**Darwin, Top End of Australia

THE TOP END: DARWIN

Who can find our ship docked in Darwin??









Really busy day today. It is so much easier to see and visit places when the ship is docked as opposed to anchored. More freedom to explore. Easier. I took the shuttle to town so I could find free and working Internet. The Mall where the shuttle dropped us off had wifi but it was hard to get connected so I found the lobby of the local Hilton. I find hotel lobbies great for sitting and catching up. So that is what I did for about an hour.

 


















Darwin has a laid back feel. In the center of town is a neat little open air pedestrian mall called Smith Street Mall. Souvenirs, arts and crafts,, (Aboriginal art everywhere) pearls and cafes line the little street. Darwin has the highest per capita beer consumption in the world.... On average we were told each resident drinks the equivalent of 650 bottles of beer a year. I can see why... It was HOT!

The town is a mixture of new and old. Darwin has a tropical climate. It is always hot with either wet Monsoons or a tinder box dry desert season. People do not 'hit' the beach here due to crocodiles and the stinging jelly fish which are abundant in this area. If one of these jelly fish sting you near your heart, it paralyzes your heart and your life is over.

Darwin has been destroyed twice and had to completely rebuild. Japan flattened it with 65 bombs during WWII and in 1974, Cyclone Tracy with 140 mile an hour winds came in and destroyed about 75% of it. After the cyclone hit, 43,000 people had to be evacuated by airlifts. Many did not return. Now all buildings going up are concrete. They fully expect to be hit with strong winds again.

I bought the grandkids t-shirts (don't tell!) here and headed back to the ship for my tour. I did a Harbor cruise and panoramic Darwin by bus. It was about 4 1/2 hours long. The harbor cruise was slow and boring. We did have a lot of commentary about the history of Darwin, Darwin and WWII, and tides and fishing here in Darwin.
















The bus tour was somewhat interesting. We had a city orientation with scenic photo ops, visited the "entrance" of the Botanical Gardens, A WWII bunker, and a casino, Once you get out of the city area, I found Darwin to be rather nice with seemingly enough to do. A lot of people buy homes and rent to tourists. Helps pay the mortgage and home prices go up 10% a year? Not sure I heard the right.

We stopped at the Botanical Garden and one person got out to take a photo while everyone else stayed on the bus. As the guide was pointing at something in the garden the cruiser was snapping pictures.... With time on my hands and too much curiosity...I said to myself "What the heck!" as I bounded out of the bus.... and went to see what was up.

OH MAN! A huge python was on a tree. I had to take 10 pictures, at least. I mean it was HUGE!!!



Those that stayed on the bus really missed an opportunity here.

As I was getting back on the bus the guide admitted it was not a real snake....I was had.... Would have been cool though, right?



Not sure I would come to vacation here but for a day and a tour and to stretch your legs, it is OK.

The Aussie accents are great...G'Day Mate.


Night time entertainment was Arthur Duncan For those in the know he was on Ed Sullivan for 14 years. He was in movies, one was TAP? He is 90 years old. He hung around with Sammy Davis Jr., Dick Van Dyke,etc. back in the day. Wow, could he tap dance! We enjoyed him so much we stayed for both shows. He sang, told stories and tap danced. I had to sit in the first row for both shows just to watch his feet move. I used to take tap dance lessons..... might have to get myself some tap shoes again. I will never forget the feel of the click clacking when you walk with tap shoes on. Love that
sound.

 



 Have to share my delightful desert with you.... in picture form ... :) . If any of you were here I certainly WOULD NOT SHARE ... It was THAT good. I am not a big desert fan but I loved this. David ate half....

It had a strawberry cotton candy mound on top. The waiter came and poured strawberry sauce on top in the middle of it. As he poured the sauce, the pink cotton candy melted and revealed a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Under the ice cream was a slice of pound cake and under the pound cake was a sauce of fresh strawberries and blueberries. Isla would have loved it because it was pink....Am I right? Soooo delicious. I had hard time quitting half way through to give David half. Tasted like fresh strawberry shortcake.