Trevor & Jonathans Cruise & Trip to the Far East and Australia 2016

Day 83 - Sunday July 31st 2016 - Katherine to Howard Springs, Northern Territory

We were up by 0730 and in and out of the bathrooms quick enough. Bizarrely the gents here has no urinals in the ablution block so we actually had to queue to get a cubicle, first time for everything.

There was a change of routine though this morning as there was no cereal, instead we packed up the van and headed off in the direction of Katherine to find Trevor a cooked breakfast (he must be feeling better).

Now things in Katherine have changed a lot since we were last here. Even the coffee chains have set up here and the threatening aboriginals that we encountered the last time we were here were nowhere to be seen. They could have all been in bed (it was earlyish) or maybe they’ve been driven out, the latter being quite sad as this is their land but you just can’t excuse some of their behaviours.

We joined the exceptionally large queue at The Coffee Club and ordered two

breakfasts of sort and two coffees. The place was clearly a goldmine on a Sunday morning and it was rammed with a constant queue of people. The local café up the road was shut Sundays (that was where we intended to go) and they are missing a great business opportunity.We were fed, Trev couldn’t finish his exceptionally large ciabatta roll with bacon, hash browns, pulled pork, tomato salsa, well you get the picture, it was certainly fully loaded! Jonathan went for the lighter option of smashed avocado and feta with rocket and a poached egg (although he did steal some of Trevor’s unfinished feast.

The drive into Darwin was due to take about three and a half hours so not a big one for our final drive.

Jonathan took the wheel at first, driving through much the same landscape that we had before, mainly bush. The main significant difference was that the road was what they call in Oz a split road, meaning that there is a central reservation, something you don’t really see outside of the city’s. There were also more small towns to pass through and a lot more roadhouses or petrol stations as that is what they really where this close to a city. The petrol was a hell of a lot cheaper here as well than it had been in Western Australia where we had been paying $1.61 at worst, on the road towards Darwin we could get a litre for $1.16, a significant difference.

As we were driving Trev realised that the campsite that he had booked was not as close to Darwin as we had hoped, in fact we are booked into one about 25km away. It’s not really a problem, 25km in Australian terms is nothing, just more of a surprise but we have an ensuite pitch tonight, a bit of luxury on our last night in the van, a private loo and shower!

We switched Drivers just over half way and then made it to the campsite, checked in and got the keys and the codes for the gates and our ensuite. It was a quick drink then we were off out again and down the road all the way into Darwin.

Again, we have been here before when we drove the last time in Australia in 2010. This had been our starting point, picking up the beast of a van we had the last time and to be honest our memories of Darwin were not all that great but after seeing the change in Katherine we were inspired to see what might have happened here in the last six years.

We didn’t even have to get all the way into Darwin to see the changes, all the roads where new and widened, the government spending some $58 million on improvements.

The skyline was also very very different from what we remembered. It had got a lot taller.

As we drove through the suburbs of Darwin we could see new shiny apartment blocks everywhere, these had not been here before so the city really did look like it had grown up and upwards it clearly had.

We parked off and headed into the city centre, it really was a lot more cosmopolitan than we remembered, cafes and bars and restaurants and it just felt different. It no longer had that feeling of neglect which is what we had felt the last time we were here and this was on a Sunday as well when mostly things were shut.

We stopped for an ice cream and walked some more of the city, over a bridge and down a lift to an area right by the side of the marina/port and new cruise terminal that had been built not forgetting a huge convention centre, Things really were looking up for Darwin.

We had actually been here before, just when it was a few apartment blocks and some unopened restaurant units. We remembered it as it has a manmade beach right at the heart of it, something that I had told Trevor I remembered before we even got here. At that time the place had been all but deserted, waiting for something to happen but now it certainly had happened, this was full on Sunday party with live D.J.’s playing and the new wave pool rammed with families not forgetting the man made beach full of sun worshippers and people watching the world go by, just like us.

We took in the atmosphere and considered how we could of made a killing if we had bought down here when no one was here, when the complex had just got out of the ground but then we are not the sort of people to look back like that, it’s just nice to see something come alive and this area down by the port certainly had.

Our walk took us up to the white picket fences of the old governor’s house, again somewhere we had been before (Trev checked the photos when we got back to the van) past all the old court houses and police station.

Much of Darwin was bombed by the Japanese in world war two so these building are rare survivors, although their restoration had made them look more Disney than historic really.

We didn’t want to run out of things to do in Darwin as we still have two more days here once we part with the van tomorrow so we headed back to the campsite up the road.

Once there Trev went off for a rare swim in the campsite pool whilst I went to the laundry to wash our trainers, we really needed to try and get the red soil out of them once and for all now we would be city living.

Trev cooked the last meal on our two ring stove, a tuna pasta tomato make it up as you go along dish that had travelled with us since we picked up the van. Whilst Trev was cooking Jonathan was sorting out his (stupidly heavy) case, packing this and that, getting ready for moving out day tomorrow.

Once the night sky came in we retreated into the van for the final time, Jonathan writing up the blog you are reading, Trev watching more Death in Paradise, glued as he ate his Tim Tam (Australian institution, it’s like a penguin biscuit) and drank his wine……. Minus the chocolate, just like his Dad!