Darwin Day 3

Had a nice relaxing day having breakfast at a Fannie Bay café before heading off to Parap Markets (next suburb away). It was a very compact market consisting of many of the same stalls as the Mindel Beach Markets, but was still fun. With the additions of a few flower stands and a few fruit & veg.

Next we headed back to the MAGNT to have a second look at the fabulous artwork, as well as the rest of the museum. They have a fabulous cyclone Tracey exhibition complete with a dark room with simulated sounds of what people heard as the sheets of tin ripped through houses like machetes. Its quite spooky. If you’ve never seen it, its definitely a must see on a trip to Darwin. Including some fabulous footage of a reporter driving through the destruction the day after. Just the language used, the scenery of absolute devastation, and the black and white footage is really interesting. It shows how long ago it happened.

Upon seeing passes issued by the Government allowing people to “enter” Darwin, I remember that my uncle who was then, an electrician, actually left his family and went up to Darwin to help rebuild the city for 6 months. It was an interesting statistic that some 40% of the population that was evacuated out after the cyclone, never returned.

I’m embarrassed to say that we had a most enjoyable and cheap dinner at the Starcity Casino. Not being one for smoke filled dens of iniquity, we found a nice table outside around the pool overlooking the sunset. We arrived just in time to watch the sunset.

We found a nice quiet place atop of the new suburb of Cullen Bay to spend the night. Over the road are the last 4 remaining old houses of the area saved by a few dedicated individuals from demolition in the 80s. They are now the headquarters of the National Trust NT. One is open to the pubic. Pictures below are of Cullen Bay.