Saturday, May 30, 2009
Darwin - 5/5/2009 to 31/5/2009
Hello everybody,
We arrived in Darwin on 5/5/2009 & went straight to a caravan repairer for a quote, & to get the repair process on the way. As you can understand, I wasn't impressed when I was greeted by a big hairy bloke who greeted us with, "What the F**k is your problem." This was our introduction to Darwin. The big hairy bloke suggested we stay at "Malac" caravan park. This we did, & have found it to be a reasonable place to stay, although it's not cheap & you pay extra for electricity (metered). After we had been here for a week, the insurance assessor came for a visit & I told him I didn't have much faith in the repairer. He organized another chap who came an hour later to do a quote. This man appears to be professional & has a nice manner. He will begin work on 9/6/2009, & will need the caravan for for 11 days. During this time, we need to find alternate accommodation which is not easy during the peak tourist season. Although we love Darwin, we will be pleased to move on.
Darwin's climate is warm & still humid. The average temperature has been 32 degrees with about 63% humidity. Luckily the evenings cool down to about 25 degrees with humidity of about 45%. The general atmosphere is a strange mixture of vibrancy / relaxed. As I have already mentioned, nothing happens quickly in Darwin. We have dined a couple of times on the "Stoke's Hill Wharf", where your table is right on the edge of the wharf, & whilst dining you can feed the "Moon fish" & "Barramundi", & watch all the boats as they go by. It is a great atmosphere. There is also a beach market each week at Mindle Beach. They always have at least one band and other musicians, & lots of food & beverage stalls, & general stalls. On Sunday mornings we have shopping at the "Rapid Creek" market, for fruit & veg. There is a big Chinese population in Darwin, & much of the fruit & veg is asian, so we are eating all sorts of things that we havn't seen before. The Museum & Art Gallery, is combined & half a day wasn't enough time, so we'll be going back. We were lucky enough to visit on a Thursday morning, when a local chap gives a talk about "Cyclone Tracy". He was here then, & is lucky to be alive. The actual display is very well done, but it was great to get the emotional aspect of what it was like. Yesterday, we spent the day in "Litchfield National Park". We were taken there by a young couple who live here a couple od doors up. We had a great time & swam in rock pools at waterfalls, through the park. All in all, a loverly day with loverly people.
Love to you all,
Avril & Doug.
XXXX XXXX XXXX
We arrived in Darwin on 5/5/2009 & went straight to a caravan repairer for a quote, & to get the repair process on the way. As you can understand, I wasn't impressed when I was greeted by a big hairy bloke who greeted us with, "What the F**k is your problem." This was our introduction to Darwin. The big hairy bloke suggested we stay at "Malac" caravan park. This we did, & have found it to be a reasonable place to stay, although it's not cheap & you pay extra for electricity (metered). After we had been here for a week, the insurance assessor came for a visit & I told him I didn't have much faith in the repairer. He organized another chap who came an hour later to do a quote. This man appears to be professional & has a nice manner. He will begin work on 9/6/2009, & will need the caravan for for 11 days. During this time, we need to find alternate accommodation which is not easy during the peak tourist season. Although we love Darwin, we will be pleased to move on.
Darwin's climate is warm & still humid. The average temperature has been 32 degrees with about 63% humidity. Luckily the evenings cool down to about 25 degrees with humidity of about 45%. The general atmosphere is a strange mixture of vibrancy / relaxed. As I have already mentioned, nothing happens quickly in Darwin. We have dined a couple of times on the "Stoke's Hill Wharf", where your table is right on the edge of the wharf, & whilst dining you can feed the "Moon fish" & "Barramundi", & watch all the boats as they go by. It is a great atmosphere. There is also a beach market each week at Mindle Beach. They always have at least one band and other musicians, & lots of food & beverage stalls, & general stalls. On Sunday mornings we have shopping at the "Rapid Creek" market, for fruit & veg. There is a big Chinese population in Darwin, & much of the fruit & veg is asian, so we are eating all sorts of things that we havn't seen before. The Museum & Art Gallery, is combined & half a day wasn't enough time, so we'll be going back. We were lucky enough to visit on a Thursday morning, when a local chap gives a talk about "Cyclone Tracy". He was here then, & is lucky to be alive. The actual display is very well done, but it was great to get the emotional aspect of what it was like. Yesterday, we spent the day in "Litchfield National Park". We were taken there by a young couple who live here a couple od doors up. We had a great time & swam in rock pools at waterfalls, through the park. All in all, a loverly day with loverly people.
Love to you all,
Avril & Doug.
XXXX XXXX XXXX
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Alice to Darwin
Hello everybody,
On Anzac Day, we travelled to a little place in the gem fields, called "Gemtree". This is 140k north east of Alice Springs, & we were delighted to see a couple that we had met in Winton(QLD) last year. They were working at the caravan & camp grounds for 5 months. On the Monday, we went on a fossicking tour & were successful in finding a lot of very usable Garnets.Avril is having one stone cut & fitted into a ring for me for my next birthday. I thought that fossicking was walking along & picking up a few stones. How wrong I was. I havn't worked so hard for ages. Next we drove to Wauchope, via Barrow Creek. We stopped at the Barrow Creek pub for a drink & found that the wallpaper was made of bank notes from all over the world. Lots of $100 & $50 Australian notes as well. All the notes are signed & a comment on them. Wauchope is in the middle of nowhere, But the pub did a good evening meal, & the swimming pool was great. On Wednesday, we drove through Tenant Creek to Renner Springs. Disaster struck when I was parking the caravan as I struck a power post with the window & side of the van. We fixed the hole with thick plastic & duct tape. After fixing the hole, we went to see "The Devil's Marbles" & found them to be an amazing group of rocks, & after that it was time for "Happy Hour" which lasted longre than usual. Our travel plans have now been modified. We will get to Darwin quickly, so we can get our repairs done before the peak tourist season begins. After Renner Springs, we drove to Daly Waters. It's a lovely little place & the home of Australias first international airport. The pub meals are good, the entertainment is good, & the rodeo is in town. We had 2 enjoyable days here. The next two days were spent at Mataranka. We really loved this place. The hot springs were amazing & feeding the Barramundi was fun. On Monday we drove through Katherine to a little place called Hayes Creek which is about 160k south of Darwin. Spent 1 day there & then on to Darwin. Took the caravan to the repairers on our way into Darwin so we could get a Quote before setting up in a caravan park. We have been here for 5 days now & like Darwin. Nothing happens too fast in Darwin, so we don't know how long we will be here for. Love to you all,
Avril & Doug
On Anzac Day, we travelled to a little place in the gem fields, called "Gemtree". This is 140k north east of Alice Springs, & we were delighted to see a couple that we had met in Winton(QLD) last year. They were working at the caravan & camp grounds for 5 months. On the Monday, we went on a fossicking tour & were successful in finding a lot of very usable Garnets.Avril is having one stone cut & fitted into a ring for me for my next birthday. I thought that fossicking was walking along & picking up a few stones. How wrong I was. I havn't worked so hard for ages. Next we drove to Wauchope, via Barrow Creek. We stopped at the Barrow Creek pub for a drink & found that the wallpaper was made of bank notes from all over the world. Lots of $100 & $50 Australian notes as well. All the notes are signed & a comment on them. Wauchope is in the middle of nowhere, But the pub did a good evening meal, & the swimming pool was great. On Wednesday, we drove through Tenant Creek to Renner Springs. Disaster struck when I was parking the caravan as I struck a power post with the window & side of the van. We fixed the hole with thick plastic & duct tape. After fixing the hole, we went to see "The Devil's Marbles" & found them to be an amazing group of rocks, & after that it was time for "Happy Hour" which lasted longre than usual. Our travel plans have now been modified. We will get to Darwin quickly, so we can get our repairs done before the peak tourist season begins. After Renner Springs, we drove to Daly Waters. It's a lovely little place & the home of Australias first international airport. The pub meals are good, the entertainment is good, & the rodeo is in town. We had 2 enjoyable days here. The next two days were spent at Mataranka. We really loved this place. The hot springs were amazing & feeding the Barramundi was fun. On Monday we drove through Katherine to a little place called Hayes Creek which is about 160k south of Darwin. Spent 1 day there & then on to Darwin. Took the caravan to the repairers on our way into Darwin so we could get a Quote before setting up in a caravan park. We have been here for 5 days now & like Darwin. Nothing happens too fast in Darwin, so we don't know how long we will be here for. Love to you all,
Avril & Doug
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