March 12 - Returning to Darwin

On our way back to Darwin from Kakadu we stopped in to join the Jumping Crocodile Cruise.  We saw eight saltwater crocodiles of which the guide feed four of them.  It was a little scary to watch these prehistorical monsters approach the boat in the water with just their eyes and snout showing.  The crocodiles seem to know that the boat feeds them as they wait at a distance until their food is hung above the water, then they attack.  The guide told that the food is rationed so the crocs don’t become reliant on the boat for food.  Despite their name “Salties”, they don’t necessarily stay in salt water. The actually preferred fresh water and inhabit most of the freshwater rivers, streams and watering holes in the Northern Territories.

We stopped for lunch at the Humpty Doo tavern.  This roadhouse is about an hour outside of Darwin and is notorious in Northern Territory lore.  It seems that at one time the tavern had a Brahma bull that walked freely around the tavern. There was a regular contest to see who could drink two litres of beer faster, the human customer or the bull.  The bull won every time.  Unfortunately, the bull died of cirrhosis.  Since then the local health authorities have moved in and sanitized the tavern.

We then return to Darwin and the Hilton hotel.  Darwin is a very modern city because it needed to rebuild itself after Cyclone Tracy in 1974 which destroyed over seventy percent of the city’s buildings. On Christmas Eve wind gusts of 217 km/h were reached.  By the time the cyclone had passed there were seventy-one causalities. Apparently, the mayor, who was a heavy drinker, slept through the entire storm, despite his apartment building being demolished.

Along the way we stopped at the Darwin Military Museum. This museum tells the story of the aerial bombing of the city and its harbour by the Japanese during World War 2.  In late February 1942, the Japanese launched a massive air raid on the city.  They sank three warships and six merchant boats and destroyed a large portion of the residential and industrial areas.  There were many raids during the next two years.  During this time all the non-essential residents were evacuated. 

The territorial Parliament building in Darwin is called “The Wedding Cake” because it looks like a cake and is made up of fruit, nuts and soaked in booze.

The people on this tour are a wonderful group of people, who are extremely friendly and are always laughing and having a good time. For dinner we went out with Francis and Joe from Alberta and Darwin and Ellen from Saskatchewan.  Together we make up what is now called the Canadian mob.  The rest of the tour is made up of 22 Americans.