Advertisement
Published: October 8th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Morning everyone. It was an early get up courtesy of Ro this day. He wanted to get up early and beat the heat. That didn't really work though, it was hot at 7am already. A quick brekky and another pack up, or should i say, the last pack up for the mums and kids. The flies were atrocious, sticky and there seemed to be hundreds of them. The Bushmans and Tropical Aeroguard had no effecct whatsoever, i even wondered it they helped to attract them. The dirt was black so by the end of the pack up so were we all. Black and stinky. Hit the road and off to the Magnetic Termite Mounds about 6 ks from our camp. They were enormous and looked like an old cemetary in the bush. They were cornered off by a walkway which you followed. In the carpark there were some gigantic ones which you could touch and have your photos taken in front of, which obviously we did. Then hit the road again. We drove out of Litchfield a different way from our entry point, travelling on about 30 ks of dirt road. Corrigations again but nothing like the Larapinta Trail although the
cars again have a new layer of red dirt. Spectacular scenery, still Jurassic, you could see where the fires had been and the new lush regrowth. An amazing dry river bed with the Croc beware sign, (we didn't stop!) and then bitumen again. We had planned to stop at the well signposted Litchfield pub for a quiet ale but although it was well signposted, there was nothing else to it, under renovation. Past Berri Springs and a quick look, we are going there on Tuesday. Past a primary school and on its front lawn a "Cane toad Detention Centre" Will take a photo of that on Tuesday and then a counter lunch at the Virginia Pub. Cool and yum. Arrived at Howard Springs Big 4. Shady and reasonabley quiet in terms of other campers. The washing machines worked insessantly for the afternoon. Some of our clothes look white again now! Swim and dinner and bed.
PS Jac now....a little story about going to the toilet in NT. I went to the toilet just before bed this night, did my business in the usual manner, turned to flush the toilet, checking that the contents was flushed away properly. As I
flushed, I noticed a pair of legs dangling down below the rim. Oh my! I flushed again. A whole frog appeared this time, frantically trying to maintain his position under the rim. "Bron!", I called out, "Are you in here?". She was. "Come in here" I cried. She did. She noticed that the frog's butt was THIS BIG! I think the frog is telling his mates the same thing about me. We woke the camp up we were laughing so hard.
Day 25.
Here we are in Darwin. Up and at em and head to the info centre in the centre of town. We can see water!!! Seems like such a long time since we saw the ocean. You certainly take it for granted when we are used to seeing it every day at home. Pamphlets galore collected and then a coffee. The waitress suggested that we walk to the World War 2 Oil Storage tunnels. On the way we walked past the remains of the Old Darwin Town Hall. It was a beautiful sand stone building which was devastated during Cyclone Tracy. The remaining walls have since been propped up so you can walk through it. It
is even available now for functions although they would be a bit draughty. There are parks and gardens all around the city centre filled with giant figs and other trees, lush flowers and grasses. Anyway to the tunnels we ventured. A guide at the entrance gave us a quick rundown of their history and we wandered in. It was very musty, wet and muggy. The first tunnel we could only walk single file but the second was wide and tall. There were amazing photos depicting the air strikes on Darwin, the Spitfires, prisoners of war even the ration kits which were sent to the soldiers for Xmas. They included wrigleys chewing gum, plum pudding, condensed milk, tobacco, pens and postcards, the kids were most intrigued with them. When we emerged, gee it was hot and sticky. Back up the hill and we walked around to another memorial regarding the air strikes and past Government House. I would like to live there. It was a spetacular building with incredible gardens. There were aboriginal message sticks in the gardens and the gardeners were working busily. Lush green lawns, bromilides , palms and fragrant frangipanis. The next stop was the Museum and Art
Gallery of the Nortern Territory. It was air conditioned which was a blessing. There was an exhibition called the 25th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award. (message for Di Jickell - was this exhibition that Georgia was here for?) Awesome basket weaving, painting and craft, each with inspiring, creative and informative stories attached. There was one gallery of Indigenous art which was phenomanal,we learnt about Sweetheart Crocodile a 5.1.m crocodile caought in the NT, there were exhibitions of all the creatures, both sea and land, found here and we all thoroughly enjoyed the Cyclone Tracy Exhibition. We all walked into a pitch black room where we listened to the deafening, frightening sounds of the cyclone. What an amazing event, the winds were so strong, the wind recorder at the airport broke!! There is so much to tell about that part I could go on and on. The photos of before and after were like a bulldozer had driven each street and demolished each house one by one, Corrigated iron was wrapped around metal power poles which were bent in half. Anyway the martins then left and drove up to Fannie Bay. We saw more water, the Military
Museum and where the Mindil Beach markets are held. A very pleasant drive was had and then down to Cullen Bay, back around the city and home.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.082s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 9; qc: 51; dbt: 0.0574s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Ken
non-member comment
thanks for such a lovely couple of days of blogs - just fantastic of you to share your holiday with everyone. The photos are great as well and good to see you Bron, jumping into the water hole. You found my creek, I was hoping it would be a surprise for you. Darwin sounds great, my Dad served there as a radio operator with the RAAF during the WW2, but fortunatley didn't see any action with the Japanese.