DARWIN

Dear all,

Wednesday, 5/8/09
Here we are at Darwin. Arrived Lee Point Caravan Park, which is about 14 kms from the Darwin CBD, at 10:30 am. We couldn't make a reservation here so we wanted to be here early so we could get an ensuite site. The caravan parks up in the top end fill up each year for 4-6 months with the grey nomads from down south (I suppose I'm one of them, but I still get my hair coloured!). They pay $200 deposit at this park and must be here by the 29th May otherwise they lose their spot. If they ring to say they are running late for whatever reason, they still have to pay from 29th May.

Lee Point Caravan Park has 520 sites ... you can therefore imagine how big it is. The ensuites are exactly like concrete bunkers. It has a laundry tub outside in a portico-like area then a steel door with a lock. Open the door and there are the hot/cold shower taps on the wall, a toilet and a hand basin. The entire area is concrete, floor, walls, ceiling. When we checked in, we were handed one toilet roll and 2 plugs - one for the laundry tub and one for the handbasin. Needless to say, one toilet roll doesn't last 3 weeks - when I went back and asked for another, I was told that we only get one and that we have to provide our own. In addition, this park has an electricity meter at each site, so we were provided with a reading on day one and had to read it on our last day and pay for what we used. All this and it was $31 per day (plus electricity). Oh - by the way, the lady gave me another toilet roll for nothing!

About 800 metres from the park is a gorgeous beach that you can't swim at. It's the Arafura Sea and is as blue as blue. That was my walk each morning ... picked up some nice shells as well.

Thursday, 6/8/09
I'm so excited. I just love Darwin. Darwin was the last stop on The Ghan trip that I did with Mum, Jan, and cousin Norma. We had such fun, so I'm looking forward to showing Ken one of my favourite cities.

Today we did a drive around to get our bearings. Went out to East Point Reserve (ruins of WWII Military Base), Fannie Bay (magnificant houses and the old gaol), Casuarina Esplanade (limestone cliffs called Dripstone Cliffs and a tide that went out more than 1km), the CBD, Dinah Beach Yacht Club (something out of an old movie), then the Darwin Sailing Club which was just beautiful sitting there with a lovely breeze looking over Fannie Bay. At 4:30pm off we went to the Mindil Beach markets and met up with our friends, Kathy and Rud. Ken and Rud went off to find dinner and Kathy and I took to the stalls. As Darwin is so multicultural, the food stalls at the markets are fantastic. The clothes and jewellery are all a bit "hippie" for me but the food is my go! We decided to stay a bit longer and see the sunset but the hundreds of people drove us out. There are so many people at these markets that it makes it unbearable in the end.

Friday, 7/8/09
Easy morning after our walk then off to the Darwin Sailing Club for lunch with Nick, a friend who lives up here. Had a really nice time catching up over a couple of nice sav blancs then left for Casuarina Shopping Centre. What a perfect day - "do" lunch then shops!! What stood out to us was the number of security guards in the centre. Aboriginals are everywhere and just hang around in the car park and in the centre itself. Why they aren't made to work is beyond me. They just don't have a purpose and no self-esteem. Well ... having said that, I think they enjoy the life they lead .... doing nothing.

Saturday, 8/8/09
Today there is a Darwin Battalion Parade in town with all the returned servicemen and women from Iraq and Afghanistan. This was something I really wanted to go to so off we went (no walk this morning), found a park, a good spot to stand and watched the march. Leading the march was some heavy duty tanks followed by the riderless horse for the solder from Darwin who was recently killed by a road-side bomb in Afghanistan. Very sad.

After the parade, we walked to Parliament House which is a beautiful building with a great shop (and a handbag in there that I'm going back to get!) We did a "self" tour of Parliament House which is built on the land where the post office was bombed in the first raid by Japan. We also visited the Catholic Cathedral which has open concrete loovres for walls because of the heat up here. Inside there is a statue of an Angel which was hit by schrapnel when Darwin was bombed. I've included a photo here for you to see.

Off to Stokers Wharf which was destroyed by the first bombing. Had blue salmon and chips for lunch. It is so beautiful here sitting by Darwin Harbour. Afterwards, watched the huge Custom Boats arrive and their crew leave after 8 days at sea. They assured me that it's nothing like Sea Patrol (TV show) out there! (I do embarrass Ken sometimes!)

On the way home just had to stop off at the Darwin Sailing Club, but noticed another next door called the Darwin Trailer Boat Club. Why not!

Back to the caravan park for a roast dinner .... gas ran out half way through, but I was able to rescue it on the stove top. Ken thanks you, Mum, for teaching me how to cook!

Sunday, 9/8/09
Time for consolidation. Cleaned caravan, hose down outside mat, 2 loads of washing, blog update, shopped for dinner, called it a day.