Day 40 - Darwin

Today we went to see the Cyclone Tracy Exhibition at the Museum and Gallery NT. Before that exhibit are display boxes with many types of Australian butterflies, moths, birds, marine animals, reptiles and spiders. All three girls were fascinated by these, and couldn't wait to show us what unusual animal they had discovered. Things were more somber in the Cyclone Tracy exhibit. There are housing examples set up of what buildings were like in Darwin pre Christmas Day 1974. You could see how flimsy the houses were. There are very few houses left that were built prior to WWII and only about 12 left that were built between that war and 1974. Government House was rebuilt as was the old Courthouse. They have a recording of the cyclone which is creepy. The recordings of people's experiences who stayed in Darwin, despite the cyclone warnings, show they were all shell shocked. There had been a cyclone heading to Darwin a few weeks previously that had petered out to strong winds. This gave false confidence to a lot of the population, and there was a general attitude that the cyclone wasn't going to get in the way of Christmas. There was footage by ABC staff the next day of the mess left in Tracy's wake. The northern suburbs were hit the worst, but the whole city was littered with corrugated iron from people's rooves and walls.

Unfortunately no photography is allowed at any of the exhibits, so I can't show you the size of a crocodile called Sweetheart. Image, if you can, a 5.1 metre prehistoric beast that weighs 570kg. I could fit curled up in his stomach. He was caught in Sweet Lagoon off the Finniss River, south of Darwin, near Batchelor. We looked at some Albert Namatjira paintings and some great modern art.

 

From here we wandered down to the Mindil Markets past Darwin High School to meet up with Nev from work.

 

I was surprised to see lifesaver flags on the beach above. If the crocodiles don't get you the box jelly fish will!

We looked around the market slowly, enjoying the sights and smells, then met Nev and his family at the jumping castle. Nev had an arrangement that he was going to enjoy a beer with Justin (?) in Darwin, so he went looking for an alcohol vendor. None of us liked his chances given the issues with alcohol in the Territory. Therefore we decided to go to the Trailer Boat Club for dinner, right on the water. At risk of sounding like a real estate agent, location, location, location!

 

Justin's father Ian would have loved to spend time here gazing at the yachts. Phoebe counted 100 boats.

 

Two sips later Justin had fulfilled his commitment, and we continued to enjoy the evening. There is a playground here and a pool. Our kids weren't swimming, but you could spend a whole day here quite happily. The beard and the beer, what is going on? A man of the bush. Justin states now that he has trimmed the moustache, he really forgets it is there.

 

 

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