Darwin cont.

Thursday: Look at them schnappers… Crocodylus is a crocodile farm where you can see all the crocs from tiny cute things to the big ugly bruisers. They have a tour with all the chat and Judy got to feed one a lump of meat on the end of a long string on the end of an even longer wooden pole. Later she cuddled a baby one about ½ metre long and it jaws taped shut. The farm saltwater crocs, but also had a few freshwater ones and a couple of America alligators. They separate them right after the eggs are about to hatch and then every year or two to keep them all about the same size in any given pond. One pond had 700 of the little blighters crawling around all over the place. They also have Australian and exotic animals in a zoo but the main attraction are the crocodile.

Found the shops in town at Smith St Mall, Judy resisting the pearls at Paspaley’s even though the sales ladies were very nice. Toured the Oil Storage tunnels built during WW2 but not finished in time and not ever really used. Only cost a snip over a Million Pounds Sterling and 800,000pounds over budget. Nothing ever changes. Then the biggie for the day: Mindil Beach market. It’s huge, but all the stalls look the same to me so I wandered along the beach which was deserted. Then a few people arrived, and a few more. Then the sun started to go down over the ocean. A bit of a crowd now. The sun changes colour and the mob surges out from the market. Five minutes of a truly awe inspiring spectacle and its all over and the beach is in darkness. Back to the markets. Judy, the bogan mother, got herself a tat! Well, only a henna one, but it’s ink. We grabbed a wood-fired oven baked pizza, sat on the grass and half heard some pretend songster trying over hard to be a cool American country singer rip off the music to two well-known C&W songs and put his own unintelligible words to them. Enough already; and they only had 3 more hours to go. Judy graciously took me home before I complained.

Snaps of the day

 Warning!

Children, avert your gaze!