Aquascene in Doctor’s Gully is a sanctuary for fish. They come in at high tide. You can feed the fish which include barramundi, catfish, mangrove jack, mud crabs, stingrays and others.You can stand in the water and they swim around your legs. No crocodiles or sharks here. The harbour fisheries remove any sharks and crocodiles which come into the harbour as soon as they are spotted. Around 200 crocodiles are removed each year.
End the day with a Mindil Beach sunset
The first time I realised Darwin, well, anywhere in Australia was bombed during WWII was in Baz Luhurmann’s epic movie “Australia “. I knew Japanese minisubmarines entered Sydney Harbour but I never learned any of this at school!! It’s a disgrace we weren’t taught this important history. The museum shares Darwin WWII stories of people from all walks of life and embarrassingly made me aware of my lack of historical knowledge of my country. Sure I am first generation Australian born of Italian parents but this history should be mandatory in school. This museum is set in pretty grounds with lots of equipment salvaged from the bombing.
More than 270 people perished on 19 February 1942. Luckily the government evacuated women and children following the bombing of Pearl Harbour. But Darwin was taken by surprise.
Here is a statue representing The Digger and all who have served, past and present, to pritect our freedom and Gunner the kelpie who alerted allies when Japanese aircraft were approaching.
On my travels I have also learned about Japanese and German boats and mines along the New South Wales coastline during WWII. These maps from the Fisherman’s Cottage Museum in South West Rocks NSW show the positions of mines and the loss of life and vessels
Oh the weather here is fabulous. Funnily the locals told me it was cold at 25 this morning. Darwin city is so pretty with an area called the Waterfront. Lovely cafes and restaurants and an area to swim which is protected from crocodiles and Box Jellyfish.
The Parliament House looks like it is from a tropical island.
WWII Darwin was bombed by the Japanese for 6 months. Hard to imagine this harbour under attack
Oil storage Tunnels were built but the war ended prior to them being used
Puppet “The Digger” was made from WWII parts.
Some of Darwin
Visited the Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory MAGNT as it has a history of Australia’s most devastating Cyclone, Tracy.
Tracy destroyed Darwin on Christmas Day 1974 and left 48000 people homeless. MAGNT also had Year 12 Art student exhibits. Some amazing talent but I felt a lot of sadness from their art works which depicted their fears, loneliness, confusion and anger experienced during this pandemic and how art helped them cope.
For my overseas friends who always wonder how we can live in a country with the most venomous animals in the world, I learned we have cute coral and plants which are deadly also.
But this part of the world is known for crocodiles. Sweetheart had a reputation for attacking boat outboard motors, not humans.
Across the road from MAGNT is Fannie Bay. Don’t be deceived by how pretty it looks. Not a good time to swim here with deadly box Jellyfish in season.
My first plane trip since November 2019. Like many people I have had several trips cancelled because of the pandemic. London, Port Lincoln, Tasmania twice. I am so happy this trip did not get cancelled. Do I remember what to do? It was different. Had to wear a mask for 4 hours but I am travelling again!! This is my first time in the Northern Territory.
Hello Darwin! Oh the weather is divine. I left Sydney this morning 8 degrees Celsius. Darwin is 31!! First stop is the Palm City Resort. Dumped my bags and explored The Esplanade through Bicentennial Park.
The sunsets here in Darwin are spectacular. I couldn’t get to a beach in time but this view isn’t bad.
Had one of the best Italian meals at the Il Piatto at the Mindil Beach Resort Casino. I think I am starting to remember how to do this
First break away since Covid19 with my previous trip overseas was a 30 day Trans Pacific cruise in December 2019.
CV19 has forced us to look at what is in our backyard. As most countries around the world, Australia does not allow us to leave our country. Not such a bad thing when you have this beauty nearby.
With our low rates of CV19 most of our country has opened up for Easter. Queensland has caused a bit of panic with 2 clusters shutting down the Greater Brisbane area and the Byron Bay area of NSW is under some restrictions but on the whole we finally have some freedoms.
Avoca Beach is 1.5 hours from Sydney in an area known as the Central Coast of NSW with 40 beaches.
Five minute drive down the road is Copacabana Beach. Not to be confused with the one in Rio de Janeiro, which I have been to several times. This Beach has no crime, no oil slicks, no crowds, no high rise. It does have clean sand and surf, surfing, fishing and a slow beach lifestyle.
We stopped in a town called Kurri Kurri and discovered the Big Kookaburra
Kurri Kurri was a mining town and the town depicts some of its history with murals throughout the town
45 minutes from Sydney Harbour is a totally different water world, the Hawkesbury River. This was the location for my 60th birthday celebration, on the Banjo Paterson houseboat on this beautiful part of Sydney. I celebrated four days with 8 of my closest and dearest.
March 2019
Living 15 minutes by train to the most beautiful harbour in the world, I am often somewhere nearby. Either on a cruise ship ready to sail out
or at the Opera Bar enjoying a drink with friends
Twilight sailing on Sydney Harbour
23 April 2019
I arrived at the most western town in New South Wales, Broken Hill. The reason I decided on this road trip. From White Cliffs I had to go back to Wilcannia to take the road to Broken Hill. Only one place to stop between Wilcannia and Broken Hill is the Little Topar Hotel.
The hospitality was typical country although their “ring for service” bell might make you believe they do not offer friendly service. But the rabbit trap “ring for service” bell is typical Australian humour.
Broken Hill, known as the silver city, the Capital of the Outback, is the longest lived mining city in Australia. The break in the hills which gave the name to Broken Hill no longer exists due to being mined away. The city has beautiful heritage listed buildings.
And modern buildings.
The Living Desert and Sculptures of Broken Hill is the perfect place to be for sunset.
The Palace Hotel is the Outback site for the movie, Priscilla Queen of the Desert. The movie starts in my local area, the Imperial Hotel in Erskineville Sydney and ends in the Palace Hotel Broken Hill. Broken Hill now hosts the “Broken Heel” drag queen festival in September each year. I don’t like to be negative in my blogs but these 2 drag queens were not a good advertisement for the Broken Heel Festival or drag queens in general, on this night. They had just completed a show for the Indian Pacific guests and were in the foyer in full view of patrons hoping to get a photo opportunity. They eventually capitulated but they were the most uninviting Drag Queens I have encountered. Hopefully this was just a bad night because they gave drag queens a bad image. Give me good old Sydney drag queens any day, oh, and the Idaho Queen of drag, Minerva Jayne.
22 April 2019
What a fabulous sound rain is on a tin roof!! Cobar had the first significant rain for 2 years. I got ready in the morning to drive to White Cliffs, 3.5 hours of driving. There was a lot of water on the road and I asked the driver of this road train what the condition of the road was to White Cliffs and he suggested I contact Wilcannia Police for an update on road flooding as there were some road closures.
The Wilcannia Police reassured me the roads were open. However, when I went through my fisrt lot of .2 metre floodwater across the Barrier Highway I was so scared that I turned around to go back to Cobar. Then I watched another car go through the water and decided I would follow him if I could see the water was not too deep. After the third lot of floodwater I encountered a police officer and asked him what level floodwater would be ok with my Corolla hatch. He said “just follow another car. If they get through so will you but perhaps .3 metres will be enough”. That was reassuring. The problem was the care in front of me took off and I didn’t see him go through the floodwater but I decided he did get through so I should be ok. I remember being told to drive through floodwater slowly, do not speed up and do not stop. It was nerve wrecking because I didn’t know how many spots were flooded. Thankfully the rain receded and all I had to worry about then was goats, kanagaroos and emus. There were lots on the side of the road today but none jumped out in front of me.
158km (98miles) later I stopped at a small roadhouse in Emmdale. What would you tink about stopping at a place with bullet holes peppering the sign?
I was told that the original owner of the roadhouse had a reputation for shooting and that the story goes he shot up the sign.
I am getting into more and more remote Australia. Next stop Wilcannia is a township which looks more abandoned than lived in.
The local police station and post office are a reminder of what the town was like.
The old bridge is what is left of a time when this town was prosperous with paddlesteamers on the river. But the river has long since dried up.
One more hour to go to my next stop, White Cliffs.
Over 50 Aussie female solo traveller USA road trip and beyond 