Darwin, AUS

Trip Start Apr 02, 2009
1
5
Trip End May 11, 2009


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Flag of Australia  , Northern Territory,
Saturday, April 11, 2009

I wanted to do something different with this trip to Australia, so we decided to explore the "top end" of Australia.  Auntie Laurel, my mother, Anthea and I (both moms and both daughters) caught the red-eye flight from Sydney to Darwin.  We arrived at about 4am, and just crashed in our hotel.  The next morning, we got up nice and early to go to the wharf and feed the fish.  There were thousands of fish waiting for their feed of bread from the tourists.  It was pretty cool, although I expected they would be brighty colored tropical fish, and they were the opposite; big grey ugly fish, but a cool experience none the less.  I guess this is a good time to talk about how hot and humid it is in Darwin, and the whole "Top End", is was 100 degrees and above the entire time, and so sticky humid. YUCK!

After feeding the fishies, we rented a car that we would use for the next 6 days.  We then headed off to explore what Darwin had to offer  and ended up taking a ferry boat across to a nearby island Zen Moment 1
Zen Moment 1
 .  There was nothing much on the island but a big outdoor beach bar with live acoustic music by two quirky guys with guitars.  We had a few beers, and listened to the tunes for the two hours until the next boat arrived to take up back.  Now being this hot and sticky, and surrounded by all of this beautiful blue ocean, you'd expect that we would at least be able to hit the surf here... NOPE!  Deadly jellyfish and saltwater crocs inhabit these waters, so no swimming is allowed here either.  Its really such a tease, and almost painful not to be able to cool off.

That night we watched the sun set over Mindl Beach in Darwin.  It was amazing!  What a beautiful site, and I took some amazing photos.  Mindl Beach has to be one of the choice spots for watching the sunset because we were not alone there.... About 50 ppl came out with their cameras to join in the experience.

Afterwards, we went back to the hotel to get all dressed up for dinner.  The food was fantastic at this thai/ Indian restaurant in Darwin.  We made the most of it because as you will read later, this was the last taste of decent food and being respectably dressed for the next 5 days...The next day our deep bush excursion was to begin.  H
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