Day 9 - Darwin. / Kakadu Trip

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Day 9 - Darwin. / Kakadu Trip

Our first full day in Darwin. Had not planned anything for today. Now this is unusual for me but you have to try new things and today was going to be a day of new experiences. The first was riding in an old Studebaker and the second was going to the footy.

Let’s start with the Studebaker. Our first thing to do was go to the Darwin Information centre. This was a hive of activity and we booked a sunset tour over Darwin Harbour for next week but for today we (Tracey, Xavier and my wife and I) booked a WW11 Discovery Tour conducted in an old Studebaker truck. Paul, Lisa and the kids went to one of the water parks here in Darwin.

Before we started this tour we decided to visit Parliament House. It was an assumed white structure that reminded me of “THE Whitehouse”. A couple of obligatory photos and we were off to lunch before our tour on the Studebaker. Now this truck was basically a green army coloured truck with bus seats inside. This truck took us all over the city showing us all the sites. The driver was the most knowledgeable historian I have ever had the pleasure to listen to. Now I normally don’t like to listen to too much history but he made it easier by showing us the historical points as we drove through the town of Darwin.

Following this memorable drive we headed off to the footy. Now those of you who know me know that I do not like AFL Football. In Alice Springs last year I also had the chance to go to a match and I commented at the time that I would rather watch grass grow. Well today was no different but I succumbed to family pressure and given all the others I am with were going I decided to join them. The game was in Darwin’s TIO stadium which has a capacity of 12,000 people. It was certainly close to capacity. We watched Melbourne thrash the Fremantle Dockers. Now perhaps I showed a little interest in the game but this waned when we were joined by 6 US Marines in the seats in front of us. Now they weren’t showing off at all but my wife, Tracey and Lisa were drooling over the physiques of these marines. I think I might have been better off watching grass grow given the beating that the Dockers suffered. Another end of the quiet day in the office. Hahaha

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