Day 31 – Sunday 17 July 2016 – Darwin

Miss Kitty, despite usually having a fantastic coat that easily lasts from week to week for a bath, obviously found the 8 days of wading through the red dirt a bit too much.  Itching and scratching and very knotty – into the bath she went.  The water was so unbelievably dirty we had to hose her down to try to get all the dirt out.  And so there went the morning.  But with a really good bath, probably the first decent one since Alice Springs, and a complete trim she was back to Kitty Showdog condition once again.  It was a very pleasant day again with 29 degrees and a light breeze so it was not too tough being out in the sunshine doing the bathing, drying and trimming.  Although it was time for a snooze after such a long and arduous morning’s work – and no I don’t mean me!

I found it really hard to get going today.  Perhaps it is the joy of knowing there is some down time from driving and we can relax for a while, but by the time we got all the household chores done it was about 3.00pm before we were ready to venture out for a bit of a drive.  But before we could get the dogs in the car there was a strange sound in the van park.  Odd music was playing and it seemed to be drawing the campers out from their caravans…….  Ahhhh yes – what a childhood memory – the ice-cream van!  And of course you can’t refuse the urge to buy an ice-cream from the ice-cream van.  It certainly got some people’s attention.

Driving into Darwin from this end is a bit like driving out to the airport in Melbourne.  Very industrial.  But also very clean.   Although I have to say - some people's ideas of a sales pitch leaves a lot to be desired............  We spotted this on the side of a plumbers van.

We ventured through the city and out to the Darwin Waterfront, an interesting use of land with a large carpark out on a jetty (where there were many budding fishermen) leading to restaurants.  Back into the city again one particular street appeared to be pub after pub with loud music streaming from open air bars.  I remarked to Shane that it was the first time in a while that white skin outnumbered dark.  One interesting sight was a Crock Boat cruising the streets, obviously hoping to take the eye of tourists.  

I was also really impressed with the pedestrian crossings which not only indicate when its safe to pass but also how many seconds are left until the lights change!

We stopped in at a few scenic locations on the way around to East Point where there is a Military Museum.  One very interesting sight was a group of trees growing just off the beach in the salt water.  These appeared to be very healthy but I couldn’t help but wonder what nasty surprises might await anyone brave enough to swim out to them.  We passed Mindil Market on the way but didn’t stop in due to having the dogs with us and the enormous amount of cars already in the car parking area.

Rather than stay another hour and a half waiting for the sunset (which we assume will also occur over the coming days as well) we opted to head back to camp, dropping in on Kerrie & John on the way.  Great to catch up with them again and make some plans to get together again during our Darwin stay.  As we left their camp, we did actually get to see a pretty spectacular tail end of the sunset which whet our appetite for more at a more photogenic location.

It was quite late when we got back into camp and felt very sorry for a large van owner pulled up at reception booking in and the likely fun he’d be experiencing getting his 21 footer into a site in the dark.  I just hope he was lucky enough to score an easy site!

After feeding the dogs there is usually a very nice hour or so when what I call the “Food Coma” takes over.  When we had been outside earlier, the bats were starting to move around in the trees above our van so we took a torch and cameras outside to take a few night shots and go Bat hunting.  They are busy little things and have a strange call.  It was probably “Get that bloody light out of my eyes” but they look so huge when they take flight with their massive wingspan.  They certainly aren’t the little beasts we get occasionally at home, up here!

 Given we only booked in for 5 nights originally – and this was already #2 – we decided to see if we could extend our stay through to next week.  There is certainly going to be plenty to see and I’m pretty sure the dogs will enjoy having more space than the back seat of the car for a while.