DAYS 46-47 FROM SOUTH TO NORTH - TOP END (NORTHERN TERRITORY) TRIP

9-10 June 2010

DARWIN

Another day and a half of exploration of Darwin.

On our travels we saw an interesting way of stopping traffic. A four trailer road train stopped traffic on busy Stuart Highway in the afternoon.

Each trailer had 24 wheels. So with the prime mover there were a 100 wheels in total for this monster on the road.

We spent the morning having a look at Charles Darwin National Park. This sign was just so unexpected and we did not have any insect repellant with us as it is in the Oka.

The national park is a very interesting place. It is a little out of Darwin City. During WW2 it would have been considered to be a significant distance from Darwin. It is the site of wartime bunkers. Hard to imagine that there were bunkers in Australia during the war. The park was part of a network of military sites where bomb dumps were established. They are very well camouflaged into the hillsides.

At one of the bunkers there was an information board with an inert bomb on display. I am sure the kids love seeing this.

The bunker was open for viewing and provided a great insight into what occurred here and added to the information about Darwin during the war.

I just loved this copy from the newspaper.

A loop road takes you to a lovely picnic area overlooking Darwin and also takes you past several bunkers.

On our way to East Arm we saw beautiful public art on one storage tank.

We got a call to say gear box was in but they couldn’t finish the service on the vehicle or packing the bearings today. We had anticipated that it would take two days. We also had a great sense of relief that it has gone well. So we another night here was required. How lucky that it had been booked. So we had a lovely roast dinner at the Hidden Café at the park whilst listening to Kimberley Jim sing. He had turned 80 several days before.

In the morning we checked on road conditions. Gregory National Park is still closed. The Goyder River is still impassable so going to Nhulunbuy is also still in doubt. Most of Kakadu is still closed. So when we get the car back we will head for Cobourg Peninsula as we have a permit for 12-16 June for this area.

Cant’ wait to be on the raod again. So now we wait for the call to come and get the OKa.