​Mid May Darwin - the many faces

I wonder sometimes if I just woke up yesterday. I keep coming face to face with historic facts which I probably should have known or knew, but have totally forgotten. So many things, it seems to my need-to-know mind. Case in point - Darwin! It's not all tropical nights, frangipani flowers, sparkling albeit croc-infested seas, and exotic foods, I discovered a little of Darwin's slightly darker history. Things that I don't recall learning at school or since - too recent, to raw, too far away?
Mainland Australia, Darwin, was invaded in WWII - did the rest of Australia hide its head in the sand, gloss over much of this - consciously or unconsciously? Yes we heard about bombing but not how vicious it was. [Aside: when we were on Christmas Island in 2014 we learnt that the Japanese occupied the island during WWII!] Since we've been here, we have passed tunnels and explored munitions stores, read about the air attacks on Darwin mounted by the Japanese. In February 1942 around 200 Japanese attack aircraft bombed Darwin and its harbours where Australian and allied ships were anchored. Many hundreds of people were killed or injured and a dozen or more ships sunk and many more damaged in the attacks. There were 50 more bombing raids over the next 18 months or so.
In 1941, with the very real threat of Japanese invasion looming, all white women and children were evacuated from Darwin. One small settlement, on Croker Island just off the Cobourg Peninsula in the Arafura Sea, wasn't included. Ninety-five Aboriginal children and the missionaries who cared for them were abandoned by that evacuation exercise. As a consequence the missionaries were forced to move the children off the island to safety themselves. And so began a perilous journey through Arnhem land and across Australia until eventually they arrived by cattle trucks on the outskirts of Sydney. Hard to believe but true.
From the 1950s to the early 80s, Darwin maintained a Leprosarium as did a few other places in Australia. It is believed that this nasty disease came with or around the time of the gold rush when there was mass immigration to Australia. Sadly the most affected population group over time were the Australian aboriginal people. It's a disease that is kept secret.
But enough of the shadowy side. Today's Darwin reminds me a little of Canberra - broad sweeping motorways with residential streets protected away from these busy thoroughfares in cul de sacs and crescents. There's still a huge amount of the development with enormous estates being built on the fringes (rather like Melbourne!). It has a newness about it and perhaps that's due to the effects of cyclone Tracy which destroyed more than 70 percent of Darwin's buildings, including 80 percent of its houses. Yet to visit the Museum to learn more about that.

On of the many foodie stalls

At this and the Lee Point Beach, groups set up spots to play
beach  games like volley ball. All good fun.

 Last Sunday evening we lived a tourist cliche! We went to Mindil Beach sunset markets and then watched the sun disappear into the Timor Sea sitting in the sand dunes among some innocuous looking ground creeper plant and ended up with hives all over my legs - oh the itch! But it was lovely nevertheless! Loads and loads of food stalls - pity we couldn't do it justice, some beautiful art and craft stalls and entertainment on a number of stages. Circus performances, whip cracking, singing and wandering minstrels. It's the place to be and it was packed. The market runs Thursday and Sunday nights.

The beach was crowded with families and beach parties to see the sun
go down and enjoy the music from the market

As we were leaving some of the night's beach
entertainment was warming up.

The following day we got out of Dodge and headed for Patersons Point, Fog bay and Cox peninsula.

Dundee beach

Dundee beach

Cox peninsula beach

The whole area is a fisherman's paradise - calm azure seas for a far as the eye can see. On the way we passed huge termite mounds besides banks of pink pincushions flowers, delicate feather top grasses, prehistoric bristly cycads and smoldering fires. Up this end of Oz, there's a lot of burn back happening before the weather gets too dry. So the air is perfumed with burning grass, trees and palms.

we saw some even taller than this. Also saw some
magnetic mounds which align north-south.

Tomorrow we are off to visit one of the Tiwi Islands and next week to the remote Cobourg peninsula .... hooray, it's all about oto happen!!!!