Florence Falls

 The water camera was buried deep in the suitcase after this day trip to Litchfield. I got some clips together to give an idea of swimming there. The clarity of the water is "to the bottom" eg where ever I went I could see the bottom clear as day.  Good considering the number of people messing about in the water. It has been an extra wet, wet season so the amout of water at all the falls is voluminous, hence the clarity. The current was also pushing you away so it was easier to hang back and watch the climbers jumping off.  The fish are sooty grunters.  They are black hence sooty however with the noisy waterfall I did not hear them grunt. 

Red Eye

 I think I have two red eyes. What leaves just after midnight and arrives just before dawn? The Red Eye. This plane was packed as well and what a shock to land in a fogbank. I think we should ban this type of flight.  We went looking for our car in the fog and the photo of where it was parked was unreachable on the water damaged phone.  It does not need to be said that the greatest nophasement moment was when the phone got watered. This is like having an arm cut off and it was only the second day. We had the carpark exit pass on there as well. There must be 5,000 cars in that lot.  Fortunately the work around was to access the cloud from the tablet device and get the pass on my phone.  It must be phone size not tablet size to fit under the scanner. Always bring backup technology.

last pool session

last photo

Final Fling

Julie had some issues, as did we all, with the Hotel in general. Parties were booked for four of our nights there with all sorts of riff raff running rampant.  Sleep was already a problem with the heat and the renovations were incessant and always started at 7:00am.  Maintenance on the horizon pool closed it for two days and the comedy festival day included that pool.  Julie went to work on the last day arranging free breakfasts and all day access until we were ready to leave until 10:00pm. Hooray!  We were all done in but Debbie had this last itch that needed scratching. With a 30 min spare window we went into the casino armed with cash, all $20 of it.  Thirty two yar ago we played a roulette table and scored 17:1 with a $10 chip. We then decided to blow it all. This time around we tried the armless bandits and got onto some sort of golden patchwork where if you get the squares full of gold then you hit the jackpot.  We got 12 squares filled with three empty however that still gave us $35. so we cashed in and sailed right out of there.

we had to ask how to get the winnings out

Eat or be Eaten

 Yes I have been on the lookout for the right sized crocodile to eat. I have turned the tables, the five metre monsters that devour buffalo and humans are too big but The Oyster Bar had one that was cut into bite sized chunks. It is hard to describe the taste but the flesh was white and a bit chewy but tasted ok. I have now had green ants, termites and crocodile, I did see a few frill necked lizards in the garden.

WWII Tunnels

 The Japanese bombed Darwin over 60 times and there is still a lot of infrastructure around from back then. The fuel was stored in tanks on Stokes Hill but was obliterated a week after it was finished. So they went under ground, digging 400 metres into the hillside. The entry point was a little tight if people were coming out the same way. The larger tunnel opened out where displays and a film was running about the attacks. Only one is open from the 11 tunnels that were dug. The East Point defences have more to tell.

Mindil Beach Market

 Like a lot of things on this trip this market is a revisit. I am struggling to remember the last time at 32 yar ago but there were three children in tow who were hot, sticky and eaten by mossies. This time it was more relaxed even though there was more people. I would say it was about 60% food and 40% craft. The highlight is the sunset with a wide beach at low tide. The crowds applaud the Sun going down here. Must be a Darwin thing. We got a 5 minute pizza to share very tasty.

East RIde 2

 We got the bikes out again for a second ride around Fannie Bay. It is an appropriate name if you are using battered hotel bikes as your bum gets a workout here. We stopped at the food vans for an egg & bacon roll but with Darwin time this means it will take a while to get made. The market area was busy with all the setup going on for tonights Mindil Market however we could only see food vans. Time for a snooze as sleeping here is tricky with nightly concerts and high temperatures.