You may have known me to use the expression "I now own this city", and that is exactly how I feel about Darwin. I was here a few years ago, and I just know where I am. I can drive without a map, and tell you where the Woolworth's or Hungry Jack's are. I don't feel I have to see every nook and cranny to know what is there, so I can just look for either my favorites or places I missed last time.
One of my favorites is the Botanical Garden, and very specifically their fabulous collection of baobabs. Turns out that these bizarre trees, which the Little Prince worried about splitting his small world apart, are found in a small area of Madagascar, patches in Africa, and the northwest regions of Australia (maybe a hint of Gondwanaland continuity here - but then again their seeds are small and durable enough to have drifted through the Indian Ocean). As trees go, they are supercool, with a fat trunk (sometimes akin to a barrel) and scrawny branches on top (there are at least six species of baobab, and some have a more healthy growth of branches). I am hoping to add another geographic location in California, where I have planted four seeds. If la Fabiolita has not forgotten to water them, in ten years or so they might look like a Dr. Seuss tree, and in 20 years they might make some heads turn as cars go by.
Then I went to the Northern Territories Museum, on the north end of Mindil Beach ... wait, today is Thursday, which means the Sunset Market will be open behind the dunes ... I will have to come back around 6 pm. But I digress, at the museum someone asked me where I was visiting from, and when I answered "from Mexico" the gal at the counter called out to her colleague Fabiola, who is also from Mexico, and we had a nice chat about how she had ended in Australia (did her graduate work at Melbourne, married an Australian, lived in the Central Desert for some time, and finally landed in paradise here in Darwin). Darwin reminds me of places like Newport Beach or Miami Beach, a dream place to retire, with beautiful sunny weather (today the temperature was a comfy 30 degrees C) and gorgeous beaches (with mean man-eating saltwater crocodiles).
The meanest of the known crocs, Sweetheart, is on display at the museum. He was drowned a few years back by the friendly biologists who were trying to relocate it. Sweetheart was an 80-year old croc that had attacked several outboard engines, but never actually got used to the taste of Captain Hook's hand.
The museum had some interesting displays of shells and butterflies, but what was most exciting to me was its collection of Polynesian sea-going vessels. I could almost smell the wake of saltwater they left behind them, as they traversed the archipelagos of Southeast Asia. I think I am going to try to convince Chico to help me repair/tune up the sailboat so we can take sail once more.
Another museum gallery taught me that Darwin has been hit by a few cyclones in recorded history (1839, 1897, 1915, 1923, 1948, 1974, and 2019 to name just a few), but the worst was the Christmas Eve Tracy Cyclone, in 1974. The cyclone was moving east to west, parallel to the Torres Strait, when a week before landfall it turned suddenly south and headed straight for Darwin, and hit it right between the eyes. Half of the city was destroyed and there were many casualties. A bitter reminder that nature is not something we can control.
And since I was into crazy dreams, I drove a few kilometers to the airport, outside of which is the Darwin Aviation Museum, whose central piece is the last B-52 the US Air Force flew in the South Pacific. The B-52 bomber is absolutely huge, easily rivaling a jumbo jet, so just to walk around it is an experience. They also had other airplanes, from ultralights to old seaplanes, and from fighter jets to the legendary Spitfire. I am not really a military buff, but looking at those engines and the complexity of the inner workings of a large airplane sure gave me a lot of respect for the aeronautical engineers and technicians who can put these marvelous machines together.
A big section was devoted to the Japanese attack on Darwin Harbor, which came two months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. No wonder the Australian government was freaking out about the threat of invasion. As analysis of documents later showed, the Japanese Navy was ready for the invasion, but the Japanese Army chickened out.
I went briefly back to my hotel, to take a swim, and then was back on my way to Mindil Beach, where the party was in full swing. Where did all these people come from? There were craft vendors, Aboriginal art vendors, and many food vendors. I treated myself to a basket of peri-peri breaded calamari (yumm!), enjoyed the sunset with everyone else, and after a round of the crafts market said goodnight and came back to my hotel. Time to go to bed!
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