Friday 27 Nov 2009
Darwin, Australia
G'Day from the Top of Down Under.... Darwin
A bright and early start to catch an 8:15am flight from Perth to Darwin. Flight was uneventful and we arrived a few minutes early. Upon exiting the airport the heat hit us full force - (have you ever opened the oven with a pair of classes on and the blast of heat fogs up your glasses ?) - Welcome to Darwin !
OK... it wasn't that bad but almost. We checked into our hotel and took the time to read through the brochures to decide what we're going to do for the next 3 days. We chose 2 different full day tours, one to Kakadu National Park, the other to Litchfield Falls. We also booked a sunset dinner cruise.
The rest of the day was spent getting to know the city of Darwin. A leisurely stroll through the shopping area and we ended up down by the wharf where they have a swimming area called The Wave. Best to swim where you know you will not be stung by the Box Jellies (remember the movie Seven Pound with Will Smith ?). You pay an admission fee and there is a fresh water swimming area that has a wave machine. The waves are created for 20 minutes at a time and swimmers can ride boogie boards, inner tubes or just body surf. Then there is a 10 minute calm and it starts all over again. It looked like great fun so we'll give it a try on Sunday.
We found a restaurant along the wharf that had a buffet dinner. You name it, it was on the buffet - prawns, mussels, oysters on the ½ shell, all sorts of salads, steak, turkey (with cranberry sauce), ham, fish, a variety of potatoes ... and on it goes. The best Bang for our Buck we've had so far. The food was really good too !
Saturday's an early day with the Kakadu Tour pick up at 6:15am so will sign off for now. Check pictures of our 1st day under Darwin.