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Published: April 26th 2013
Landing in Darwin it was hard to believe I was in the same country. It was midnight, but still 27 degrees, and steamy with it. Of course more sensible people than I would have looked at a map before getting on the plane. It turns out that Sydney is over 3,000 kms away. I might as well have landed in Indonesia.
Day one was a trip to Litchfield National Park, only around 130kms from Darwin. I seemed to have inadvertently booked myself on a day trip targeted to backpackers. The owner of the company picked me up from the hotel and drove me down to the meet the bus. He told me he came up from Melbourne 20 years ago and he couldn't believe his luck when he arrived to be a tour guide. "I was being paid to meet pretty girls, backpacking around the world, every day!" A never-ending supply of hot chicks to bed was what I heard. He's now hired guides in his own mold from what I could gather from their conversations. We had Dan as our guide for the day, and Tom, a guide freshly arrived from Alice Springs, was also with us to see
how the Litchfield tours run. Tom had green eyes and particularly thick and long black lashes, which I'm sure he works to his advantage!
First stop on our tour was the Adelaide River, where we went on a jumping crocodile boat cruise. Despite it being freshwater, there are anywhere between 2,500 and 10,000 salt water crocs that live there. In other words, it's not for swimming, and don't assume that any other freshwater swimming hole or river will be either.
Any crocs over around 2 metres is considered a "mankiller". Well thank heavens they spare the women... ha ha! If you are unlucky enough to get attacked by one the good news is you'll never see it coming. It will be making its way to you underwater and might have been underwater for hours - they can hold their breath for up to 4 hours I was told. They have a very keen sense of smell so could have smelt you hundreds of metres away, possibly several kilometres. They also like bright colours - red, orange, white especially. It was at this point that our captain on the boat reminded where we could find the life jackets in
an emergency. "They're bright orange, good luck."
So obviously the next thing to do was go swimming. There were a few nervous titters to be heard when Dan announced this. However we were assured that where we were going was perfectly safe as the crocs won't go up beyond the flood plains, and we headed beyond these, up the hill firstly to Tolmer Falls for lunch before hitting the swimming holes. Nevertheless, I lingered for a while on the side of the waterfall pools, close to the fat German in his red t-shirt who would've made excellent eating, just to be sure. We swam in the Buley Rockpools and at the Florence Falls - beautifully clear freshwater, surrounded in lush green scenery. It was really spectacular.
On the way to the pools we stopped off to visit some termite mounds. So-called cathedral termite mounds because that's what the early English explorers thought that they looked like. There were also some other termite mounds - magnetic ones - because they face exactly north / south. I was tired, hot, and quite bored. Termites did not really interest me. Then Dan told us that their closest relative is a cockroach
and I liked them even less.
Day two in Darwin was Anzac day. I must admit when the wake up call came at 5.00 am the urge to roll over and go back to sleep was strong. But then I thought about getting a wake up call as a scared young soldier about to make a disastrous and ultimately failed invasion up a steep and rocky cliff-face in a foreign country on the other side of the world, where I would most likely die. This was the kick up the butt I needed to get myself up and organised and off I went to the dawn service to honour the soldiers from Gallipoli and other conflicts. During the service in Darwin, we were reminded of the words of Alec Campbell, the last Anzac, apparently spoken on his death-bed, ''For god's sake, don't glorify Gallipoli - it was a terrible fiasco, a total failure and best forgotten''. Darwin's dawn service and subsequent parade did exactly that, focussing on remembering the soldiers who have died in service for their country, and for those who currently serving around the world. It was a really lovely service.
Very soon it reached 35
degrees and I was in need of a swim. Despite the heat the beach wasn't at all tempting. I have been told not to swim in it because there are bull sharks, tiger sharks, box jellyfish, estuarine crocs and some other special kind of jellyfish that is so small you probably won't see it, but it will paralyse you. More reminders about what a harsh and unforgiving landscape it is - and no one has yet mentioned the cane toads! With that cheery thought I spent the afternoon at the pool, overlooking the beach.
That evening was the first night of the Mindil Beach Markets for the season. Just next to the beach, it's a great spot, very picturesque and wildly popular. While there were plenty of stalls selling bags, clothing, trinkets and some tour groups, it seemed to be more about the food. And you could eat anything....I mean anything! Thai, Sri Lankan, Japanese, tropical fruits, Chinese, Greek, and of course good old Aussie: Kangaroos, Crocodiles, Mud Crabs, Buffalo....you name it. For me the "top end" is all about crocs, so of course that is what I chose for a snack. I also liked the idea of me
eating him and not the other way around.
Given Darwin's history during the second world war, I thought I should visit a few of the sites and learn a bit more about the history. Darwin was bombed on 19 February 1942 by 242 Japanese aircraft, killing around 250 people (the number is disputed - which is hard to fathom). You can just imagine the impact on a small town, as before the war Darwin had less than 6,000 inhabitants. The Australian Government down played the severity of the bombings, as they didn't want to negatively impact on the Australian psyche during a critical point of the war. I had no idea that Australia was bombed more than 100 times, and many Australians that I have spoken to, particularly the younger ones, are surprised to hear how devastating the bombing was.
So I headed off to the WWII Oil Storage tunnels, which were exactly that, and about that interesting, before heading to the Darwin Military Museum and specifically the "Defence of Darwin Experience". It soon became apparent that I have a very short attention span at military museums and my interest in old military stuff is negligible. After an
embarrassingly short time I was desperate to leave. My hotel has two very nice pools, and I could hear them calling me.
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Jackie
non-member comment
Yes I knew that Darwin was bombed during WW2, but only recently learned that more bombs were dropped over Darwin than at Pearl Harbour. I dont fancy the fauna of the top end at all.