25th July Darwin

No kms today but I did walk 5kms

After brekkie of Muesli and a cup of tea, I walked to the NT Art and History Museum. My first disappointment was that the art gallery section was closed for set up of a new exhibition. So I looked at the natural history section. For a diversion I asked one of the assistants if he could identify the small bird I photographed in Litchfield. He admitted that his expertise was lizards, but he would ask a bird expert. He sent a copy of my photo to the expert and the answer was a Syriated Pardalote ( which turned out to be wrong, but I was impressed anyway).

There was a special display about Cyclone Tracey, which hit Darwin On Christmas Day 1974. Before and after aerial photos showed the extent of the damage, and forced the mass evacuation of the population. There was an ABC newsreel of the aftermath, but disappointedly no footage of the Cyclone in action. Morag and I saw a home movie of the actual Cyclone back in 1981. There was an outdoor exhibition about shipping containers, I fool you not! It described the revolution that containers made to worldwide shipping in 5 brightly painted shipping containers.

One benefit of the visit to the Museum was that I learnt about the Darwin Boat Club nearby, which had a bistro on the beach and was good for watching sunsets. I rushed over to a Chemist to buy Kwells for the boat trip tomorrow and passed by a large Condo with a café going gang busters on the ground floor a bit like Casuarina. There was a large private Catholic school opposite with manicured lawns and playing fields. Looks like there is a bit of money in Darwin.

Where the rich and famous in Darwin spend their Sunday afternoons

Dinner at the Darwin Boat Club was nothing special but views of the sunset were spectacular and 1/2 hour later the horizon filled with a red and pink afterglow.