Darwin is modern city, fast growing metro in Australia, and packed full of history. Economics are simple: mining and tourism.

This is a city which for some reason has drawn my attention. During WWII Darwin played both strategic and survival roles. Evidence of the war are everywhere and the Darwin War Museum is a must see. Darwin exists in a harsh tropical environment, cyclone Tracy levelled the town in 1974, it is the capital of the Northern Territory, gateway to the orient, and with 33 being the average age of the population it is a youthful and high energy city.

There are a couple of images of a 9″ artillery gun. It took 11 men to operate two floors of action. The gun swivelled on a turntable and commanded a great view of the harbour. By the way, two images are of GM military vehicles made in Canada!! How about the old truck retiring into the mangrove.

A friend of mine, Cy said when he visited Darwin years ago the box jellyfish kept everyone out of the outrageously inviting ocean. He remains correct and now a small more venomous jellyfish is in the area and migrating down the coasts: the infamous Irukandji jellyfish. Small, just a couple of centimetres in size with long tentacles. Deadly!! The ocean swimming is now protected by screening nets.

Good news and a bit silly. I always dip my foot or arm in one of the great oceans if I’m in the area and I think I’ve done them all now. Today, not an ocean, yet just as much fun I put my hand in the Timor Sea. Felt good. However, putting my foot into the Indian Ocean three years ago with Jill still wins. What can I say!

I really like the colour in the stone used to built some of the historic buildings. Most of these beautiful stone walls did not survive cyclone Tracy. Also, I’ve never seen bamboo colours like one of the shots will show you: red and orange?!

The Melbourne to Darwin, Never Never trip, and 27 days is finished and next time I will double the time to do the same trip! Back to Melbourne. This is where Darwin is .

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3 long days of driving took me through the “Never Never”. A local name for a vast interior plain of Australia. It is a transition from desert to the tropics.

An Aussie along the way said: ” you must stop at this place”, so I did. Daly Waters is a pub. The look says it all. How could I resist a Barramundi fish burger at a place that has everything no one wanted and everything to bring people from around the world to see.

I almost forgot to mention road trains, tractor trailers pulling up to 4 full sized trailers. How to pass one; (1) a view to the horizon (2) see through mirages (3) boot it!!!. Just think, the closing speed with you and an opposing rig hauling propane is about 220kmh; the explosion would be seen from space. By the way the advised posted speed is 130kmh.

Litchfield National Park is a place I really wanted to see. Good news: Kakadu Park is underwater which gave me an extra day to see Litchfield. Here are the words that come to mind: hot, humid, stunningly beautiful, it is the tropics. The “no swimming” signs are everywhere; crocodiles!!

The owner of the Litchfield Safari Camp told me: “the freshies are everywhere, the rogue saltie is the one we don’t know where it is”. In other words loner salt water crocodiles find there way into swimming holes; obey the signs!!! For those that haven’t heard, the saltie is huge and always hungry. The land is 1 meter below sea level and an easy passage way for the reptiles. Daly Waters Litchfield National Park

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My son David and I spent a week together hiking and photographing Uluru and Kings Canyon. We just finished exploring, or better said getting an overview of the MacDonnell Range on the way to Alice Spring. David leaves me to return to Melbourne. We had an awesome time and fortunately he took some grab shots of the two of us. Thanks David for a wonderful time!

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The MacDonnell Range runs east west and the drive took us through a valley between seams in the rock. There are many photographic opportunities. An interesting spot is a seam of ochre rock with several dominant colours; red, yellow, white. It is a special spot for Aboriginals to collect and crush ochre for their art.

I’m on the way to Katherine and the “top end”. A great spot to stop is at the Devil’s Marbles which is a surreal formation of geometric rock shapes. Onward.

MacDonnell Range Devils Marbles

Kings Canyon lies about 200km northeast of Uluru (Ayers Rock) and is part of rugged ranges of steep sided red rock, bluffs and canyons. White gum trees seem to find cracks in the rock, find water, and survive formidable conditions.

We stayed two nights at Kings Canyon Station, a working cattle and camel ranch. Yes camels, and they are somewhat tamed for tourist rides. Yet, by far the camel population is wild and apparently number in the hundreds of thousands with an estimate of 1.2 million running freely. The BBC just completed filming a documentary on the camels. One camel shot expresses the look I give accountants when asked about accounting matters.

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The opportunity for red rock photography is everywhere and saturation changes moment by moment like Uluru. We took a helicopter ride and saw the vastness of the Middle Ranges and valleys upon valleys of “beehive” rock structures and rugged landscapes. David’s first ride in a chopper will be memorable as he took about 600 images and a couple of videos. He also caught a shot of myself on an overlook of Kings Canyon. Steep cliffs!

We are currently staying at the Kings Canyon Resort and doing day and evening hikes. It is hard to pull away as the sun sets.

Our Location

 

My son David and I explored both Uluru (Ayers Rock) and the Olgas. Uluru is as I remembered: “overwhelmingly beautiful”. The colour changes moment by moment and the views both closeup and from a distance beg the questions: “where did this come from, what caused this monolith”.

The interesting thing about this visit and last visit three years ago with Jill is our arrival followed heavy rainstorms and rain pours down its face and collects at the base. Very unusual to see this in a climate that barely gets 12 inches of rain a year. The Olgas are west of Uluru and are quite different in makeup from Uluru. Uluru gives the impression the rock is a single entity, a monolith and the Olgas are clearly a composite of gravel and bolders formed into huge bulbous masses. We hiked the Valley of the Winds trail and saw amazing sights. We have moved onto Kings Canyon for several days of exploring red rock.

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