If you read my explorer’s way blog you might have picked up due to the Lockouts and exclusion zones we had to change our plans, this resulted in us arriving in Darwin a day earlier than expected, not a bad thing at all. I also indicated that I was having some minor issues with brakes calibrating on the van, to be clear, I still had brakes, I just had to manually override the setting. After a jump start on the Holden in the morning, I thought it would be best to see what was going on with the battery as my battery booster did report an error, it turned out I needed a new battery as the cracking amps were too low, better to happen in Darwin then on the way up in the remote wilderness.

30th December 2021, we decided to stay semi-local today as the forecast was for a balmy 34 degrees but minimal rain, this sounded like the perfect day to head out to see some Crocs in their habitat. Crocodylus is a wildlife park but of course, the main attraction is their crocs and in particular, the man-made saltwater river stream that houses approx 50 crocs which allows you to jump on a riverboat to see these creatures in action. We were advised during the tour that they have a very successful breeding program that sees their hatchlings exported across the globe. In addition to the breeding program, Crocodylus is invested in research and conservation, the team often are called upon to trap and relocate troublesome crocs and rescue injured ones.

31st December 2021, yesterday was an absolute stinker of a day and we spent most of the arvo in the pool at the caravan park, thinking this would be the safe option. Today saw us heading out for an education lesson as we took in the remarkable two historic events that hit Darwin, we also thought this might be the best option hoping they would be air-conditioned places.

Darwin Military Museum
1942 the War came to Australia, the Japanese commenced air operations over Northern Territory in late 1941, on February 1942 the Japanese Navy attacked Darwin with 188 carrier-borne aircraft, some 243 people, civilians and servicemen were killed, eight ships sunk and 23 aircraft destroyed. A noon raid by 54 land-based bombers saw the RAAF Station targeted and severely damaged. What commenced was a total of 64 raids over the Northern Territory with 46 against directly into Darwin and as far inland as Katherine.

Click Below for images
At the going Down of the Sun,
And in the Morning,
We Will remember Them.

Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory
Our main interest in visiting the MAGNT was to learn about Cyclone Tracy and while Darwin is no stranger to cyclones, Cyclone Tracy hit Darwin in the early hours on Christmas Day in 1974, this is still one of the most destructive ever recorded cyclones in Australia.

• wind gusts reached 217 km/h before the anemometer was destroyed
• gales extended to about 40 kilometres from the cyclone’s centre
• 255 mm of rain fell in 12 hours overnight,
• 71 people were killed
• 145 people were seriously injured; more than 500 received minor injuries
• about 70 per cent of houses suffered serious structural failure
• total damage bill topped $800 million (a colossal sum in 1974).

New Years Eve 2021
After a historic day, it was soon for everyone (ok the girls) to start getting ready for our night out in the town, Darwin style. We dined at a place called “The Deck” for dinner and I am not sure if it was COVID or the choice of dining options or maybe it was we just weren’t in the know but the place was not that busy at all, which was great as food and drinks came out very quickly, but the food was average, the entrees were definitely better than the mains. After a quick return to the car, which we managed to park relatively close to the event, we grabbed our gear and proceeded to head on down to Darwins NYE ticketed event on foreshore where the sweet sounds of Amy Shark, Conrad Sewell and Disco Polenta would entertain us into the New Year. We were in, passed the security screening and wandered around looking for that perfect grassy spot to park our backsides for the next 3.5hrs, the only problem was it was still 32degrees with 80% humidity and no breeze, combined with all these hot bodies crammed into one spot – really am selling it, Amy Shark was live and soon enough the 900pm fireworks were cracking in the skyline, perfect spot.

Once the 900pm fireworks finished the count down was on, 3 hours to go, as many families retreated back to their homesteads this allowed for us to move into a more comfortable zone – meaning away from other people for some breathing room. Did I mention how humid it was, this didn’t stop Conrad wearing leather pants, which he quickly announced to everyone was the dumbest idea he ever had and by the look of the dude, who was saturated by his second song it clearly was evident. Soon enough Belinda and Brianna went missing, where did they go, to the Conrad mosh pit with other screaming teenie boppers. For the most part the time passed well and the Disco Polenta were playing their last song and then the fireworks began, ironically there was no countdown.

For those that have been following our blog the fam-bam have reported that Darwin’s fireworks display was the best they have ever seen – better than Sydney in 2019/20.