Still more Darwin

Saturday 17th September

Today we decided to take the opportunity of having a further look at things we had only visited briefly on yesterday's tour.

First stop was the historic houses. The four remaining, all built in the 1930s, are good examples of colonial architecture felt to be suitable for the tropics. The houses were built on piles, and provided shady space underneath.

One of them, the one open to the public, had some downstairs living space, but surrounded by a shaded area under the upper floor, so that much of the living space was outside in the shade of the upper floor so as to be cool.

The upstairs was an open space divided by partitions which extended neither to the floors nor the ceilings. The walls were louvered so there was a constant breeze through the house, and the flow of air was not impeded because there were no walls upstairs, just partitions with space above and below. This area was a cool space for sleeping

or sometimes just for sitting.

We had missed the bus to the houses, and as it was only a 20 minute walk and the next bus wasn't for half an hour, we had walked to the houses. We were quite hot when we got there, and of course there was no air conditioning, only fans, so we had the opportunity of assessing how good the house design was at cooling people who were already very hot. The answer, not surprisingly, was that it wasn't as efficient as air conditioning.

The very kind National Trust volunteer who showed us the house also showed us a more pleasant walk to the Museum and Art Gallery, another 20 - 30 minute walk away. It was an interesting walk though, alongside the beach, and relatively shady. However, I was very hot and thirsty when I arrived, so first stop was the Museum Cafe for lunch. Then we went to have a further look at the museum. There was a lot of local art, which was interesting to read about, but no photography allowed.

There was also a most interesting display on cyclone Tracy. Somehow I had not previously taken on board the extent of the destruction - 95% of the town was destroyed - nor had I previously realised that the majority of the residents were evacuated and almost the entire place bulldozed. The houses we had just visited had needed extensive reconstruction and one was in such a bad state it was just demolished.

After the Museum, I felt a 40 - 50 minute walk back to town in the heat would be too much, so we walked to the main road and caught a bus back.

We took the opportunity of going to have a further look at some of the historic buildings in the town centre. Brown's Mart was originally built as a warehouse in the 1880s, and had since served many purposes. It was damaged by cyclone Tracy, but has been restored and is used as a community theatre venue.

The original Christ Church Cathedral, built in a similar style, was almost totally destroyed by Tracy, and the new design incorporates the only remaining part, the entrance porch. The Old Town Hall, originally built in 1883, was completely destroyed by Tracy, and only the ruined walls are left standing as a reminder.

We went round to the Chinese Temple and Museum, all that is really left of the old Chinatown. Although the temple was open, the Museum was closed, and the temple is modern, having been rebuilt 3 times after cyclones, so we did not go in.

We are being picked up at 6.30 tomorrow morning, and before that we have some suitcase reorganisation to do, since we are only allowed 10 kilos for the next couple of days. Our main luggage has to be left in Darwin until our return from the Kakadu.

I am not certain how regularly I can post things from now on. We are doing some camping, and I am uncertain about wireless connections, and Vodaphone connections for this iPad may not be too reliable either. Also I'm not sure if I can keep everything charged - I may even have to make notes on a bit of paper if I can't charge the iPad!