A day in Darwin

We set up camp and had a night at Florence Falls in Litchfield NP. In the morning we set off for Darwin, an hour and a half north.
I know it's the capital of the territory but after all the towns I've seen along the road, always expecting them to be bigger, I was surprised by the size of Darwin. Multi story city buildings, beautiful green tropical trees and everything new. I suppose it was all rebuilt since Cyclone Tracey, when was that? Before my time.

There is a fantastic new waterfront area with a little beach and a wave pool. I'd heard the wave pool was free but when I discovered it was $18 for 2 adults and 3 kids for the day I couldn't really complain. You wouldn't find prices like that in Sydney, or all day parking in the city for $5. We spent a few hours at the wave pool waiting for Grandpa's flight.

I also visited an Aboriginal art gallery where they had some amazing works from local communities, and I bought a couple of small paintings.

Everyone was very excited to see Grandpa, especially R. Without Grandpa R has learnt to talk while we've been away but now Grandpa is here he might regress.

After a big shop and once back at camp, I put the dinner on and we then walked to Florence Falls. The view from the lookout was spectacular, down into the tropical, green palmed, valley below and the twin falls pounding into the plunge pool below. Down the 134 steps to the forest floor, a low bridge crossed the fast flowing stream. Up the path and into the rocky pool. The water was amazing. I had a quick swim before dinner.