Darwin and Katherine - NT Part 3
Wednesday
New Years Day, I was feeling
refreshed after a good nights sleep and ready to go out exploring
Darwin. I headed out along the lovely esplanade towards the harbour, and
couldn't believe how everyone I passed wished me a "Happy New Year".
What a friendly start to 2014! Even at this early hour, it was so hot, the
humidity was close to 100 per cent and by the time I reached Stokes wharf, I
was soaked through. I spotted The Indo Pacific Marine building, which I had seen
on TV the previous night and was so pleased that it was open on New Years Day.
What a fascinating place!
The gentleman, who built it 30 years ago, took my entrance money and was also my personal guide. There were only 3 of us there that morning, and it was so relaxed as well as being informative - I loved it. After watching a film about marine life, we were shown to the display room with a huge pool filled with coral and fish; apparently this was set up 20 years ago and has no filters.
Whatever was put in all those years ago, feeds everything and the whole eco system is a cycle that even cleans it out too. Everything in the tanks was from Darwin's harbour, and it was so colourful - the Northern Territories very own Great Barrier Reef. There was a red, white and blue sea cucumber that reminded me of the union jack - it just didn't look real.
There were smaller tanks with different marine fish in them and some of the fronts had concave or convex glass that magnified everything so much, it was incredible. I just couldn't stop taking photos! There was a tank of barramundi, and the guide threw something in to show us how fiercely they fight for their food! After an hour or so, he made us all a pot of tea and a scone before resuming the tour. Now he explained how the world was created, how the continents all broke away from each other, and told us all about tectonic plates and fault lines.
I found it fascinating! Another unbelievable fact was what you would need to make a cubic kilometre of ocean. It was so unbelievable, there was the normal stuff you would expect, but you also need gold, silver, aluminium, arsenic, copper, nickel – the list was huge. I spent 3 hours there, and loved every minute of it. I thanked the owner for a great morning and bought a DVD to remind me of everything I had seen in this special place.
When I got outside, the temperature just hit me; it could have easily knocked me out if I hadn't been wearing my hat. As I was already down at the wharf, I had to have a walk along the pier where people were fishing; before walking around the specially built seawater lagoon, that is fairly safe for swimming (although stingers can still get in!) and passed by the lido and wave pool - that was packed with families enjoying their day together.
It was early afternoon by now, so I took a slow walk back to my hotel through the shopping area, even though most of it was closed. When I got back to my hotel, I had a lovely few hours in the pool cooling off and talking to some ladies from Sydney, getting ideas about other places to go visit, before catching up on my washing, diary and of course sleep.
Thursday
I was up very early again - 5am. Before leaving home, I had
booked to go on a tour to Edith Falls, Pine Creek and
a cruise along Katherine Gorge. Whilst waiting to be collected from my hotel, I
met a friendly English lady going to Kakadu, who was also travelling by herself
and I told her of my experiences in Kakadu earlier in this trip. Just before
she got off the transit bus she realized she had forgotten her water bottle, so
I gave her my spare one - as our driver said he would refill our bottles with
fresh iced water whenever we needed them filling. What a marvellous idea that
is! Anyway, my long day trip began!
We headed south down the Stuart Highway (the
same road that I had come up on only 36 hours before), and I wasn't feeling
overly enthusiastic about this trip. After seeing Katherine Gorge from the
helicopter and then having the long bus journey back to Darwin, I would have
cancelled it, if I could have. The first stop we made was the Adelaide River
War Cemetery, I was surprised to hear how Darwin was bombed in WW2 - more bombs
actually fell on Darwin than on Pearl Harbour.
The Australian army laid
temporary airstrips all along the Stuart Highway from Darwin to the Adelaide
River because that was where they thought the Japanese might have reached. The
cemetery was beautifully kept, but I have to confess to being more interested
in the wallabies that were having breakfast nearby. All along the Adelaide River
floodplains, the trees and grasses were similar to those in Kakadu; and there
were also numerous Cathedral Termite mounds.
It is the grass-eating termites
that build this type (the wood eating termites build their nests on their food source - such as on a tree) but there are other
termites known as Terminus Darwinus, and at 12mm long, they are the
longest termites in the world and can chew through concrete! We drove through
the old mining town of Pine Creek; gold was first discovered there in 1872 when
the first telegraph cables were being installed connecting south Australia with
Darwin, and Australia to the rest of the world.
More up to date mining methods
are used here now but the town hasn't grown at all and we drove through it in a
few minutes. We stopped briefly at Emerald Springs for a quick toilet stop. I
had stopped there when I was bused up to Darwin (when
my Ghan journey was cut short), and the manager wasn’t happy at the unexpected
stop and refused to give anyone anything to eat! Happily, he was expecting us
this time, both this morning and later this evening for our dinner. By the time
we reached Edith Falls we were all ready for a refreshing swim, but no such
luck today - the water levels were too high after the past week's rains. And we
all knew by now, that that means crocodiles! It was such a beautiful
spot though, the water was cascading down the falls and there were palms and
pandanas all around the lagoon - it was seriously idyllic! Quite close to these
falls was where the train had derailed only 2 days before.
Unfortunately we
only had time for a quick photo stop (I don't know how we would have had time
to fit a swim in!) as we had a boat to catch at 2pm at Katherine, which was
still about an hour away. I was disappointed we didn't stop there, the driver
just drove through the town slowly, pointing a few interesting things out.
The
main topic of conversation seemed to be the devastating floods that had
occurred there in the past few years (which are marked on the railway bridge as
well as on the clock in town). When I did the helicopter ride over this area 2
days before, it had given me a good perspective of how the gorges were gouged
out through the plains, but the water flowing through them was a brown murky
colour – not very picturesque at all.
I think that is why I wasn't enthusiastic
about coming back here. After a lovely buffet lunch at the Gorge Visitor
Centre, we boarded the flat-bottomed boat that unfortunately offered very
little shade. The sun was right overhead, beating
down on us. As much as they had iced water to refill our bottles, you could not
drink the water quick enough - you were sweating so much.
I just wanted to tip
the water over me. It was 45 degrees and quite unbearable. But as we cruised
along the first gorge, the scenery kept us all enchanted - as did the
freshwater crocodiles we spotted. There were also many interesting birds about,
a kite, a peregrine falcon and a cluster of swallows in their nests, which were
stuck to the roof of a cave. When we reached the end of the first gorge we had
to get out of the boat and scramble over some rocks, along a path, to a
different boat - to experience the second gorge.
We needed to change boats to
avoid the rapids, which were fast flowing after the recent rainfall. The second
gorge was even more beautiful, breathtaking and full of picture postcard shots
- I loved it. The orange sandstone walls, with green and blue trees and bushes
growing out of them were so gorgeous. There were white beaches, black caves and
orange reflections on the water. You could see dramatic fault lines in the walls, and follow these lines, even around the sharp
corners. This was where the amazing orange walls of The Escarpment that
I climbed at Ubbir ended.
For me, seeing Katherine Gorge like this was so much
better than from the helicopter (although that had
still been an awesome experience). This was what the DVD says "There is
nothing quite like Katherine Gorge in the wet - it is truly one of Australia's
amazing natural wonders" - and it was! It was just too hot; it was
the hottest I have ever been. It wasn’t just me; everyone couldn't wait to get
back on the air-conditioned coach and to go to sleep. We headed back up Darwin,
stopping for dinner at Emerald Springs. There wasn't much daylight left, and as
the sun finally sank, through the windows, I watched my last wallabies feeding
and saw my last billabongs. I would never be fed up of those amazing waterholes
with so much life both around them and lurking below them. It was after 9pm
when we finally arrived back to Darwin; it had been a very long but enjoyable
day and I took no rocking to sleep.
Friday
This was my last day in Northern
Territory; I had survived 2 weeks by myself and had, had a great time. There
was just one more thing that I particularly wanted to do. I had been told me
how good the Natural History Museum was - especially its display on cyclone
Tracey that devastated Darwin in 1974. As I have a vested interest in cyclones,
having been through one in Townsville in 1972, I just had to go. I decided to
get a taxi there to save my legs and to save time - I didn't want to waste one
minute!
The museum was free to get in and it was such a marvellous place. The
cultural exhibitions, poisonous animals, shells, amphibians, sea creatures etc
were brilliant. There was so much to take in, I wanted to remember it all, and
so I took countless photos of notice boards. There was an unusual hanger full
of dugout canoes and sailing boats. But the part that I had particularly come
to see was the best bit. Apart from photographs showing what devastation the
cyclone had caused to Darwin, there was a film by a reporter who went out the
morning after the cyclone had struck, and the footage was totally unbelievable
- everywhere was wrecked. I watched the film several times before I moved on to
the area that had been made to look like the inside of various houses in 1974,
and they had radio bulletins playing from that time too.
I remember the radio
being on when cyclone Althea was heading for Townsville - it was a strange
feeling; one I cannot describe other than to say that it took me back to
somewhere I thought I could never have remembered. Then I went in a door, into
a completely dark room, not a slither of daylight came through and the sounds
began. It was actual recorded footage of the winds when cyclone Tracey hit
Darwin. I had to go out the room and collect myself, it upset me - it was far
too real. Anyway, not to be beaten, I went back in and listed to it all the way
through - completely mesmerized! Then I went back in again and recorded it on
my camera, so I could play it to my family when I got home. Then, totally
hooked by now, I went in for one last listen. It was so real, I could not
believe it - I was so glad that I had come to this museum. Apparently the average
house price in Darwin in $750,000 and this includes $100,000 of reinforcement
to make the house 'cyclone proof'!
I had
really enjoyed my trip out to the museum. Anyway, so that I didn't waste time,
I rang another taxi to take me back to Darwin 's main centre. I wanted to do a
bit of shopping; I had hardly done any all this trip, just to get some
souvenirs. It was really hot again, well into the forties, just for a change!
There was one last thing I felt that I needed to do before I went back to my hotel
for my last dip in the pool. I went to the Australia Travel Tour office and
told them what a great time I had, had and what a good and informative a tour
guide Robbie had been. I had learnt so much those first three days; it had
really helped for the rest of the trip. Well I am a believer in fate, so guess
what happened next? In walked Robbie saying that they should give him a pay
rise after all that praise! It was lovely to see a familiar face, someone that
I knew. We had a lovely little chat; he wanted to know what I thought of Alice
(he agreed that it wasn't a safe place to walk around - even in the daytime!)
and then he needed to go off and pick some tourists up. It made my day meeting
up with him again and being able to thank him for making Christmas so
wonderful. I took myself off for some lunch and then back to the hotel, where I
spent a couple of hours relaxing by the pool.
All the hotel staff had been
brilliant the whole trip, but the manager was the best, when I asked him about
a late check out, he sorted things out so that I didn't have to pay at all! It
was being my lucky day! Once I had checked out, I wandered over the esplanade
to have my last look at the sea in the daytime. It was going to be the lowest
tide of 2014, so it was quite a sight. It made me think of when a tsunami
happens and the ocean recedes so much that it leaves so much of the mud flap,
beach and rock pools. Then I went to the cinema, to see The Railway Man, which
I thoroughly enjoyed. The only downside was that the air conditioning was so
powerful in the cinema; I sat there shivering all the way through the movie.
There seems to be no pleasing me where the heat was concerned. It was nice to
get back outside in the warmth and as I still had an hour of daylight left I
headed back up to town – as I really fancied a smoothie from the Boost Bar. I
was disappointed that it had already closed, but my luck was in today, and I
ran into Robbie again and he asked me to join him for a drink. It was good to
be able to buy him drink to say thank you for being a great guide, cook, driver
etc, and he did appreciate my gesture. I only had the one drink and wanted to
get back before it was really dark, so we said our goodbyes again. Now as you
can imagine, I was feeling pretty good! I got back to the hotel, a three-hour
wait for my airport pick-up ahead of me; I settled down to catch up with my
diary - I was 3 days behind! And what should happen? Vicky, who had just got
back from Kakadu came into the bar looking for me; the hotel manager had given
her a complimentary bottle of wine because there was a problem with her room,
and she wanted to share it with me! Oh my, how nice is that! Well, we both
discussed the adventures that we had, had the last 2 days, got rather tipsy and
my three-hour wait seemed to fly by! We felt like old friends after that short
space of time and found that we had so much in common. What a last day I had,
had! So much kindness, I felt truly blessed and so happy and content. I had
been a bit apprehensive about going to the other side of the world, just me on
my own; but I had, had the best time of my life and I felt fabulous about
myself. I got on that plane heading home and had lots of writing to catch up
with – so I suppose that says it all. I hadn't been lonely and miserable
staying in with my diary, although I do like to do it so that I can look back
and relive my trip - especially one as fantastic as this had been! This one had
been my trip, for me and with me! And as always, I couldn’t wait to plan the
next one!
The beautiful beaches of Darwin that have so many dangers lurking closeby!!!
In the meantime, please check out my other blogs ..............
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