Darwin

So, not sure where the time has gone, but our 6 weeks in Darwin is nearly up, early next week we plan to set off for home! Today Kai left Darwin and flew to Adelaide where he will spend a week or so before departing for Greece & his european adventure! And Dave arrives on Friday to rejoin us for the trip home.

Winding back to the beginning, once we arrived in Darwin, Dave and Kai both flew back home to Gove and Sal & I settled into our Darwin adventure! One thing I added to the previous post about the trip over here, was the amazing little video Kai made of the trip over. He used a DJI gimbal and combined with his editing on Da Vinci Resolve, he has created a fantastic first effort – I am sure over the next few months he will get even better! Anyway here it is in case you dont see it on the previous post,

Our life hear revolves around the tides, they are huge, the springs are 8m down to nearly 0m and we can only access the shore when the tide is over 2.7m as the access to the dinghy pontoon at the Dinah Beach Cruising Yacht Association where we are moored, dries out below that level and in fact its mud for about 100m out at low tide! So Sal’s ventures to the various Darwin Festival events and medical appointments as required, need careful planning. In some cases she stays over at friends if its not practical to get back to the boat.

We also have had many day sails around the beautiful Darwin harbour, with various friends. We tend to head out in the afternoon, sail around for a few hours in the lovely sea breeze, before ending up under the city centre, below the Esplanade, as the sun sets and the sun sparkles on the city buildings, and I cook a BBQ for dinner and we finish off back on the mooring after dark.

Luckily Lance & Cheryl were here for the first week or so, this meant they were first to come out for a sail – and the only friends to have joined us on two trips as they joined us for a week or so on the voyage home from Brisbane when we bought Lumiel. We also enjoyed a night at the Deckchair Cinema with them and brunch at the Roma Bar.

The dinners tended to be BBQ gulf Tiger Prawns as they were so nice and easily available at Mr Barra, I just BBQ’d them with no marinade, then served with caramelised limes, dipping sauces and fresh salad or mango salsa. (once the mangoes were available at the markets!

We also got thru quite a list of jobs on the boat, I guess living on her full time there is the advantage of noticing all the little things that need doing, and having the time to actually do them. We took advantage of being in Darwin to get one major job done, which was to put new front windows in the saloon. I will post some photos of this job in the next post, as they are not due to be re-installed until later this week.

Another fun weekend was getting together with Don & Belinda, and their friend Matt. We went to an amazing party with them in a massive property on Freshwater Drive in Rapid Creek. It was like a Hollywood movie set, 2 bands playing, food catered and a margarita machine in the kitchen! The grounds were stunning with 2 huge African Mahogany trees and incredible professional lighting thru all the gardens. We also had a fantastic sail with them that weekend.

The next weekend was Putty, Sarah & Casey for a beautiful sail, perfect conditions and we went right up inside the shoals off Fanny Bay before heading over to Cox Peninsula and back to Darwin for the now famous dinner! Stir Fried Squid and Veggies was the special of the day.

We followed that up with a night at the awards for the NATSIAAs on the grounds of the Darwin Museum & Art Gallery, with Kade and Annie, and then a sail with them the next day. Once again, perfect sailing conditions and dinner with the sunset.

We also had a wonderful evening with our friends Chris & Biddy from Melbourne, we decided to go to their apartment on the Esplanade and cook, rather than going out somewhere for dinner, we had some beautiful Cape Grim Scotch Fillet that I cooked with baby potatoes and dill and a green salad that Sal prepared. Again, I was a bit slack with the pics!

Then we had a sail was with Suresh, his son Harrish and a friend of theirs, Kevin from Sweden with his daughter & son. Nikki stayed at home with Kevin’s wife & Mum and Sal was off doing something festival related! I was very slack on the photos for this sail!

I think the last weekend we got out for a sail was with Marco, Deb, Amalia & Sammy. True to his form with me, Sammy caught a nice fish! A spotted mackerel he got on the trolling line while we were sailing. It was just another magic NT dry season sail on Darwin Harbour, I keep saying it, but its truly so good and consistent.

Kai came back and joined us for a few days and it was nice to catch up given how long it will be before we see him again, he was a great help with cleaning the tinny – because its not anti fouled it pretty quickly grew a thick coating of weed and barnacles, we borrowed Putty’s water blaster and sat it on the careening poles at the Dinah Beach club. It amazing to see how quickly the tide goes out, from the first pic to the last is less than 40 minutes!

We have loved the hospitality of the Dinah Beach Cruising Yacht Association while we have been here, and the best thing about it is the restaurant, Ton’s Bistro. Ton was a chef at the Sailing Club and decided to go out on his own, he took up the lease on the kitchen at Dinah Beach and is smashing it out of the park. The best kept secret in Darwin as we keep telling everyone! The food has been outstanding, and if you are in Darwin make sure you come down and try it.

Well, thats a very rushed update on our stay in Darwin, I am sure I have missed many of our adventures, so here are a couple of foody pics from on board!