Return to Darwin

An early morning start & 2 flights got us to Darwin in time for lunch. It was hot & sunny and after a chilly week at home it was just the tonic we needed. After finding our home for the next two days we set off to check out the city and see what had changed in the year since our last visit. The new waterfront precinct is just fabulous and lots more luxury apartments along the front has added to Darwin's skyline. Most other things seemed the same.

After a walk through Smith St mall and Mitchell St we played tourist stopping at Charles Darwin National Park to have a look. Here we checked out an Old WWII ammunition bunker and were impressed with the array of memorabilia there was. A great view of Darwin from the lookout as well. We left the park and joined lots of other people at Nightcliff Jetty to watch the sunset. The first of 7 in a row.

The next morning we drove to Berry Springs Nature Park, a very popular park with 3 natural swimming holes, all being used on this very warm day. The signs warning us that if crocodiles were seen the ranger would put up a notice advising people not to swim, did not convince me to get in the water, but obviously everyone else had faith in the system. Next stop was Howard Springs Nature Park, another waterhole but this one now closed to swimming but a great place for walking and bird spotting. Our next stop was Holmes Jungle National Park. An area of Monsoon rain forest was home to the tiniest little birds I have ever seen. Also in even greater proportions were the mosquitoes which were big enough to carry us away. Even the layers of repellent we had on did nothing to discourage them from biting us. Savage brutes. We were both very spotty for the rest of the week. Sunset was watched at Mindil Beach and a with a freshly cooked seafood platter from the Mindil Beach markets you would have to try really hard to find a better way to finish the day.

We moved hotels on Monday morning and spent the afternoon at the George Brown Botanic Gardens. The gardens were wiped out by Cyclone Tracy and were replanted by the Mayor, George Brown, hence the name. They were beautiful & lush as you image gardens in a tropical climate would be. The old Methodist Church beside the gardens was lovely too. Sunset no 3 was watched that evening from the cliffs at Fanny Bay, though with the storm clouds gathering we did not see much sun. Darwin had it's first storm of the season later that night. Wish we could have transported some of the rain down to Victoria.

Tuesday & Wednesday Bill had to work but each night we joined Josie & Nolan at Nightcliff to see 2 more lovely sunsets, the 2nd night with their family as they were heading off the following Saturday to drive to Albany in WA. With Bill hard at work, I amused myself exploring the city and made our final move to hotel no 3, an apartment in Cullen Bay.

With an early start planned for the morning, it's time to leave you all here wondering what we were going to get up too.

until next time..........