A fine autumn day to start our first real holiday, if for only 8 days, in nearly 6 years.
We are flying off to Darwin for a couple of days, an overnight stay in Kakadu and then on the Ghan to Adelaide where we fly straight home again.
Click on 'Older Post' at bottom of page to go to next day.
Click on photo to enlarge.
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Leaving Sydney. Parramatta River with Gladesville and Iron Cove bridges.
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In flight entertainment to keep help past the time.
What's wrong with Giggle and Hoot!!!??? |
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| It didn't take me long to be the top scorer in the 'Trivia Quiz' game. |
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| Looking more like the top of a pancake I once cooked than a landscape. |
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| Channel country, must be western Queensland. |
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| All the tracks lead to water. |
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| Cloud build up shows that we have reached the tropics. |
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| Darwin, the northern gateway to the 'Top End'. |
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| Darwin, no longer a dusty pioneering outpost. |
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| Safely on terra firma again. |
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One of the welcoming locals.
An Orange-footed Scrub Fowl scratching around in Bicentennial Park. |
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| Darwin harbour from Bicentennial Park. |
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Fruiting tree in Bicentennial Park, I wonder what they are.
Thanks to the comment from Bernie , it's called 'Elephant Apple'. |
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| You would know it if one fell on your head. |
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| Memorial plaques for the areas we served in during WW2. |
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| Keeping out northern waters safe. |
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| A more peaceful way on the water. |
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A quick 3 hour dash, on foot, to the gardens for
'Flora Friday'. The tropical conditions (35C and high
humidity) had me wringing wet by the time I got back to our
accommodation .
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Flowers and fruit of the Cannonball Tree.
They were the size of cannon balls. |
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| One of the colourful gingers. |
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| A splash of tropical colours. |
More locals in the gardens.
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| Well, what do you think? |
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| Back in the sheds, knackered. |
Lucky thing! It's such a spectacular part of our country. I just loved the landscapes seen through the plane window.
ReplyDeleteThat huge funny looking fruit is called an Elephant Apple ... you can see why that's its common name. It's Dillenia indica. I just love the leaves of that tree.
The Cannonball tree is another fascinating specimen. They do have the most gorgeous flowers.
Those Scrub Fowls have a fantastic call! It looks like you had a fantastic first day.
Thank you Bernie for the info on the Elephant Apple - all the leaves on trees seem to be large up north. I thought it might be hard to find the Scrub Fowl while I was up there but they were everywhere, like chooks.
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