Darwin at The Top End

Friday, Feb 8, 9:05 pm, Darwin, Northern Territory AU

If The Great Ocean Road was phase I and The Ghan Phase II, then we are now beginning Phase III, Darwin and Cairns, of our journey.

The Ghan adventure ended today and we are back on our diets since The Ghan dining car was full of wonderful meals and absolutely no restraint on our parts. While we did pass over the kangaroo steaks, we tried the camel. And no, it didn't taste like chicken, but like a dry beef. That and lamb sausage, which even our English dining partners had never had.

Speaking of no restraint, I know a little girl who has a stuffed animal camel toy being brought to her. There are some things even a grandmother can't resist. He is sooo cute.

Two tours off the train, a quick-stop see the sites tour of Alice and a river cruise up Katherine Gorge. Enjoyed them both, although the river cruise was by far the more scenic. Between Alice Springs and Darwin, the scenery changed from red-red desert to green grass, but still short trees. Termite mounds litter the fields, some of them several feet high and wide. And I thought we had a problem.

We will be having a city tour of Darwin tomorrow and taking off early for Cairns (Cans) on Sunday. This city is tropical and hot even at this time of evening. We arrived at dusk so haven't had a good view of it yet, although the hotel is on the water.

But duty has called and we are multi-tasking, doing laundry and email and blogging.

G'day.