Day 19 –Darwin

A day around the lovely tropical city of Darwin today. It reminds me a little of Brisbane with its huge tropical flowering frangipani trees in all sorts of colors, and lots of lush palms and green foliage.  Another similarity is the huge free waterfront saltwater lagoon around the wharf. Lots of nice restaurants and cafes.

On the way into the city this morning, located on the Stuart Highway is the Australian Aviation Heritage Centre, home of the B52 bomber, spitfires, and many other aircraft in a huge hanger. We spent a good couple of hours here watching the documentary of the bombing of Darwin in 1942 (62 separate bombing raids), and reading the fascinating display boards and information. Well worth a visit.

 

Next up, we parked down near the main wharf, and visited the WW2 oil tunnels. In 1924, 11 above ground tunnels holding aviation fuel were built around Darwin to store fuel. The 1942 raids of Darwin destroyed 9 of these, so a decision was made to construct hidden oil storage tunnels underneath the city. 400 labourers using pick and shovel built the tunnels in secret, under the main city area.  So today we were able to walk through the tunnels and view a really interesting exhibit in the massive tunnels. Definitely a very different thing to do!

In 1941 after the bombing of Pearl Harbour in the US, an evacuation was ordered on Darwin, and 750 women and children were evacuated by boats down south. Just two months later the same fleet that bombed Pearl Harbour, carried out a devastating bombing raid on Darwin, killing over 1000 people.

 

 

Then it was up the glass elevator, and across the elevated footbridge into the centre of Darwin, and a walk down through the main shopping mall. This is mainly full of eating places and tourist shops, but has had quite a nice facelift since last we visited.

 

After lunch we drove around to the NT Museum and Art Gallery, to view the Cyclone Tracey exhibition. We stood in a darkened room and listened to a recreation of what the cyclone sounded like – very frightening. The museum had a good display of various Indonesian fishing and refugee boats, as well as natural science exhibits and a kids room where the kids could explore science facts.

The kids were most impressed by the huge (stuffed) crocodile that was on permanent display, with an accompanying short documentary on how they captured him. ‘Sweetheart’ the croc  was 7m long! Absolutely huge!

 

Then after a drive around East Point Reserve, it was back to the caravan park for a well earned swim, and free bbq tea. This van park is fantastic, lots of free activities, and the surrounds are just superb. Tonight we are parked beside another family (from Wodonga), doing exactly the same trip as us, same timing, and twins in grade 5 (much to Sam’s pleasure). Always nice to see other families on the road (there are heaps of them!).