Jabiru to Darwin


 Once again breakfast was a disappointment, a sanger from the servo!  At least I’m getting the hang of the lingo. 

Anyway more rain last night meant a sticky day, we are really noticing the increase in humidity, even I started to sweat for the first time this trip. 

After about 40 minutes we stopped at the Mamukala wetlands and what a treat. Mostly waterlilies for as far as the eye can see and prolific bird life. 


There is a fantastic viewing platform with binoculars, we spent some time here. There is a 3km boardwalk but my foot is giving me a bit of gyp after my slip the other day on the way back from the swimming hole. 


At the carpark there was a small Kangaroo that didn’t seem phased by us at all and just carried on its business and didn’t seem to mind posing for photos.


So on towards Darwin, not too much to see other than the usual Savannah bush. 

We stopped for refreshment at the oddly named town of Humpty Doo. 

Then we were on the motorway past the Darwin suburb of Palmerston and then we found our way to our hotel for the next two nights. 


We went for a bit of a walk and visited a chemist for some additional tincture for grazes.

First impressions of Darwin are positive, a clean and open city with a modern feel to it. It does seem to be a bit strange being back in a city and staying in a very nice hotel, which is actually cheaper than some of the cabins we have had.

Later on after the temp dropped a bit, we went for a walk along the foreshore where there are many story boards explaining the bombing raids of WW2. 

We then stumbled across an outdoor cinema which is run by the Darwin film society. They have a film festival going on at the moment. We bought our tickets and then grabbed drinks and a meal and were treated to live music by a guy playing a guitar, harmonica and didgeridoo.  He was excellent. 


Then it was time for the first movie which was a short film of Aboriginal elders narrating their connection to their lands and explaining their views on life and how their ancestors shaped their view of life today. Really well done. 

A first for me was seeing about six geckos wandering all over the screen having a great old time. 

The main feature was a film set in Alice Springs and followed the journey of an unlikely friendship between a young girl and an Aboriginal boy. Very thoughtful and touched on many of the issues faced by all sections of that community but in the end gave hope for the future so it had a happy ending. 


So another day added to rich variety of sights and experiences we have been lucky enough to have on the trip so far. 

As near as I can make out we are at the halfway point or thereabouts. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Melbourne

Image
After an uneventful flight we were met at the airport by Siobhan and Alex who have generously offered to accommodate us until we can collect the bike. On Sunday we visited a winery for lunch which was very nice. The weather is very pleasant right now with a real spring feel about it. Then after we returned home we took Kairo the golden retriever for a walk along the banks of the Yarra, then back for a couple of beers and took in the women weightlifters on telly. Monday was time for paperwork and after 2 frustrating hours on the phone trying to arrange the compulsory road insurance I gave up and we took the tram into town to visit Vicroads in person. There was a bit of a queue in front of us but when we got to the desk the girl was very helpful and we were all sorted in 10 minutes. I get the impression they still have a way to go in getting this sort of thing organised online. Anyway only the quarantine inspection to go now and we can hit the road.
Read more

Preparations

Image
After much debate and thinking about where our next major trip will be, we have decided on Australia. The bike is enroute to Melbourne as I write this. We will collect the bike there on about the 12th of August and will circumnavigate the continent in an anticlockwise direction. So watch this space and come along for the ride and enjoy our adventures with us.  A big shout out to BMW Wellington for giving us the transport crate, 360 logistics for making the shipping so easy and to Rob Vandenberg for sharing his experiences and to everyone else who has shared their snake, spider, roadkill stories which have encouraged us no end. 
Read more

Cape Tribulation to Cooktown

Image
The weather was much like yesterday, overcast and threatening rain. There was one big downpour overnight but little evidence of it this morning. The next section of road is known as the Bloomfield track has a 30km section of dirt track with stream crossings and we are told steep ups and downs. Beacause of the amount of rain we have debated about whether to take it on or not with some people saying yes and some no. The first stream crossing was only 5km in so we thought we would at least check it out. The stream is reported to have crocodiles inhabiting it although they are reportedly downstream a bit from the crossing. I did suggest to Robyn that it would make my life easier to get across it if she walked it, but she didnt seem that keen. Anyway the road was good and when we got to the stream Robyn said just go for it. So I did. Now it might not look much, but gunning a 350kg motorbike 2 up through water with the bike moving around underneath us on the shifting stones was interesting. ...
Read more