Wednesday Nov 22, 2017

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We got to see a lot of Darwin today. The weather started off great, nice and cool at maybe mid-twenties, and not humid. That changed quickly at about 1 pm with thunderstorms and a torrential downpour. Luckily we were inside at that point.

The Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory featured the enormous stuffed salty “Sweetheart”, Aboriginee art and displays of the Christmas 1974 Cyclone Tracy that devastated 70% of Darwin. At the Military Museum - Defence of Darwin Experience, we learned about that dreadful February 19, 1942 attack by more than 200 Japanese bombers that levelled Darwin and killed more than 200 people. It’s amazing that the Australians do not appear to harbour any ill will against the Japanese for this and many additional attacks (64) over the next 18 months, contrary to what we observed many years ago from presenters at the Pearl Harbour bombing site, which preceded this event.

After our hop-on hop-off bus tour ended, we explored a long stair walk down to the shore, commemorating various Darwin women, and ended up at the Deckchair Cinema, which was closed for The Wet, reference to the wet season up here at the Top End (Darwin Area). Seasons here are called The Wet and The Dry. The Wet is just starting now, culminating in monsoon rains during January and February. Temperatures go from hot in the Wet to hotter in The Dry.

We visited the Christ Church Anglican Cathedral and the old Town Hall, both of which had been destroyed by Cyclone Tracy. The Church was rebuilt but the Town Hall ruins were stabilized and are now used for open air meetings and art performances.

The Smith Street pedestrian Mall is cool in that it has many local shops, not the big franchises we often see in North American malls like this. Marion loved it. Dinner at Monsoon on the bar strip was a good price, crab lasagna and white wine for $15, although the serving was small.

More on road trains: late yesterday we saw a tanker road train, four trailers each with 5 axels of 4 wheels, and with the 10-wheel tractor, that made it this one a 90-wheeler!

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Photos

Military Museum
Needed an umbrella to go between buildings and view outdoor displays.

Magpie Geese
Obviously named after the black and white magpies.