Darwin

19th February 2010 Every year on 19th February the city of Darwin pauses to mark one of the most significant moments in Australia’s history, the Bombing of Darwin by Japanese Imperial Forces on 19th February 1942. It was on this day that the first of at least 64 air raids on Darwin and the Top End commenced. Sadly, many perished during these attacks. This morning we attended the commemoration service which started at 9.58am with the sounding of the air-raid sirens as they did 68 years ago. This was followed by a re-enactment by Defence Force Personnel along with a fly past of FA 18 Hornets. Anyone who didn’t know what was going on would have had quite a fright what with the sirens, then the gun fire, then the planes flying over! ...

17th February 2010 The capital of the Northern Territory, Darwin feels like quite a modern, prosperous city. This is probably due in part to the fact that most of the city has been destroyed on a few occasions, firstly by cyclones in 1897 and 1937, then by Japanese air raids during World War II and the last time on Christmas Day in 1974 when it was devastated by Cyclone Tracey. All the armed services have bases in the vicinity of Darwin and personnel for these services make up a good percentage of the population. ...

18th February 2010 One of our aims on visiting Darwin was to try and get out to Kakadu National Park. We knew we would be limited in what we could do and see out there because we are here during the wet season and vast swathes of the park are under water, but we managed to find a reasonably priced day tour by coach which did the Yellow Water cruise, something we were quite keen on. ...

14th & 15th February 2010 After our 5 days in the outback we spent the whole of Sunday just chilling, catching up on some sleep, getting clean and getting our clothes clean, venturing out just for food. Monday was our last day in Alice Springs and the morning was spent checking emails and booking accommodation, travel and tours for the next stage of our trip. We were leaving for Darwin that evening and would need a hotel for Tuesday night. ...

16th February 2010 We both had a much better night’s sleep than on our previous Ghan journey with room to lie down and the train rocking us gently to sleep, before we knew it we were awoken by the train manager announcing the first breakfast sitting (for gold and platinum customers). Overnight we passed through the remote mining town of Tennant Creek and were well on our way to Katherine where the outback meets the tropics. The landscape had become even greener and there were loads more trees and pools of standing water. ...

7th & 8th February 2010 The last time I visited Australia ten years ago, I elected to do an outback tour from Adelaide to Alice Springs via Coober Pedy instead of taking the Ghan. While I don’t regret this decision for a moment, I’ve always still wanted to take one of Australia’s most famous journeys. In the end, it has worked out for the best because ten years ago, I would only have been able to get as far as Alice as the last section of the Ghan from Alice to Darwin has only been completed in 2004. So finally, we’re taking this epic journey on the longest north to south railway line in the world. ...