Territory Day in Darwin

Fannie Bay Darwin from the old Gaol Precinct

Fannie Bay Darwin NT

Well today is the 1st July and not only is it the start of a new financial year but up here it is Territory day. Firecrackers are for sale today and today only and tonight between the hours of 6pm and 11pm. they are allowed to set off. Mindil Beach will be one of the venues where there will be a display of fireworks. July 1st 1978 marks the date the Northern Territory became self governed. In 1862, South australia took responsibility for the N.T' before the federal government took over in 1911. Commonwealth administrators took the reins until an NT selected Legislated Assembly was established in 1974. 4 years later on July 1st, independence was declared and the unique NT flag was flown for the first time. Its colours - Black, Ochre and white - are reflective of those of aboriginal rock art. The flag was created by a victorian illustrator and optimises everything that is Territorian. The Southern Cross features in the night sky and the NT floral emblem, Sturt's Desert Rose takes pride of place. So tonight it will be one big party.

I managed to go to patchwork with some local ladies at Bee's Creek on Saturday and spent a very pleasant afternoon stitching and talking. We braved the SkyCity Casino again Monday night and gorged ouselves at the Buffet. We are waiting on some important mail to come through hopefully quicker than the last lot which took 14 days to arrive. We still haven't got out to Wagait Beach so hopefully we will tomorrow. We have to start preparing for the big move soon. Although it will be quite sad to leave Darwin.

Here I am in Solitary Confinement luckily they let me out
Talk again soon

Return from the Fishing Trip

This is the photo of the mud crabs that Bill helped catch last week

The happy fisherman

Wow I can't believe it!! Another week has gone by!!!! Bill returned Monday unscathed from his fishing trip, we now have some fresh fish to eat for a few days. We dined out for breakfast at the SkyCity Casino on Wednesdayand enjoyed a beautiful buffet meal overlooking the swimming pool and the bay. Tuesday night we dined at the Humpty Doo Golf Club with the fellows from the fishing trip. It was packed they reduce the price of their oysters on Tuesday, you can order a dozen oysters done any way for about $10 to $12. A very nice and popular place to eat.

A croc near their fishing

Looks quite innocent

We visited the Fannie Bay Gaol and Bill locked me in solitary confinement. Lucky for him he let me out as I hate being in confined spaces. He was not very popular. We went to the Mindil Markets again last night and enjoyed the pleasant atmosphere. They have an Indian Festival there on Saturday night. Lots of curries and Indian dancing all performed with a backdrop of the

sunset over Mindil Beach.

Some of the fish they caught

Tonight we are BBQing with Kylie and Paul at Robbie Robbins Reserve where they are camped. They hail from WA also. Saturday we plan to drive over to Waiget Beach (about 115kms on the Cox Peninsular Road)to visit friends who have purchased a block of land there. It wil be great to catch up with Sherrill and Jan again.

Talk again soon

Fire near the Caravan Park

Well it had to happen sometime. I have been deserted!!! Bill got a better offer. He is off braving the elements, hunting and gathering to put food on the table. He has gone fishing with some old school mates of our son. A great bunch actually, although they get up to no good at times I shudder to think what tricks they will play on each other. They told Bill that as he is the new kid on the block he had to sleep in his swag the closest to the water and to tie his leg to a tree just in case a croc decides to take off with him. Don't worry my freedom won't last long, all going well I should be able to pick him back up Monday. Perhaps a little rougher, a lot smellier but all in one piece and happier to have had the opportunity to go fishing with a great bunch of guys.

Yesterday afternoon black smoke was seen wafting over the horizon and it seemed to get fiercer and stronger. It was in the long grass opposite the Carawan Park and close to the shops. I am not sure if the Fireies were only doing a back burn or if they were just monitoring the situation. It seemed to be getting closer and very fiece. Caused a little bit of entertainment to the patrons in the caravan park.

I was going to show you a photo of the mud crabs Bill helped to catch last Wednesday but he took his camera with him. I hope he takes some great photos while he is away so that I will have something to show you all next time I write. I intend to join some fellow patchworkers and CMCAers this afternoon for a stitch and bitch session. Their menfolk are going to the V8's. I heard on the news that another Tornado has gone through Bunbury in WA. I hope everyone is Ok and the bad weather eases up soon.
Bye for now.
Talk again soon

Dundee Beach, Crab Claw Island NT

Dundee Beach

My brother sort of indicated that it was about time I updated my blog so here goes. I guess I could tell you all about the negative things like I have been bitten again by the sand flies and are sctaching madly or again I could tell you about the humidity and the fact that it is so warm up here, but I won't. I think it is much nicer up here than at home at the moment, I beleive it is very cold in WA and Queensland. Saturday we went out to Dundee Beach about 100kms along the Cox Peninsular road, partly bitumenised and mostly gravel.

Dundee Beach I am standing under this lovely old tree

They were burning off the undergrowth so we travelled through the smoke as well, again we were rewarded by another little piece of unspoilt territory. Dundee Beach is mainly a fishing area and consists mainly of the Dundee Lodge. The sand is soft so boats are towed out and retrieved by a tractor. For $20 this chappie sits in the hotel and tows boats in and out all day. Each trailer is allocated its own number and on returning the boaties hold up their number, he retrieves their trailer and tows then in.

Towing one of the fishing boats in

He towed about 88 boats in last Saturday. We chatted with the locals for awhile then continued back to Crab Claw Island Resort where they were prepaing for a wedding to be held later in the day.

Crab Claw Island Resort

The beach at the resort

The resort looked very nice, consisted of cabins on the beach and a restaurant and also room for the odd caravan or two. On the way home we called into the Berry Springs Nature Park, now this was truly beautiful, junglelike foliage and sweeping grass leading down to the pools below, a small waterfall and clear clear warm water. We didn't take photos here as we intend visiting again and make use of the many BBQs and table settings for a picnic and a swim. Friday night we visited the wharf again for fish & chips and I heard someone calling my name, looked behind and it was Heather and Ian from Bunbury they had ridden their motorbike up to visit their daughter. Sunday we visited the Museum at the Arts council, main feature was the Cyclone Tracey from 1974. Quite interesting. We briefly watched the go-karts finals at the Motorplex. We have the V8 Supercars here this weekend so the caravan park is getting full. Later in the afternoon we went out to Fred's Pass Reserve and visited Lance and Kay from the RatsNest (the name of their Bus) arrived home just in time for another happy hour. Happy Birthday again to Fiona for the 13th.

Talk again soon

Mandorah NT

Looking back at Darwin from the ferry

Friday night saw us at Cullen Bay having a lovely seafood meal with another friend from WA, Lorraine, Bill worked with her when we lived in Perth many moons ago. Saturday we went to the Military museum at East Point. Quite a lot of history here especially when Darwin was bombed in World War 2. We then ventured into town and on to the Esplanade where "Glenti" festival was underway. Glenti is a greek festival, so lots of Greek costumes, dancing and of course the breaking of the plates and food and more food. We chose a selection of Moussaka, (not sure of the spelling), Dolomades, spicy sausages, dips, honey balls, etc. Then we chose a few sweets to take on home. They were delicious.

A little Cutey in his traditional costume at the Glenti festival

As it was a long weekend here for the Queen"s Birthday we again joined Lorraine and ferried over to Mandorah for the day. Not an Island as you can drive about 150kms around to reach the same spot.

Looking across at Darwin from Mandorah

It was quite unspoilt, very natural, lovely clear blue water, to look at, unable to swim in due to the possibilities of Crocodiles or stinging jelly fish. It consists of a hotel, there are other things in the town which is community run but they were not in walking distance. We intend to drive over here later when friends we met in Whyalla turn up namely Sherrill and Jan. They have brought a block of land in the ever growing estate of Wagait Beach. Look forward to seeing them soon. There are about 450 permanent residents living in Wagait Beach and they have their own Shire Council and Community Buildings, Corner Store, Sports Oval and Medical Centre.

Guess who at the Hotel

We spent a pleasant afternoon at the hotel enjoying a prolonged lunch with lovely breezes wafting over the water it was lovely and cool here but very hot in Darwin when we returned. The sea was very choppy on the way back so I think I held on for the 20 minutes it took to get us back to Cullen Bay. We arrived home about 6.30 after another magnificent day in paradise.

The view from the hotel

Talk again soon

Litchfield National Park

Yesterday we were up early and drove to the litchfield National Park via a sealed road through Batchelor and we returned later in the day using the unsealed Cox Peninsular Road. Our first stop was the pristine rock pool at Buley Rockholes, where some people were swimming. We chose not to swim yet as it was still early in the day.

The Creek at Buley Waterholes

Our next stop was at Florence Falls which was a beautiful waterfall, from there we went to Tolmer Falls which was equally as brilliant we had to walk down 135 steps to reach the pool below.

One of the waterfalls at Florence Falls

Many were swimming here as it was a larger pool.

Jan and Bill at Tolmer Falls

We 4 wheeled drove into the jungle to a collection of stacked rocks which closely resembled ruins it was aptly named the Lost city.

The lost city

We decided we would swim at the Wangi Falls which was our next stop. After a quick coffee we ventured down for a swim but no such luck the water level was high so there was a salt water crocodile risk so it was closed for swimming. This was the piece de la resistant a two lovely waterfalls from high up in the mountain cascaded down to a beautiful water so clear you could see the fish swimming.

Hedy, Russell & Jan at Wangi Falls

The jungle from the boardwalk

We lunched at the Litchfield Cafe and then drove on to the Bamboo tin Mine. A disused mine in the jungle which was only used for about two years due to its remoteness.

The Bamboo Tin Mine

We then drove through Berry Springs on to our way back to the caravan park.

Talk again soon

Darwin NT

Hi! Here we are in Darwin, we arrived here Thursday about lunchtime. We couldn't get a camping spot on Wednesday night at Hayes Creek so we travelled on to Adelaide River and spent the night at the Showgrounds there. We met some more fellow travellers from Bunbury WA there and they arrived in our Caravan Park here yesterday. Thursday night we went to the famous Mindil Beach Markets. It was packed but lovely. Lots of food, stalls and entertainment. Also beautiful sunset views on the beach. We didn't take the camera so we will have to go again.
Yesterday we caught up with an old friend (Nola) from WA who we haven't seen for over 15 years. We lunched at the Pint Club a favourite haunt of hers. Today we ventured around town mainly to Cullen Bay Marina and the Fisherman's Wharf and did a quick drive through the city. We have caught up with all our washing but still have a few maintenence jobs to do. We are staying in the Coolalinga Caravan Park a small drive out of town on the Stuart Highway a lovely green spot. Happy Belated Birthdays to Keira (4th),Kai (21st), Jess (23rd) and Bill (29th) they are dates not ages. There is so much to see here so hopefully we will get some more photos soon

Talk again soon