Down Under Darwin

16 June, Dili, Timor Leste.
After a 2-day delay we departed Darwin, a lovely city in the region referred to as the “Top End” of Australia’s Northern Territory. The weather was pleasant, with sunny days in the low 80s and strong breezes in the morning, which diminished during the day. The sunsets were brilliant red, partly due to the smoke from controlled burns in the surrounding bush country during this early part of the dry season. I went on a day-long bus tour of the Litchfield National Park where the principal sights of interest are the numerous waterfalls and large termite mounds. It was safe to swim in the pools of some of the waterfalls but not others because salt-water crocodiles are able to swim upstream during the rainy season, and any remaining after the stream level drops must be relocated before swimming is allowed. We didn’t see any crocs that day but did see a verrrry large lizard on the stream bank - probably a land mullet or skink. The mounds are built by tiny grass-eating termites using soil, saliva, and feces to create a stone-hard, fire-retardant home. We also saw rock wallabies (small relatives of kangaroos). The botanic garden in Darwin has a large shade house for orchids, tillansia, and bromeliads, as well as orchids tied onto the trees. Only a few orchids were in bloom since the dry season has just begun. I expected the orchid collection to focus on Australian species but there was a wide range of genus and species present.

The Northern Territory has an active aboriginal art community, and the aboriginal art work in the NT museum as well as in the numerous aboriginal art galleries is especially enjoyable. There are several large outdoor markets with numerous food and souvenir vendors, and based on the crowd, the Mindl Beach Sunset Market on Thursday evenings is clearly the place to be. There was a great musician playing 4 large didjeridoos accompanied by a drummer, which convinced me that my next career should be as a didjeridoo musician. The Greek festival was a well-attended weekend event with arcade activities for the children, dozens of grills cooking meat for kebabs and yiros, delicious desserts, and lively dancing - opa!! I visited the Dinah Beach Cruising Yacht Association for their Wednesday night dinner and entertainment. They were very welcoming, gracious hosts. I had hoped to find a boat on which to go sailing, but there were few boats sailing in the large harbor during the time we were here, even over the 3-day holiday weekend (they celebrated the Queen of England’s birthday). So the rest of my liberty time was spent with shipmates walking the downtown area, eating and drinking coffee at sidewalk cafes, and shopping. The fresh local barramundi fish (firm and sweet - much like Maryland’s rock fish) and shrimp were especially good. But Darwin is an expensive city, so 2 extra days in port were hard on everyone’s wallets.

The people of Darwin were very welcoming and friendly, but we were glad to leave for the 2-day sail to Timor Leste to continue our humanitarian mission. I’ll be lead nurse at the first medical site that will be set-up on a school athletic field in the capital city of Dili. Additionally, all of the PP 11 nurses will be participating in a running event - marathon, half-marathon, or 7K - either as runners or emergency medical staff. We had a large personnel change in Darwin, but the PP 11 embarkees in Darwin are gelling well with the personnel who remained on board after the first 2 rotations. We arrived at Dili today, so we‘ll be ready to go ashore and start work on Friday.

Cheers to all!!