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Starblazer - 03/09/2015 – A week in Darwin



Our lock time was 1030 so we pulled up an extremely muddy anchor just after
0900 to refuel at Cullen Bay before making our way around to Tipperary
Waters Marina, following Firefly. The fuel dock has an automated pump, we
forgot to get a receipt so no tax refund on that when we cleared out. (The
first taxation faux pas!) The lock was running about 15 minutes behind
schedule, we entered at 1045 and were tied up by 1100 though not without a
minor mishap. We caught the BBQ on the edge of the lock gatepost, it got
rather bent. John spent the rest of the day installing the new fridge which
works very well. He chased up a copy of the invoice but forgot to print it,
the second taxation faux pas.

Wednesday was spent on a variety of jobs including finding a man who could
straighten and repair the BBQ. That evening we were all invited to the
Cruising Club a couple of blocks away. It was a very good evening, with
good food, cold beer and good music!

No boat jobs on Thursday, we started early with a trip to ‘Window on the
Wetlands’ followed by a cruise to see jumping crocodiles. It’s amazing to
think that sea water regularly floods 45 miles inland during the wet season
but the healthy wetlands environment mitigates the damaging effects of the
salt water. The river trip lived up to its billing, we saw crocodiles
jumping out of the water for lumps of buffalo meat dangled from a long pole,
very impressive. We also saw a White Bellied Eagle swoop over the water to
grab a lump of meat on the end of the pole, fantastic. The Kites wheeled
around and caught small bits of meat tossed up in the air. It was a really
interesting morning. In the afternoon we went into Darwin, bought me a new
camera and did the first part of the shopping, all the light weight
non-perishables e.g. kitchen rolls, breakfast cereal, milk powder, tea bags
plus some essentials for the next few days. Ashore the marina and Frying
Nemo, a great fish and chip restaurant, provided Welcome Drinks and Snacks.

We did more boat jobs Friday morning then went into Darwin to collect the
hire car and do the second part of the shopping, all the heavy
non-perishables. In the evening there was a wine tasting, we ordered 6
assorted bottles of red then we went out to dinner with Tulasi and Firefly,
to Chow a great oriental restaurant, not sure exactly which country
dominated the menu.

The Kakadu National Park is the largest in Australia and one with a World
Heritage designation. It’s about 250 km from Darwin so we booked
accommodation for two nights and made a fairly early start. The bird life
at the Mamukala Wetlands was simply stunning, the ‘hide’ was a long open
faced building making no effort to screen the viewers from the birds. This
was the best bird watching area we found. There are several areas of
Aboriginal rock paintings, we visited Ubirr and Nourlangie which has an
ancient Aboriginal shelter, both had interesting paintings. We clambered to
the viewpoint above Ubirr, overlooking the Nadab Floodplain. It is reported
to be spectacular at sunset but I wouldn’t like to descend in anything other
than bright light! Just before Cooinda we visited the Warradjan Aboriginal
Cultural Centre, very well presented and informative, then we went on a
Yellow Water cruise. The birds were not as plentiful as at Mamukala but the
guide identified them all and we saw some different ones. Clearly the
crocodiles didn’t expect food so they were not attracted to the vibrations
of the boat’s engines and we saw them in their more natural state. Though
the Yellow Water Billabong and the adjacent wetlands are fresh water the
crocodiles we saw are ‘Salties’, i.e. salt water crocodiles. We visited one
other billabong, the Anbangbang close to Nourlangie, but were driven back
into the car by the flies! We had a fantastic time, including evening
drinks with Paul and Susie from Firefly who were staying in the same resort
as us. Monday morning we left early to drive back to Darwin.

Monday was a very busy day: shopping for meat, vegetables, fruit and dairy
before returning the car; clearing out with immigration and reclaiming the
sales tax on my camera (John forgot to look for the receipt for his camera
as well); attending the briefing for the next leg to Lombok; doing the
washing and straightening the boat! The only problem I had was when the
lady came to lock the laundry up at 1900, I had two machines which had just
finished washing but I was unable to use the driers as we were due to lock
out first at 0645, before the laundry opened next morning. Nothing to do
with boats is quite straight forward, oh well never mind there is always a
solution. (John: Stern Arch used as a washing line support!)

Joyce


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