Rick and Rae's Travels: Mon, 8th to Sun, 14th August

On Monday, after checking, we were told we could move back to our old site in the park ... it was much nicer. Rick had to take it easy with his wrists still bandaged so I had to unhook the van, drop the legs, peg down the flooring, open the awning, etc. It proved to be quite frustrating for Rick as I wasn't as experienced at doing all this stuff, therefore it was all a bit slow. After getting set up we had to re-stock the fridge and pantry with food. Later in the afternoon Rick went for a swim in the pool making sure not to wet his wrists.

On Tuesday afternoon we drove out to East Point Reserve and Lake Alexander. Lake Alexander is a beautiful picnic area with many walkways and cycle paths and provides safe swimming all year round. A bit further on is the East Point Military Museum which houses an extensive collection of photographic and informative displays and lots of old military equipment.

On Wednesday we visited the old Fannie Bay Gaol and got a close up view of the gallows which were last used in 1952. The gaol was in operation from 1883 to 1979. We then headed up the coast a little to Rapid Bay and had lunch overlooking the water. We had some salted crocodile which was really tasty. On the way back towards town we followed a sign to the old Qantas Hangar. This has now been turned into a shed full of 'stuff' ... lots of old vehicles, car parts and general interesting memorobillia.

On the way back into the town area we passed Government House (built in 1883) and Parliament House before walking through the old disused WWII oil storage tunnels. Five steel lined tunnels were built to protect the Navy's oil supplies from bombardment during WWII but were never actually used. They extend from the wharf and run under the city, but by the time they were completed the bombing of Darwin had ceased.

On Thursday I finally had my K-mart injection at Casuarina Square Shopping Centre. Rick kindly dropped me off and went off to do 'boy' things and have a swim while I had a relaxing window shop.

On Friday we drove roughly 100kms to Litchfield National Park pausing to call into Manton Dam along the way. Manton Dam was constructed as a water storage facility to serve Darwin during the wartime period. It now offers safe swimming with shady barbeque areas. We then drove on to Litchfield where we stopped at the Magnetic Termite Mounds. They stand up to 2m high with a north-south orientation which is a temperature control mechanism. Further into the park we stopped at Forence Falls which is a double waterfall with a swimming hole at its base.

One of the most spectacular scenes in the park is the Tolmer Falls. There is no access to the plunge pool at the bottom of these falls as they are home to colonies of the rare and protected Ghost Bats and Orange Horseshoe Bats. Also located in the park is the ruin of the Bamboo Creek Tin Mine. Tin was mined here for two years from 1906. Adverse conditions caused its closure so early.

On Saturday we drove back towards the beach area to visit the Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Territory. Inside we saw Sweetheart the crocodile. In the 1970s this croc gained notoriety for attacking several aluminium dinghies at a popular Darwin fishing spot and on 19th of July 1979 was caught in a trap and anaesthetised. Sadly, in an effort to pull him ashore, Sweetheart got entangled with a sunken log and drowned. The Museum also houses a display on the greatest natural disaster in Australia's history ... Cyclone Tracey. The destructive winds, the highest ever recorded on the Australian mainland, virtually destroyed Darwin on 24th December, 1974. By dawn on Christmas morning most of the population of 48,000 were homeless.

After the museum, we went to the Darwin Casino and had a lovely lunch overlooking the water. This was one of the best restaurant meals we have had on our entire trip. What's more ... we came out $10 ahead on our poker machine investment!

Sunday was not a good day for us. I turned on the computer, or should I say, I tried to turn on the computer. It just would not start ... not happy!! I ended up spending the entire day installing Windows 7 and some of our programs all while packing up and getting ready to move on to our next stopover the following day. Rick decided it was best to stay outside and wash the van and car.