Our Aussie Adventures

We were up with the birds again this morning, missing the sunrise by only a matter of a few minutes, all in an effort to be able to take in a couple of Saturday morning markets. Our plan was to get out and see at least one before being stung by the heat of the day.

The early morning wake up call didn’t exactly work to plan however, as we struggled to get moving, our lethargy and continuing weariness telling in our movements. Mercifully, we did manage to hit the road before the expected heat of the midday sun burst forth upon us.

The first market on our list was the Coolalinga Market, a 30 minute drive south out of town. It was a small market, held in a wide open field under the cover of a steel canopy. Almost like a large shed with no walls. Much like our Mindil Market experience, the stalls here were largely food stalls, with a spattering of stalls selling other goods. It took us hardly 15 minutes to whiz up and down the couple of aisles, stopping to buy a weekend paper, and a couple of treats for the dogs.

There was a woman selling a stunning variety of 100% natural and preservative free treaties for the babies. Since she is here every week, as well as holding stalls at a couple of the other weekly markets about town, we decided to start off small, only buying a couple of pieces, one each for Alvin and Bethany to try. Long thin, hard, dried sausage like things they call ‘bull willies’ they are exactly what they are called. Gives a whole new meaning to ‘beef jerkey’! Is there nothing that they waste? Bec won’t even touch them, but we are assured that the dogs will love them.

Being that this market was somewhat smaller than we had been led to believe, we pointed ‘The Beast’ back in the general direction of town, heading for market number two, the Parap Village Market. Located in the central quadrangul, of a local shopping square, from the outside, this market looked to be the better for the day. Judging by the number of cars circling the centre, looking in vain, as were we, for a spare car space, it was as popular with the locals as the visitors. After trawling about the outskirts for nearly ¼ of an hour, we finally managed to snag a car park, although it still left us with a walk of a couple of blocks to get into the thick of the action.

It would seem that the Darwin markets are different from the art and craft type markets that Bec likes, or even the second hand junk and bric-a-brac variety that engage me. This was yet another example of a small space over filled mostly with stalls selling food, and only a limited number of general merchandise type stalls littered throughout for good measure. Not only that, but many of the stall holders obviously do the circuit of the available markets, meaning we had already seen the bulk of the goods on Thursday night at Mindil.

On a more positive note, this meant that my author mate, Monte Dwyer had his little table set up to hawk his books. While I had listened to his sales pitch the other night, which could have been pre-recorded as he raved into his peroration of his works. Regardless of his speech, I was planning on buying his books in any case, as he writes of his travels about Australia and of those he has met along the way. It is these kind of accounts that I enjoy reading, and who could resist the chance to get an entire series of personally autographed volumes.

Whilst I spent $50.00 on the 4 books, ensuring another pilgrimage to Darwin to buy books will not be required, Bec made do with a souvenir of considerably lesser expense, snapping up a bargain pair of pants for $5.00. Apart from that, and an early lunch of Asian inspired crispy pork and pork in plum sauce, we found nothing else of note at the market.

We ate in the car, before calling in quickly at the nearby supermarket enroute back to the van. Given the early start we had made, it was still before midday when we returned home. In hind sight, we could have regaled in a couple of extra hours of much needed rest, but how were we to know that the markets were to be of such a diminutive scale. Not only that, but the expected heat that we had been attempting to avoid, failed to materialise today, as a fresh breeze kept the temperature to a moderate and bearable level.

Once back at the van, we discussed and decided that we have been spending entirely too much time locked up inside, watching TV. Upon much discourse, we concluded that there was only one reasonable solution to this issue. We switched the TV off, sliding it from the wall bracket from which it hangs. The media player and hard drive were next. Switched off at the wall and unceremoniously unplugged. Gathering up the ravel of cables, the TV, the media player and the remote controls, I hefted the whole kit and caboodle outside to the annex. There was to be no sitting inside watching TV today. Nope, not a minute would we fritter away our day, locked inside the van. Instead, we poured ourselves a couple of cold drinks, then with the dogs in tow, who by this time were both chewing animatedly on dried bulls private parts, we made ourselves comfortable out beneath the annex, where I plugged the TV components back together before we spent the next several hours glued to the oblong box of evil, watching episode after episode of ‘The Shield’. It might be a long bow to draw, but we were technically, enjoying the great outdoors.

Enjoying the great outdoors.

Lets just think of it…

…as a beef sausage.

Until next time, stay safe, have fun and don’t forget to write.

We experimented again last night, with the cost saving exercise of turning the air conditioner off overnight. This time, as well as making sure all of the windows were open, we had the added advantage of being able to run our newly acquired and power savvy electric fan. Faced to thrust a stream of fresh air across the bed, we found it just the thing, waking up during the night cold enough to compel me to slide under the covers rather than lying atop them as I have the last few nights.

The dogs however, not privy to the jet stream that was pulsing through the bedroom area, both ended up on the bed with us, clever enough to take advantage of the situation, as opposed to sweating it out on their own beds.

When we did eventually awake, bright and refreshed after a lovely nights rest, our day started slowly, and never really progressed out of first gear. We hadn’t actually planned anything for this morning, so we spent time doing a bit of housework. Washing, cleaning and generally tidying up. Well that was Becs morning.

I on the other hand managed to unpack my push bike from the back of ‘The Beast’, put it together, pump the tyres up, before carefully locking it up against the back bumper bar of the van. Surely you didn’t really expect me to have gone for a ride in the heat of the day, did you? Maybe one day though, now that it’s ready to ride.

With that done, I caught up with our next door neighbors, a couple of fellow Victorians who unlike many of the other cliquey residents, were happy to stand about having a chat. They’ve been on the road for nearly 12 months, working here and there as needed to supplement their savings. Now that sounds appealing, if only I could find a job for Bec to do while we’re travelling!

It was already after 2:30PM when we finally decided to head out, with nothing more than a vague plan of what we wanted to accomplish. So we made our way to the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, where there were a couple of displays I was eagerly anticipating.

Welcome to the Museum.

Sweetheart, the 5.1 metre crocodile is one of the local residents. This once massive beast was guilty of attacking the boats of numerous anglers, before an attempt was made to relocate him. The relocation failed when he got tangled and drowned. His body now rests here on display at the museum. A scary thought it was, that such a wicked, evil looking creature could still be found inhabiting the nearby waterways.

A travelling exhibition of mostly Australiana paintings by some of the masters was also on display, which was an enjoyable bonus. Especially seeing some of Frederick McCubbins original artwork I’ve previously only been able to see as cheap prints in Two Dollar Shops.

My main motivation for visiting the museum though, was the much lauded Cyclone Tracy exhibition. Telling the chilling story of the 1974 cyclone that ripped through Darwin, causing untold devastation, I couldn’t imagine what the Darwin residents must have gone through at the time. There was a series of aerial photographs taken of the same areas, before the cyclone, just afterwards and then 20 years on. It was creepy to see the magnitude of the damage, pictured only days after Tracy spiraled through central Darwin, then amazing to see the extent of the regeneration in the intervening 20 years. As well as the photographs and material displays, there was a tiny, darkened sound booth, which plays a looped recording made whilst Cyclone Tracy was raging, to give you an idea of what it would be like to endure such a tempest. Even knowing that the sun was shining just outside the door, the experience is enough to send a chill up your spine.

For the grand price of nothing, to browse through the displays, the museum was always going to be a worthwhile addition to our itinerary. I have to say though, even if there had been an entry charge, it would have been an enjoyable way to send an hour of or so.

A beautiful beach right near the museum, only hampered by…

…the possible dangers.

Our next stop was the big Casuarina Shopping Centre again. We needed to restock our rapidly dwindling supply of dog food, and we had found that Big W had Alvins preferred flavor on sale. What should have been a quick 10 minute in and out commando raid, to pick up a few dozen cans, turned into a hard fought battle. There was no dog food on the shelf, and whilst I didn’t witness it, Bec tells me it was like pulling teeth, to first of get someone to acknowledge her presence at the enquiries counter, and then to actually get them to release their last two slabs of food into our custody.

Even once we had paid up for them, we were left to try and find the customer pick up door, with only the vaguest of directions to its location on the outside of the centre. It ended up taking us a phone call to find it, having missed the postage stamp sized sign attesting to its whereabouts, hidden covertly behind a semitrailer.

It was already past 5:00PM when we finally made our way back to the van, at least in possession of enough dog food to see us through another 3 and a bit weeks or so. We were in a bit of a hurry though, because we actually had some plans for this evening. We were going to drop in on the dogs to give them a feed, before driving out to Palmerston to take in their version of a night market.

Our plans went astray though, when we entered the van to find that one of the babies had been sick, throwing up all over the bed. It was actually only a small bit, but had been sitting long enough to soak through almost every layer of bedding. Now, you will have noticed that I haven’t mentioned our laundry schedule for a few weeks, but it comes to the fore in this story, as the bedding had only been changed and washed yesterday. So it was on fresh clean bedding that one of our lovely little babies had decided to turn out the contents of their stomach, leaving a peculiar wet circle that was almost the colour of a high visibility yellow safety vest.

Therefore, rather than leaving them alone again and risking the chance of another vomitus episode seeing us sleeping on a bare mattress, we decided to stay in for the rest of the evening. Not only that, but we now had a pile of bedding littered across the floor of the van that would need feeding through the washing machine.

So, that was our Friday night. How was yours?

Until next time, stay safe, have fun and don’t forget to write.

We were slow to rise this morning, after a late night. We had sat up until well past the witching hour, absorbing the rays put out by the television. We have become hooked on the TV series ‘The Shield’ which we brought with us. We had planned to watch an episode every now and then, to fill in our quiet moments, but have found ourselves making excuses to lock ourselves within the van to catch a sneaky episode here and there. At this rate, we will have viewed every last episode within the next week or so. That will equate to nearly 70 hours spent with our eyes glued to the TV, when we could be out seeing everything that Australia has to offer. Although that is why we are trying to take our time. We don’t want to be rushed off of our feet every single day, and need to kick back and relax at times too. This is after all, a holiday for us.

It was midday by the time we stumbled, bleary eyed and tired, out of the van to head off to do a bit more exploring around the suburbs of Darwin. We headed down to the supposedly up and coming area of Palmerston, where we located a small shopping centre which proudly lay claim to having Darwins only ‘Target’ store. Honestly, they treat this like a big thing.

Apart from the much acclaimed ‘Target’ store, there was not much else to see in Palmerston, so needless to say, we didn’t stop for too long. We were able to pick up a cheap electric fan however, thinking it might be just enough to push the stagnant air about the interior of the van, allowing us to leave the air conditioner switched off. At $4.80, if it doesn’t work out, it won’t be too much of a hit to the hip pocket at least. At a camping store just down the road, we also collected a 12 volt fan, for nights when we don’t have access to power. At nearly 10 times the price, this is a more costly gamble, but if it means we can camp in relative comfort, without having to pay for a caravan park, it will soon pay for itself. Well, it had better.

Our next stop was at the Darwin Aviation Heritage Museum, which is home to one of only two American B52 bombers on permanent display outside of the states. Having visited this museum just last year, we had decided not to take the time to browse through the displays again. I however, had seen a book here last year, which I didn’t buy. It wasn’t until we returned home from our last trip, that I found that this was about the only place I could purchase the book, so for the last 12 months, I’ve been planning on returning here, purely to buy myself that book. Now, I have it. All about the bombing of Darwin, written by Jack Mullholland, one of the Australian anti-aircraft gunners who is credited with firing the first allied shots against the Japanese marauders.

We then snuck back to the van for an afternoon rest, which you can translate as a private screening for two, of another couple of episodes of ‘The Shield’. Being that the temperature is a muggy 34^oC outside, Bec quickly wilts out in the heat, so the afternoon rests in the air conditioned comfort of the van are an essential part of the day. Apart from that, it gives us a chance to spend some time with the dogs, who apart from their twice daily walks, have been cooped up in the van since we got here. Not that they seem to be complaining, as their tolerance to the hot weather is up there with Becs.

Having chilled out for a while, it was time to take in the sights, sounds and smells of the Mindil Beach Night Markets. Unlike some of the markets we have wandered through, the Mindil Markets are a Darwin institution. Anyone who has been to Darwin, or has even just thought about coming to Darwin, will know something about the Mindil Markets. There promised to be great range of stalls, selling a little bit of everything, with much raved about food stalls in abundance. Hence, we decided to grab our dinner once there.

What I didn’t expect, was the traffic snarls in the streets surrounding the market area. The car parking was on a first come, first served basis, wherever you could fit on a large grassed expanse of land just adjacent where the market was set up. Already in full swing by the time we arrived about a half an hour after opening time, we found a spare piece of ‘The Beast’ sized grass, and headed into the throng. It was crazy, with disorganized rows of stalls set up, selling all sorts of goods. If you wanted an authentic, painted before your very eyes piece of Aboriginal art. Mindil Markets. Lightweight linen pants and tops. Mindil Markets. Personally autographed by the author books. Mindil Markets. Handmade leather goods, or hats, bags and sandals from recycled truck tyres and canvas tarps. You guessed it, all available here at the Mindil Markets. I even had the chance to embarrass myself trying mostly unsuccessfully to crack a stock whip. And we hadn’t even begun to look at the food yet!

Sending photos to friends, Becs version of blogging is more immediate than mine.

Before we did decide upon which delights to dine, we headed up and over the dune to the talcum powder like sand of the beach, to watch a perfect sunset over the calm waters of Fannie Bay. We waded along in the warm water, as the perfect golden orb of the sun quickly descended through a cloudless sky to dip below the horizon. I have seen many beautiful sunsets in my time, and this one rates well and truly up there as one of the best. It’s a rare occurrence for an east coast boy to see the sun set over water, and for the view to be unhindered by cloud makes it all the more enchanting.

The perfect sunset.

The sun down, we then delved back into the rapidly increasing mob of shoppers, lapping up the atmosphere as the fairy lights came to life, throwing out a dim light just bright enough by which to see. Making our way down the long aisle of food stalls, that were selling just as varied a selection as the general goods stalls, we were drawn from side to side by the exotic smells. From all corners of the globe, there was something sure to satisfy even the most discerning palate.

The hustle and bustle of the Mindil Markets.

It was getting a little harried by this stage though, as we were bumped, pushed and shoved about the dense crowd, the hot air about us motionless and clammy, so we quickly made our selections, before finding a convenient raised garden bed to use as a bench, where we could withdraw from the worst of the overbearing mass to enjoy our food.

Not wanting to endure the crowds any more, we ate quickly, then made our way back to ‘The Beast’ to find the roads similarly clogged, with cars going every which way. It seemed like almost every living sole within cooee of Mindil makes the market their weekly junket. It was mad. And all for a market that I would describe as being slightly overrated. Stay tuned as we head back for round 2 next week though. Well, we have to return, because I’ve decided that I should have bought one of the autographed books that I mentioned earlier, given that I’ve been carrying around a leaflet about the author since I picked it up in Mataranka a few weeks ago. Now I’m going to have to keep my fingers crossed that he makes a return next week, or else I’ll be planning another pilgrimage to Darwin for this time next year, just to buy another book. It sure is a long trip to make each year purely to add tomes to my library.

Until next time, stay safe, have fun and don’t forget to write.

Today could pretty much be described in three words: We went shopping. That’s pretty much the extent of it. Yep, we got up, walked the dogs, then locked them in the van for the bulk of the day, while we went swanning around the shopping centre. Not just any shopping centre mind you, but Northern Territorys biggest shopping centre!

See the resemblance?

Spotted at the shops today, ‘Baby Beast’!

Home to a whopping 200 stores (sarcasm alert), Casuarina Square had us entertained for much of the day. All under one air conditioned roof, Bec was jubilant in the cool. Especially since our power saving experiment of switching the air conditioner in the van off over night resulted in a dismal failure.

I had suggested the great switch off, after being outside for a short time, where the nighttime temperature felt relatively cool. So we threw open all of the windows, vents and door, but the lack of any breeze to thrust air throughout the van to help reduce the heat inside, saw the interior temperature hover around ‘too hot’ all night. As a result, Bec woke up unrested and grumpy. I hadn’t found it to be too bad, but I figure that Becs need for a goodnights sleep to prevent her becoming savage, and therefore my own well being and sanity is definitely worth the extra couple of dollars worth of power to run the air con overnight.

Anyway, with our shopping expedition completed, and our arms laden with our spoils, we headed back to the van. I say our arms laden, because the Northern Territory is supporting the push to become plastic bag free and therefore you either need to bring your own carry bags, or pay for a new one each time. Generally, they are 15^C each, an expenditure which we hadn’t budgeted for, so we’re trying to make do with as few as we can manage. I think we have about 6 now, stowed carefully in the rear of ‘The Beast’, where we keep throwing them for the next time we need them, and then forgetting all about them.

Back ‘home’, which is what we have come to know the van as, where ever we may be resting our heads, we changed into swimmers and headed down to the pool. Due to the layout of the conjoined parks, we have to walk from our plot, across the neighbouring park, to the small oasis that is the pool area. It felt even smaller today, as it was hosting a congregation of like minded caravanners, all floating about in the warm water.

By now, we have decided that despite the early issues, we are pleased with our choice in staying at this paticular park. What we have noticed though, is that it is not an overly friendly park. Other places we have stayed, a quick afternoon walk can turn into a wander of epic proportions as you stop to chat at each caravan you pass by. A swim in the pool at some parks, would see you striking up in depth conversations with utter strangers. Here though, a simple nod of the head is about as exciting as it gets, and while a “hello” or a “g’day” might be called across the road while out walking, any extension of the conversation is more an exception than the rule.

The pool was no different, with groups of people littered about in the water talking, but not overly welcoming of the two young upstarts that we are. We followed suite, and kept to ourselves, as we cherished the chance to relax in the blessed warm water of the pool.

Upon returning to the van and cleaning up, we got dinner started. Not that we cooked what we had planned to have. The damned fridge is working too well now, and the chicken we removed from the freezer yesterday, is still frozen solid such is the minimal temperature within. I much prefer that option though, over the oven like temperatures we’ve seen in the past. Either way this fridge will be the death of me.

Much to Bethanys dismay, we cooked and ate dinner without taking them out for a walk this afternoon. She has come to expect her afternoon walks and naturally, she didn’t realise that we had planned to take them out after dinner tonight, rather than before. In protest, she lay on the bed, totally ignoring us, sulking like a toddler who isn’t allowed to have any candy, or maybe even like I do when I don’t get my own way. She definitely takes after me!

You should have seen her perk up the moment we finished eating and mentioned the ‘W’ word. Bouncing around the caravan like a kangaroo until we managed to get her leash on, she bound out of the van ready to go exploring.

We have found a nice long stretch of lawn down by the front of the park, where we can give them a good run. Not that either of them have been interested in much more than a slow amble in the heat of the day, which is when we usually manage to get them out. Today was a different story though, as being that bit later, the sun was sinking and the warmth wasn’t so biting. It was actually Alvin who perked up first, bucking against his lead. Like the reins on a horse, I gave the leash a flick of the wrist, and almost before I could even get up to speed, both Alvin and Bethany were striking across the grass at full tilt. This was much to the mirth of Bec and a couple of the other park residents, who were watching on in amusement, as I was pulled along behind the dogs like an out of control water skier. It was an effort to keep up, as the leash stretched to its fullest, and we barreled about the lawn, streaking beneath the sprinklers and zig zagging between the trees.

Back at the van, Bethany was over her episode of sulking, having had her walk, while both of them sat back on the bed, out of breath with their tongues lolling about as they panted heavily, but happily. After that run, I wasn’t far behind.

Happy Pooches.

Hey, you might have already noticed, but I have managed to update our map, to show us having arrived up here in Darwin. Unfortunately, my photographic updates to Flickr haven’t been so punctual, but keep checking back, because I’ll get there eventually. And there are some ripper shots from our time in Kakadu to be seen.

Until next time, stay safe, have fun and don’t forget to write.

Our power quandaries continued this morning. Although today, it was not due to the continual interruption to our power supply, but we did find out why the meter didn’t seem to be working as it ought to be. The maintenance bloke from yesterday came back, to let us know we were on the wrong site. Either that, or we were using the wrong bathroom. That fact had somehow been overlooked yesterday, and was only discovered today when he was on his morning bathroom cleaning rounds.

As it turned out, we had parked the van on one site, but were using the facilities for another site. Therefore, when we were plugged into the power supply that continually failed, we were only partly correct in our assumption that the meter wasn’t operating. The meter was actually working perfectly, it was only that we were in fact looking at the wrong meter. To make a long story short, we are now in possession of the key to the correct ensuite facilities and our power cable has been re-routed to the power point in our ‘new’ bathroom. The downside of this arrangement is, that no matter where we plug our lead in, the meter is spinning. So no more syphoning of power. We knew that deal was too good to last, especially since they checked both meters and have charged us accordingly for the power we have already used.

Hopefully, that will be the end of our electrical issues and our troubles will be over so we can settle into enjoying what Darwin has to offer on the outside of the caravan park. Before we were to find out though, we sat down to a hearty cooked breakfast, considering we had missed out on our regular Sunday fry up, because of our early start this week.

Then it was off into town, where we headed for the World War II Oil Storage Bunkers. After Darwin was attacked during World War II by Japanese bombers, 7 out of 11 above ground oil storage tanks were destroyed. To thwart any further effort to destroy Darwins oil storage, a series of underground tunnels were commissioned. Constructed by hand, the war was over before construction was completed. Due to the lack of ships berthing in Darwin following the war, there was no need for such a large amount of oil to be stored, and so the tunnels were never used for their intended purpose.

About to enter the tunnels.

This one we could walk along,

While this one is half full of water.

One arm of the complex is now open for visitors to walk through, taking you on a nearly 200 meter tour beneath the Darwin Central Business District. The walls of the tunnel are adorned with wartime photographs, but with no information about the construction of the tunnels, it was rather boring. Not to mention hot and stuffy, despite the cavernous breadth and height of the tunnel.

The tunnel complex is right across the road from the Darwin waterfront precinct, which we wandered about next. After having been touring inland since we left Townsville what seems like so long ago, this was our first view of the coast again. The waterfront precinct is a horseshoe shaped complex around a small central manmade beach, making it an ideal swimming spot, given that it is manned by lifesavers and is crocodile free. For the most part, the waters around Darwin are possibly inhabited by crocs, and therefore not safe for bathing. It’s such a shame, because some of the beaches about Darwin are among the best you’ll ever see.

Darwin Waterfront.

As we walked, we succumbed to the simple pleasure of trying some fresh gelato. Still not up there with the creamy Townsville delights, but still deliciously refreshing as the hot sun tried its best to turn our cups of gelato to liquid before we could finish them.

There was not much else in the area to hold our attention, so we returned to ‘The Beast’ via the Survivors Lookout, which looks out across the harbour where so much death and destruction resulted during the Japanese bombing of 1942. Over the road was the government precinct, where a number of buildings of note are located. Many have been here since before the war and survived both the bombing, and many years later ‘Cyclone Tracy’, they are obviously made of stouter stuff than newer buildings.

Whilst we were in town, we decided to spend some time shopping in the mall that makes up the centre of Darwin. The actual city centre is a compact area, centered around the mall. This is the main shopping area, with a variety of retail outlets, while one end of the mall leads to the financial district and the other is home to restaurants and hotels. Having covered this ground when we were here just last year, it didn’t take us too long to decide that there wasn’t much to see here, although I did stop to pick up a few bottles of beer. I’ve always said that when I am in Darwin, I am going to treat myself to a Darwin Stubby, a two litre bottle of NT Draught. There’s now three bottles taking up most of our fridge space, chilling down for when our visitors arrive next week.

Back at where we had parked ‘The Beast’ we elected to head straight back to the van. I was getting a little anxious about having left the dogs there, and my concern was that now that we were plugged into the site that had been continually throwing the safety switch, the power would be off again when we returned.

Thankfully, my fears were not realised, and we found the air conditioner still keeping the van cool for the dogs, while the TV was still keeping them company. Yes, I am now confident that we have this power struggle licked, and we can now go out, safe in the knowledge that the dogs (and the Darwin Stubbies) will still be cold when we return.

So, who’s up for a drink?

Until next time, stay safe, have fun and don’t forget to write.