#11
Mon 12th. We
headed out from Kununurra and made our way eastward. We crossed the Western Australia/Northern
Territory border at 10.am and promptly lost 1 1/2hours due to time zone change.
Sign at the Border
130kmph speed limit in the NT
We stopped for fuel at Timber Creek and seeing
as it was now 1pm we stopped for lunch.
Sitting in the shade of the trees we watched a helicopter come in and
land and pick up passengers and supplies and take off again.
Loved the name of this creek
a BOAB
magnificent geology
I think this is a Kapok flower
realignment of the roads
We stayed at the Big Horse Campground back in 2012
Arriving Timber Creek
We passed through Victoria River and kept
travelling. We stopped at the Mathison
Rest Area about 110km from Katherine. It
was 4.30pm and the wildlife were starting to get too close to the road. There was one other camper there as we came
in but by nightfall there were three more and we heard two more come in at
about 11pm.
Our camp. Was VERY hot
I love the way that the young tree is enveloping the old tree
Tues 13th. We
were up and about early so headed towards Katherine – stopping to get fuel and
a drink -before heading for Darwin. We
were surprised to find that the Hayes Creek pub/café was closed and if you
needed fuel you had to leave the highway for Pine Creek or stop in at Adelaide
River.
Edith Falls (Lelyin)
We were surprised by all the development from
the Humpty Doo turnoff and up through Coolalinga and northward.
Ant/termite hills are getting bigger
Mistletoe is starting to flower
they have had some storms so everything is looking green
trying to capture the hawks as they fly up from the road
got one!!!
some water about
a storm is brewing
Coolalinga east side development, only opened 8 months ago
Coolalinga west side - opened about 18 months ago
We arrived at the van park – Oasis Tourist
Park at Virginia – at about 2.30pm.
By the time we finished setting up, the first
heavy drops of rain fell. We stood under the awning and listening and watched
it fall. The temperature dropped by
about 6 degrees during the rain.
Over the next week we spent so much of our time
in Darwin itself, catching up with friends and people we think of as family.
We had a massive storm on Wednesday morning
(73.2mm of rain fell) and a smaller storm on Thursday night.
Wednesday – we checked out the city (some new developments happening with a ‘new
gateway’ to Darwin coming in from Tiger Brennan Drive up to McMinn Street.
Going to see over the new development in the Harbour
New motel with wave pool and an area where you can 'swim with the crocs'
An owl in the city
blocks from the old Town Hall in the pavement
They are also putting a ‘living canopy’ at
the Bennett Street end of Cavanagh Street.
This is supposed to reduce the amount of heat in the CBD and covers
about 50meters of the street. They found
a problem with this structure in June when the RSL club caught fire and the
fire trucks with top ladders, could not get under the structure. I think they have had to lift it a wee
bit.
this is going to have vines growing over it to reduce the heat in the CBD
Wednesday night we went to the Nightcliff
Bowling lanes – now called the Planet – and caught up with our friend Kaye
Talbot. It was so great talking about
the days when we all used to bowl together.
The owner of the centre is Bruno Maglieri and we used to bowl with most
of his family.
Thursday – we met our dear friend, Dani Wrigglesworth, at the Gateway Shopping
centre at Yarrawonga (out near Palmerston) and enjoyed a coffee and LOTS of
conversation at The Coffee Club.
After
there we headed into Nightcliff and the foreshore area and checked out the
Nightcliff Jetty. This seems to be the
place to get your fish and chips and pizza of an afternoon, with a van set up
in the car park.
Nightcliff Jetty
We then went back to ‘The Planet’ to meet up
with Kaye and a few of the other bowlers our age. Some remembered us and others didn’t, but we
enjoyed seeing their faces and thinking how good it was to see them still
bowling after 21 years. At about 8.30 pm
Bruno announced that a severe storm was due to hit Darwin in about ½ an hour –
so we left to get back to the van before it hit. As I said before, we only got a small storm
from it.
Friday – our English friends, Tommy and Natalie, were due in from Singapore
this morning, so we ventured into the Wharf area and awaited their call. Whilst we waited we went through the RFDS
(Royal Flying Doctor Service) and Bombing of Darwin exhibitions on the
Wharf.
These are brilliant with virtual
reality goggles, so you can see all that happened over the harbour and then
there are the Holographic depictions of both in the theater-ette. Brilliant.
We watched the HMAS Melville being positioned next the the other wharf.
We then had lunch on the wharf – a little bit
pricey – but enjoyable.
We finally heard from Tommy and decided that we
would meet up tomorrow after we go to the Parap Markets.
poiciana in flower
a dinosaur at Palmerston
Saturday – off to the markets by 8am to find them absolutely buzzing. This market is primarily a food market, both
fresh and freshly cooked, with some crafts on the side. Darryl had his fill of Po Pia (very small
beef spring rolls) and then we met up with Peta and Eli and wandered the
markets, checking out what was on offer.
Darryl had Laksa, Peta and Eli had gluten free crepes and I had gluten
free rice-paper rolls. We all sat and
had a leisurely breakfast, off to one side, listening to the hub-bub of the
markets, before Eli and Peta left to go to squash. Was great meeting up with them.
We then went into the city and met up with
Tommy and Natalie and found a coffee shop across the street. We enjoyed our catch up until the coffee shop
closed at 12md.
Tommy and Natalie
We then continued to sit
and chat until we decided it was time for lunch and we finally found food in a
food court in the Smith street mall (with most of the outlets closing as we decided
what we wanted) and had lunch. We said
our farewells after this and headed back to the van.
Off to the caravan park pool for a swim – and I
think the water is about 39 degrees in heat.
Was ok to be in the water and you did feel cooler when you got out but
very much a warm bath-type of water temperature.
Sunday – we arranged to meet Andrew Pefkos at the Humpty Doo pub for
lunch.
We arrived at the Humpty Doo
Tavern (GPS took us here after putting in Humpty Doo Pub), we waited until
11.55am and then I tempted fate and ordered lunch, and then at 12.05 I messaged
Andrew only to find that he was at the Humpty Doo Hotel Pub – about 2km further
down the road. Because we had ordered
Andrew came to us. We had a fantastic 3
hours catching up with him, before he headed home to go to bed as he starts
work at Midnight.
Sunday night we headed into the Wharf and met
up with Leah and Steve Gelding. I did my
general nurse training with Leah and worked with her and Steve when we were
stationed in Katherine. Was so good catching
up.
Monday – we started the day with going to Casuarina Shopping centre and
checking out the changes.
Have built Uni Accommodation above the Casuarina Shopping centre
About the
major one is the outdoor eatery with Nandos, Grill’d, and a few others and a
small water-play area for the children.
We met up with Tommy and Natalie at the Six Tanks pub in Mitchell street
and enjoyed a 3-hour lunch break with them.
So, so good meeting up with them.
[We first met Tommy in 2012, when he, Nick (English), Jimmy (American)
and Marcus (German) were bicycling around Australia to raise money for
Greenfleet, to plant trees in Australia].
That evening we met up with Peta and Eli again
at the Cool Spot at Fannie Bay before we said our farewells.
It was great seeing so many of our friends and
checking out the changes to Darwin and surrounds in the past 6 years.
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