Day 39: Darwin

Waking up in a park that is predominantly occupied by migration tourists as opposed to travelling tourists is a little different. For a start you are not woken at 5am by the keen traveller eager to get on the road before everyone else. Instead, I woke up early as planned but stayed in bed until nearly 7am before venturing out to put a load of washing on, in fear of disturbing our neighbours. We made an early start in our expedition to explore Darwin leaving the park at about 8.30am, which is about the time our neighbours were just starting to rustle.

Our exploration of Darwin started at the visitors information centre, where we loaded up with maps and the like before venturing on a short walk down to the harbour, reading about the history of the city along the way. We saw parliament house, the old town hall that was ultimately decimated by cyclone Tracey, and various other buildings still standing from the Darwin of yesteryear.

Proceeding our little walk, we continued to Darwin Military Museum which was absolutely fantastic. The museum is really well done, depicting what Darwin was like before and after the Japanese bombings of 19th February 1942. The highlight of the museum is the short sound and light film that simulates the lead up to the bombing and then the bombing itself. Darren and I thoroughly enjoyed it but the kids liked it best of all as it illustrated to them what the museum was all about. There is an interactive display aswell as a display of relics from war times.

After the museum we went back into town for a bit of shopping. Darren got himself a new book from a second hand book store, as well as a couple of t-shirts. Micaela and I got a new hat each, Micaela also got a new pair of thongs as she has grown out of her other ones since we left home. Ethan and Brandon bought themselves some treats from the chocolate shop.

Once we had pushed the kids tolerance for shopping in the heat, as much as we could, we returned to the caravan park for a swim.

Tonight at the park we were treated to a didgerido display. The didgeridos were really well priced so we bought one as a souvenir. Micaela and Ethan are both able to make a sound, really looking forward to the practice! One solace is I'm sure the novelty will wear off, then it will just be a party trick.

I'm aware that Darwin has so much more to see, but I'm not disappointed that we are leaving tomorrow. Everyone raves about Litchfield national park so I'm really looking forward to seeing it. Not to mention it will be great to listen to birds and wildlife as opposed to planes flying overhead!