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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
Mindil Beach Sunset Market Scene
