst our other activities in Darwin were a visit to the Darwin Defence Military Museum  where it told the story of Darwin's role in World War 2. The  Art and Museum of NT showcased some excellent birdlife, wildlife and butterfly exhibits and a tribute to Cyclone Tracy where you could go in a soundproof booth and listen to the sound of what this cyclone sounded like. In 1974 this Cyclone absolutely destroyed Darwin and the exhibition displays some great photos of the ruins.

Back in Katherine Crowey and I had attended a campdraft and we must say that we are getting very much into the cowboy scene (it is amazing what your mind is open to when you travel). It was in Darwin that we decided to indulge ourselves and went and bought ourselves a true dinky di akubra hat. We also found out that there was a Rodeo on that Saturday night, so of course we had to go.

cowboy and cowgirl

Rodeo action

Does he bite?

The boxing Tent

Another of the must do things to go and see, just out of Darwin about an hours drive, is Berry Springs. An absolute delight with swimming pools, waterfall and stunning clear spring water. It was here that we tried out Crowey's new underwater camera and ended up with some interesting shots (and a lot of duds, it will take some getting used to I guess).We actually had a snorkel under the water and we were surprised to see so many fish species here.

beautiful berry springs

Crowey getting in the action



check oout the fish behind Crowey

Reflection of Crowey and a fish swimming past

Crowey in action

Catfish

Over our travels in WA we kept on running into a couple from Canberra, who seemed to travel to all the places we were. Our first sighting of Jeff and Sandra (lovingly called "the pommies") was in Busselton, south WA and many other towns along the way. Darwin was no exception and we were only parked about 4 vans away from them and had a good time socialising with them. All in all we had a good time in Darwin and soaked in the casual feeling of this city.

Jeff and Sandra (The pommies) with Rach