March 1, 2023
Since we were not able to go ashore in Bali we arrived a day early in Darwin, Australia.
Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. the city contains the majority of the residents of the sparsely populated Northern Territory. It is the smallest, wettest, and most northerly of the Australian capital cities.
The Darwin region experiences a tropical climate with two seasons wet and dry. We arrived during the wet season. The wet season brings with it heavy monsoonal downpours, spectacular lightning displays, and increased cyclone activity. I got to experience multiple downpours but fortunately no cyclones!!!
Darwin has few ancestral buildings since it was bombed over 80 times during WWII! Then on 25 December 1974, Darwin was struck by Cyclone Tracy, which killed 71 people and destroyed over 70% of the city’s buildings.
Arriving a day early meant that there were no planned excursions so I started researching what to do for the day. I decided on going to the George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens, which are only 2 kilometers north of Darwin. When I was discussing my plans at dinner four of my dinner mates wanted to join in the adventure.
After the ship docked we headed out on the first shuttle to the central business district. Once we got there we headed to the closest taxi stand and that is when things started going bad. There were no taxis so I went into a nail salon and convinced them to call the cab company, which they did. 40 minutes later no taxi….ARGH. We started walking and shortly I was checking the map and a nice couple ask us where we were headed and suggested that we take the local bus 4 and that the bus stop was just a block away plus seniors rode for free. 15 minutes later we were on the bus and headed to the Botanical Gardens.
It was a bit of a hike from the bus stop to the gardens so we stopped for refreshments before heading in. Just a few minutes after we left the café we encountered a very large snake in the tree!! Have I mentioned before that I do not like snakes???? Right after the snake the sky’s opened and were soaked. At least it was a warm rain! We continued though the garden and then headed back to the bus stop to head back to town. According to the posted schedule a bus should of arrived 10 minutes after we got to the bus stop. Well that didn’t happen (later I found out that during the wet season the schedule does not apply). After waiting for 40 minutes with no bus and the heat an humidly rising, Carol Ann and I headed to the Casino, which was only ½ mile away to try to get a taxi. ( Note that life is harder when you don’t have cell service!!!) The nice receptionist called the taxi company and explained that we had seniors dying in the heat. Then I started hiking back to tell the rest that help was coming. Ten minutes later a taxi came to the hotel and immediately left when they did not see Carol Ann. The receptionist then called the taxi company again and 30 minutes later they sent one taxi. We loaded the three older mates in the cab and Carol Ann and I waited for the next bus that finally came 20 minutes later. By the time we got back to town (which is only 10 minutes away when you have wheels) it was almost 2 hours later. Fortunately my mates all lived and were able to laugh at the situation (as you can see from the picture at the bus stop)!!! But I don’t think my tour guide service will receive 5 stars for this adventure.
When I got back to town I jumped on the Hop on Hop off bus so I could see the rest of Darwin. About 30 minutes into the trip the rain started again and this time it rained sideways and everyone on the bus got soaked, as there was no time to react. Good news is we dried fast as it was hot!
Back in town I hit the grocery store to satisfy my chip craving and started walking back to the ship hoping to catch the sunset as Darwin is suppose to have spectacular sunsets. Of course I got rained on again and arrived back on ship looking like a drowned rat but my chips survived!!!
Have I mentioned that being an adventurer is hard??? It was still a fun day of exploring!!
That snake in the tree would send me screaming
What a day! One of those days that will make a wonderful story but is frustrating in the living of it. I love that the photos of you are happy and relaxed in the face of the taxi challenges. That’s the face of a true intrepid traveler.