Darwin Day 4

Didn’t get a lot of sleep with drug dealers etc open for business on a busy Saturday night. We could also hear the music from two Darwin Festival events during the night as the wind moved directions.

Got up early and headed down to the Nightcliff Markets. A few of the cheaper end of the market stalls from Mindel Beach had come to this poorer part of town to trade. They were joined by the usual sad array of stall holders selling bongs and assorted tools of trade, and secondhand books etc. This was not an affluent part of town, but did have a nice café in the centre with a large gazebo and tall shady trees abound. Shame they were so busy as the service was abysmal. We decided to tour the east side of the Darwin coastline. It got more and more run down, with less and less reticulated parks and gardens as we progressed further and further away from Darwin CBD. Once we’d crossed Rappid Creek, we hit Charles Darwin University’s main campus. It was quite run down and unkept. Not quite what I’d expect of a one university territory, but there you go. They do have lots of outstation campus’ around the territory. We did pass one in Katherine and another half way between Katherine and Darwin. They probably have one in Alice too.

We decided to partake in part of the Darwin Festival calendar and enjoyed part of the film festival at the Deckchair Cinema outdoors on the Darwin foreshore. It was really fun. We saw Not Quite Hollywood. It was a fabulous movie/doco about the Australian Film Industry in the 70s and 80s. It was hilarious at all the stuff that was made that just never made it to the screen. Something to do with the 150% tax deduction offered for many years. When it was cut back to 110% in the 80s the industry tightened up. But it was a great look into the classics. Some made us cry with laughter with all the tits and ass and the shoot-em-up car crashes shown. There were great interviews with Tarantino who is bordering on obsessed with 70s and 80s films of Australia. He was just about wetting himself talking about all his favourite films. They also had Graeme Blundell in the audience who gave a speech. Well, actually it was more a plug for his new book, and we followed the movie with Alvin Purple which he stared in in the 70s. If anyone read last weekends’ Weekend Australian Magazine, there was story in there about the movie and the times in general around the making of the film. It was a great night.

The cinema is also a local legend in itself. Not quite as fun as the Broome outdoor cinema with the planes flying over as you’re watching the movie, but the ocean side location is fabulous. They also team up with a local Indian group to provide great home cooked meals cheap, and its also licensed so you can enjoy a beve or two… We also had to laugh at the pre-show slideshow. It included info about “turn your mobiles off, it confuses the bats” and “we share this site with possums so if you don’t want them to help themselves to your food, please keep it up off the floor during the movie”. Quite a cultural experience in itself!