More Darwin

Friday 16th September

We seem to have done quite a few things today. Paul had heard that there was a wave pool in the harbour, so he was determined to have a go. The walk there was very pleasant, as the whole harbour area has recently been rebuilt in the last two or three years, and various bridges and a lift take you down to the waterside. On the way there, we passed one or two of the historic buildings, particularly the ruin of the old Town Hall, which was destroyed in 1974 by cyclone Tracy. There is some public art on display, I liked this one of an ancestral spirit who takes the form of a bird.

We had some superb views of the harbour on the way down. There is one bit, called the lagoon, which is cordoned off for swimming and looked very inviting.

It was later explained to us that Darwinians do not swim in the sea, for fear of crocodiles and box jellyfish, so there have to be plenty of alternatives, and the lagoon is one and the wave pool is another.

We went into the wave pool, but I didn't stay long, I found the waves were huge and constantly knocked me off my feet. Paul enjoyed it very much, I wished I was like all the other women and most of the children and had thought to take a big inflatable. I ended up sitting in the children's pool to keep cool while Paul played in the huge waves. We couldn't stay for hours anyway, as we had booked a city tour, and had to walk back to the city centre for that. On the way, we stopped to lunch on the ubiquitous pie. Paul is becoming addicted to the pies - but possibly because we have yet to eat an acceptable sandwich here. They all seem to be made with very dreadful white sliced bread which has neither taste nor texture.

The city tour was interesting, taking us quite far afield to places we had not thought of visiting. We went onto one of the wharves and found ourselves staring at an enormous cruise ship. We passed Government House and paused for photographs.

We spent an hour in the Museum and Art Gallery, and Paul wants to go back because there is much more to see.

We drove up past Mindil Beach, where we were last night for the night Market, past Fannie Bay, (pausing only to admire the jail) and on to East Point. This is an area set aside for leisure. There is an artificial salt water lake, Lake Alexander, in which people can swim, fish, etc. The sea water is filtered to remove any crocodiles or jellyfish, so it is safe to go into the water.

From the point, we had some beautiful views back over Darwin.

Our next visit was to the Botanical Gardens. We saw an interesting old building, pre-1900, which was the oldest church in Darwin, and was originally the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel. It was in constant use until well after the war, but fell into disrepair and was relocated here in 2000.

The Botanic Gardens are beautiful, with lovely pools and fountains

as well as many unfamiliar plants and trees.

The frangipani weren't properly in flower, but I photographed them anyway, I haven't seen any frangipani since I left Kenya 50 years ago. Paul was delighted to see pineapple and pawpaw growing, he's only ever seen them on shelves in shops before.

We drove round Cullen Bay, admiring the marina and the houses of the wealthy, then we looked at some historic houses (1930's!) designed specifically to suit the climate. One is run by the National Trust, so I would like to go and see it tomorrow, if time permits.