31 May 2013 – Darwin City

The five of us headed into Darwin this morning to feed fish at Aquascene.  The kids weren’t too impressed but once we got there and they saw all the fish, they got a bit more excited.  This spot is on the ocean and the fish just come on in as they please.  There were hundreds of them, from first sight mostly scaled diamond mullet and catfish, which approached the people standing on the steps in the water and gobbled up the bread.  Once we got closer including in the water, we grabbed our slices of bread, broke it up and the fish came in nice and close trying to push the others out of the way for their feed.  We were able to break the bread up and shove it in the fish’s mouths they were so tame, also patting their slimy scales as they swam around us.  We noticed that there were other kinds here too, such as milkfish, some lovely big batfish and those skinny fish that attach themselves to sharks (I think they are called remora?) – the remora were the only ones that we had to be careful with as they bite.  We spent quite a bit of time here as we were having so much fun!  Next we went to the WWII Oil Storage Tunnels.  In 1924, there were 11 oil storage tanks built at Stokes Hill Wharf, but in 1942 during WWII, seven of these tanks were destroyed by the Japanese bombs.  In November 1942, a decision was made to construct eight storage tunnels and the cost blew out by over more than 200,000 pounds.  These tunnels were built entirely by hand, using pick, shovel and hand held pneumatic tools and were able to store millions of litres of oil.  However, these storage tunnels ended up being built in vain because by the time they had been complete the war had ended.  Two of these tunnels are now used as tourist attractions and have pictures inside them reflecting back to the war years and what our country endured.  Upon leaving here we went to Stokes Hill Wharf and made some sandwiches and had a wander around the shops here where the kids had an ice-cream.  Afterwards, we headed into Darwin and into the huge information centre followed by Parliament House to conduct our own self-guided tour.  Parliament House is actually built on the site of where the Darwin Post Office used to stand before it was bombed in WWII.  Undamaged remnants of a wall of the post office remains here as a commemoration, as does a piece of the shrapnel from a bomb that fell.  These pieces stand just outside the onsite library.  We also visited the chamber viewing room where we learnt about who sits where when parliament is sitting, etc. – very educational for us all.  The other places that we visited this afternoon included the Town Hall Ruins, walked by the fancy Supreme Court building, Government House (we didn’t receive our invitation for afternoon tea and therefore didn’t enter the premises); and the Old Courthouse and Police Station.  We even managed to find the First Overland Telegraph Pole – there is so much history in Darwin!  The last place that we visited this afternoon was the FREE Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory and wow it was good!  There were heaps of exhibitions to see including Cyclone Tracy, Indigenous Art, Maritime Gallery where they keep some of the refugees boats and I can’t believe that some made it to our shores) and Sweetheart – a real croc that a taxidermist has had their hands on.  It was fantastic and we all enjoyed this place.  On our way home today we were determined to find the place that does live cattle exports.  We think we found it but 1) saw no cattle in the storage area and 2) no boats being loaded.  We worked out that you couldn’t do any tours anyway – damn!  Thankfully, after our busy day out, we had a quiet night in!