On the way home.........

........we paid a visit to this little roadside store. We were told that the Mango champagne is delicious. Thinking that Christmas is only 6 months away we bought some (along with a few others or 6) and it is now safely stored away til then. No, this very happy chappie did NOT need the sack truck to transport it to our car lol.

 

This marker shows the spot where the Tropic of Capricorn passes through this area, 40 kms north of Alice Springs. A popular rest spot for travellers, there is a caravan park complete with the old style long-drop "rest rooms". lol

 

last but not least, here is a couple of the notice boards at this site. I hope that they are clear enough to read.

 

 

The day before the wedding

All the close relatives of the bride and groom met at the Casino for breakfast, a "get to know each other" meeting. I will introduce you to some of us. (lol)
The first one is the brides family, Mother of the bride Vivienne, Sarah and Stephen, (bride and groom) and Sarah's dad David.

 

Next is the groom's side Tony (my son) and his lovely wife Jen with Stephen and Sarah. These pictures are at the casino poolside. Notice how the Darwinites are wearing long sleeves and cardigans? They think this glorious weather is cold !!

 

Then there is Us with The bride and groom. All we seemed to do during this stay was EAT. At the wedding there was 2 receptions, one in the morning after the ceremony and one in the evening at a resturaunt called Hanuman, oooh yum-yum !!

 

Next shot inside the casino at breakfast, after all that's what we went there for. All told there was about 20 people at this early morning meeting, Sarah's grandparents had traveled all the way from Tasmania.

 

Mindal Beach

One of the high lights of our trip to Darwin was a trip to Mindal Beach where many people gather on the shore of Darwin Harbour to watch the sunset. Some also take cruises on one of the many yachts offering dinner and sunset sights.

 

Mindal Market is held on Thursday night and Sunday afternoon during the "dry" season. It seems as if half the population of Darwin was there on this Thursday. It is a popular place to buy dinner from one of the many stalls offering different types of fast food, from hot potatoes to Thai, Dutch pancakes, or other Asian food to take to the beach and wait for the sunset. One of my favourite things to have whenever I visit Mindal is a mango and orange smoothie, made with fresh fruit, yum-yum.

 

The place comes alive after dark, fire dancers, whip cracking and Digeridoo players all busking in their alloted space. The air seems to pulse with the exciting displays of music and the clapping from the crowds, while the stall holders sell all types of craft, beads, handbags or bric-a-brac.

 

If you click to make the pictures larger you will be able to see the small small fishing boat (in this last one) The water of Darwin Harbour is like a mill-pond because it protected from the open sea by the bay.

 

A beautiful place.

Katherine Gorge.

This beautiful place is known to the indigenous people of Australia as Nitmiluk. Sorry, but my pictures do not do this beautiful spot justice.

 

In this second picture you will see a small waterfall

 

We were taken by boat through this gorge with about 60 other people and entertained by two of the traditional owners of the region, the Jawoyn people. They told the dreamtime stories about the gorge and the meaning of the names. A pleasant and sometimes funny commentary while we marveled at the amazing scenery. The fresh water crocodile inhabits these waterways. We did see a few crocs, but were unable to get any pictures (well not any that are recognisable)

 

We saw one of the workers fishing while on his day off, he caught a huge Barramundi and, I guess, it fed quite a few people for dinner that night.

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Devils Marbles

Under a vivid blue Australian sky we stopped to take some pictures of the Devils marbles, a natural rock formation, 2km north of Wauchope in the Northern territory, known as Karlu-Karlu to the Aboriginal people.

 

This shot is the other side of the first heap of rocks. Its amazing how they stay perched on top and never tumle down.

 

This next one is my favourite, if you click to enlarge it seems that you can almost touch it.

 

In this national Park there are walkways that will take you through these rocks and I'm sure that there are many more to see and wonder at but we were on our way to Darwin and didn't want to take the time for a longer stay here.

 

Next stop Katherine where we DID stay overnight to take a boat ride down the mighty Katherine Gorge. That blog is for tomorrow.

Its best if you..............

............dont leave your car on the roadside in the Outback, you could return to find it looking like this. We passed this car on the way and this is what it looked like on the return trip. No windows, no number plates and more than likely....no engine !!

 

We saw this one at Coober Pedy, on its way to the scrap metal merchant's yard, along with a lot of other scraps. Looks like its had a hard life.

 

And while the driver takes a short nap on the edge of the road , this one perched on top of the many other things he carries, to take a safe journey north.

 

Part 2, on the way home, Mataranka

 

We stopped at Mataranka for some lunch and found this little eatery, Stockman Cafe and Gallery. A very pleasant place to visit. While we waited for our sandwiches to be made we looked at all the Aboriginal artwork and carvings. This over large stockman greets you as you enter.

 

When you walk through the entrance to this little cafe the heat of the tropics drops at least 10 degrees, the clever owners have made their own micro climate by planting lots of trees and shrubs to sheild the visitors. Mataranka is well known for the thermal springs where many tourists take time out to have a swim. We didn't.

 

While sitting on the verandah this cheeky bird dropped by to beg for crumbs. We were told it is a Mina bird, not the noisy Indian Mina found around the Adelaide suburbs but a native.
I highly recommend a stop over here to any one contemplating a trip through the Northern Territory.