Category Archives: Darwin 2019

Trip to Darwin for 5 nights

Darwin 2019

Day Five – Day Trip To Katherine Gorge And Edith Falls

Tue 2-Jul-2019 Kulendran Anaimugan Leave a comment

1 July 2019

Another early start today. We got picked up at 6:15am for a full day tour to Katherine Gorge and Edith Falls. First stop was Edith Falls (Leliyn in Jawoyn). It was a refreshing swim. Edith Falls is a freshwater pool. It is beautiful swimming spot. We had lunch after that and followed by a 2-hour cruise along Katherine Gorge. We visited 2 Gorges which involved changing boats because of the water level. Katherine Gorge was truly awesome. The entire area is in the Nitmiluk Reserve and the traditional owners are the Jawoyn people. They were given title to the land in 1989 after a 10 year period of traditional owners having to prove that they had continuous connection with the land.

Edith Falls

First part of Katherine Gorge

Darwin 2019

Day Four – Quiet Day In Darwin

Sun 30-Jun-2019 Kulendran Anaimugan Leave a comment

30 June 2019

After yesterday’s long day trip to Kakadu, we decided to have a quiet day today. We decided to start the day, after a quick breakfast with a tour of the WWII Oil Storage Tunnels. These tunnels were built into Stokes Hill to protect oil storage facilities from being bombed by the Japanese. The tunnels were hand dug without machinery.

Darwin 2019

Day Three – Day Trip To Kakadu National Park and Arnhem Land

Sat 29-Jun-2019 Kulendran Anaimugan Leave a comment

29 June 2019

It was an early morning start today. The day was going to be a long 12 hour day. We were picked up at 5:45am for a 4-hour road trip to Kakadu. Along the way we stopped for some breakfast before heading for Jabiru to pick up more tourists.

Rock painting in Mabuyu Rock formation of Ubirr

Rock painting in Mabuyu Rock formation of Ubirr

Paintings from the Main Gallery of Ubirr

Rock paintings at Namarrkan Sisters

Nadab Lookout View

Painting on rock overhang at the foot of Nadab Lookout rock

We all gathered at the picnic area at the Ubirr site. Our driver/tour guide had organised a picnic lunch spread. We had to finish lunch quickly as we needed to be at the jetty on East Alligator River for a river cruise with an Aboriginal guide from Arnhem Land.

We got to jetty at 1pm ready to board our boat for the river cruise and to learn more about the area and Aboriginal culture.

Our guide ‘Hilton’ (I guess a name he uses for tourists) is from Arnham Land. We were invited to walk on his land where we took a few pictures. The guide also gave us a spear throwing demonstration. He also demonstrated the use of a Woomera, which is a basically an extension of the human arm.

As we boarded the board, we could hear the guide shouting out at the mountain. We asked what he did. He said he was addressing his ancestral spirits to tell them we were leaving and asking them for their blessings.

Darwin 2019

Day Two – Exploring Darwin

Fri 28-Jun-2019 Kulendran Anaimugan Leave a comment

28 June 2019

We used the Hop on Hop off bus service to explore Darwin. Today was a pleasant 28 degs. The bus was not crowded and sitting on the top deck was comfortable. We got a good exposure to Darwin.

Outside the Museum and Art Gallery of NT

Remains of the old Town Hall after Cyclone Tracy

Looking through front door of the remains of the old Town Hall

Church of Christ – modern church rebuilt behind after destruction of old church by Cyclone Tracy

We had an early 6pm dinner at a restaurant called Hanuman which was recommended to Dianne. The food was good and was made up of a cross section of Indian, Sri Lankan, Thai, Malaysian and Indonesian cuisines.

Darwin 2019

Darwin Trip 2019

Thu 27-Jun-2019 Kulendran Anaimugan Leave a comment

27 June 2019

We had an excellent flight on Virgin into Darwin. We landed at 1:20pm Darwin time. Temperature here on landing was 28 degrees. We took a cab to our hotel, The Rydges in the city. Hotel was centrally located. The room I would say, was adequate.

We had a short rest and then decided to the head for the Mindil Sunset Market. We took the No. 4 bus at 4:20pm. The journey was a short 10 mins.

Mindil markets was interesting. We had dinner here and then headed for the beach which was just beside the market to watch sunset. It was a very popular setting.