Arafura Sunset

A boat trip out on Darwin Harbour for a specular Arafura Sea sunset and fish & chips supper. Nice...

Darwin

Following a low level hot bumpy flight the Bazflyers landed at Darwin International Airport, the most northerly point we will visit on our present flying safari; some 9,000 kms and 32 flying hours from the Baz Base at Lake Taupo, New Zealand.

Looking out towards the harbour from the upper floor of a rented apartment shared with accompanying Comanche flyers, it is possible to spot a weathered concrete remnant on a small hill. Like an old soldier long relieved of duty, the round pillbox structure remains as a reminder of the pummelling that befell Darwin during the Second World War. 

I always knew Darwin was attacked by the Japanese during World War II but somehow the scale and devastation of multiple attacks had fully escaped me until now. The Japanese flew 64 raids on Darwin. The initial attack against occurred on 19 February 1942. It involved 188 Japanese planes and was the largest Japanese attack since Pearl Harbour. 

With much of the town destroyed and hundreds of people killed and wounded, Darwin's remaining population feared that the Japanese were about to invade. There was widespread panic and about half of Darwin's civilian population fled. Hundreds of woman and children were forcibly evacuated.

It is estimated that between 900 and 1100 people were killed. It would be difficult to achieve these days, but for many years government censorship limited coverage of the event to protect public morale in the southern states of Australia. Perhaps this helps explain how the full story of the bombing of Darwin has for so long escaped my normally inquisitive radar.

While it is commonly believed the Japanese were hoping to invade Australia, experts have since claimed this is all wrong. It wasn't Australia the Japanese wanted to invade - it was Timor. However, they reasoned that Darwin would send aid to Timor when such an event took place, so the Japanese decided it was best to take the Northern Territory's capital out of the equation. Perhaps the true story still remains censored....

Almost thirty years after the war ended Darwin was again hit with a tragic event that levelled the town and resulted in a mass evacuation of the population. Hurricane 'Tracy' hit in the early hours of Christmas Day 1974. By the time it was dawn Darwin had been virtually destroyed, and most of the population of 48,000 were homeless. 

Kakadu

Aboriginal people are nowadays believed to have inhabited the continent of Australia continuously for over 50,000 years making them the worlds oldest living culture. Their presence, both past and present, is an inspiring legacy of the 'Top End'.

Nowhere is the past Aboriginal culture more evident than in ancient rock art images. They are simple paintings from a very long time ago and tell two different stories. For archaeologists, the story is one of changing artistic styles reflecting changes in the environment and Aboriginal society over many thousands of years. However, for the Aboriginal people, their ancestral paintings tell the story of their land and their culture.

Yesterday the Bazflyers ventured into the World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park, to view a few of the more accessible Aboriginal rock art sites and experience a tiny sample of the cultural significance of this ancient dream-time land.

The size of a fishing catch mattered even thousands of years ago.

A dream-time landscape

Colourful use of natural ochre and animal blood

Billabong reflections

Wildman Lodge

Flying north from Tindal towards the "Top End", the Bazflyers were rewarded with an amazing overview of the Kakadu escarpment boarding the eastern edge of Arnhem Land. Only an eagle-eye's view affords any appreciation of the scale of this country. The land may not soar skywards like an alpine vista but anything other than a casual look rewards the spectator with a landscape of truly immense proportions filled with ancient chasms, rock features and bush.

The Top End of the Northern Territory of Australia is home to some of the most remarkable scenes in nature. It is a region of extreme climate, specular skies, and prolific wildlife and bird life. The unique offerings that abound in this part of our amazing planet attracts visitors from around the world. Today's flight ended when we guided BAZ to a near perfect landing on the grass airstrip at Wildman Wildness Lodge www.wildmanwildernesslodge.com.au luxury located in the heart of the Top End.

The immense landscape

Wildman airstrip

Day's end

Edith Falls

Bathing at a great swimming hole can be a bonding social event. Add an ambient air temperature of 35'C, cool pure water and a stunning environment; and the water hole becomes an irresistible opportunity. 

Edith Falls about an hour's drive from Katherine is such a water hole. A series of cascading waterfalls and pools on the Edith River in the Nitmiluk National Park. There are trails to the top of the escarpment which we hiked for a better view the waterfalls. 

Nitmiluk

The decision to build Tindal airfield some 300 km south-east of Darwin was made allegedly in the early '60s on the belief that Australia's defences in the north needed to be strengthened. Tindal was selected as being close enough to RAAF Base Darwin to afford mutual protection, but far enough from the coast to be defensible and to avoid the effects of tropical cyclones. 

Conceived as a "bare base", Tindal originally had no permanent staff and very few buildings. It was in this guise that Bazflyer last visited the place in 1968 when RNZAF No 14 Squadron deployed its B12 Canberra bombers on an exercise from Ohakea to Tindal. I possess no particular memories of the place other than a snake that in-habituated the ablutions amenity. The military role of Tindal was not operational for our arrival yesterday and with no other aircraft in the vicinity all the 2,750 metres of concrete runway was exclusively available for BAZ's landing.

The nearby town of Katherine serves as a gateway to Nitmiluk National Park and the very scenic Katherine Gorges. These gorges and the surrounding landscape have great ceremonial significance to the local Jawoyn people, who are custodians of Nitmiluk which means "place of the cicada dreaming". Indigenous rock paintings in the area are assessed to be older than 35,000 years...!

A young Brown Kankaroo

Entering stunning gorges on the Katherine River

Wow...!

And again...!

Amazingly well preserved indigenous rock art

Temperature was 35'C which made this swimming hole doubly welcome

Daly Waters

The enormousness of the Australian outback can be best appreciated when flying across its forever repeating expanse. As far as an eye can see in every direction, the unforgiving flatness goes and goes seemingly forever towards the distant horizon.

Somewhere in the middle of all this is the tiny settlement of Daly Waters. Very significant for the Bazflyers, this was the site of Australia's first international airfield and a critical refuelling stop for early Qantas flights to Singapore. Flights en route to London would stop at Daly Waters to refuel and feed the passengers. Interestingly this pre-war trip cost 275 pounds and took 8 days.

In the early months of 1942 during World War II, Daly Waters became a waypoint for operations between Australia and Java. Later in the war it was requisitioned by the Royal Australian Air Force and became an operational base known as RAAF Daly Waters.

B-17 Flying Fortresses of the USAAF Fifth Air Force operated from the airfield making attacks on Japanese shipping in the Dutch East Indies and the Bismarck Archipelago. Other operations during this period included attacks on airfields and installations in New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago and as far away as the southern Philippines.

These days the Daly Waters landing strip is owned by the local pub and gets used by an occasional private aircraft, although judging by the ageing runway surface, the airfield's time could sadly be coming to an end. However, the one-pub settlement no longer relies on aircraft for its survival. Today's visitors to Daly Waters are invariably grey-haired nomads travelling the Stuart Highway with a caravan hitched to the 4x4. Judging by our "Beef 'n Barra" night in the pub a never ending flow of nomads stopping-over in the adjoining camp ground will ensure a long and prosperous life for the the historic establishment and those who man her....!

Alice to Daly Waters

The endless horizon 

The old Qantas hangar at Daly Waters

Downtown Daly Waters

Checking into the pub 

Every night is Beef 'n Barra night