On leaving Kakadu, we travelled across to Litchfield National Park then, we headed to Darwin, arriving late afternoon. When I've been away before, no matter how much I loved it and how interesting, exciting, fun, a trip had been, by the end I always looked forward to home. Not this time. It was a great disappointment to see the tin and tile roofs of suburbia loom into view on the outskirts of Darwin.
That said, Darwin itself was not a disappointment at all. Originally I'd planned an extra day there but Qantas messed about with my flights. I saw enough to hope to get back there again and see it properly. Then again – reservation staff and I don't seem to hit it off in the Northern Territory. This time, the hotel couldn't find the booking for my second night there.
On the outskirts of Darwin we stopped at the Australian Aviation Heritage Centre which is more or less a giant hangar filled with old planes and associated memorabilia. My Aunty Hazel worked at Essendon Aerodrome during World War II, helping build aircraft, and she stayed on there until her retirement many years later, so I have that background interest. She started with ANA (Australian National Airways) which had morphed into Ansett by the time she stopped work. The largest exhibit is a B52 bomber. It was amusing to hear someone ask where it was when he walked into the hangar: it was so big he couldn't see it!
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| Only appropriate to put this here, an exhibit at the Aviation Centre, seeing as a similar plane has been the logo of this blog. |
Then it was on into the city centre where our hotel was, overlooking the water. People, including me, pretty much flaked on arrival, taking time to luxuriate in a hot shower and put on fresh clothes before going down to drinks and our last dinner together.
Next morning it was an early start again. We had a morning tour of the city at the end of which some people were dropped off at the airport and various other places of accommodation for those staying on at cheaper hotel rates. I should have done that too for my extra night. I didn't realise how easy it was. However .....
The city tour fitted in more than I expected. Most of it was drive-by or drive-through, of course. But we got out near the Supreme Court, above the WWII oil storage tunnels and learned a bit of history, at East Point to admire the (smoky!) views, and spent a decent amount of time at the art gallery. The temporary exhibition at the gallery was the 2012 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art awards. There was some fabulous work there – and as with any exhibition some that you'd struggle to be polite about. But one piece reduced me to tears; “I bin learn” by Deann Grant – 20 old-fashioned school slates with racist, patronising, negative, etc, etc things she had learned over the years. I voted for it in the People's Choice Award (doubt it will win) and suggested it be put on a postcard and delivered to every mail box in Australia (doubt they'll do that either). The extensive Cyclone Tracy exhibit was also impressive, particularly the room you went into to hear how it sounded at the time. There was, understandably, a warning on the door that some people might find it upsetting.
Back at the hotel, that left me with one afternoon before returning to Melbourne on a 7.00am flight the next day. And what a terrific afternoon it was! I was picked up at the hotel by Dianne, a library technician from Humpty Doo, and driven via the scenic route out to the hospital where health library colleague Gill was, luckily for me, at work that afternoon. We had afternoon tea and talked shop in a pretty impressive library set-up, even if they are short-staffed like many health libraries. Then Dianne drove me back to the hotel via the sunset market at Mindil Beach. That too was fun and I picked up some reasonably healthy(!) food for tea. Seeing the sun set at the sunset market was an appropriate almost-last sight after the most amazing three weeks I think I've ever spent.
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| Sunset at Mindil Beach More Darwin photos here |