Before we got to Darwin many people had warned us it was very difficult, as well as expensive, to find a spot in a caravan park, and we would have to book ahead. After our experience at Katherine, I thought it would be safer to do this, and secured a spot in a caravan park about 15 Kms out of town - the only one that could confirm a spot for us.

The caravan park was very expensive, but very nice, and packed to the hilt like sardines. So we took the bike down and headed to town. On our travels we saw another one or two caravan parks which obviously did have places, and an area very close to town where people were free parking on an oval and in various car parks. That did it, we decided no more booking, we would go in and take our chances.

Darwin is a large and cosmopolitan city. It has an esplanade along the beach, but this is lined by gardens so you can't actually see the water from town. At one end is the harbour area, or waterfront, which has been developed with multi-storey apartments and restaurants, like Darling Harbour or Docklands (but with good weather.) At the other end is Cullen Bay, which is the marina, filled with very fancy yachts.

There are several nice beaches close to town, including Mindil Beach, which has a night market every Sunday where you can watch the sun set over the water, then do some shopping, as well as experience the culinary delights on offer. We even ran into Monte Dwyer, the guy who used to be a weatherman. He had been traveling around Australia, like us, collecting stories and turning them into books. We bought some books, signed by the author, and even had a photo with him. George was very excited.

At Mindil Beach we found flags and surf life savers on duty. We had been told you couldn't swim in Darwin beaches because of the crocodiles. Apparently this is all rubbish, as is the case with so much of what we had been told. Salt water crocodiles can live in the sea, but prefer to live in rivers and estuaries. They occasionally use the sea as a highway to travel from one spot to another, but don't actually stay there for long. No crocodile had been seen at Mindil Beach for more than 100 years. And was it warm enough to swim? You betcha. The temperatures were in the low 30s every day and quite humid, dropping only to about 20 overnight. And this was Darwin's winter. Darwin residents were actually wearing jumpers. It was almost too warm for me; I would hate to see it in their summer.

When we were in Bowen I mentioned they had shot the movie "Australia" there, which was actually set in Darwin. I wondered why they didn't shoot it in Darwin, but now I know. Darwin has been completely destroyed to the ground, and rebuilt, twice, in the last fifty years. Once when Darwin was bombed during the war, and the second time when it was hit by Cyclone Tracy. Each time it was rebuilt in the style of the day. So it looks very different now to how it would have looked.

These two events have pretty much defined Darwin, and take up a large part of their museum, their military museum, their aviation museum etc, which we spent the following day exploring in detail.

GeorgeY's bit

In this entry, we ride the motorcycle, meet a celebrity, and get a WWII story, yet again.

The previous rule about the bike only being used in little towns with no traffic and 50 km/hr speed limit, was out of the door this time. Given that the highway had a 110 limit, I sat on 100 km/hr or less. Eva did away with leather clothing in view of the heat, a quantum leap in Eva's safety rules.

Across the road from Mindil Beach there also was a man made lagoon, surrounded by man made gardens. Mindil Beach Market was the big event, but having seen bigger I was neutral about it, until I saw Monte.

Back in the dream time, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth and "Today" on Channel Nine was hosted by Liz Hayes and George Fungus, Brian Bury was the weatherman. He wore a weird bow tie each day and had a massive pair of glasses. Calling him the weatherman was in a loose kind of way, because most of the time he read his fan mail from the studio, and said "G'day love," to the oldies who can still write and post, despite their "old-timers" syndrome.

When Nine executives' ruthless axe got Brian, he was replaced by Monte Dwyer, a young bloke, willing to travel. When you travel and meet people they share their stories, and Monte collected a fair bit for the morning weather spot. Plus a lot more, enough to a fill few books. That was in the years I was new to Australia, so there was this famous guy from the telly. And for me to see him, and talk to him, and buy his books from a market stall, and also get them signed and have a picture taken with him, is priceless.

Darwin Museum tells us about the place. It starts from the big bang, then goes to dinosaurs, and through evolution to Darwin, the city. From what I gather, it is meant not to be. First bombed by Japan, who never planned to invade Australia (as it was too big), but just wanted to destroy Darwin. Then God, never intending to invade Australia (too secular), just wanted to destroy Darwin. (Cyclone=act of God, the insurance company terms book).

Overall, a very nice city with everything a city can offer, at least during winter. Yet I think if a visitor stays long enough, the idea of destroying Darwin might become plausible. But what do I know.