DAY 47 – HITTING THE SHOPS IN DARWIN

We needed to leave home this morning by 9.15am as both Ian and Steve had their cars booked into Bob Jane to get their 10,000km tyre rotation done… 

It was a good half hour drive from the caravan park to town, but fortunately for us Bob Jane was situated right next to the big Casuarina Shopping Centre in Darwin, so whilst we waited for the cars, we hit the shops.

Kathy and I were both pretty desperate for haircuts.  We managed to find a Just Cuts here and both had our hair cut for around $30, which is much better than the $42 for a fringe trim in Alice Springs, and $45 in Katherine.  Ian also decided to get his hair cut as well.  We still all paid more than what Steve had paid for his haircut in Winton.

Haircuts done and dusted, it was time to find a couple of cooler summer tops for me as I was really feeling the heat in tshirts.  I only seem to have a couple of sleeveless shirts.  Unfortunately it is still classed as winter up here even though we were experiencing 37 and 38 degree days, so most of their stock is still winter stock.  I did manage to find one sleeveless shirt on special at Rockmans, and bought it, even though it was a synthetic material.  A few shops further down we came across a shop that sold bigger sizes so thought we would try in there.  They had a lovely new top that had just arrived and I did try it on although it really was too good to wear every day and at $99 a little too expensive, even though Kathy and I really did like it…

They did have some nice fitting Tshirts that had just come in, and they were 95% cotton and 5% elastic, so I did end up getting two of those as they had a deal going that if you bought two, the second item had 50% off.  Steve walked in just as we were finalizing our sale, and Kathy redirected him to the lovely top I had tried on, but I was still balking at the price.  Steve did like it on though.

From here we headed to Big W, in search of buckets for the van, and a few other bits and pieces.  By this stage, Ian’s car was ready to be collected so they took off to collect their car.  As we left Big W, Steve decided to go back and get the top for me, (called it an early birthday present, and it was something I could wear out for my special birthday this year…

By the time we had got back there, the top had gone.  WOW hard to believe that someone would come back in, in that short amount of time and buy the one top that I had looked at, but it had happened.  I wasn’t too disappointed as it was a bit of a luxury really, so just looked at it, that we had saved some money.

By now it was time for Steve to go and collect our car, so whilst he did that I waited in the food court area as this was where we were going to meet up with Ian and Kathy for a bit to eat before we headed off to find and explore the Museum.

We all ended up with Subway for lunch.

We then spent the rest of the afternoon at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory.  

A visit to the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory

 At the entrance to the Museum, there was a car art exhibition by renowned aboriginal artist Michael Nelson

Loved his work...

The museum is situated right on the coast and has spectactular views of the ocean. 

 Entry to the museum was free and we spent the rest of the afternoon just wandering around looking and learning about life in the Northern Territory, from Aboriginal Art and Culture, to a display on Cyclone Tracey,  the bombing of Darwin,  boats from around here and the Asian influence.

 It was really interesting to see and read all about the devastating cyclone that hit Darwin on Christmas morning 974.

Using an interact display to look at Darwin after the cyclone compared to Darwin today.

Some of the devastation

Seeing some of the maritime vessels was interesting also, especially seeing as there is quite a bit of Asian influence on vessels up in this region because of it's close proximity to Asian countries.. 

 
The Museum also houses a huge croc called “Sweetheart”.  He was massive, at over 6 metres long.  In the end we had to race through the last few exhibits as it was closing time….

The story of "Sweetheart"

 They had some interesting bird displays also, but as we only had a couple of minutes until closing time, we had run out of time to have a good look at them.  These were just a few that caught out eye.  

  Ian and Kathy left before us to head home, but we still needed to put some fuel in our car and also pick up a couple of groceries for dinner… We had also been in Darwin now for three days and still hadn’t been anywhere near the CBD, so decided to also take a short drive in there before heading home.

Steve is keen to explore here..

The centre of Darwin really feels more like a coastal resort rather than a Capital City.  We drove out around the water front checked out the harbour, found the WWII Oil Tunnels,  and found the Deckchair Cinema on the waterfront. 

Outdoor Deck Chair Cinema on the waterfront in Darwin

Orange legged scrub fowls roam the park

No time to explore this afternoon, as we were getting desperately short on fuel so ti was time to find a garage…

After stopping for fuel, we dropped in quickly to Woolies to buy a couple of things for dinner, as it was our turn to cook tonight.  Again it was 7pm before we arrived home.  

I received a lovely surprise after dinner.  Just as we were finishing, Kathy ducked back to her van and arrived back with a parcel for me.  They had purchased the lovely top I had tried on as a early birthday present for me.  I felt completely overwhelmed by their kindness and generousity.  Feeling very loved and blessed indeed.  

Over dinner, we made decisions on how we were going to spend  the next day.  Big plans for tomorrow….