A walk along the beach at sunset.

Mud Racing

This is what crazy Darwin people do on a wet Saturday night.

Mud racing!

Really had to get photo's between the rain. But here is a few.

Two cars rolled over in the mud but plenty more got bogged! Lucky the safety car is on hand.
The kids stand on the fence here and get covered in mud as the cars race past.

Growing Up!

This place I am at now, no longer has a place for you. With as much pain to realise this, as I am sure I have caused you. It is true.

To delete you from one part of my life, the safe part. I can no longer reach out to you. You will forever remain as ink on this page stuck and embedded in my head.

I can only hope with time as this ink fades, so will my memories and thoughts of you.

I have to move on and start anew.

Croc's

I've been out an about again. I wanted to be a tourist this month, so I have been out to do the touristy things. And when you visit Darwin it's all about the croc's.... yes I did it, I went to a crocodile park. It was better than I thought it was going to be, but man was it smelly...

This brave bird...

But I guess when you live with 500+ other crocs in one pen.... you get smelly.

This is a small pen but most pens have 500+ croc's. It was pen after pen after pen. This is more than a tourist attraction, it a breeding farm for shoes, hand bags and wallets.

Did you know? that it is only the belly of the croc that is used for bags and such. They also sell the meat in various ways... you don't want to know what happens with the rest....

The above photo is the jumping croc's pen, they feed these croc's twice a day.

Not much to protect tme from this 5m croc....

That's better.

This one jumped so quick I almost missed the shot.

These are the breeding croc's, all they do is eat sleep and root..... sorry kids.... but that is all they are there for. The pen the live in is smaller than my lounge room, and I have a pretty small flat...

It's not just croc's either. I think this poor little fella might be lost he was in a pen with some salties.

These are Hawksbill Turtles.

The not so cute - Rhinoeros Iguana.

This little turtle was so cute. He was in a fish tank with two small croc and he was frantic like he wanted to get out...

What they look like after they are turned into bags.....

You know they say never smile at a crocodile.....

But he sure can smile at you....

The Build Up!

Darwin un like the rest of the country only has two seasons.

The Dry - Darwin's winter, the city is busy and it's tourist season.

The Wet - It's summer and it's wet

And then there is THE BUILD UP!!!

That's now until the wet starts.

From September, imagine 90% humidity at 6 a.m. (and that’s the lowest it gets) with no rain relief until the monsoons hit in December/January. It’s like walking around with a 10-ton block of concrete on your shoulders, and even breathing is an effort.

So yesterday I was out for coffee after work and as we sat and watch the world pass by the sky slowly changed from blue and sunny to black... And then the rain came.... and 15 minutes later it was all over. Then again this afternoon the same thing.... The Build Up.

Update!

I know it has been a while since my last post. I have been searching. Searching for a lot of things one being my mind.... What was I thinking when I said "I'm moving to Darwin".... Not much I tell you.

Don't get me wrong, I love it! I'd love it even more if the temp was about 10deg cooler....

It has been a very busy few weeks, I have been house sitting at a house with a pool and spa, it's been very hard getting out of the pool to get to work, but the trooper I am have suffered for the greater good.

This however means I have not been out taking photo's. This weekend I will venture out and about and find something new for you all. (not counting the 200 I took of my unit....)

As my house sitting comes to an end tonight I move into my new (old) ((Very old)) unit tomorrow. Now I know Darwin is a long way from a lot of things, but things just take so long to get done... I have only been waiting a week to get the toilet fixed..... I wont send photo's of my unit, I leave you all in suspense for when you come to visit....

Togs, shorts and a t'shirt is all you will need to visit, don't bother with the jeans or long sleeve shirt for dinners out. You will be over dressed....

Well I am heading back to the pool to soak up the last of house sitting.

Talk soon.

En Route

I must admit I do feel a tad guilty about this post. I took 2 hours off work to go and do this. But it was worth it...

En Route is part of the Darwin Festival which runs for 2 weeks in August every year. Everyday all day there is something to go and see and do. From art shows, dancing lessons, plays and concerts, it has it all. Some of the highlights from this year have been. Tex Perkins doing a tribute show to Johnny Cash. The tickets sold out before I could buy them, but I would have loved it see it. Leah Flanagan a local Darwin artist also did a show, but it was on a Thursday of Auction so I could not go either.

I have been to a lot of things though and still have a few to go this weekend as it finishes on Sunday.

So En Route is a sort of self guided tour of the city... When I say self guided, they supply you with an iPod and you listen to it and receive directions via text message on your mobile phone. As the tracks play you walk and look a different things.

It was great. Some of the places I had already been, but I got to see them in a new light as the music plays and the talking within the music makes you think of what used to happen in this city.

In one part it's music and spoken words are about when Darwin was getting bombed by the Japs, this is as you walk along the waterfront. It makes you wonder about all the people back then and what it would have been like and who the waterfront looks now.

So I only took 107 photo's in two hours... I won’t post them all but will try and give you a good snapshot of my city.

Enjoy!


The start.

You can swim in here... no crocs... but man eating fish said the NT News last week....

Can you see the person in the wall?

Turn your head on the side this is a 6 story glass lift from waterfront to city.

View from inside lift.

View from top of lift, blue water on right is ocean and water on left is wave pool...

Looking down.

Looking back

Walkway from lift to city.

On wall along a street.

In a car park in the city. You come up a lift to get into car park and exit via fire exit steps...

These photo's plus more are in the stairwell.

Walking down some back ally...

Directions for what to do next...

More directions...

One Way Street...

But they tell you to go <<<<-----

<<<<<-----?????

More odd places to go? I really had to think about going through this gate.. looked very dodgy... but I am glad I took a risk....

As part of this they called you asked you a question and you had to write your answer on the wall..

This an unused building in the city...

Smells like pee... it's also the taxi rank just down from night club strip....

More directions.

I was told to sit at this cafe have a drink and watch the world go by....

There was meant to be one more photo here on the finish but I can not get it to load... So you will just have to picture me sitting on the grass under a tree by the ocean...

Hope you have enjoyed my walk around the city as much as I have....