Here we are at the gateway to the "top end". That is what the locals call Darwin because it is the only major city in the Northern Territory, and it is at the top of the continent of Australia. Quiz time!! Don't worry this one is real easy. What is the world's largest island and what is the world's smallest continent....One hint...it's the same answer for both....ok, come on....who said Antarctica? The correct answer is Australia. Side note...Antarctica is the southern most continent and also the seventh most populated continent in the world. Think about it...
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| Sunrise as we pulled into Darwin |
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Top End of Australia ... Darwin
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Anyway, here we are in Darwin. They misnamed the place. They should have called it "Oven". It is hot here. Hot, humid and hot and humid. We are here in the fall for them and today it was 93 degrees and 95% humid. Or perhaps Microwave would be a good name or maybe even Fire. Can you tell it was hot? We are in the NT. The Northern Territory. Darwin has an interesting history. It is named after Charles Darwin but he was never there. The HMS Beagle arrived here in 1839 doing some surveying but it was a few years since Charles had been on the boat. It is in the Timor Sea and it is actually closer to 5 other countries' capitals than it is to Australia's capital. It has about 142,000 Aussies living there.
Jumping ahead to WWII. On February 19, 1942 the Japanese fleet that bombed Pearl Harbor bombed Darwin. Hard to believe but a significantly larger number of bombs hit Darwin and a considerable more total tonnage of ships was lost than that of Pearl Harbor. Darwin was bombed 64 times during WWII and had over a hundred air raids against it.
It is also a dedicated location of the Royal Flying Doctor Service. This is a group of people who are dedicated to providing aeromedical flights and health care across Australia. Because of Australia's vast size and because there are large areas of underdeveloped urban locations, this group provides flights and medical care to those areas which have no other means of medical facilities. It is funded by donations only. Their fleet of 71 planes flew 26,863,558 kilometers last year alone. That is the same as 34 trips to the moon and back or 600 flights around the earth. Amazing. The pictures below are from our friend, David.
Now, what did LeRoy and Vialula do while there? I am so glad you asked. We went on a little river trip to see some crocs. It is called the Jumping Crocodile Cruise. These things really do jump! Albeit, with a little temptation of water buffalo meat. It is somewhat of a tourist trap but we did see some impressive crocs and we did feed some eagles and we did get attacked by flies that you could call killer flies. I say it is a bit of a trap because these crocs have learned that when they see the boats coming they know that if they act accordingly they will receive a treat. Teach your dog to sit, teach a croc to jump up. Same thing. Pavlov's dogs. Darwin's crocs. But take a look at the pictures before you exclaim, what a crock! These crocs are not a crock. You do not want to swim in this river and you do not want to be put on a pole with a rope and be dangled over the boat. Darwin is home to the dreaded salt water crocodile. There are aggressive, primitive hunters. They are the largest of the crocodiles and the name is somewhat a misnomer. They are just as happy in fresh water as they are in salt water. Darwin has beautiful beaches. But no one, and I mean no one, swims in the waters unless it is a netted or protected area. If the croc doesn't get you the Box Jellyfish will. Pain or death will follow. The box jellyfish may be the most venomous marine animal out there and they are out there in large numbers. But Vi and I did not go out to see the box, we went to see the croc.
On the way back, we took a hydration stop at the local watering hole that is called "Humpty Doo Hotel" - The Great Northern Brewing Company is as popular here as Anheuser Busch is at home. We were also told that "Fosters" is crap beer here. They only serve it to tourists! Ha ha! Gambling is legal, and Humpty Doo had all sorts of gambling avenues available including dog races, horse races, keno, lotto .... etc. The only thing we bet on was that it was going to be hot! Other things we saw today were white sea eagles, black kites, brahminy kites, orchards of mango trees, hopping wallabies in the wild, and termite mounds. Back in the city, we did a little shopping before heading back to the ship.
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| Black Kite |
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| Brahminy Kite |
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| White eagle |
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| Mango Orchard |
Our sail away tonight was all Australian-themed which included servers in Outback hats and safari gear, signs that pointed to various cities in Australia, and food that featured the barramundi fish, kangaroo, and lamington cake
which is sponge cake coated in a layer of chocolate sauce and rolled in coconut. I hate coconut but Vi loved it! It is difficult to say good-bye to Australia so we will just say "G'day, mates"!
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