Modlin Family Road Trip- Day 8- Darwin to Kakadu 255km

We have bid adieu to Darwin. We did have to make a stop at Spotlight for Belinda and the Darwin Showgrounds Rip Curl sale. An easy drive to Kakadu today. We arrived late in the afternoon and hastily arranged a 2 hour boat cruise on Yellow Waters. We did find it a tad expensive, but thoroughly enjoyed the cruise. Amazing wildlife and we actually got tired of seeing the crocs- too many to count. What an amazing country we live in. I just sat back and enjoyed creation. Not too many photos for you. I forgot to put the memory card into the camera. All these photos were taken on Belinda's iphone and they are not too shabby I might add. Contrasting weather conditions confronted us. Humid, hot (39 degrees) and a pre-monsoon season shower all on the cruise. An amazing light show at night.

King of the cruise.

A great scene. You have to be here to really appreciate the scenery but also thousands upon thousands of magpie geese coming home to roost for the night. Apparently, very tasty.





Maybe someone can explain to me why these 2 photos, taken a minute apart, have this incredible colour difference. If it is just the effect of the natural light, then this is exactly what we thought we saw. If I had just remembered that memory card!!

Day 7 - Last Day in Darwin

Headed out this morning to the Smith Street Mall for a bit of cafe coffee and a look at the souvenir shops- of which there are plenty. Hard to buy much made in Australia and things that aren't novelty...kangaroo scrotum lighter anybody? Kurtis chuckled to himself for ages with that one (he is growing up!!) and we had a hard time trying to explain this to Elijah. Yelling out in frustration, "Listen Elijah, it's a ball bag of a kangaroo!!" is not very tasteful at 9:30 in the morning. After buying the boys a key ring each, and again averted their gaze from the upteenth pair of Snapper G-strings (if you don't know what these are then you will never know anything- every shop in Darwin has these!!), we headed off for a teacher-led excursion to the Darwin Military Museum. A side point here while I remember. Elijah got freaked out last night after the Cyclone Tracy exhibition at the NT museum. He couldn't sleep last night and we now get numerous questions as how you can escape them, what are they like, can you die in them and do they really sound like they did in the darkened simulation room at the museum (an actual tape recording by a priest during the cyclone. I found it freaky as well).
After lunch, and a nap, it was off to look at how the other 5% live at Cullen Bay. Nice area, but we probably don't look rich enough in the Hyundai. Then a quick ice cream stop at Stokes Hill Wharf. This is the wharf where part of the movie "Australia" was filmed. Those of you who know me will know how excited I would have been when the ice cream shop has 5 posters up advertising the "Ice Cream Burger"...2 sponge cakes with jam and cream and ice cream and topping in a burger style. I was looking forward to showing you this masterpiece and my attempt to eat it..."Sorry, we are out of sponge." Enough said. Welcome to the Territory. Finally, gave the boys a number of parent decided choices and then the last (and made out to be the not so interesting) choice, was a revisit to the waterslides. Back to the waterslides and water park we went. At least the boys are in bed earlier tonight. Off to Kakadu tomorrow. 

A chip off the ol' block. I have taught him well my young padawan.

Elijah and Joseph had an absolute ball climbing over the military equipment and hardware...until we informed them not to climb on the military equipment and hardware. Signs everywhere, we just somehow missed them.

I do promise the first person to tell me what this is, I will take out for a feed. Multiple entries accepted.

The 9.2 inch gun emplacements at East Point. Please allow me to give you a history lesson. Darwin endured some 64 raids by the Japanese with the first being on February 19th, 1942. 188 Japanese planes flew over Bathurst and Melville Islands on the way to bomb the ships in Darwin Harbour. The Catholic missionaries radioed ahead and they were ignored. We had no planes at the ready and Darwin was decimated as well as a number of American and Australian ships. 2 of these guns were built to withstand the Japanese navy. They had 2 practice fires and were never used in combat. Not much use against the continuing raids of Japanese zeros. Sold off for scrap about 20 years later to...the Japanese who had come to retrieve some of their debris left behind. Most of Darwin was evacuated and some 500 000  Australian and American troops settled in Darwin, began the upgrade of the Stuart Highway from Darwin to Alice and built numerous air strips so the Spitfires could finally arrive and fight the battle in the skies, not in the sea as first thought. I can't remember the final death tally from the raids, but I do know the government fudged the figures so panic would not set in around Australia.

No climbing trees in Cullen Bay, but the boys found a climbing rock.

This ws one of the parent-decided options for this afternoon. A Darwin Harbour ferry ride...declined.

The shops at Stokes Hill Wharf. Home of the not so famous "Ice Cream Burger". May it melt as fast as the ice cream cone I held in its stead.

Stokes Hill Wharf.

Day 6 - Darwin - Elijah's 7th Birthday

The day finally arrived. Elijah's pent up excitement for the last 6 days has finally reached its climax. He has turned 7...if you can believe that! Kurtis and Joseph look just as excited as him. Joseph up at 4:30 and Elijah up at 5:00 this morning. Suffice to say, they are wasted tonight.



Elijah's choice today. Swim at the Darwin Waterfront Wave Pool. Lunch at McDonalds. Visit to the NT Museum and Art Gallery. Buffet dinner at Skycity Casino.



 

A great family photo. Time to update the Facebook profile picture. Each of us got extremely burnt today. We used Cancer Council sunscreen. The only one who didn't get burnt was...Joseph, using his baby suncream. We even reapplied!! Not happy to have the heat of red raw skin as well to contend with along with the heat of the day. A good shot though don't you reckon?



Sweetheart, or what remains of the 750kg croc that terrorised NT waters. Worth a read of the story. http://www.nt.gov.au/nreta/museums/sweetheart/index.html



The birthday boy with his proud parents. We devoured everything in sight tonight at the buffet. A great night out with the boys. Food and fellowship...you could even call it "church".

Day 5 - Darwin - Crocosaurus Cove, Mindal Beach Markets

I write this today with a heavy heart. About 1km away Jet and Powderfinger are playing up here in Darwin. I can just hear them. Kurtis has enjoyed trying to name the songs he knows. So close, yet so far. We had another fantastic day with the family. We headed out early for Crocosaurus Cove in town. All 3 of the boys could not wait to explore and divulge most of their already wide reptile knowledge learnt from their many Desert Park and Reptile Centre visits in Alice. We caught up today with our old ex-neighbours from Brisbane (Antony, Emma and their 3 kids) and ran into (yes, ran into) my old principal from Yirara at the markets. We braved the crowds at Mindal Beach Markets and were overwhelmed by the crowds and the smells of the food. I had too many choices. I basically had to eat what the boys didn't like and only had a calamari on a stick (Japanese style), leftover prawn cocktail, a few mouthfuls of mango sorbet, a couple of dutch pancakes and a mango and banana smoothie...I feel like a garbage disposal.

Mmmmmmmm Barra.

I am the snake whisperer.

Yes, this is getting a little corny. These things are everywhere. Elijah even wanted me to take one of him at Coles. They have one of these for the Sport for Schools promotion.

Christina the croc. This would have cost us $25 and then $15 for each subsequent photo the photographer took.



Yes, a croc named after Wendell Sailor.

The Croc Cage is just behind the boys.

 

We were the first 3 selected for the Fishing for Crocs show. Mum will say "That always happened to Russell when he was little. He always got picked for the show." And she'd be right....first picked out of 100 or so people lining up, plus another crowd of 200 or so.

Harry the croc. Made famous for predicting the election result, World Cup and picked Collingwood for the AFL. Gee, I hope he gets it wrong.

A market crowd. Much the same as any market crowd.

Sunsets- over Mindal Beach.