Jim Jim Falls

Monday 11^th June

Jim  Jim  Falls.

One of the best known Tourist Attractions in Kakadu National Park are the Jim Jim and Twin Falls.  We had been told in Darwin that the road into these attractions was still closed after the wet season floods, but once we got into the park, we checked at the Kakadu Information Centre and found that although access to both falls was now open, you couldn’t go any further than Jim Jim Falls unless you had a snorkel fitted to your car, due to the depth of the river crossings.

We were also told that access to Jim Jim was restricted to four wheel drive only, and that the last 10 km was a very narrow rough track requiring four wheel driving skills.  Sounded interesting.

Jim Jim Falls are 60km off the main Jabiru to Pine Creek Highway.  The first 50 km was along a VERY corrugated metal road.  There are thousands of theories about the best way to tackle corrugations, but at the end of the day every driver just goes with what he feels is the least harmful to his car.

This was by far the worst road we had driven on since we had been in Aussie, and after 50 km of bone jarring, teeth rattling, car wrecking corrugations, we arrived at the point where the road became a single lane, two wheel rut track, winding through the bush.  There was a large sign advising it was suitable for four wheel drive vehicles only, and that all vehicles should engage four wheel drive before proceeding. There was only one way to tackle it, dead slow.

Although it was pretty rough with some huge potholes, most of it was dry and dusty with the occasional stretch of soft sand, and a few creek crossings.  As usual it had been over dramatised, and we drove 95% of it in two wheel drive. 

The Aussies love to make a lot of noise about little things. It took about as long to do this stretch of 10 km, as it did to do the first 50.

At the end of the track we had to walk about a kilometre up the stream bed to the falls themselves. 

Some of the track required clambering up, over, and around huge boulders, but the effort was well worth it.  Another wow factor sight.  Not a huge amount of water coming over the falls, but the height of them and the setting was absolutely amazing.

We spent about an hour enjoying the scenery and having a swim in the huge holes just below the falls.   

It was amazing how many people had made the trip in to visit this spot, and it was great to see families with toddlers in back packs, right through to teenagers and grandparents, coming in to enjoy this spectacular bit of Aussie scenery.

After a bite to eat, we reluctantly left this magnificent spot and headed back to our car. The first 10km back out along the narrow track was made interesting by the vehicles coming in.  Several times we had to pull off into the scrub to allow cars to pass.

Back in JABIRU we had a cuppa, and then it was back to the pool for our last swim.  Tomorrow we would be leaving Kakadu and heading for KATHERINE.

Ubirr

Sun 10^th July

East Alligator River and Ubirr Rock Art.

We were up early this morning as we were booked on the 9 o’clock cruise on the East Alligator River.  The cruise was based at the small settlement of UBIRR on the banks of the river. We had been told this was a cruise not to be missed, with a mixture of crocodile spotting and Aboriginal Culture. UBIRR was about 40kms north east of JABIRU.

Unfortunately there was quite a strong wind blowing down the river, and although we spotted several crocodiles, our progress up the river was fairly slow due to the chop and the head wind.  We spotted several crocs along the river bank, these ones had obviously not been conditioned to expect a feed when the boat came past, and just lay there watching us as we cruised by.

Our boat captain and tour guide was an Aboriginal chap, and he gave us a very interesting commentary on what foods the Aborigines could find and use around the river, and what they used the various trees and plants for.  Lots of them for medicinal purposes.

We cruised up river for about an hour, stopping frequently to photograph crocs and look at other wildlife on and around the river.  We finally got to a view point and pulled into the bank. 

This was usually the stage of the cruise where the tour guide gave a demonstration of Aboriginal Spear Throwing, and fish spearing, but unfortunately because we were running behind time we didn’t get to experience this part of the tour.

Back on shore we headed into UBIRR Township for a cuppa at the BORDER STORE, before heading off to see the nearby Aboriginal Rock Paintings we had been told about.  There were several Aboriginal men doing paintings outside the store, and we spent some time watching them and admiring their skills.

Then we headed up to the Rock Paintings sight.  We had no idea just how amazing this experience was going to be.  Quite detailed drawings, some dated at between 20 and 40 thousand years old.  It was absolutely incredible to stand there and look at these paintings and to realise they had been done by a very primitive peoples tens of thousands of years ago.  It certainly gave us a different insight into these people.

Most of the art work had been done on the walls of rock overhangs where they had lived, and under the overhangs, we saw holes in rocks, made over thousands of years, where they had been grinding grain to make flour.

The path around the paintings lead up onto a high rock lookout, with brilliant views over the nearby wetlands, and off to the Northeast the rock escarpments of ARNHEM LAND.

 It was quite a spiritual place, and standing there looking at all this magnificent scenery, it wasn’t hard to understand why the early Aboriginals had such a spiritual connection with the land in which they lived.

UBIRR just doesn’t feature on the Tourist Brochures.  To our minds it was definitely up there with ULURU and the likes of Kings Canyon and Katherine Gorge.  If you ever get to KAKADU make sure you visit UBIRR.  You won’t regret it.

After the Rock Paintings we went back to the East Alligator River to have a look at Cahills Crossing.  This is the point where the road into OENPELLI and Arnhem Land crosses the East Alligator River. 

It is a concrete ford across the river and has been the place of several crocodile attacks in the past.  One of them fatal.  We were not allowed to drive across the ford as you needed a permit to enter Arnhem Land as it is all Aboriginal Land.

From there we returned to our caravan in JABIRU, and then headed off to their Olympic Sized Pool for another swim.  We heard on the news that night that JABIRU had recorded the highest temperature in Australia for the day at 31 degrees, and tomorrow was expected to top that at 32.  No wonder we needed a swim.

Heading towards Kakadu

Fri 8^th July - Territory Wildlife Park, Swim at BERRY SPRINGS, and Dinner at the wharf.

Lots of people had told us we must see the Territory Wildlife Park while we were in DARWIN.  From what we had heard it sounded as though it didn’t have anything to offer that we hadn’t seen elsewhere, but decided to have a look, and as it was out near BERRY SPRINGS, we would make a day of it and have a swim in the springs as well.

The Wildlife Park was very enjoyable with some of the highlights being the Free Flight Display where a Buzzard demonstrated his skills at opening an emu egg by using a rock to repeatedly smash against the egg until it broke.  The aquarium with its walk through glass tunnel, like Kelly Tarltons, was impressive, as was the simulated Monsoon Rain Storm with recorded thunder and flashes of lightning. 

Lots of separate areas, all specializing in some part of the Australian Flora and Fauna.  Overall we felt it wasn’t quite as good as Desert Springs, which we had seen at Alice Springs.

After the Wildlife Park we went to BERRY SPRINGS and had a swim in the lukewarm water.  A lovely setting in the bush where the creek had been dammed up to create a huge swimming pool. 

Phillip had told us in an email that he used to swim there when he was working in Darwin.  They decided not to swim there any more after an 8 foot crocodile was found also enjoying the lukewarm water of the swimming pool.

To round off our stay in DARWIN we decided to go back to the wharf for tea.  We had a lovely meal on the wharf watching the sun set and the tour boats chugging by.  Cameron went for a walk at one stage, and came back very excited, he had seen a couple of dolphins playing in the water at the end of the wharf.  We went down and watched them for a while. It appeared to be a mother and baby.

After a very lovely evening it was time to head home to bed.  Tomorrow we would head for KAKADU.

Sat 9^th July - Darwin to Jabiru

We had booked on the 11:00 cruise for the Adelaide River Queen Jumping Crocodile Cruise.  The Adelaide River Cruises are situated on the ADELAIDE RIVER where it crosses the Arnhem Highway on the way from DARWIN to JABIRU in KAKADU NATIONAL PARK.  It was going to take us a good hour to get there from our Motor camp on the outskirts of DARWIN, so we were up early and on the road. 

We arrived with plenty of time to spare, and while Christel and Cameron had an impromptu school lesson, I wandered down to the jetty where our cruise was going to leave from.  Directly across the river, sunning itself in the mud was a big salt water crocodile. 

I raced back and interrupted the school lesson.  Our first Saltie in the wild.  Needless to say, the excitement about our forthcoming cruise put paid to further school work.

We had no sooner left the jetty and we were spotting salties everywhere.  Some huge, others only 2 to 3 metres long.  The Adelaide River Queen Jumping Crocodile Cruises are renowned for just that.  Jumping crocodiles. 

One of the first things that happened once we got on the boat was the skipper had to give us a safety talk.  He told us that they had all recently undergone a safety refresher course and that all staff members on the boat were now fully up to date with safety procedures.    

He said that during the course they had done some experiments with crocodiles to try and find out what made them attack people.  He said one very clear message they got from these experiments was that crocodiles were very colour aware, and that they always reacted very aggressively to the colours of bright orange and yellow. 

He then went on to say that in the unlikely event of the boat capsizing or sinking while we were on the cruise; there were life jackets in the net above our heads.  If you look up now you will see they are all coloured bright orange and yellow.

About 5 minutes into the cruise, we slowed down beside a large croc sunning himself on the river bank.  One of the crew hung some meat over the side of the boat on the end of a long pole.  The croc swum up to it, and as it tried to grab the meat, she lifted the pole.  After three or four times the croc finally reared up out of the water about a meter or so and grabbed the meat.  Brilliant stuff. 

 

This exhibition was repeated about 10 times as we cruised up the river.  There seemed to be crocs everywhere.  Some in the water, others sunning themselves on the banks.  Some of them obviously expecting to get a feed when they heard the boat coming.  To watch them slither off the mud, then swim out to the boat was just such an awesome experience, only to be capped off when they lunged up out of the water to grab the meat.

The commentary about crocs as we cruised up the river was very informative, and we all learned heaps about these magnificent prehistoric creatures. This was going to be a hard act to follow, and we were all on a high when we got back to the caravan.

From the ADELAIDE RIVER, we continued east along the ARNHEM Highway towards JABIRU, our destination for the day.  We could see smoke from bush fires ahead of us, and as we got closer to the SOUTH ALLIGATOR RIVER, realised the fires were obviously very close to the road.

As we approached the South Alligator River Bridge, we could see the smoke was completely blocking the road just on the other side of the bridge.  A car in front of us was backing off the bridge, apparently not prepared to go any further.  We cautiously passed the car and drove onto the bridge where we stopped to assess the situation.  We could see most of the fire was on the downwind side of the road, but there was still enough smoke blowing across the road to completely block our vision.

From what we could see, the fire on the upwind side had mostly burnt out, and the fairly strong crosswind was quickly driving the flames away from the road on the downwind side. 

We decided it was fairly safe to proceed, and slowly drove into the smoke.  Soon we could see clear air on the other side and quickly sped up to get through.  We could feel the heat from the fires on both sides of the road, and drove for about half a kilometre with flames on both sides of us.

Quite an exciting experience, but definitely not the sort of thing to be taken lightly.

We got to JABIRU at about 2.30 and were soon all set up at our motor camp.  After a cuppa and a feed we went for a drive around the town, and ended up at the swimming pool where we spent a very pleasant hour or so cooling off.  We got talking to the guy who was working in the ticket box at the pool, and the old question of, ‘where are you from?’ soon came up.  When we said New Zealand he said what part. When we said Taranaki he said “Oh yeah, I grew up in Eltham.  My parents used to own the Railway Hotel.  When I was about 10 they sold that and bought the New Commercial Hotel in Stratford.  After that we moved to Waipukurau. Small world, eh!!!.

JABIRU is a small town built by a mining company in 1983.  They obviously wanted to keep their employees happy, as the pool is Olympic Size - 50 metres long.  It just looks so out of place in this little village.  Never mind, we weren’t complaining.

Sightseeing in Darwin

Thurs 7^th July

Sight Seeing in Darwin

We had been told the Darwin Museum was well worth a visit, so after some school work we headed off for a day’s sightseeing around Darwin.  Besides the Museum we also wanted to see the Famed Fannie Bay Goal, and the Military Museum at East Point.

On top of Cameron’s  list of things to see at the Museum, was Sweetheart, a 5.1 metre croc, weighing 780 kg, which had been captured in Kakadu National Park after she had developed a liking for people in small boats. 

Apparently between 1974 and 1979, she attacked over 15 boats, and gained such a reputation that a film called ‘Rogue’ was made based on her activities.

The intention was to transfer Sweetheart to a crocodile farm, but unfortunately during her capture she was accidently drowned.  Because of her huge size, and the legends that had been built around her, it was decided to stuff her, and put her on show at the Museum, where she has become a major draw card.

Cameron wasn’t disappointed, and after paying our respects to Sweetheart, we continued on to view some fantastic displays of Australian wildlife including everything from deadly ants, scorpions and spiders, to butterflies, birds, lizards and snakes, with a few deadly sea creatures like box jellyfish and blue ringed octopus thrown in for good measure.  Such an environmentally friendly place to live in.

There was also a section dedicated to Cyclone ‘Tracey’, which devastated Darwin on Christmas Eve 1974.  Part of this display included going into a dark room and listening to an actual recording of the wind and all the debris blowing around.  Quite scary.  There was a warning notice advising people, who had actually lived through the cyclone, that experiencing the re-enactment could cause extreme emotional distress.  Apparently several people who had actually been through the cyclone and then gone to the museum, had become quite upset at hearing the recording.

I later watched one of the museum staff, who was one of the cyclone survivors,  talking about the cyclone, and several times he had to stop and bring himself under control, as the emotion of talking about it became too much.  Seeing photographs and video of the destruction was a gentle reminder of what nature can do, and how insignificant we are.

From the museum we headed out to Fannie Bay Goal which became well known in Australia during the early 1900s and even up until the 1950s, for its casual conditions and user friendly environment.  Apparently conditions were so ‘good’ inside, that some of the local indigenous people were deliberately breaking the law in order to get sentenced to, ‘a bit of time at Fannie Bay.’  The goal itself is no longer used, but it was very interesting to wander around and check out the cells and various other buildings associated with the prison.

From Fannie Bay we headed further out to the Darwin Military Museum at East Point.

East Point was established during World War 2 as a strategic defensive position for Darwin Harbour.  Two huge 9.2inch gun emplacements were built here during the war in preparation for the expected invasion by Japan.  They overlooked Darwin Harbour and were intended to blow the ‘sh 1 t’ out of the expected Japanese Invasion Fleet.  Luckily they were never fired in anger, and ironically one of the guns was sold to the Japanese after the war for scrap iron.  The concrete gun emplacements are still there as is one of the original guns.

They have now turned the whole area into a Military Museum, and we spent an interesting couple of hours looking at all sorts of big guns and other military paraphernalia. Needless to say, Cameron’s camera again had smoke pouring out of it by the time we left.

After that we went back to our caravan park for a couple of cold ones before returning to town to visit the Mindil Sunset Markets.  Getting to the markets, even at 5.00pm was a struggle, and we joined the traffic jam about 3 km from the actual markets.  We finally got a park and then entered ... hell.  

This was Christel’s idea, and she is going to have to live with it. Thousands of people jammed into the market area, which itself must have covered 20 acres.  Every man and his dog were there, plus a few.

All the usual shit for sale, plus hundreds of food stalls.  We queued for six hours, well, maybe 20 minutes just to get an ice cream.  My repeated comments of ‘Gee this is fun’, didn’t seem to be going down all that well, and I soon got told where to stick it.  Some women don’t have any sense of humour.

To escape the crowds we went down onto the beach for a while to watch the sun set.  So did a million other people, but at least there was more space down there. 

We had no sooner got on to the beach and we were warned to be very cautious in the water, as earlier in the day a croc had been seen patrolling up and down the beach.  Despite this, Cameron still had to go for a paddle.  Silly bastard.

Back in the markets, we tried camel jerky, and buffalo jerky, and I believe even Joe’s jandals would taste better, but god forgive I never have to make the comparison. I tried Buffalo and crocodile kebabs, which were a bit better, especially the buffalo, and Christel had some Greek Wrap stuff which some sleezy gleek plick made for her.  She reckoned it was beautiful.  What is it about these Greeks?  Doesn’t she know their bloody country is about to go arse up?

One of the side shows was a Whip Cracking Display.  The guy doing it was brilliant, cracking out a rhythm with a whip in each hand. He then invited members of the public to come up and have a go.  Guess who was first across the line. 

After a few practice shots, Cameron got a good crack which brought applause from the crowd.  We went back later and he had another go and got an even louder crack.  Guess what’s been added to the Christmas list.

(I’m now well into my third bourbon, so this could take a while.)

There was also a Fire Eating Show.  Well, they didn’t actually eat the fire, but were bloody, whoops make that very, entertaining to watch.  They had a huge crowd gathered around them.  We arrived at their stall well before their show started, and got a good position where we could see.

Not long after the show got started, this ‘Dick’, about 8 foot tall, came and stood in front of us and proceeded to video the whole thing, and then this bitch with a stupid bloody great hat, pushed in right in front of me completely blocking my view.  I made a ‘casual’ comment to Christel about her manners and her hat, which she just happened to overhear.  She turned around and looked at me as though I was at fault and said “Excuse Me”.  Luckily I was enjoying the show, (what I could see of it), so I just ignored the fat smelly hairy arm pitted daughter of a gleek plick.

So, that was the Mindil Sunset Markets.

Darwin

Monday, 4^th of July

Today is our Wedding Anniversary.  Blimey, 13 wonderful years.  Where did they go?  High on Christel’s list of priorities for the day was to buy a dress suitable for our Celebration Dinner out tonight.  Apparently jeans or shorts weren’t quite appropriate.  We had also decided to see if we could get a bike for Cameron, as we had found that quite a few of the kids he was mixing with had bikes, and he was getting a bit left out.

We had discovered a huge shopping complex which had K Mart, Big W, Coles, and a thousand other shops in it, in a suburb called Casuarina so decided that would be our best bet to satisfy all our shopping needs.  While Christel was trying on dresses, Cameron and I went shopping for a bike.  After comparing prices in Big W and K Mart, we settled on a beauty BMX for $89 from K Mart.  It was on special and included a helmet, and was the last one left.

Christel met us outside K Mart with a huge smile on her face. Obviously her shopping expedition had also been successful. Two very nice dresses, one short, and one long, for the princely sum of $35!

Then it was back to the park where a very excited boy couldn’t wait to jump on his bike and head off to meet up with his mates.  Needless to say we never saw much of him for the rest of the day, and had to go looking for him when it was time to get ready to go out for our Dinner date.

The restaurant was called Seafood on Cullen, and was about 100 meters from the water’s edge. We had booked a table out on the balcony overlooking the harbour.  After selecting our food from the huge buffet selection, we sat and ate our meal and watched the sun set below the horizon.  A lovely evening. 

Tuesday 5^th of July

Our Pajero was due for a Service and we had booked it in at the Darwin Mitsubishi Agent.  They had told me that if I got it into them by 7.30am it would be ready by 9.00 or 9.30 at the latest.  Besides the basic service, we were also getting the transmission oil changed, a recommendation by Howard, the guy we bought the Pajero from. Not normally needed, but seeing as we were doing a lot of towing, a good precautionary step.

I duly arrived at the agency at about 7.25am, and after filling in the necessary paper work was pleased to see a mechanic come in and grab the keys to start the job.  Great I thought, I’ll be home by 9.00 or soon after.  To fill in the hour and a half wait, I wandered across the road to McDonalds and had some breakfast and read the paper.

I wandered back to the Mitsubishi Agency just after 9.00.

 ‘How’s the service on the Pajero for Broadmore going?” I asked.  “Hang on I’ll check.  Yep, just about finished.  You wanted the transmission oil changed too didn’t you?”  “Yes” I said.  “Yeah, um, there’s a bit of a problem there, you see we thought we had some transmission oil here, but apparently it’s been taken up to the other depot, so we’ve rung them and they’re on their way down with it.”  “Ok, how long’s that going to take?” “Oh they should be here in a few minutes, so she should be all go by half past nine.”  “OK, I’ll just sit in your waiting room.  Luckily I bought my book with me.” “Yeah. No worries, mate.  I’ll give you a yell when she’s ready”. 

Oh well, another half hour’s no problem.  Quarter to ten I went back to the reception again.

“How’s the Pajero for Broadmore going?”  New bloke on the counter this time.   ‘Don’t know anything about it, mate.  What’s it in for?”  “A service and Transmission oil change”.  “Hang on I’ll find out”.  He disappears out back then comes back five minutes later.  “Apparently we are waiting for the other depot to drop some Transmission oil down for it.”  “Well the other bloke I spoke to at about 9.00 said you guys had rung them and they were on their way down with it, and the car would be ready by about 9.30.”  “Sorry mate, don’t know anything about that, we’re pretty busy in here this morning.”  “So when’s this oil going to get here?”  “Dunno mate, like I said we’re pretty busy here this morning”.

Back to the Waiting Room.  I decided I would check on progress again at 10.30.  That would give them heaps of time, wouldn’t it?

10.30 and back to reception.  First bloke I had spoken to was back.  “How’s my Pajero going?”  “Oh yeah, that should be ready. Hang on I’ll find out”.  He disappears out the back, and I wait.  Ten minutes later he’s back.  “Sorry mate, it seems the other depot didn’t bring your oil down so I’ve sent some one up to get it”.  “How longs that going to take?”  “Oh, only about quarter of an hour, they’re just up round the corner, and then it’s just a matter of changing the oil, should be ready for you by 11.00.”  “OK, I’ll wait in the waiting room, lucky I bought my book.”  “Yeah.  No worries mate, I’ll give you a yell when she’s ready”.  Sound familiar?

Quarter past eleven and back to reception.  “How’s the Pajero for Broadmore going?’  “Hang on mate I’ll find out”.  He’s back in five minutes.  Yep he’s just starting it now, should be ready in about quarter of an hour”. “Fine, I’ll just sit here and wait, lucky I bought my book”.  “Yeah, no worries mate”.

Finally at ten past twelve the car was ready, and so was the bill.  “Here you are mate, that’s $379.  We didn’t charge you for the labour to change the Transmission Oil seeing you had to hang around and wait a bit.”  “Gee, that’s very generous of you”. “‘No worries mate, have a good day”. “Bit late for that mate, there’s @#$%^  all left of it”.  “Yeah, no worries mate”.

So, there you go, the shortened version of how to get your car serviced Darwin Style.  No worries mate. 

Back at camp Christel was about to organise a search party for me.  Cameron had finished his school work and promptly disappeared on his bike.  We had to go looking for him so we could have some lunch before heading off for some more sightseeing.

After lunch we visited the Australian Aviation Heritage Centre, which was basically just across the road from our motor camp in the grounds of the Darwin Airport.  We spent a very interesting couple of hours there looking at the planes and displays.  By far the biggest attraction is a giant B52 bomber, which takes up the whole hanger, the smaller fighters and other displays fitted in around it.  Other planes included a Mirage 111 swing wing fighter, a Sabre Jet, and a Spitfire.

Then it was out to the suburb of Nightcliff to pick up some more Correspondence School work that we had arranged to have forwarded to the Post Office there.  We had chosen a small suburban Post Office after our earlier experiences in larger Post offices, where it is nothing to find yourself standing in a queue of 20 or 30 people every time you go for something. 

We had some concerns about whether or not it would be there, as twice before, the stuff sent from the correspondence school, and addressed to us in Australia, had ended up at Phillip’s place in New Plymouth.  Work that one out.  Something to do, we think, with the fact that we arranged for all our mail addressed to 87 Upper Norfolk Road, to be redirected to him, but I guess only NZ Post can really answer that one !!!

However, third time lucky, and after joining the queue of only about 10 people, we finally had some more school work.

Wed 6^th July

We had arranged for a Mobile Caravan Service Man to come out and give our caravan its 10,000 km service this morning.  He duly arrived bang on the appointed time of 10.00 and proceeded to give our caravan wheels bearings and brakes a complete overhaul.  Two hours and $340 later we were as good as new again.  It’s been an expensive couple of days, but at least we are all good for another 5000km for the car and 10,000 for the van.  That should see us back in Melbourne.

After lunch we headed in to town to try out the Wave Pool.  This is a bit like New Plymouth’s Aquatic Centre‘s wave action, only this one is outside, with a variety of wave patterns, creating waves up to 1.7 metres high.  We spent a very enjoyable couple of hours there, with Cameron surfing a couple of waves on a boogie board.

Following that we went back to the wharf for a feed of chips and a couple of beers before going back to camp for tea.

Berry Springs and up to Darwin

Wednesday 29^th June – Friday 1^st 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 1^st 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 2^nd 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 7^th 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 10^th Avenue, whoops again occupied.  Third try, site 38 on 13^th 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, 3^rd 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.