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Published: June 25th 2015
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Just realised I forgot to publish this one so apologies for being out of order!
Wed 29 Apr Darwin Litchfield
We flew into Darwin and made our way to our home for the next 5 nights, Zen Apartments. Our first evening was spent on the Cape Adieu Dinner Cruise around Darwin Harbour. It was a gloriously warm evening with a mountain of lovely seafood and an amazing sunset.
On Thu 30 April we went to the first Mindil sunset market of the year. They take place on Sunday and Thursday evenings and are a Mecca for foodies and shoppers. There are food stalls of many different cultures and we opted for Cantonese which we ate on the beach as the sun went down. There was a fantastic choice of dishes from which you could choose 3 or 4 and were served in medium or large trays. There was a Barramundi curry, Lemon Chicken, Sweet and Sour Pork, Mongolian Beef, Special rice, Egg fried Rice, Noodles... All served from a stall! There was a great atmosphere on the beach and the stalls were interesting with some live performers too. The evening ended with fireworks but we decided to leave and
make use of our $3 return bus ticket which was valid for 3 hour. Great way to spend an evening!
Fri 1 May Litchfield Pick up from the Zen Aparthotel was at 7 am by minibus. There were 18 in group and we weren't the oldest this time! Kim was our tour leader. It's km to Litchfield but our 1st stop was at the Jumping Crocodile Cruise. As we arrived we saw Water Buffalo en route who were very interested in us! We had tea and toast and the owner then brought out Medusa, a python born in captivity for people to hold. We had already applied sun cream and mozzie spray which is poisonous for snakes so we didn't take part but it is nice to be able to appreciate how beautiful these reptiles are - in a controlled environment. Australia does have 10 of the deadliest snakes in the world and whilst caution when you are in the bush is advisable, it is possible to become paranoid. Most snakes will make themselves scarce as they can sense how big and how far away you are. If you do see one the advice is to walk in the
opposite direction! Even venomous snakes don't want to waste their venom and adult snakes can bite without releasing venom. The most aggressive snake which definitely needs to be avoided seems to be the Taipan which will strike repeatedly and the deadliest is the Death Adder. It only takes 3 seconds for the venom to bring about death. The boat trip was a bit touristy. Crocs were lured to jump out of the water by dangling meat on a pole. They must be well fed because they weren't all that keen. Whilst it felt a bit like watching a circus performance it was quite impressive to see how far they can lift themselves out of the water and a salutary reminder of how powerful this apex predator is! From here we drove to Wangi Falls and had a salad lunch. A Salty had been in spotted in the waterfall pool so swimming had been prohibited but when we got there it had been lifted. None of us really keen to test this out! Second stop Buley Rock Hole. Tom went for a dip but you couldn't really swim as there were too many people. 3rd stop Florence Falls Plunge Pool after
a descent of 135 steps we had a nice swim. It was lovely but there were strong currents caused by the falls. Final stop was Termite Mounds. We learnt how Grass Termites build Cathedral Mounds and Tree Termites hollow out trees - this is how didgeridoos are formed! Who knew??
Sunday 3 May we went on the Bombing of Darwin Tour which was really interesting - I had no idea the Japanese bombed Darwin during WWII. The
Bombing of Darwin, also known as the
Battle of Darwin, on 19 February 1942 was both the first and the largest single attack ever mounted by a foreign power on Australia. 242 Japanese aircraft attacked ships in darwin's harbour, led by Mitsuo Fuchida who had led the attack on Pearl Harbour, and the town's two airfields in an attempt to prevent the Allies from using them as bases to respond to the invasions of Timor and Java. The town was only lightly defended and the Japanese inflicted heavy losses upon the Allied forces at little cost to themselves. The urban areas of Darwin also suffered some damage from the raids and there were a number of civilian casualties, including the postmaster, his
wife, daughter and 6 employees in the post office.
The raids were the first and largest of almost 100 air raids against Australia between 1942-43. We visited the key sites and learnt about some of the people who lost their lives during the raids. It also included the Military Museum which is well worth a visit - we could have spent all morning there. Next stop the road-trip to the Red Centre!
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