The Darwin Letters No. 9

If you’ve missed it, this series starts here.

Tuesday 26 September 1995 

20/288 Casuarina Drive
Nightcliff 0810

G’day once again Mum and Dad, 

How are you both after your trip to Kal? We hope you enjoyed it.

Did you see some interesting sites? How did the local bus route and service compare with Darwin’s? Isn’t it around this time of the year that Kal has the racing round?

We are well, although we both feel that the cancellation of our Tassie holiday has taken some of the shine off our life in Darwin – we were ready for a break!

Greg has many work responsibilities weighing him down at the moment, but these should be alleviated by the end of next month when the new student administration computer system is due to be up and running – without a hitch of course!

I’m a touch homesick – I love springtime in Perth – the cold mornings and evenings, the clear bright sunny days, and in particular, spring gardens.

Despite the careless actions of your over zealous gardener Mum, has spring sprung you a colourful flowerbed display? I know that in Darwin we do have some spectacular plants, but I do miss that sweet ‘spring’ scent of the highly perfumed Freesias and Sweet Peas which grow wild at our home in Kensy.

Have you managed to produce some good spring vegies Dad? 

Here in Darwin the weather is becoming humid again, and the nights are hotting up. We’re back to having the ceiling fans on during the day and in order to sleep at night.

We’ve had a smidge of rain over the past few weeks, but its mainly occurred whilst we’ve been sleeping. The sky’s now more frequently  scattered with grey clouds, and more afternoons than not, there’s a strong wind that whistles loudly through the lounge-room louvres, rattles the French doors, and strums through the venetians of the guest room and study windows.

It tests both the strength of our balcony awnings and my nerves. I have to remind myself that this, by comparison to our experience of “The Wet” is not a strong wind.  Nevertheless, it tries to convince me to the contrary at times.

As a consequence, we’ve dismantled the balcony planter stand, and moved all our plants so that they sit under the bedroom and lounge-room  windows, where hopefully they’ll be more sheltered from the prevailing weather.

The two larger palms enduring caterpillars making a meal of their leaves and buffeting from the wind, still stoically stand guard at the front of the balcony, but now stand together for mutual support and company.

Our plants are all looking quite healthy at the moment, except for the basil which having served us well, has now been culled. Many of the plants around the apartments have burst into colour.

The Carpentaria Palm on our front lawn, has a large spray of buds ready to burst any day now. It should look as specky as the one across the road which is already sporting a vibrant crimson bloom that looks breathtaking against the backdrop of the sea.

The huge Spathiphyllums that grow in the garden at the base of our apartment’s stairs are also in spectacular bloom. In fact these plants are so perfect they look fake.

And one of the gorgeous variegated leaf, double Hibiscus which grows along the side of the driveway, is also exhibiting a mass of strikingly hot pink, frilly blooms. 

A month or so back the Administrator’s (Governor elsewhere) home was opened to the public. I don’t  know if you remember where this is. It overlooks Darwin harbour, opposite Parliament House, it has a  white picket fence with a huge, huge, huge purple and white Bougainvillea spilling over it.

We were greeted individually at the gate by a white gloved military type, kitted out in the full spit and polish regalia. Although it couldn’t be described as a grand home like the governor’s residence in Perth for example, its architecture is very appropriate for the Darwin climate with enclosed wooden louvred verandahs encircling it.

We spent a good hour strolling through the house and gardens to the very ‘ordinary’ strains of a local military band churning out their interpretations of contemporary hits – yuk!  Notwithstanding the often grating sounds of the band, the gardens and views from various points around them were glorious. 

Several Sundays back, we went for a tour of the parliament building – you know the huge white thing!  We had to book weeks in advance – so our expectations had been built to expect a fairly comprehensive  tour – checking out the members’ dining room, bathroom and offices etc.

We took Lorraine. Well, it turned out to be a bit of a dud tour. The tour guide was new to the job (as she told us on numerous occasions), and wasn’t fully versed on the functions of the building, nor had she been given access to any non-public areas.

So we basically saw what anybody could see on any day – with a morning tea thrown in for good measure. We did learn that imbedded in the floor of the main hall is a plaque marking the spot  where a bomb landed in WW2 killing the 9 employees of the post office which had once stood there.  

Although our Tassie holiday was cancelled, Greg did manage to get the Monday of my birthday off. So we decided to take advantage of the ‘long weekend’ created by this small but welcome consolation. 

We’ve been here 10 months now, and still hadn’t been camping, so thought it an opportune time to go before the onset of “The Build Up” made it intolerably hot.

for the movie buffs amongst you…Adelaide River is home to Charlie the Bull made famous in the movie Crocodile Dundee

We chose to go see Katherine – the gorges in particular. Katherine, home to 10,000+ people including Tindal RAAF Base is inland 315km down “The  Track”, a leisurely drive of around 4 1/2 hours with stops along the way. We headed off Saturday  morning…  

First stop – Adelaide River War Memorial. It’s very neatly landscaped and generally well presented.  There are both WW2 military personnel and civilians buried here, including special memorial tombs for those 9 post office employees whom I mentioned previously.

The small town of Adelaide River is a neat, green and pretty little town. We needed a loo break, so tracked down the public toilets at the local oval.  Well I got more than I bargained for when I flushed the toilet.

A frog (at least Cane toad size) appeared from under the rim of the toilet bowl desperately trying to cling to the porcelain as the flushed water showered over it. I was some what surprised, and just had to call Greg in to share this amusing spectacle with me.

Also, for the movie buffs amongst you…Adelaide River is home to Charlie the Bull made famous in the movie Crocodile Dundee. Paul Hogan pretends to be able to put this supposedly wild animal in a trance – not too hard considering Charlie lives his life grazing, sleeping and staring at tourists. 

We only saw Charlie from a distance and figured anyway, that a dull bull was far less entertaining than a frog in a bog – oh! that’s terrible, but I just had to write it.  

Next stop en route… Pine Creek, described in the tourist literature as the only original gold mining town left from the gold rush days of the 1870s. Unlike the neat and lush green of our previous stop, it was a dry, dusty and unkempt looking town. It didn’t look like much of the gold had stayed in this town.

The Water Gardens, described in our literature as a highlight of the town were littered, neglected and close to death – they needed water.

The town oval was more lush than the supposedly lush tropical water gardens.  A large sign in front of the oval declared that the lawn was watered with sewage – obviously there wasn’t  enough human waste in this town to feed both the oval and the Water Gardens.

In the middle of the town, up a steep serpentine hill, we drove to the mine lookout. It was stifling hot and dirty up there.

The  lookout consisted of the hill and a rusted metal stand that we climbed with some trepidation. We saw one haul-pac laden with soil slow-ly, noisi-ly trundling off into the distance.

We saw the open pit full of water which resembled a very thick and murky aqua coloured soup – not particularly inviting – but I reckon we’d discovered where the town’s water supply was going.

We decided to move on.  We arrived in Katherine around lunchtime hanging out for a decent feed of local tucker. We had opted to self-cater for our breakfasts and tonight’s BBQ, and eat local fare for the rest of our meals.

We drove up and down the dual carriageway of the main drag of the township in search of an appealing eating place.  They mostly had two things in common though, a dingy facade and a “closed“ sign.

We reluctantly settled for Red Rooster. After lunch we went for a stroll to the Tourist Bureau which proclaimed to be open until 3.30pm – it was now 2.00pm, it like the cafes was closed.

It was 37+ degrees, we were in the midst of thundering road-trains, choking diesel fumes, heat radiating concrete, and little shade apart from the trees along the median strip, which were each populated with small groups of local folk.

Katherine township wasn’t bursting with physical charm nor indeed hospitality. So we headed off to our campsite in search of more pleasant surrounds.

We were pleased! We camped 5km out of town at the Low Level Caravan Park – Low Level referring to the lie of the land, rather than the standard of facilities, which were impressively high, and of which we would make good use over the coming days.

To get there, we crossed the Katherine River over a well shaded and seriously low lying single lane bridge. The river at this point flows over a weir into a series of shallow rapids in which people were lolling, whilst fruit bats pillaged the bountiful foliage of the overhead trees.

It was a welcome contrast to the harshness of the town-scape we’d just come from. After getting checked-in by an exceedingly friendly and helpful young woman, we pitched our tent on a grassy spot close to the onsite pool.

We spent the rest of the arvo swimming and relaxing with a couple of drinks, a handful of nibblies and a couple of glossy mags – perfect!  

On Sunday morning we embarked on a 2 hour gorge cruise taking in the first 2 of the 13 gorges. Despite the overly exuberant ockerisms of our cruise guide it was well worth seeing the ‘gorgeous’ scenery. 

Mind you, it was damned hot, especially hiking over the rocks between gorges, I envied the stronger bodied types who were swimming, and paddling on air-mattresses and canoes.

it was after all, at the very least OPEN!

Greg was keen to take a canoe out when we got back, but although I thought the idea romantic, I was reluctant. Instead we agreed that we’d be more skilled at making light work of a pub lunch, than we would of paddling a canoe, so headed back to town.

It was our misfortune to discover that booze and food don’t come together in Katherine pubs on Sundays. However, after a trek around town we came across an ‘open’ sign at  “Popeye’s Gourmet Pizza Bar”. Eureka!

We ventured in, ate and pondered – why gourmet? There was not an olive to be seen in “Olive’s Salad Bar” selection, let alone an olive oil dressing. Nor was there a leaf of spinach to sully Popeye’s choice of pizza toppings, pie fillings or lasagne – but perhaps we were being overly critical, it was after all, at the very least OPEN!

We spent the rest of the arvo checking out Edith Falls and the local hot springs. They were both quite scenic but nothing to write home about. On  the advise of the receptionist at our Caravan Park, we planned to eat dinner at Kirby’s – the menu she gave us looked promising.

We thought it pertinent to do a reconnoitre of the premisses. We found it lurking at the rear of a seedy looking pub, it was painted camouflage khaki, had bars on its windows, and a sign on its door welcoming those who could conform to their dress standard – we couldn’t.

Katherine was not making it easy for us to get a meal – it looked like toast for tea – but at last we discovered a cheap Thai joint and ate reasonably well.

Our trip back to Darwin on Monday took most of the day. We opted to take the scenic route via Douglas Hot Springs, to check out the camping facilities for future reference – they looked good.

There was considerably less traffic, the road was quite winding and Greg played rally driver on several occasions when the smooth bitumen turned into hilly gravel tracks peppered with potholes and muddy gullies.

We arrived back late afternoon. We had a very pleasant dinner at The Dolly Pot restaurant in Fannie Bay for my birthday celebration. The weekend away had been a happy if not perfect break.   

Doesn’t this always happen? Our car has not given us any trouble since we bought it a couple of years back. However, it was well due a service, but we just never seemed to find the opportunity to do it.

We planned to put it in for one the week before we went to Katherine, but again time just moved too quickly,  and as it happened, so did our windscreen wipers – turn the car on, and they’d come on – and wouldn’t stop! So Greg disconnected them for the time being.

Apart from that minor hiccup the car performed beautifully down at Katherine. Then an opportunity arose. Lorraine Perry loaned Greg her work car for a week while she was at the AITEA conference in Tassie (where we were meant to be).

Greg booked our car in for a service last Thursday at 8.00am. He left, but returned moments later – the car would not start! He called AAANT (= RAC in NT), they arrived 15 minutes later and got the car going pretty well  straight away – the bloke reckoned the battery had carked it. Weird, on the very day of the service!

We  have adopted a new philosophy in life – people should stay away from doctors, and cars should not be serviced. 

18/9/95 4.30 Darwin was hit with the aftershock of an earthquake that occurred in the Banda Sea, 500 nautical miles from Darwin. I was at the computer and felt my chair move up and down. I thought I was having a dizzy spell, so got up to have a stretch and get some fresh air.

I got to the kitchen and heard a noise, I turned and was intrigued to see our fridge rocking from side to side, nothing else around me at that stage seemed to be effected including me.

Greg rang to see if I was OK, he had felt it as well. It’s funny but Greg had just on the previous weekend been saying that we hadn’t experienced any earth tremors since we first arrived. Darwin supposedly experiences many aftershocks of earthquakes that  occur in the seas to the north of Australia. 

Anyway, that’s our life in close-up for the time being – I hope I’ve painted a clear picture for you!

Say G’day to the rest of the family from us. Take care. 

lots of love 

Tren & Greg 

XXOOXX

[GM in 2022: Unfortunately, Charlie The Water Buffalo died some years ago. Even more unfortunately he was stuffed and now stands on the bar of the Adelaide River Inn and Resort. You can read about him here.]