We arrived at Darwin, Australia this morning. This city is named after the father of evolution. Darwin is our last stop in Australia. Darwin has a population of approximately 100,000 residents and is Australia’s northernmost city. It is considered both cosmopolitan and casual. Darwin is quite modern and was largely rebuilt after Cyclone Tracy destroyed most of the city on December 24 of 1974.
This city is mostly known as a gateway to the Kadadu National Park, Katherine Gorge, and the Kimberly. It boasts a most comfortable tropical climate.
The local economy is vibrant. There is lots of growth in Darwin. Real Estate prices have doubled in only five years.
Darwin also accounts for the highest per capita beer consumption in the world. On average, each resident consumes the equivalent of 650 American bottles of beer a year. Amazing.
We awoke early this morning as we do each and every day. We began
our day by working out in the Fitness Center. Keith enjoyed a wonderful workout on his favorite Elliptical machine and Anne Marie did likewise on a Treadmill that she uses each day. Keith was a bit tired from yesterday’s fast walking competition but was able to make it through his workout. He talked with Mary for a good portion of the workout, which made the workout go fairly quickly. John was also working out on one of the other Elliptical machines as he does each day. There was only one other person in the Fitness Center by the time we finished our workout.
We enjoyed a wonderful breakfast in our room.
We got ready for our tour. Originally the tour was scheduled in the afternoon as we were supposed to be in port until 9:00 PM. However, we were notified towards the start of the World Cruise that the ship would depart port at 2:00 PM. This schedule change was needed due to security concerns (pirates), which necessitated the ship sailing a lengthier route in order to get to our next port of call in Bandar Seri Begawan..
Our tour met at 9:00 AM involved a tour of the Territory Wildlife Park. The park is located about 38 miles south of Darwin. Although there are over four miles of walking trails within this park, people movers are operated throughout the park to take visitors to and from the various facilities, which are used to house various animals and wildlife including kangaroos, wallabies, buffalo, birds, dingoes, crocodiles and the Banteng cattle. It also has a walk-through aquarium which houses sting rays and sawfish.
Our bus driver pointed out many areas as we drove to the Park. He also shared with us lots of information regarding Darwin. When we arrived at the Park we took the people mover to our first stop and after that we walked the rest of the park on our own. We visited a very nice aquarium where we viewed a variety sea life. We walked to a goose lagoon and to other areas of the park we viewed lots of wildlife including ducks, geese, wallaroos, emus, snakes and wallabies. Yes, even Keith had the opportunity to hold a snake. The snake is three years old and when it reaches it full size it can eat an entire wallaby. We also had the opportunity to feed a cute looking wallaby.
We were fortunate that we had a nice sunny day. It was a bit humid. On our drive back to the ship, we were given a tour of the city where we saw the parliament, which is nicknamed the wedding cake since the building looks like the base of a wedding cake. We saw the Mayor’s Home, along with a new conventions city that is being built. We also saw various landing strips, which were used by the allies during World War II.
We had a great time on this tour. We arrived back to this ship about ten minutes before the ship left port. Since we were on a tour booked through Crystal we knew the ship would wait for our tour group in the event we were late. Ironically, as the ship began to pull out of port there was a little drizzle. We were fortunate to not have any rain while we were in port. ☺
We have thoroughly enjoyed our time in Australia. It is a beautiful country and one that we hope to visit again in the future. There is so much to see in this vast country. As we have mentioned, we found the locals to be very friendly and we appreciate their warm hospitality.
Before dinner, we went to the Palm Court to listen to live music and to dance. Afterwards, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner in the Main Dining Room. For our entrée, we enjoyed a local fish of Fillet of Tasmanian Salmon. We thoroughly enjoyed this fish, along with the rest of the dinner.
As was the case only a couple of nights ago, this evening we turn the clocks back another one-half hour. Tomorrow will be the first of four sea days in a row as we sail to our next port of call.
Keith & Anne Marie
