After lunch we headed back south to visit Berry Springs. We had decided it would be easier to get rid of the van and travel backwards. However, my research let us down a little, as although I found the park was open, I'd missed the small print where the pools were closed, so no swim for us. However, the park itself is very pretty and the walk to the pools showed us why indeed you could not swim there at the moment.
Raging Berry Springs - not the peaceful swimming hole in the brochures
But this gave us time to explore Strauss airfield on the way back. Driving in to Darwin we had been amazed at all the old WW2 airfields beside the highway. This one is particularly good, and we were able to drive around the back of it and see all the revetments that are still very well cleared areas and the foundations of some of the buildings. Signage was very good and interesting. We decided this would have been a wonderful area for camping, no wonder they had no camping signs everywhere.
Driving back up the runway to look at the area near where the control tower used to be, gave you the urge to pull the wheel back and take off. The old runway is now a popular area for trucks to stop.
Replicas of WW2 planes
The runway
It wasn't long before we decided to extend our time in Darwin again. Many Kakadu roads are still closed so the best sites aren't available. We had extended to the Saturday, and by that time had rethought our plans, and decided it might be better and a lot less mileage to do Kakadu after our trip to Melbourne. The people in the caravan park here are great, they have only owned it for about six months. When we went to extend further on Saturday, Jim asked would they be interested in him testing and tagging the park in return for our site fees. They were happy to do this, but the site we were on was already booked, so we had to move sites. This one is really great, has garden right around it except for where you back the caravan in, so it's very private like our own private grotto. And of course shady the whole time, which is another bonus.
Meanwhile, we had been catching the sites of Darwin. Wednesday afternoon was spent walking around the main city area after a visit to the information centre. Such a different place to other capital cities and very pretty with all that water around. An of course so much of it had to be rebuilt after Cyclone Tracy.
Thursday was a very full day. First off we headed back to the city, and toured the WW2 Oil Storage Tunnels. These are interesting but disappointing that they don't do more with them as they have heaps of potential. The same people have had the lease since the 1990's, and it looks like they have changed nothing. There is a good photo display but many are so old and faded they are hard to see. We had a talk to the girl at the front, and she agreed with us, and has been trying to get the owners to rethink things. Hopefully she will achieve something. After leaving the tunnels we walked around the water front area and enjoyed our lunch by the water.
Next stop was to East Point for the war museum and Defence of Darwin display. We spent quite a bit of time looking over the old defence remains before going into the museum. The museum was quite a surprise, so well done and much bigger than we expected. In the end we were there over two hours. The Defence of Darwin video recreation was extremely well done, even if I did get trapped in there on my own. It runs for about 13 minutes and starts every 20 minutes. I saw the flashing light at the door, so walked in, expecting Jim to be just behind me. What I hadn't realised was that after a short period of time the doors close and lock automatically. Jim hadn't seen me go in, and with the doors closed didn't even realise there was a theatre there, so spent some time wondering where I had got to.
Fortification remains at East Point
It was late afternoon by the time we left the museum, which was great timing for arriving at the Mindil markets just on opening time of 5.00 pm. We couldn't believe how many cars were already in the parking lot, but got more of a shock on leaving when we saw just how many more there were and how far they were parked away.
The markets are one of Darwin's features and it was a great atmosphere. Apart from the market stalls, there is a huge array of food stalls, and we ended up with three courses (we shared the main) for a very reasonable cost. The other feature of the markets is the western sunset, and the beach was crowded with people watching.
Crowds enjoying the sunset
Friday morning we were booked into the Blood Bank. There hasn't been anywhere to donate since we were at Mackay, and although not due to give full blood again we were able to give plasma. It was late morning by the time we left there, and we headed north to explore Lee Point and Buffalo Creek. Jim tried (unsuccessfully) to fish at Buffalo Creek, which seemed to be a popular fishing area. At least no one else seemed to be catching anything either. We then went to the beach suburb of Nightcliff and explored Rapid Creek and the beaches in the area. We got back late afternoon in time to organise dinner for our guest, Yvette Kirk, who is teaching here. We had a lovely evening catching up on family news.
Saturday morning we moved sites, and after lunch headed to the 4WD and camping show that was being held at the showgrounds. This filled in pretty much the afternoon, and we enjoyed looking at the boy's toys and displays. Our only purchase was a new water filter and a towel.
On Sunday Jim started his tagging while I made use of the opportunity to do some in depth spring cleaning.
Monday morning was a continuation of Jim's tagging and we then headed for a look around Palmerston, which is only a short drive from here. We discovered there were two shopping centres, so we still have a second one to explore. From what I read, Palmerston was developed as a satellite city to Darwin. I had planned a trip to Howard Springs, but on checking discovered it was closed for maintenance for two weeks starting that day. We don't seem to be having much luck with swimming in the springs up here. But the park does have a nice swimming pool, and most days we have made use of that.
Our lovely secluded camp site
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