Darwin, Australia

Today is Thursday, February 22nd.  After cruising the Arafura Sea for two days as we made our way from Thursday Island to Darwin, we arrived in Darwin early yesterday morning.  Our time there was limited because we had an all-aboard deadline of 1:00 p.m.  Darwin is the modern tropical capital of Australia's so-called Northern Territory, which itself does not yet have the status of a state.  The city, the largest in the NT with a population of just under 152,000, is described as the cultural hub of the continent's northernmost region, sometimes referred to as the Top End.  It is named after the famed naturalist Charles Darwin.  The Northern Territory itself is a very large 548,600 square miles in size.  Darwin is described as a laid-back city boasting a rich and lively arts and culture scene.

Janis and I had signed up for a city tour that was supposed to start at 8:30 a.m.  As it turned out, all scheduled tours were substantially delayed for two reasons: a huge offloading of cattle at the port created a massive traffic jam and the port authorities not only insisted on a thorough security inspection of every empty tour bus that was trying to enter the port to meet the ship but a "road worthy" inspection as well.  In other words, without informing anyone ahead of time, they proceeded to perform a time consuming mechanical inspection of each bus.  Bizarre.  As a consequence of these delays, our already short time landside in Darwin became even shorter.  The drive from the port into the city center took 45 minutes, so we had time only for a quick spin through downtown and an outlying scenic area before being dropped at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory for a visit that itself was limited to 45 minutes.  I might add that, aside from a few hi-rise apartment and commercial buildings that give Darwin center a skyline that from a distance makes it look like a reasonably big and maybe sophisticated city, much of downtown suggests that its principal mission is to host the hard drinking crowd that our bus driver said the city is known for.

There is a casino in Darwin, as there is in every other city in Australia we visited.

On our drive through the outskirts of town we did stop once and were able to take in some nice views.

We also saw some wallabees from the bus.  These photos are cropped in order to magnify the wallabees who were some distance away.



Although most of the housing on the outskirts of town looks quite modest, there are also some pretty elaborate houses as well.












Eventually we arrived at the museum.  It did not disappoint.  It has an excellent collection of art and artifacts reflecting the region and its indiginous people and a number of interesting and varied exhibits.  Note the "Free Entry" sign.  All museums in Australia are free.









 



Our time in Australia was magical.  Over the course of 13 days we traveled from Melbourne in the south, up the eastern seaboard to Sydney and Brisbane and alongside the Great Barrier Reef to Hamilton Island, Cairns and Thursday Island before heading west to Darwin with a number of scenic sea days along the way.  A beautiful country and a warm beautiful people.  We've had an experience we won't soon forget.  Just now, on the ship, the Viking Inaugural World Cruise Choir (i.e., the passengers), music director Gary Jerry and cruise director Heather Clancy performed a musical review of Australian music, much of it written and made famous by songwriter and performer Peter Allen, a native son of Australia.





































We are now crusing the Timor Sea on our way to Komodo, Indonesia with a scheduled early morning arrival.  More about Komodo after the visit.

From Janis:  But before we sign off, I want to mention a lecture we attended on Tuesday titled Challenges to Foreign Policy Objectives in the 21st Century presented byNorthwestern University Prof. Richard Farkas.  There were two pithy takeaways for me: (1) a quote from Nelson Mandela:  "I never lose.  I either win or learn;" and (2) democracy requires civilty, dialogue and compromise, in that order, all of which are in short supply in our country at the present time, putting our democracy at risk.  After the lecture a few of use spoke with him and asked pointedly if he was referring to the Trump administration as he talked about the challenges to democracies and democratic countries in the 21st Century, to which he responded "yes."  Sobering.