Blogs from Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, Oceania - page 4

Finally time to make it official... Although they had a civil ceremony in Langkawi with a Pirate Party afterwards it was time to make it official. As they have now left the boating life and moved to Darwin, it allowed Joe's family all to be there (well almost). His oldest son baby decided to arrive the same day so a double celebration was to be had! The ceremony was lovely and emotional as these occasions can be, and enjoyed by close friends and family. It was lovely to be there and witness the vows made, having his family there this time was very special and made the occasion. Congratulations Mr & Mrs McDonnell. ... read more

Happy New Year from Darwin and the Northern Territory followed by New Year Day with traditional steak pie.... read more

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 ... read more

So my trip to Australia was beginning. On the way to Darwin my flight had a stopover in Manila which is where I had arranged to meet Laurent – who for the next year is my travel buddy. We were booked on the same plan from Manila to Darwin and luckily were able to sit together. We arrived in Darwin at around 5.30am By the time we'd gone through customs, collected our bags and got a taxi to our hostel it was 6:30am. Understandably we weren't able to check in to our hostel but luckily were able to leave our bags. We walked down to a local beach and watched the sunrise there. At 11 we were able to check in to our room and so we napped for a few hours. I was tired. I'd ... read more

Darwin is a beautiful city! The beautiful sunsets over the water, the beautiful green gardens, the unbusyness and laid back lifestyle and history around every corner! Driving in to the city on the main road in at 10am on a Monday morning, Nathan and I had one other car traveling the same direction as us on a four lane highway!! Would definitely have been much busier in Brisbane lol. We stayed for 5 nights at a little WikiCamps place called Lucy’s Rest (Lucy being the the lovely dog who visited us daily with lots of Licks!). It is very much a bush camp and only about 20 minutes outside of the city centre. Nathan and I went to the Military Museum which holds so many items and information about the wars that Australia have been involved ... read more