Wednesday 29th June – Friday 1st July
Berry Springs.
The 70km drive north from Mt Bundy to BERRY SPRINGS was straight forward, and then we turned off onto the Cox Peninsula Road, and travelled west for about 20km to Berry Springs. We were no sooner set up and Cameron was in the pool, where he stayed for the next three days, only coming out for meals and school work. So passed a very relaxed and peaceful three days, with lots of little odd jobs getting done, and Cameron and Christel getting ahead with the school work, so they could have some time off while we were sightseeing around DARWIN.
We heard from other campers that the 1st July is ‘Territory Day’. Territory Day is the Northern Territory’s Anniversary Day, a bit like our Taranaki Anniversary Day, and they usually celebrate it with huge fireworks displays. The local display was being held in the Domain just along the road from the camp, so on Friday Night, along with most of the other campers, we grabbed our camp chairs and headed along to the domain at about 6.00pm.
It cost us $2.00 each to get in. There were the usual hot dog and drinks stands going, so we bought our tea and then sat back and waited for the fireworks to begin. The format for the night was that families who had bought their own fireworks had the first hour to set them off, and then at 8.00, the official display would begin.
Apparently the average sale of fireworks per family was $200, and for the first hour we enjoyed watching other people’s money going up in smoke. This was followed by the Official Display, which was as good as any we had seen. A great nights entertainment enjoyed on a lovely warm Northern Australian Evening.
Saturday 2nd July.
Berry Springs to Darwin
We had spoken to the owners of the motor camp and they asked us where we were heading from Berry Springs. When we told them DARWIN, their first question was had we booked. When we told them no they said we should as most camps in DARWIN were usually fully booked. The offered to ring and book for us, and after two camps, finally found a third one that still had some vacancies, so promptly booked us a site.
The Motor Camp was called Shady Glenn, and when we got there found about 6 vans in front of us, all waiting to get in. Luckily we had Booked!! Christel went to the office and we were soon shunted to the front of the queue and given directions to our site. Thats when the fun began. Ever heard of Double Booking.
A lot of the motor camps we have been in are big, usually about 200 caravan sites, plus tent sites and cabins, and Shady Glenn was no exception. The site they had booked for us was number 202 on 7th Avenue. When we got there, it was already occupied. Luckily there was a groundsman nearby and Christel explained our problem to him. He rolled his eyes, obviously not an unusual situation for him, and radioed the office.
We were next directed to site 104 on 10th Avenue, whoops again occupied. Third try, site 38 on 13th Avenue. At long last no one there. We quickly set up camp before ‘The Office’ assigned it to someone else. The groundsman was most helpful and apologetic about the cock up. I hope he stirred the shit out of the ‘shit for brains’ who was doing the bookings in the office.
Luckily this site was the best of the lot, with shade, and lots of room to put up the awning and park the car beside it. So here we are. Six months to the day since we arrived in Australia, half way through our time, and halfway round the country. How’s that for good management.
After setting up camp we drove to a nearby shopping centre and bought groceries. After getting them all packed away we drove the 6 odd km into DARWIN City and had a look around. As usual we went to the Information Centre getting there at about 3.30, only to find it closed. We couldn’t believe it; neither could the streams of other tourists turning up only to find the doors locked. Here was the Northern Territory’s capital city, at 3.30 on a Saturday, at the peak of their Tourist season, and their Information Centre shut. Needless to say there were a lot of very unpleasant words said about the City Fathers.
We then had a further look around town, and ended up at a water front area known as Cullen Bay. We had been told there was a fabulous Seafood Restaurant there overlooking the harbour and decided to check it out, and if we liked it we would book a meal there to celebrate our Wedding Anniversary on Monday night. The Restaurant looked perfect so we booked a table for Monday Night.
We then continued our Tiki Tour of town, and ended up down at the wharf. There were several restaurants and bars on the wharf, and we spent a very pleasant hour or so having a drink and feeding the numerous fish that were hanging around under the wharf. Then it was back to camp for tea.
Sunday, 3rd of July.
After a bit of schoolwork it was back into town to the Information Centre. This time it was open and every man and his dog was in there. There were queues of people waiting to get information from the counter. We wandered around trying to find some brochures on what we could see and do, only to find that a lot of the displays racks were empty. We grabbed what we could and left. I was so unimpressed that I have since sent an email to the Darwin City Council telling them what I think of their service, which reads as follows:
We are a New Zealand Family currently half way through a 12 month holiday around Australia. On Saturday the 2nd July we arrived in Darwin, and after establishing ourselves at a motor camp, drove into the city for a look around, and to visit the Information Centre, as we have done in virtually every town on our trip so far.
We got to the Information Centre at 3.30 pm only to find it closed. While we were standing outside the locked door discussing this somewhat surprising situation, several other groups of tourists arrived, also expecting to find the Centre open. Like us, they just couldn’t believe that the Information Centre for the capital city of the Northern Territory would not be open at 3.30pm on a Saturday at the height of the Tourist Season. We all felt this was a very bad reflection on the city. Most other Information Centres we have called at during our holiday are open either until 4.00 pm and sometimes even 5.00 pm. This includes small towns not on the usual ‘Tourist Route’.
We returned to the Centre the following day to find it very busy with queues of people waiting to be served. We searched the centre for brochures and information on what to see and do in and around Darwin, and while the various stands were well laid and out and clearly labelled as to what information they had, a lot of the shelves were empty of brochures. Needless to say we came away very disappointed.
To our minds there are three matters that could be improved on. First and most importantly, the opening hours need to reflect what tourists in Australia have come to expect from their experiences in other centres, secondly it appears more staff are needed to cope with the amount of tourist traffic using the centre, and thirdly the person or persons responsible for maintaining the stock levels of brochures in the centre, need to do their job more thoroughly. We would appreciate your feedback on the matters we have raised.
I’ll let you know the outcome if we ever get a reply.
From the Information Centre we walked around the centre of town for an hour or so, before heading out to a Water Theme Fun Park we had heard about. We spent a couple of very enjoyable hours there, including several rides on the water slides, one which was completely dark inside so you had no idea which way you were going next. Quite scary the first time down, and not surprisingly, two trips on that particular slide were enough for Cameron.
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