The Transition

-

 181 Leanyer Drive, Hipcamp, Darwin 

Huge crocodile preserved in the museum, named Sweetheart, over 5m and 780kg. Famous for attacking boats - liked the sound of the motor

We are sitting out the front of the Sailing Club at Fannie Bay looking at the sea with a refreshing breeze cooling us down. Hundreds of white cockatoos are flying around and screeching as they maul the nearby palm trees. 

White cockatoos everywhere 

Temporary members of the sailing club 

Cockatoos doing strange things to the palm trees 

We have club- hopped now and are having dinner at the Trailor Boat Club. I’ve been collecting driftwood and Mark has been writing song lyrics. Laksa is on the menu, as well as crocodile (tastes a bit like squid and a bit like chicken). Something about eating crocodile seems right. 

Marks caption: “Sharon impersonating a chicken at the beach” 

Sharon’s caption: "Mark impersonating a deer at the beach" 

Pete, the owner of the Hipcamp, said to me this morning as I was doing the washing ‘the transition has arrived’. I had no idea what he was talking about - the common meaning today (gender change) didn’t seem to fit... It turned out he was talking about the arrival of the humidity - which gets to 80% in the wet season. 

Indeed we noticed a difference today compared with yesterday! The temperature is around 35 degrees, and very humid, so pretty hot in the campervan - even with the air conditioner. Time to head south :-), which we will do after tomorrow. 

We enjoyed a visit to Darwin’s art gallery and museum today. Some great indigenous art, favourites below, and an excellent exhibition on Cyclone Tracey, which occurred Xmas eve 1974. Winds were recorded of 217km per hour before the instruments broke. It destroyed many parts of the city, and took 4 hours to find a way to communicate with the rest of Oz what had even happened. 

Example Darwin scene from Cyclone Tracey













Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lazy Day - With Electricity

-
Image
  Tom Price Caravan Site, Tom Price  After a brief shop and coffee in Tom Price, we were planning to hike one of the gorges in Karijini. Tom Price shopping and coffee Very very long train - hundreds of carriages However, we changed our mind and opted for a lazy day- knowing we had a powered site waiting for us at the caravan park. We are having some gas and inverter issues, two separate problems to my knowledge, so the thought of unlimited power was appealing.  Mark wrote a song, I worked on my mosaic, we had a brief walk, several visits from a young autistic kid determined to play Peppa Pig on Mark's speaker, and dinner at home. I finally figured out how to upload photos for this blog so can publish it now! Lovely purple flowers (mulla mulla) Walk out the back of our caravan park Local views Weird tree - Black on the inside and white on the outside Our campsite Half finished mosaic An uneventful day, which we both appreciated. 
Read more

Monks, Monasteries and The Mat

-
Image
About to leave Checklist on dashboard   Dalwallinu Caravan Park, Dalwallinu We left home around 1pm, after a quick visit to mum in Mounts Bay hospital (should be out soon), final packing, and last minute instructions to the kids (eg  “don’t leave the heater on the whole time we are away”).  Despite the checklist - prominently stuck to the glove box - we managed to leave the mat behind. On Day One! Saying bye to Talia!  Saying bye to Melissa!  We are ready ! It was pouring with rain as we drove through Perth and I was anxious about the weight of the van and braking distances as we pulled up to stop at lights.  But about an hour north, the rain and roads cleared. Within a couple of hours, surrounded by the vast sky and clouds with spotty orange eucalyptus trees lining the road, I had a fantastic feeling of freedom. Unfortunately, intermittent reports about Dad (in Albany hospital) were not good, so a bit of trepidation too. Skies clearing Already lovin...
Read more

Nostalgia Trip

-
Image
  12 Viewway, Nedlands Packing has made me remember our last campervan holiday. Sixteen years ago, around the same time of the year, we set off in a 28 foot motorhome across Europe for several months. The three kids slept in the area above the cabin - that is how tiny they were! You can see some scenes below - bike-riding in Bruge, dancing in Spain, playing boules in France, throwing snowballs in the Alps m, and Talia carrying Melissa (an obsession of hers at the time, something to do with the Sound of Music). We had so many crazy adventures! But that is another blog :-) Me and the kids in Bruge  Suzy in Spain Playing boules in France Alex joined us in Italy Not sure where but you can see Talia carrying Melissa   We will miss them on this trip! Talia and Melissa are in charge of the house and Suzy is back in Melbourne. If our current trip is half as good as this one was, it will be great! :-)
Read more