Darwin

This is a very different place to another city in Australia that we have visited.  It is a capital city but feels like a series of outback country towns joined together.  The people look and act very country.

The van park we are in feels to be in the bush but when you Google maps it we are surrounded by acreage lots.  There is a Woollies store next to us and we cannot believe how busy it is.  We have not been in there without having to line up and every checkout is always open.  It is the last Woollies out of Darwin towards Katherine, Kakadu, or Litchfield Nat Parks.

Having settled in, last weekend we re-entered the workforce with our first paid shift working for the Darwin Turf Club.  It was a training shift but we got the hang of the computers, the way to handle the cash, and the different types of bets we will encounter.  We are going in tomorrow Sat 16/6 for another training session in the morning and then working the Sat Races in the arvo.  Our first pay check in almost 10 months has gone into the bank but it won’t keep us in luxury.  Garry has also started at the Hardware with his first two shifts completed this week.  There are many fewer stock deliveries into the shop up here so the one we unpacked this week was much bigger than any into our old shop in Brisbane.  We intend to share the work at the hardware as it won’t be many days per week yet and so Carol has been busy applying for other jobs to fill in her time.  She has already had an interview at Woollies next door so something will come up soon.

 Relaxing picnic lunch at one of the seaside parks in the city.

After our TAB training last Saturday we stayed in town for the Greek festival which was being held in Centennial Park on the waterfront in the middle of the city last weekend and we went along with thousands of others.  The music was good, there was some traditional dancing, and there was some beautiful food.  The deserts were special and the lamb BBQ (souvla) was also very tasty.  The local inmates had knocked together a spit for the occasion.  It was based on a long car trailer which held a bed of heat beads 3m X 1.2m over which the meat rotated.  There were about 40 steel skewers which sat in slots on both sides and one end was held by a small bicycle cog sitting on a moving chain.  The chain ran the full length of the bed and each skewer was rotated and stayed in place but could be lifted off individually.  The paper said that the new cooker allowed them to sell an extra 4 tonne of lamb over last year.  It was sure popular.  The heat bead supply caught my eye; a 2m high pallet of bags of heat beads.  I was a bit disappointed that there wasn’t more info about Greece and its islands for potential tourists.

 A 9.2 inch gun placement from WW2 looking across the Harbour Entrance.

 The spit in action at the Greek Festival.with a whole lamb rotissery on top of the main bed.

During the week we also visited the East Point reserve which is a WW2 site and has a large park with man-made seawater lake for swimming – the stingers and jellyfish are filtered out.  It has a large playground and big grassed areas for kids.  We also visited the Stokes Hill Wharf.  This is close to the city centre and has plenty of seafood take-away shops and restaurants on it.  It also has good parking out on the wharf and fishing is allowed on most of it – except beside the restaurants.  We were talking to a couple of young guys that we parked next to who were fishing from the tailgate of their ute.  It is a great fishing spot 3 minutes from the city centre where you can fish from your vehicle in 15 – 23 metres of water, with your esky at arms reach.  We watched a guy through bread and chips into the water and the fish were boiling the surface and were large trevally that looked at least 600mm long with yellow fins.  Good fishing if you can catch one but how you would get it the 10m from the water up to the deck of the wharf, I don’t know?

 Parliament House

 The Chief Administrators (Governor) Residence on a hill overlooking the Harbour

 The first pole in the Overland Telegraph line from Darwin to Adelaide 

 The ex-Police Station / Court House still standing after bombing and cyclones.

We also took a drive out to Wagait Beach via the Darwin Dam on the Darwin River.  The beach was pretty but not impressive and the dam was huge and full of clear water.  We were amazed at how much water could be captured from such a small stream – 3.6 metres of rain in 4 months every year does it apparently.  Wagait Beach lost its appeal a couple of days later when all the midge bites came out!!!

 Wagait Beach with very pretty rocks

 Darwins water supply

Last night Thur 13/6 we ventured into the Mindil Sunset Markets.  We had a very enjoyable evening wandering amongst the produce, knick knack, art, jewellery, and food stalls.  They are smaller than the Eumundi Markets but there are more food stalls and great variety of international food styles and all are reasonably priced.  Having dropped our chairs off at the back of the beach when we arrived we had a perfect spot to eat dinner and enjoy the beautiful sunset over the water.  Some of the live music was very entertaining, as much for the dancing by the chemically enhanced locals as for the actual music itself.  It was a very nice evening and there were about 20,000 other people that thought so too….  Still the parking was easy and there was little trouble getting out and away when we were ready.

 Sunset over Darwin Harbour at Mindil Beach

 The colours were spectacular with bronze everywhere except for the blue water

 One of the sunset dinner cruises just on dark

Looks like we have settled here for a while as there is still plenty to see and do.  Tomorrow we will be at the races and Sunday we intend to go to Hidden Valley to watch the V8’s for the day.  We are fortunate that we are on the ‘Shaneen Roster’ at the Hardware – 2 days on and a 5 day weekend.