Darwin – Part 1

Hello Darwin !!   After almost five weeks on the road we have finally made it to Darwin.   We have made Discovery Darwin Caravan Park our home for the next couple of weeks.  Nice big grassy sites with lots of amenities, including two swimming pools.  Darwin is such an easy place to get around, big wide double highways but not much traffic so getting from one side to the other is a piece of cake !!  

Having not been here for probably fourteen years and Jeff not being here for at least thirty, the first thing we decided to do was take a drive around and get our bearings.  The Waterfront Precinct is a really great area comprising of Stokes Wharf and another area which has a wave pool, beach area and lots of cafes and eateries as well a bit of retail.  Nice place to sit and enjoy a coffee, of which we have done a few times.

The Aviation Museum is also a great place to visit as it is the only place in Australia that has a B-52 Bomber on display.  Wow they are huge, the thing took up the whole building, luckily all the other planes and displays fitted easily underneath it.  They must have been an awesome plane to see in our skies back in their day.  There is also a great display on the bombing of Darwin and early history of first plane flights.  We would highly recommend a visit to this museum.  

Next on the list was a visit to the Darwin Museum, which also has a great display of Cyclone Tracey and lots of other displays associated with the Darwin area.  Nice way to spend a hot afternoon in air conditioned comfort.

You can’t go to Darwin without visiting the Mindil Markets on a Sunday evening.  These take place on Mindil beach and have lots of different stalls selling all types of food and locally made products. We grabbed some dinner and sat and watched the beautiful red sunset that Darwin is famous for.  We have done this a few times while we have been here, another great place to watch it from is Cullen Bay Marina.  There is a fantastic fish & chip shop right on the beach where you can grab takeaway and sit on the lawn at the front and watch the sun set – Beautiful.

The WWII Fuel Storage Tunnels is also another great place to have a walk through and read all about the history of the bombing of Darwin and the history of how the tunnels were built.  It only takes about and hour but it is a very interesting part of our history.  

The RFDS & Bombing of Darwin tourist centre – well what can i say this was really interesting place.  When you first walk in they take you into a cinema to watch a movie on the history of the RFDS & the Bombing of Darwin.  This was unlike any movie i have seen as it is set up to make you think that the person who made history is actually standing on the stage telling the story, which made it all the more interesting. After the films you get taken to another part where they give you a pair of virtual reality goggles to put on and start another video – Wow you feel like you are actually part of the action as you can look around and see bombs falling around you, ships sinking & pilots ejecting from planes and much more.  A fantastic way to learn about the  history of the Darwin bombing.  There are lots of other displays as well as another virtual reality one making you a witness to a real life rescue aboard a RFDS plane, showing the medical staff doing there stuff and also the pilot.  We really enjoyed the whole experience of this place.

Darwin is also a great place to park and walk as across the waterfront there is lots of places to look at and beautiful flora to admire.  Especially the beautiful frangipani’s that seem to appear in every different colour up here.  Government house, Parliament House  – wow did the get prime real estate overlooking the beautiful harbour.  The water of the bay is so blue that it makes you want to dive in, but unfortunately there are signs everywhere saying Crocodiles Beware 🙁  

On another day we took a drive out to Berry Springs conservation Park, which is about 60km from Darwin.  It’s a great place to cool off as there is a huge pool at the bottom.  At the top there is a small waterfall with a beautiful shady spot with another pool  you can sit.  We spent a few hours just lazing around here as it wasn’t too busy when we were there.  It might be different during the weekends as i would imagine the locals would probably spend a lot of there weekend at this place.

We decided to do a trip to Mandorah on the Sealink ferry as they had a bit of a promotion going where you get the ferry to Mandorah and a meal at the Cox Country club and then the return ferry.  Great place to spend a few hours having a meal and a few drinks with the locals.  It’s only a 20minute boat ride across and the club sends a bus to collect you from the ferry terminal, oh and the beer is cold when you get there !!

Who doesn’t not go and do a crocodile jumping cruise whilst in Darwin ???   We did the original Jumping Crocodile cruises and we certainly got our money worth as we got to see about 6 crocodiles jumping out of the water and one HUGE one to make it even more exciting.  Can’t believe how many crocodiles are swimming around in the Adelaide River – seemed to be eyes appearing everywhere !!!  On the way back to Darwin we stopped and had a look at The Window to the Wetlands centre of which they have a great display on the flora and fauna of the Kakadu area as well as a great film on the wet season.  We also stopped and had a look at the Fogg Dam Conservation Park, which although there wasn’t much water, had lots of bird life in amongst the wetlands.  Would love to see this place when there had been a bit of rain as i would imagine it would be really flourishing with bird life.  Who know as today is very humid and thundery so maybe !!!!

Next up Tiki Islands tour and ????