DARWIN, KATHERINE and on to MATARANKA

DARWIN, KATHERINE and on to MATARANKA

Wednesday 18

Trysha flew out to Sydney for Drs and Specialist check ups.

We decided that a name like Humpty Doo required a visit. Several years ago a dear friend gave me a lovely wire insect that I had on the fly wire of the van and this was made by someone in Humpty Doo. Everyone used to point and say there is a very large bug on the fly wire, but on closer inspection found it to be wire and beads. Unfortunately somewhere in our travels we lost it so while in Darwin I found some more at the Mindal markets.

Nothing of note in Humpty Doo but further down the road we came to the Window of the Wetlands. A very imposing building and blends in well with the environment. The area of wetlands that the building looks out over was a one time a rice growing research station and now it is a farm carrying a herd of buffalo.

And we thought there was only one sort of bitey.

The bitey list increases
 

View out over the Wet Lands. ( Water Buffalo )

Window to the Wet Lands

Thursday 19

Managed to contact Raimon, Karen and family on Skype so Marie was able to chat and it was great for us to see the family.

Friday 20

As we are staying in Howard Springs village we thought we had better visit the Howard Springs Reserve. What a lovely place with plenty of picnic areas and are in the process of developing a fantastic children's play area.

Marie & Mike at play.....

 We walked around the Reserve and stumbled on a huge Orange-Footed Scrub Fowl nest, about as high as Marie's waist.

This nest was about 1m high and 10m across.

Saturday 21

Marie and I stayed home and Mike and John went off to see Australian Aviation Heritage and the star of the show was a B52 Bomber that was housed in a purpose built hanger. Boys came home amazed at the display.

B52 Bomber ( "Darwins Pride")

Sunday 22

Sightseeing around Darwin. Visited Fanny Bay where there is a WW11 observation post, buildings still there and then on to Cullen Bay where there is a Marina with a lock out into the harbour.

Large Gun Emplacement

Replica of Dutch Sailing Vessel "Duyfken"
1606 visited Australia. Replica built 1999.

A Darwin Jetty Meal

Trysha returned from Sydney.

Monday 23

Marie and I went off to the Orchid nursery where there were an unbelievable number of orchids. Not a lot out in flower but those that were we're outstanding.
For the rest of the day we were entertained at the park with the arrival of semi-trailers carrying large water tanks. Just opposite where we are parked there is going to be a sewerage treatment for the park and 8 large tanks were put in place with a huge crane. A massive operation.

Crane dwarfs the two 5th Wheelers

Tuesday 24

Pack up day, to leave Darwin as we have enjoyed it but it is time to move on.

Wednesday 25

On the road again and heading back to Katherine. We all stayed off road at Bridge Creek for the night.

Thursday 26

Trysha and John are heading off to Mataranka today while we are only going as far as Katherine. Back to the Low Level caravan park, lovely park.

Friday 27

Marie leaves us today. We put her on the bus for Kununurra where she will stay for three days and then to Broome to meet up with a tour group.

Saturday 28

Attempted to clean the rubbers on the van today, huge job, Mike did lots and what a difference it made.

Sunday 29

Some one has very sore shoulders today!!!!!

Monday 30

Look out Mataranka here we com






 

DARWIN

THURSDAY 5

Settling into Howard Springs Caravan Park. We were here 12 years ago and it has certainly changed since then. Darwin is full, every caravan park is full up and still the caravans keep coming. It appears that every second van is from Victoria and the rest of the states make up the other half.

FRIDAY 6

Off into Darwin on the bike, we wanted to check out what is what. My how Darwin has grown, in fact there are three major suburbs and they are much larger than Darwin city area, there are approx 100,000 people.
We are close to a city called Palmerston so at least we don't have to go 30 km for our shopping. Industry  and housing is non-stop to Darwin, just like from Perth to Mandurah.
Walked around the shops in town, mainly souvenir shops and then went out to the famous Darwin Wharf Precinct and checked out the harbour.

Lunch at "Stokes Hill Wharf"

SATURDAY 7

A day home today. Mike and John went of to the National GoKart championships and had a great afternoon. Unfortunately I managed to brake a tooth so looks like a dentist next week.

SUNDAY 8

Marie flew in this afternoon so off to the airport to meet her. It is great to see her and she will stay with us for 3 weeks.

You can not stop a good woman working!

MONDAY 9

Managed to get a dental appointment today so now I have 2 mended teeth, thank goodness.

Cosy setup at Howard Springs.

TUESDAY 10

A day out today. Off to the Territory Wildlife Park. We expected to see wildlife but not much of that but we did walk through lots of bush, through the nocturnal house, large aquarium and several bird life areas. There was a raptor display and several raptors from large black breasted buzzard, Brahminy Kite (majestic), crested hawk plus an Osprey who was rewarded with a fish and flew to a tree above the crowd and proceeded to eat it. A Jabiru made an appearance, did a small bow, danced around the pond and went back again.

Black Breasted Buzzard

Jabiru

Orange Footed Scrub Fowl.

While walking through the bush we saw our first scrub fowl.

WEDNESDAY 11

Morning tea in Darwin with friends Terry and Lorraine (from Litchfield ) at the Ducks Nuts.

THURSDAY 12

The Mindal Markets are held every Thursday evening and Sunday. The caravan park provides a bus to take campers to the Mindal markets so caught the bus and we were pleased we did as parking was a nightmare and we didn't have to worry as to how to find the markets. We had a great night. Watched the sun set, was great but definitely not as speckie as WA sun sets.

SATURDAY 14

More markets today. This time to Coolilinga, south of here. It is great visiting different markets as each one has different things and of course I am always interested in what other people make.
Terry and Lorraine came for a BBQ, great night, lots of laughs so hope we can catch up somewhere along the way.

Lorraine,Lois,Marie,Terry,Trysha,John & Mike

SUNDAY 15

Trysha's birthday today so we all went out for lunch. Went to a club in Palmerston, food average but had a fun lunch.

MONDAY 16

Darwin today to book Marie's bus ticket through to Kununurra and then on to Broome where she meets up with her tour group.
Thought we would investigate another shopping area at Casurina and spent time wandering around the shops.
Have found Spotlight so off we went and Marie bought some yarn and has been very busy knitting curly scarves. We can't have idle hands in this place.

TUESDAY 17

Trysha off to Sydney today for Dr's appointments. John went flying and managed to find a tree and now helicopter is sitting up a tree unable to be retrieved. Oh well maybe a big wind may blow it down.