Blogs from Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, Oceania - page 2

We're still keeping a very nervous eye on the list of COVID exposure sites back home. I wonder what‘ll happen if anywhere we’ve been to does pop up on the list. I’m starting to have nightmarish visions of squads of heavily armed guards breaking down our door and carting us off to the local Howard Springs quarantine facility. I then make the mistake of Googling “Howard Springs” to find out a bit more about what we're in for if we do end up there. It doesn't sound all that appealing. We're not allowed to take any grog there with us for starters, so there go any plans we might have had for spending the two weeks in a drunken haze. I know my imagination might be starting to play tricks on me, but if the aerial ... read more

After a week of busy days we were glad to take it more slowly on Saturday morning. Nevertheless we went down for breakfast at 8-30am. Our first try, last Wednesday, had not boded well. Again we had to wait for a table and then they took a while to serve us. Because they cannot have a buffet because of COVID-19 we had to order from the menu. There was nothing simple on it, no cereals, fruit or yogurt or toast. The big breakfast had such things as kale and baked beans and the rest was not very appealing. We both had French Toast which was very nice but a large serve with berries, pear and icecream. Again it was over 30 minutes until we received what we ordered. We decided we wouldn't bother in the future. ... read more

After another magnificent lunch we arrived into Alice Springs at 1pm. There are excursions included in the fare and we had opted for the Alice Explorer. There was another out to Simpson's Gap but Ken and Edna had taken us there last year. We were the second to last group off the train and had to wear masks for about 100 metres until we had given our border entry forms to the police on the platform. Then it was into the bus and off. Our driver was very glad to see us as this was his first job for four months.We drove around the town and our first stop was at a Reptile Park. This turned out to be suprisingly good ad the presenter was an enthusiast who knew his stuff. Inside there were many, various ... read more

Somehow you think that 8 or 9 days off the grid is going to mean your phone just explodes with messages when you get back on line. Anticlimax then, as very little had changed in the previous week. Also, most people who would write to us, knew we were off the grid. So it didn't take so long to catch up on life as we eagering tapped at our phones in the car park of a Coles in Kununurra, on still-patchy coverage. It turns out the earthquake was a 6.8 off the coast of Broome, rare, but with no long term consequences.. We still had four nights of jeep camping to go before we needed to return the jeep to Britz in Darwin. Four days and the whole Northern Territory at our disposal. With so many ... read more

Four years ago, in September 2015, I travelled alone for six days to Darwin, which is the capital city of the Northern Territory. It was my last destination in Australia and I haven't seen any new places since then. This trip was very special to me as it inspired me to write a paragraph in my travel blog about Australia, and enabled me to win a writing contest on Harmony Day at TAFE. Darwin is the smallest and most northerly of the Australian capital cities. The modern city of Darwin is located on the traditional land of the Larrakia people who continue to live in the city and surrounding country today. The Larrakia maintain ongoing spiritual and cultural practices linking their people to the land. There are four other Aboriginal groups who traded and maintained social ... read more