Day Five

I remembered about temperatures in the tropics so got up early and was first in the pool. After a swim I went to the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territories.  There was lots more Aboriginal art some fascinating exhibitions including Sweetheart a stuffed crocodile over 17 feet long and weighing nearly 800 kg. It had been attacking the fishermen so they decided to capture it and move it to a crocodile farm or sanctuary but unfortunately the drug they used to sedate it shut down its mechanism for breathing underwater and when it went under it drowned. Poor old Sweetheart! By far the most interesting section however was that given to Cyclone Tracy which struck Darwin on Christmas Eve 1974. Darwin was completely flattened and after seeing the devastation I have a new respect for the people of Darwin who must have suffered so much and yet in a relatively short time have completely rebuilt the city. Only  400 buildings survived and virtually everyone was homeless. There is a sound room there and,in the dark, a recording is played which was taken at the time, of the noise that the cyclone made. It is absolutely terrifying and gives a small idea of what it must have been like. The next stop was the old Darwin jail, up on a cliff top overlooking Fannies Bay. I should think the worst bit of the punishment must have been the heat, but it is a stark reminder of how things have changed.

The maximum security block with its spine chilling metal doors as well as the remaining gallows would be deterrent enough for most people.

A beautiful setting for a terrible place.

In the afternoon I visited My ill Heritage Centre which has four of the very few houses left which survived both the Japanese bombs and the cyclone. They are reputedly classic colonial designs and I was interested to see they are very similar to Piasau's  PWBs.

 On the way back ,a very hot journey, I strolled through the Botanical Gardens. Despite their proximity to the city they were a haven of peace and very beautiful.  

 I thought I was lost on the way back, having memorised the route before I left, but kept on going and was delighted to find myself exactly where I hoped to be!

Day Four

Today I began to look around Darwin but it is incredibly hot and humid so not conducive to walking very far or very fast! As I am just round the corner from the Esplanade I thought starting there would be a good idea.

The Esplanade runs parallel to one of the main shopping streets but is bordered by the sea and by a lovely grassy park with masses of trees, especially frangipani. There are access points to little coves and bays all along'its length and beautiful views out over the seas.

with fascinating, coloured rocks.

There are also a lot of reminders of the suffering of the Dawin people at the hands of the Japanese on the war. Darwin was very heavily bombed and many local people lost their lives fighting bravely so there are many memorials to these men. There are also handpainted tiles in panels inlaid into the pathway honouring 200 Remarkable Territorians( i.e. people from the Northern Territories )- the quiet achievers.

About halfway along is Lyons Cottage, Darwin's first stone dwelling (1925) and now a museum displaying early photos of Darwin. (Darwin was named after Charles Darwin who was a friend of John Wickham who was surveying the area and arrived at Port Darwin on HMS Beagle in 1839.)

 At the far end is Lameroo Beach, a sheltered cove popular in the 20s when it was the home of the saltwater baths. There is also a deckchair cinema, sadly closed until the end of the wet(season) I added to my list of seas by a short paddle in the Timor Sea.

Taking a picture of the Parliament building I remembered reading that it's possible to go inside so, thinking to cool off in the air con, I went inside. I was absolutely amazed that I could wander at will , my knee didn't set off the alarms and I was carrying a small rucksack. I decided to watch some of the debate so wandered into to the visitors gallery, bliss, air con! Having seen the proceedings I saw a cafe in the corner and sat down to a cup of tea and toasted(!) banana bread amongst all the ministers still talking shop. It was quite extraordinary. Perhaps our politicians should be more approachable. I followed this by a lovely browse in the state library.

The plants and trees and that peculiar sideways growing grass are all reminiscent of  Malaysia, and then I remember that Borneo is probably nearer Darwin than most Australian cities! Just to prove we are still in "the wet" I arrived home in a downpour.

Day Two


What can I say about Alice? After another morning on the train with more vast expanses of bush we arrived in Alice.

(The Ghan was originally called the Afghan Express after the cameleers who forged the route - hence the camel.)

 I had booked a tour so waited with the other passengers for Gary, our tour guide. From the minute we set off it was apparent that he actually loves Alice. We started off by going to a viewpoint where we could look down on the town. It just seemed so improbable to have a town right in the middle of nowhere. The town nestled in the valley between the ridges on either side and is largely singe storey dwellings  with no tall buildings at all.

 From there we could see the famous gap where John Macdouall Stuart had marked out the first route through the outback from Adelaide to Alice, the first European to cross Australia from South to North. We were then given a conducted tour of the main attractions in Alice and quite a lot of its history. Gary was a really informative guide and obviously a fan of jails and graveyards! Two of the most interesting places to visit when I return to Alice in May are the school of the air which is responsible for teaching all the children who live in the outback, and the flying doctor service. There is an enormous transport museum too and one dedicated to the Ghan    There are also lots of art galleries and shops dedicated to Aboriginal art. After the trip there was just enough time for half an hour in the internet cafe before returning to the train and settling down for dinner and a sleep.

Day Three.

Tuesday morning, after a good nights sleep ,began with a shower then breakfast then preparing to arrive in Katherine. Again there was no gradual arrival into town; indeed there didn't appear to be a town as it is some way from the railway station. The bus arrived to take us to Katherine Gorge and the boat trip. Katherine Gorge was absolutely beautiful. We could only go as far as the first gorge because the water was too high but the scenery was truly breathtaking.

. Our guide explained all about salt and freshwater crocodiles and on the way back down the gorge we were lucky enough to see one on the bank( after a few false alarms!).

 After the boat trip we were given tea and scones before being driven back to the train for the last leg to Darwin.I cannot say how brilliant this has all been.I have just been amazed at the huge distances and the unchanging scenery.! It's difficult to describe the vastness of these open spaces. One of the stations(farms) is bigger than Belgium, covering an area of more than six million acres! Despite the size there are only 3000 cattle following the drought of 2008 when the station lost all its cattle due to lack of water. To look after them and the land there are only eighteen people working there. When they round up the cattle they first of all locate them by light aircraft before mustering them on trail bikes.  The experience of travelling on the Ghan has been a real journey indeed - and I finally saw a kangaroo!

Day Two

DARWIN TRIP

Day one. (25th March.) Nervous excitement as I left home for the journey to Darwin. Arriving at the station I was amazed at the length of the train- 26 carriages not including the motor rail at the front.

There were two engines;

 in case of breakdown- it's a long way ! I quickly found my seat, listened to all the instructions from the steward then went to buy a seat in the observation car.

Soon after leaving Adelaide  we were in open countryside with just the odd farm here and there. The first place we came to was Snowtown,  famous when eight bodies were found in acid in barrels in a disused bank vault in 1999.

Then it was on to Port Augusta.We were travelling up the peninsular so the sea was on our left and the Flinders Ranges beyond the plains on the right.

the Flinders Ranges on the right, beyond the plain.

 Fort Augusta is where we left the sea and where the outback begins. The farms became even more remote and there was just a vast expanse of shrub as far as the eye could see.

 There were flocks of sheep grazing on this arid ground and occasionally a few cows, and although I looked until dark for kangaroos  I  saw only emus.After a magnificent sunset I went to the restaurant then settled down for a read before lights out (Yes, really!) I am sitting next to some French people who, true to form, produced a magnificent picnic dinner from cool boxes (Eskies) complete with Camembert, dessert and coffee! Brilliant. They even offered me some as I had helped them with translating what to them were unintelligible Aussie accents.

This afternoon I  went to the cinema to see a screening  of the live performance from the National Theatre in London, The Comedy of Errors with Lenny Henry as Antipholus. It was brilliant and a really entertaining production. I last saw Lenny Henry in his fantastic music tour so couldn't have been more different from his role today, but he has shown himself to  be an amazingly versatile performer, I was really impressed. Some of the audience were in the same general age group as me but the majority were students -  it's probably a set text. I think I have mentioned before  how polite and well mannered young people are here. Before the film there was a  fair bit of movement, talking and popcorn rustling but as the lights went down a lady called from the back, " OK kids, put your sweets away now and keep quiet" and there was absolute silence throughout! Warning; Do NOT try this at Showcase, Reading! I was amused to see in the interval as soon as the lights came up there was a mass diving into bags for smart phones and tablets to make sure no one  missed anything. One girl called out," What's happening on facebook?" Magic.  A super afternoon, and even better when I spotted the perfect thongs (as in flip flops) on the way back to the bus stop. The ticket machine on the bus was broken but rather than cancel and take it out of service the driver announced, " Free rides, mates"! I love this place.

Off to Darwin tomorrow; two and a half days and two nights on the train. Apparently no wi fi on the train but will post as soon as I can, but may not be for a few days. I haven't disappeared!  ( I hope).

Having decided to follow one of the historical walks around Adelaide today I had to change plan because of the weather- it was raining! Undeterred I set off for the Migration Museum which is a social- history museum telling the story of the many migrants who made South Australia their home. At the entrance there are plaques to all those forced to leave their own countries due to war and persecution , and a  poignant reminder that it was not a choice for many.

There were some beautiful displays inside depicting the arrival of the early settlers, their affect on the indigenous population, the growth of migration and the racial composition of present day Australia. Many of the accounts were personal stories, some of them very moving indeed.

Adelaide was named after Queen Adelaide who was the queen consort of William 1V, and South Australia prides itself on being a planned colony with no convicts.  49% of present day South Australians were either born overseas or have at least one parent born overseas. In 2010 for the first time UK immigration was outnumbered by Indian immigration.  Until after the second World War, Australia pursued a white Australia policy - in the early part of the century people had to sit a dictation test of fifty words in any language, so a language that they had no possibility of knowing was chosen and they failed the test. In 1909 there were no passes at all. Possibly the greatest injustice however, was to the native Aboriginal people who were dispossessed of their homes by the British colonialists.  Until very recently the Aboriginal Australians suffered a great deal from the state and government institutions. People still living today tell their story of the stolen generation - children who were forcibly removed from their homes by state and national institutions following an act of parliament, and this continued up until the 1970s. 

One of the fascinating displays was a time line relating world events to what was happening in Australia. Women in South Australia were given the right to vote as early as 1894. 

Part of the complex of buildings is the former "native" school, set up by German missionaries to teach the Aboriginal children  and later developed as Adelaide's Destitute Asylum.

An absorbing museum with so many moving and personal accounts.

Leaving the museum the rain had stopped so I visited the Roman Catholic Cathedral, a beautiful building, the interior of which glowed in the evening sun from the yellow glass windows.

It was late enough by then to stop for dinner and , at a Malaysian cafe, I had the best Singapore mee since PBC!

Happy days!

After collecting my tickets for The Ghan to Darwin on Sunday, I finally made all the reservations for the trips to Melbourne and Uluru. To celebrate I drove to Port Adelaide, known as  Yerti Bulti to the Kaurna Aboriginal people, and visited the Maritime Museum.  The display of ships figureheads was fascinating (now I understand that bit in Titanic) ,

including a suitably agressive one from the French.

Of course the sad thing is that all these beautiful boats have now disappeared, some broken up for firewood. There was a lifesize model of a boat which it is possible to explore,

and, going down into the captain's cabin, there is a sound display with the creaking timbers, lashing waves and all the various shouts from above. In a building on dry land it was scary - I don't think I'd have been much good as a cabin boy!

the captain's cabin

Throughout the museum there were many fascinating artefacts and memorabilia , and I am newly enough retired to think what a fantastic place for a school trip! As in the other museums I have visited in Adelaide, there were lots of interactive displays for children and it really did bring to life both the life of the early sailors in the ketches and also the incredibly difficult and fraught journey from England to Adelaide. Two things I hadn't realised; the Australian navy was only three years old at the time of World War 1, and the Australian navy supported the American troops in Vietnam and  faced derision and contempt on returning to Australia causing bitterness still felt today.

From the museum I wandered round the town; it is obviously being "done up" in the fashion of docklands all over but there were a few old examples of  maritime buildings left.

Afternoon tea seems to be quite popular here, a very civilised tradition I am only too happy to embrace. One of the very best things about it is having the time to sit and enjoy it without thinking of a million things I should be doing. (Sorry!) So, after that it was time to drive home along the lovely coastal road, stopping at Semaphore for a bracing walk along the pier.

(If you look at the clouds it may make you feel better about the last remark...)

Headed to the hills today and the aptly named Mount Lofty. At 2400 feet above sea level it is only fifteen minutes drive from Adelaide and yet the temperature is usually 5 degrees lower than on the plain. It is one of the very few places to get snow in South Australia. From the summit there is a fantastic view of Adelaide, not a great photo but gives some idea; below the sky it's possible (just) to make out the sea in the distance. The coast line stretches for miles of beautiful beaches.

From the observation point I went on a bushwalk,

 then spent the afternoon at the Cleland Wildlife and Conservation Park. As well as koalas,

and kangaroos,

I saw wallabies,

emus,

pelicans,

 bandicoots,

and even some Tasmanian devils .

Driving along there are road signs warning of koalas and kangaroos but of course it's not always easy (or permitted) to stop, so , although cheating a little in a wildlife park, I did think that after two weeks in Australia I should get some photos of the animals.

Back home to get ready for the theatre; went to see Pinter's The Caretaker  produced by  The Theatre Royal Bath(! ) and starring Jonathan Pryce. Brilliant acting but I don't think it's his best play.....

As I write, the very hot and humid day has become a very wet night. (As soon as I turned on the sprinklers it started; in France it usually waits until I have finished.)

The Central Market , Adelaide. very like the covered market in Oxford but much bigger, and the wares are slightly different!

Poor Skippy!

After resisting temptation there I went to the Art Gallery of South Australia which has all the big names in Australian art through the eras (as well as an extensive international collection). Looking at a large picture of the the Proclamation at the old gum tree I realised what remarkable people those first pioneers must have been.

Leaving home and family is never easy but they must have had such tremendous faith in what they were doing; going to a complete unknown..... I had read that the gallery had 20 Rodin sculptures so was disappointed to discover that they were only displaying one at the moment.....

At the South Australian Museum there was a fascinating gallery devoted to artefacts of the Ngarrindjeri people including the Aboriginal dreamtime.

It is a brilliant display and has made me want to find out much more about the Aborigines and their culture. I heard a cd by Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunyupingu,   an amazing blind musician who I looked up as soon as I got back.(see facebook or Youtube)

To complete a great musical week I returned to the Town Hall to hear the Adelaide Chamber Singers and the Sydney Chamber Choir presenting St  John Passion, a truly remarkable performance.