DARWIN

Heat, Cold, Family, Markets, Sundowners and Square Dancers.

I was surprised at the amount of (seemingly) uncontrolled burning going on in the area between Mataranka and Darwin. It seems that a very high percentage is wildfire that the locals have no ability or will to bring under control and the fires continue until they eventually go out. In some instances this means that the fires burn for weeks at a time and consume many, many miles of vegetation.

Darwin is nice and getting to be a very nice city, particularly the public spaces, especially the parks and gardens. The downside of Darwin in June is that it’s still quite hot for southerners once the overnight / early morning chill passes. Darwinians were complaining of the cold, though, especially the mornings where the temps were around 12 or 14. Darwin was expecting to break a 30 year record for the coldest temp.

The principal reason for this short visit was to visit family but we also took the opportunity to parts of Darwin we have not seen before. We spent some time at Nightcliff, a very quiet, very pleasant waterfront area with some very swish homes and a quiet pub with a view.

We naturally visited both shopping centres of note, Casuarina and Palmerston. Rob has never been known to bypass a shopping centre or a market and we spent some time at a couple of small markets as well as an obligatory trip to the famous Mindil Night Markets – very interesting people!! A couple of square dancers in Darwin for some sort of square dancing extravaganza added a little extra colour (I’m sorry I missed the dancing……..NOT!!!)

Darwinians and southerners have a fascination for seeing the sun go down into the water and at Mindil Markets many hundreds gather, cameras, mobile phones, drinks and food in hand to wander the beach and watch. I have to admit that the sight is quite spectacular and we joined in.

Around Darwin brigades were very busy in the last few days burning out large tracts of scrub and grass to protect homes and other assets. Many were backing fires , but the most spectacular were those that I suppose had good natural or man-made containment lines and they were lit, let go and were all over in no time, some good skills here.

Next stop, back to Katherine for a quick overnight and then on to Victoria River then WA.