Darwin Boys Trip

The day after Bel flew out three of my mates from Sydney flew in (Simon Hui, Gary Butler and Craig Fisher) to keep me company for the next 5 days. It was a great time with great mates, checking out all that Darwin has to offer. 

Day 1

We kicked things off by thawing the boys out by the pool – it was a big contrast to the cold spell in Sydney. They also needed a few beers to adjust to the temperature. 

Once the sun went down we headed out to the Noonamah Tavern for dinner. The boys were very tired so we headed straight back to camp after dinner and had an early night. In fact, we were in bed early every night so not much happened in the evenings.

 Day 2

We spent the whole second day in Litchfield national park, about an hour and half south of Darwin, exploring the waterfalls and swimming in the water holes. Another magical place that flows all year because it is spring fed. 

First stop was the giant termite mounds that are everywhere up here. 

And the Magnetic termite mounds that are like tombstones all pointing north. 

Then it was off to Wangi Falls. 

The water was beatiful and was warm as it ran down the rock face. After a swim we did the walk to the top of the falls. 

Once back at the bottom we had another swim and lunch before heading off to Tolmer falls lookout. 

It was another walk out to see the falls that were beautiful as they flow from a plateaux into the Tolmer gorge. 

By the time we got back to the car some of the boys were starting to shows signs of fatigue – probably because they went to bed too early. So we headed off to Florence falls and the 138 stairs down to the swimming hole😂😂

This was my favourite spot in the park, with beautiful falls and another great swimming hole. We swam for about an hour before making the climb out. Some legs were starting to burn. 😄

From here we were heading over to Buleys Rockhole when disaster struck – Simon couldn’t find his phone! We turned around and combed the car park but no success and with no signal no way of calling the phone. We gave up after 20 minutes and then headed back to the Rockhole. 

It’s was a series of swimming holes at the top of the falls. Another great spot. 

It was about 4pm by now so we started to make the trek home. On the way Simon was quite depressed about his phone so  we worked hard on the benefits of having a new phone. Just as he got excited by the idea Craig looked in his bag and says “is this yours?”  Phone found and now he was depressed because he wasn’t getting a new one. 😳

Day 3

Saturday we had a full day fishing charter booked. A 5.30am rise and we were out on Leader Creek, an hours drive away, by sunrise. Beautiful. 

It was a great day on the water and everyone caught something. 

Between us we caught Trevally, Golden Trevally, Coral Trout, Queenies, A Stripey, and a Rock Cod. 

We spent most of the time fishing around the Vernon islands. A beautiful spot with reefs and fishing holes every where. Some of the reefs create tiers and waterfalls as the tide goes out. We spotted a shark cruising along the bank of one island no more than a meter from the edge. 

On the way back up the creek we had a try at catching a Barra even though we’re out of season. No luck but we did see a massive croc cruise by – another highlight for the boys. 

We finished the day cooking up the catch. We had released a lot of the fish as they weren’t great eating but we still had enough for a good feed. 

Day 4

Sunday we headed into town on the bus. We checked out the city and the harbour walking along the esplanade. 

Then headed down to the wharf precinct. We dropped into the WW2 oil tunnels along the way. 

Huge, and all hand dug in a Darwin summer. 

The wharf area is a bit like Darling harbour with a netted swimming area. We set ourselves up at the oyster bar for a few beers and oysters while Gary went Pokemon hunting. 

Next we were on the bus and heading to Mindil beach for the annual Beer Can Regatta and Markets. 

A couple of drinks and some market food and we headed off again to the beachfront hotel. 

A few more beers and some pool and we were off home early to bed again. 

Day 5

The final day we headed into the local fish markets for a seafood feast. Fresh prawns, Barra and scallops (potato cakes according to the lady that served me).  Next we dropped by Craig’s old work – HMAS Coonawarra. 

He was based up here 30 years ago during a stint in the army. We then drove out to Eastpoint reserve for some site seeing….

  

Including checking out the WW2 museum. A very interesting insight into the attacks on Darwin during the war. They have a great display and video simulation of the first bombing that’s well worth the visit. 

It was then time to pack the boys up and send them home. It was an awesome 5 days…no one got drunk, no one snored, no late nights,  no arguments, and definitely no farting in the tent – all unbelievably well behaved gentlemen.

 I don’t understand why I’m so exhausted – no more early nights for me.