Arnhem Land Trip 2018, Days 14-15: Finding our feet in Darwin

Final farewell and filling in the morning

Although we’d said goodbye the night before, the tour officially ended with breakfast the next day. However, with different people heading off in different directions – including 5 on the Ghan – we only ran into two other couples at breakfast. We did though see the Ghan party waiting for their transport to the station, and a couple of others in the foyer as we left the hotel for our new accommodation, Palms City Resort which has become our Darwin home. It’s still on the Esplanade, but in the same block as Char Restaurant, so we trundled our bags up there on foot, and left them until check-in time three or so hours later.

We then refamiliarised ourselves with the CBD, bought some breakfast supplies and some mosquito itch medication, had a light sushi train lunch, and at the appointed 2pm we checked in.

It did feel a little weird to be in a place with shops and traffic again after 10 days or so in really remote areas, but Darwin made for an easy transition. We had laughed a few times during our trip at our usual packing strategy of “if you forget something you can always buy it”. Nope, not where we’d been you couldn’t! Fortunately we’d packed appropriately so all was well.

A quiet afternoon

Anyhow, we spent the rest of the afternoon doing the washing in Palms City’s glorious laundry facilities (where I ran into an ex-Canberran with whom I shared many close mutual friends). And of course, we applied our minds and fingers to bringing this blog up to date. By the time we arrived in Darwin it was Day 14, and we had only managed to get up to Day 5 published while en-route – as most of you know.

Dinner at Stoke’s Hill Wharf

Our plan for our first night was our traditional Darwin one – to walk down to Stoke’s Hill Wharf for takeaway dinner at sunset. It’s a pleasant walk, though it was warm. Not that we were complaining!

We were surprised when, as we hit the wharf, a voice yelled out “hello” from the top deck of the Hop-on-hop-off bus. Yes, it was an Outback Spirit friend – the cheery Heather. What a shame they weren’t dining on the wharf too!

Len was entertained at the wharf by two young boys who were clearly knowledgeable about fishing. They identified the fish below – the Diamond-backed mullets and the GTs (giant trevally) – and told a few fishing stories about “blokes in boats”. I love sitting on the wharf on a balmy evening during “the dry”, watching the people, the fish, the boating, and the sun go down.

Picking up the car

The next day, we allowed ourselves a well-deserved – we think – slow start in the morning, not heading off until 10:30 or so for a “real” coffee (at Salvatore’s which had a great selection of gf treats including individual pecan pies) and to pick up or hire car, a RAV4. We had a bit of an adventure finding the Hertz office – more of an adventure than we should have, given we’d walked right past it – but once found, the deed was done quickly!

Next stop Cullen Bay

We decided to do a Tiwi Islands tour on Friday (Day 16). We did do one on our first trip to Darwin (many years ago) so decided it was time to refresh our memories. This is an all day tour that involved catching a ferry from Cullen Bay to Bathurst Island at 8am. So, we decided to go to Cullen Bay for lunch – so we could check out the parking situation and a dining option for after the tour given we’d arrive back around 6pm.

Cullen Bay is a prime residential and marina spot in Darwin that was created in the 1990s, but it’s also where the main ferry service to the Tiwi Islands and Mandorah runs from.

So, we discovered that parking should be straightforward, found an option for dinner, and bought a light lunch from the Boathouse cafe. How lovely to sit on the boardwalk, in blissful warmth surrounded by blue sky and glistening water. There’s something too about looking at boats in a marina. What do those people do with them? How often do they go out?

We repaired “home” then for a bit of a rest, before heading out to the …

Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory

MAGNT is an excellent museum and art gallery. I love to visit it when we go to Darwin. The stuffed critters are always worth checking against what we’d seen in the wild; the Cyclone Tracy exhibition remains moving; and the Maritime Gallery is impressive with its pearl luggers, outriggers, and asylum-seeker and fishing boats. There were a few new additions since we were last here – at least according to my memory. One was Kole-Kole, a 6m dugout canoe with outriggers from Indonesia. Ten people, including a 9-month old, survived in it for 10-days during cyclone season after being blown off-course during a storm.

A new, and presumably changing exhibition, was “Out of the Dark”. Occupying just one room, three of its walls contained art drawn from various disciplines according to themes – one wall for land, one sea and one sky. The works included photos, paintings, weaving and sculpture, from contemporary and older indigenous artists, including Albert Namatjira, and non-indigenous artists including Arthur Boyd, Sidney Nolan and John Olsen. I could have spent a long time here. 

Three works we’ve included in today’s pics are:

• “Butterfly” (2009) by Marina Murdilnga, Maningrida, woven from pandanus and using natural dyes. There were some works like this from Injalak Art Centre (at the old Oenpelli) on the walls at Mt Borradaile. I loved them
• “Tjanpi Grass Toyota” (2005) by Blackstone Tjanpi Weavers
• “Mat with flower motif” (2006) by Jill Nganjmirra, Arnhem Land, woven from pandanus and using natural dyes. A fancier version of some we’ve depicted being made in earlier posts.

Mindil Beach Markets

From MAGNT it’s a 500m walk to Mindil Beach, our next stop for the Thursday night markets. We soon ran into Outback Spirit friend Jenny, whom we’d prearranged to meet, and also saw Jennie and Trevor, and Heather and Graham. Jenny and I tried an unusual dish, a sushi burger. The bun comprised “patties” of sushi rice, encasing different filling choices (including crocodile), with the whole wrapped in a nori sheet. Tasty, filling – and most were gluten-free.

However, our evening was cut short by the decision to go to Darwin Hospital to check out the nasty red patches on my legs – after talking to a St John’s Ambulance worker. She feared necrosis could be happening. We felt they were insect bites, but no-one, we discovered when comparing them with our Outback Spirit friends, had patches quite like mine!

Darwin Hospital

We were fortunate to get to Emergency when it was empty, because minutes later there were ten or more people. After much um-ing and ah-ing, concerns about blood problems, and a blood test, the problem was pronounced to be a severe reaction to insect bites (midges, perhaps) and I was sent home with exhortations to return if I felt at all unwell. I really did think they were “just” bites, but it was worth the hospital visit to be reassured. A shame, though, about the markets …