Days 36 - 42 of Trip Destination Unknown (Darwin: Larrakia country)

Day 36: A night-time moth watch in Fannie Bay to add to the blog. Fannie Bay Moth Watch

Day 37: Still humid and warm despite promises of cooler/less humid weather moving up from down south. However, the sea-breezes keep us comfortable and it is sooo nice to feel like we are having a summer.

Spent most of the day tripping around donating stuff to op shops on behalf of our moving relatives - welcomed with open arms!  The books!  How I would love to have taken half of them home but sadly, someone else will enjoy them.

Before enjoying another evening at the beach, watching sunset and eating out -  this time at Nightcliff -  Pete and I decided to explore the Mangrove Boardwalk at Casuarina. This place would look very different at different times of the day, but the aerial roots at low tide were amazing. Just outside the mangroves, the woodswallows were getting ready to rest for the night

 

 

At Nightcliff, the colours and shapes of the coastal rocks are just beautiful. Will have to go back there when there is a little more water in all the rock pools.


 

Day 38:  More time spent in and around op shops, but mostly a day spent at home planning my 60th birthday trip to NZ in November.  All booked - very excited!  While we are spending 7 weeks in NZ in a campervan, we have organised for my children and grandchildren to join us for a week in Queenstown and Mt. Cook.  Unfortunately, it is unlikely that one of the partners can come.

In the evening, we walked around the water front of Fannie Bay. This is something we haven't done before, despite having stayed here since we arrived in Darwin!  On the beach I noticed some strange crab 'domes'. Haven't seen this sort of sand crab hideaway before.

                       
           The top of the dome ...                                                        .... and its base.

                                                            What they look like on the beach

On parts of the beach the tracks in the sand were fascinating. I love imagining the lives of all these creatures.
              

While we didn't stay to watch the last of the sunset colour, the actual sunset and the colours on the cliffs were of sufficient beauty to satisfy us.

 

Day 39: Another day spent helping Bruce with packing-up tasks with a coffee shop interlude.  The coffee shop was in a newish business area where they are 'planting' fake grass instead of the real deal. I know people use it in their own homes, but is this now a thing in public spaces?  We noticed one of the government buildings in Broken Hill was surrounded by fake grass.  The lovely thing was noticing the weeds coming through.  I suspect that this is going to be a short-lived fad as these public spaces become weed patches ... or maybe not.

        
                 Newly laid Darwin fake grass                        Not quite so new Broken Hill version

Day 41: (11th) This morning was a lawn sale (that's what the NT people call a garage sale but because so few people used to have garages ...) day at Fiona's. Not a lot of business, but an excuse for a quiet day. 

In the evening we decided to go to Darwin's famous Deckchair Cinema, an outdoor cinema by the Darwin Harbour foreshore. We arrived early, so were able to wander around the foreshore for a bit before heading in. Tugboats were heading out for some ship we couldn't see and we found the landing site for the cable that enabled the overland telegraph line to communicate with the rest of the world.

  
                                                                                     
In the picture on the right, the explanation board shows a photo taken in 1872 when the cable was brought up on land.  Lines up with the landmarks today.

The building the overland telegraph and laying the underwater cable was a huge task. This following photograph explains this incredible feat better than I could.


The setting for the cinema is beautiful.
   

                     

The cinema has a food van that caters for the clientele of the night before the movie starts. The food van operates on a roster basis, with various mobile businesses around town operating in turn.  Tonight it was an Indonesian one, so we enjoyed some Indonesian beef rendang and sundry vegetable dishes (including a delicious jackfruit curry) with an Aussie beer. The movie, 'India Sweets and Spices' was fun but not anything great. 

Day 42: Another morning spent hoping that more people would come to the Fiona's lawn sale.  A few more sales of bigger items but now there will be a substantial transfer to a nearby op shop.  Most of the afternoon was spent moving bikes for Bruce.  I decided to do a moth trap at Fiona's, not really expecting much because of its position in a relatively new subdivision, but I did find a few interesting creatures, mostly tiny ones. Muirhead moth watch 1






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