Top End Travels - Darwin 3

Wednesday 22 May 2019

Up and online while having early coffee before the others were up. We decided to go to the Botanic Gardens cafe for breakfast and again, after negotiating the lack of signage and the building works we enjoyed quite a late breakfast.

Because very little of the gardens was free to walk around we returned to the top carpark next to the cycad garden area and spent some time browsing, cameras at the ready.

A small flower at the apartment with native bee in the centre.

Karen pointed out that the Cannonball tree was in flower. What an amazing flower it is!

Then of course there were the cycads with their bold form and separate male and female parts ...

Some other interesting things we saw ...

A fly agaric which was putting out a potent odour to attract lots of blowflies...

A beautiful native waterlily...

A pair of northern brush turkeys...

Back to the unit stopping on the way at Officeworks for supplies. We then drove out to get a takeaway lunch to eat at home in the cool.

Lunch was followed by a short wallow in the pool while the washing machine worked on our clothes. With the hot dry air it was completely dry on the clothesline in about two hours.

We drove out to see Brigid and Joe's new house which will be a project for some years. On the euphorb in their garden there were more native bees.

It was then time to head for the Deckchair Cinema down on the harbour. We bought dinner there then enjoyed watching the changing colours in the sky as the sun sank.

Eventually the movie started - Bohemian Rhapsody. I had not seen it and was suitably impressed. It was not even too loud (I had bought earplugs at Officeworks in anticipation but did not have to use them). I think we were far enough from the speakers.

Top End Travels - Darwin 2

Tuesday 21 May 2019

After a restless night and a reasonably late start we drove to Sweet Brew for breakfast. The cafe is owned and run by Karen and Alastair's "neice" Brigid and her husband Joe who are both trained bakers. I had the best waffles I've ever eaten.

We then drove north to the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory only getting a little lost until I resorted to using google maps on my phone and forgetting all the very poor tourist maps we were given and the lack of signage we have encountered all over Darwin. I loved the vistas over the bay and the natural history displays but was particularly impressed by the astronomy display which included some indigenous interpretations and art.

Near the museum was the Tactile Arts Gallery where the current exhibition was fabric designs and prints by a group of indigenous artists.

Further north we stopped at Dragonfly Fabrics where Alastair had a snooze on the lounge while Karen and I browsed and chatted to the lady serving. Of course more fabric was purchased.

On to the Casuarina shopping centre for supplies then home for sushi and raspberries for lunch.

Our afternoon activity was a visit to the Royal Flying Doctor Service museum at the waterfront. This has some great super-techno displays but I had to forego the virtual reality headset part as it was too loud and I could not adjust my multifocal glasses to see the vision clearly. K and A said it was really quite impressive.

Karen and I enjoyed an ice cream by the water then we headed home.

Brigid and Joe had invited us to dinner at a tapas style restaurant - PM Eat and Drink. The food was great and despite the acoustics we had a great evening chatting together.

Top End Travels - Darwin 1

Monday 20 May 2019

I'm heading on a trip along the Savannah Way to see lots of places and things that Surrey often talked about, having done numerous collecting trips in the area. Each leg of the journey can be found on the map below and the references on each blog entry will be given as well. Each picture can be seen in full screen by clicking on the first one (not the map) and scrolling through.

Map of My Journey - Darwin to Cairns - Click this link to see the map larger in Google Maps

A quick trip to the airport with Uber to be met by a jammed baggage handling system then huge queues for the security check-in. My hip pinged the xray so I had to remove shoes and have a pat down. Eventually I got though and headed for some breakfast before going to the gate to wait for Karen and Alastair who will be my travelling companions on the Outback Spirit adventure.

The flight was mostly smooth. I had a window seat on the western side of the plane next to a mechanical engineer who was really interested in what I was watching out the window - the fantastic sight of the water coming down the rivers then the channel country from the north.

Near Bourke

Channel Country

Is this a fracking site?

Coming into Darwin

After a long time collecting our car we made our way to City Garden Apartments and dumped our bags before heading back out to find some food for "lunch". It was about 3:30 and everything was shut. We eventually found a smoothie for Karen and I which hit the spot well.

Karen and I then enjoyed some time at a fabric shop - Paperbark Woman - which stocks all aboriginal designed fabrics for quilters. I was really good and only bought two pieces. The shop is amazing with all sorts of designs I have not seen before.

After a short rest at the apartment we headed for the waterfront and pier for dinner. After negotiating a few un-signposted roundabouts and detours and difficult parking spots we found somewhere for our fish.seafood dinner sitting next to the water where fish and seagulls were very actively feeding on diners' scraps. The moon was just after full and rose large and brilliant red-orange while we ate.

Underhill is dry and warm

Although we have had a little rain over the last few weeks the ground is still dry and the weather last Friday and Saturday were pleasantly warm during the day and quite cool at night (2C).

Evelyn, Greg and I went down after going out to breakfast with Anne. We stopped at Marulan for a light lunch and had a call from Anne to say she had decided to come down and join us.

By the time we were enjoying Greg and Ev's chocolate cake, Anne had arrived.

There is a little bit of grass poking through the concrete we have for soil and some of the trees are colouring well for autumn.

Our new oaks and macadamia are still surviving.

Anne took this lovely photo of our "new" roof from the top dam wall.

In the evening a flock of about 20 Gang Gang came over. We started a burning off fire and enjoyed watching the nearly full moon rising above the trees. Thanks for the great photo Anne.

The next day was spent tidying up a few of the trees, a joint job, and continuing the burn off before Geoff, Jen, Ivy, Heather and Ponyo arrived soon after 10am. Greg and Ev went for a walk around the dams reporting low water levels in them all.

Ivy was keen to help Greg take down his tent, such a helper!

We left soon after lunch leaving Geoff and Jen to lock up and leave soon after us. The traffic back was solid but a smooth drive.

A long weekend in April at Underhill

The family gathered for a weekend together at Underhill last weekend. It was great to have us all there and birthday celebrations too. Barre was able able to join us for the weekend and was most astounded with the "concrete" we have for soil. He just loved seeing the two little girls, meeting Heather for the first time.

On the way down we were surprised to notice the Marulan service centre closed with lots of police and ambulance etc. A truck had caught fire in the parking lot. The Illawarra Mercury had an article about it.

We arrived in the last of the daylight so Barre was most impressed by the new roof which he had not seen. It ended up a cold night but we slept well enough.

On the Saturday a lot of 'projects' progressed just a little more. Geoff had a design for a floating pot in the dam hoping that the plant (in this case a juncus type) will flower and set seed or root into the dam substrate. We have always had trouble establishing plants in the dams because of the extreme level changes with the seasons.

The next task of the weekend was to attach the firebox door to the new stove (which is working fabulously).

Unfortunately all the vibrations from the drilling loosened the fire bricks on the inside, one of which fell down on Sunday morning so Geoff has now removed it again and will reattach it before restabilising the fire bricks. At least we now know how do and that the system works.

Then Barre and Geoff made the brick wall that will hold the pizza oven.

While Barre was moving bricks from the stock pile to Geoff he came across a small black snake which was dispatched forthwith.

There was then much discussion with Ivy about the danger of snakes around the house but that they were OK in the bush.

The loquat is flowering. I wonder if we will ever get any fruit from it?

Another project was making a mousetrap style water way for the girls to play with but with all the experimentation that had to take place I think Geoff had the most fun.

After a long day of hard physical work it was time for Geoff and the girls to soak in a hot tub, achieved by lighting a fire under the bath. Geoff had to sit in the bath because the base metal was still a bit hot for the girls to sit on. The water was fine though.

The evening entertainment was tent pitching and that was certainly lots of fun and frustration. Birthday celebration over dinner and a long sit around the fire on a cold night chatting until about 8pm when we all decided it was time to retire to our warm beds.

After breakfast and the mammoth wash-up on Sunday Geoff and family packed and left to attend a picnic with a friend in Sydney.

We all went for a walk to the Far Dam and the Bottom Corner. This view of the Bottom Dam shows it is very low indeed.

A dead echidna was found down on the bottom fence line. I've no idea why it died though.

All weekend a Flame Robin flitted around the clearing, entertaining us with glimpses and flashes of brilliant red.

We left at about 1:15 and had an easy trip home, making it in 2 hours. We were dreading driving home on a Sunday, the last day of the Anzac Day long weekend and the last day of the school holidays. We must have left at just the right time.