Darwin. 6th June 2012

Happy Birthday Elizabeth!

Today we went on the 'Big-wheels-on-water' tour shipping out of Fannie bay and heading to Mandorah, which s on the other side of the bay. Our craft was an ex-US Army LARC, which means you clamber on board in a perfectly good car park and they proceed down the street to the boat ramp and plunge headlong into the water. First thing you notice is that water rushes in over the floor and everyone is scrambling to rescue bags and shoes etc. "Oh, yeah, the floor can get wet..." So who cares, the water actually felt quite warm and my standard issue bare feet have been certified waterproof. Once out of the shelter of the shore the wind was quite strong and whipping up the wave a treat. Some sailors were not happy, Jan. Finally we pulled up on this tiny beach, aptly named Mica Beach because the stuff is everywhere. Extraordinary. Also odd how the first Europeans to go there never mentioned it, but got excited about the fine grained sandstone. We had a choice. "Follow me up to the top of the head, or go for a wander along the beach. But don't go past here and there because its Larrakeyah Land and they insist we keep out." Seems they use it to send bad-a-boys to for punishment and a little tribal straightening out. Naturally we chose to follow our leader and found ourselves scrambling up a sharpish sandy climb, clambering ungraciously over protruding rocks and grabbing at branches of bamboo to pull ourselves up. Our fearless leader stopped at the foot of a vertical scramble, pointed to a dead looking tree stump and declared, "Don't use this as a lever." She then promptly turned around and hoisted herself up using it. There was also a rope railing of sorts to help pull ourselves up.... Miraculously we all mad it OK, took some snaps and moved on to find an anchor on a pedestal which was erected to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Captain Wickham and Lieutenant Stokes naming the place Port Darwin. They did so to honour for all time their undying affection for their old shipmate, Charles Darwin,with whom they had both sailed on the Beagle's previous voyage.

After this side trip we pushed on to Mandorah where we expected to have our lunch in the only building, the Mandorah Pub. Having pre-ordered it at 10am, it was finally served at 1:30, but only 3 plates at a time. They had had an unusual amount of people from the ferry and just couldn't cope with the rush. I went for a swim in their pool which could have used a lick of paint but which was spotlessly clean and the water was crustal clear and about 25 degs or so. Finally lunch was served and those others that were expecting the swim part of the trip missed out because we had to set sail at once.

For some unknown reason, once we reached the far shore, they chose to run one wheel along a sand bar, not drive over it as we expected, because it would be too bumpy. They redeemed themselves by hanging about the sea grass flats and we got to see some Dugongs up pretty close. 'Pretty' is one word not often associated with dugong, who have a face like a bashed crab, as they say. But hey, it's a bit rare to see them in the wild so who's complaining. I almost got a 1/2 decent snap as well.

Finally back on dry land and whisked back to our car, which thankfully had escaped the parking inspectors notice.

Snap of the day