acropolite
13-11-2005, 10:12 AM
Got back from big oliday Friday. Travelled to Darwin to see the new twin grandsons, Hamish & Oliver, then on to Brisbane. Darwin was not as hot and uncomfortable as expected, (ariound 33-34) although we spent quite a few hours in the pool every day. Visited the Aviation museum and learned more about the bombing of Darwin during WW2. Darwin was bombed 64 times during WW2 and the during the first raid, more bombs were dropped than on Pearl Harbour. There is a B52 Bomber on display, the size has to be seen to be believed. I found the display of stories and photographs of the 500 Australians killed in vietnam to be very moving, perhaps because most were only a couple of years older than I was at the time. We spent one day at Litchfield National park, waterhole hopping and swimming at each available waterhole. (see pics) It was both fascinating and saddening to see aboriginals sleeping in the botanical gardens just a few metres from the unit where we stayed. They had little but a blanket and the clothes they wore and slept on the hard ground, most are outcasts from their tribal groups, their noisy chatter continuing long in to the night. A visit to Crocodillus park with NT's famous reptiles was fun; HRH even managed to wrestle one to the ground and hold it for a photo...;) After 5 days we returned to Brisbane for 5 more days. The heat in Brisbane I found harder to bear than Darwin. It was very humid and sticky in Brisbane for the first few days. We took a quick trip to Nambor, to visit Paul (1ponders) and the Mapleton observatory. Unfortunately I couldn't stay as long as I would have liked due to family pressures. Thanks to Paul for allowing us to sit in on his Astronomy class on the night. On the way to Nimben we climbed to the top of wild horse mountain (I think aroubd 120metres above sea level) to take in the view of the glass house mountains at sunset. I spent far too much time tagging along with HRH & daughter shopping but managed a visit to York Optical and bought a pair of the Celestron 10x50 Bino's that everyone has been raving about. Friday 7Pm...back to reality, Tassie turned on it's best for us...... 11 degrees and rain....:D