Australia

Darwin, Fannie Bay at sunset


Thursday Island

Lots of wind helped us right along on our 11 day crossing over the Coral Sea from Vanuatu to Thursday Island, Australia. Between the air and water based vessels of the Australian Coast Guard, there is no doubt that anyone or anything can get into or out of that country without them knowing about. They are good.

We anchored in sea foam green waters, found some room on shore to stretch our legs and began our check in. The customs people were amazingly friendly though immediately they let us know that these waters weren't for swimming due to some large "salties" aka. salt water crocodiles.

The boys found a playground for fun and we grabbed some groceries before heading on towards Darwin.

 


Darwin

A few more days of passage and we found ourselves riding the current into Darwin, Fannie Bay under a full moon. The Darwin/Kupang Rally of more than 100 boats had just departed and left us lots of room for anchoring in this large bay.We only intended to touch ground, provision and prepare for Indonesia but the fun and folklore of Australia is quite a draw. Reunited with some old friends on s/v Luna and Pelikaan and the Kelly's by our side, we set out to discover just how much fun Darwin can be.

 


We quickly mastered the public bus system and learned our way around the town. We found two malls with movie theaters and discovered we had thrown ourselves right back into civilization after two months of eating lap lap in Fiji and Vanuatu.

Large open air markets are held in the neighboring towns nearly everyday of the week with arts & crafts, food and entertainment galore. Our undeniable favorite was the Amazing Drumming Monkey's puppet show.

We were also fortunate to be there during the Darwin Music festival and had the chance to listen to various local performers. We were bit by the didgeridoo bug and had a wonderful time learning all about the Aboriginal's history.

There is so much to see and do, we have decided that a return trip by air and land is definitely needed someday.

Aboriginal Art hand painted

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