Day 112 - Thursday 25th April 2024
This morning I was in no hurry; I had only just over an hour to drive to my next hotel in Darwin, so had a leisurely start to the day. Everything was packed and loaded into the car by 08:00, then I had breakfast before returning to the room, having a couple of games of Sudoku and checking out at 10:00.
The hotel had a filling station attached, and fuel was less then $2 per litre, so I topped up before leaving. There wasn't anything that I'd found as a stop on the way today, so I pulled over about a half hour from Darwin to contact the hotel to find out when I could check in. My room was ready, so I could check in whenever I wanted. I therefore rejoined the Stuart Highway for the last few kilometres before leaving it to make my way to the hotel in Darwin's waterfront. I was all checked in at 11:30.
When I checked in I was given a city map, and I noticed that the information office wasn't far away, so I wandered out to see what I could organise. For tomorrow I've booked myself onto the 'Hop on hop off' bus that does a circuit of the city, so that'll give me a great chance to have an explore. I also have some ideas for my next day of travel.
My timing on arriving in Darwin is excellent. During their dry season they have a twice weekly market at Mindil Beach; a west facing beach which is famous for it's sunsets. Today is the first event of this year, so I decided it'd be good to go and have a look at that. At the information office I'd been given the bus timetable for this evening, so I made my way to the central bus depot and caught the 17:02 bus out to Mendil Beach .... they have a service purely for the market.
The market itself didn't impress me very much (hey, that'd be a great idea for a song!); it seemed to be mainly food stalls with the occasional stall selling what I may refer to as 'tat'. I had a bit of an explore, but the heat an humidity meant that I soon escaped to the beach where the sun was still beating down, but there was a bit of an intermittent breeze to take the edge off.
I found a spot where I could sit at 17:50, and took up position (with a burger for company as it had been a long time since breakfast) for the 18:36 sunset.
The west coast of Australia is renowned for it's sunsets, and as the sun dipped below the horizon (OK, as the horizon rotated to obscure the sun!) I was left a little disappointed.
But I need not have worried. As I sat watching a shark patrol the waves mere metres from the shore, the sky changed colour for the next three quarters of an hour I could see what all of the fuss was about. By the time I left the beach to make my way back through the stifling heat of the market to find the bus back into town, the sky was a deep orange that the cameras were struggling to capture as it was getting a little dark. The camera on the phone seems to have stood up the best.
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