Darwin Harbour Cruise

After our bus tour we had one more outing...a taxi ride to Stokes Hill Wharf to board our dinner cruise boat. 
This wharf area has had lots of regeneration done and is a very popular eateries precinct.


There were great views looking back towards the city...

If you are adventurous, there is a driverless bus which takes passengers between Stokes Hill Wharf and the Waterfront Eateries Precinct. ( another amazing place!)

How cute is this thing! 😉

I found a news report on this vehicle which explains a bit about the technology involved in how it works. Driverless Vehicle
There were a few craft moored there...

This one was 'ours'...

The dining area was spacious...and the tables had starched white cloths...

The commentary was very interesting. Darwin Harbour is 5 times the size of Sydney Harbour and has a 'catchment area' of 450 square kilometres! Source

The large white building on the right is Parliament House...

Framed within the window on the left in the next photo, is Government House on the right with Parliament House on the left...

Government House is a beautiful looking building but unfortunately, neither DH or I were successful in getting a clear photo...

Pretty soon the light had faded and it was time for the dinner buffet, which was delicious.

It was a very pleasant and relaxing evening. When night fell, the city lights made a lovely backdrop...


And for the last hour of the cruise we moved out to the fore deck where the weather was balmy and the company great!

After the cruise docked it was a short taxi ride back to our hotel, where bed was very welcome after our busy day! 

More Darwin Day Tour...

My goodness, I've been a bit slack writing of my recent travels. On that day tour we visited 7 points of interest and so far I've only written about the WW2 Oil Storage Tunnels and the Qantas Hangar. (Before I go on, I must point out that the old terminal building survived not only the repeated bombing of Darwin during WW2 but also Cyclone Tracy in 1974 which destroyed most of the city.) 


Our tour had a short stop at the old Fannie Bay Gaol.



X

There are a number of buildings in this complex that have been preserved and others that just have the concrete floor slab left! The jail opened in 1883 and was used until 1979. It now houses a museum.

Another stop on our tour of Darwin was the grandly named xAustralian Aviation Heritage Centre and I must say that the US B52 bomber on display really impressed me, by its very size. It was huge and there was no way I could get a photo of all of it at once!



The information board said that there are only 2 B52 planes outside of the US, left...



The palmtree painted on the tail...😊

Another view, but still not the whole plane!

I knew I'd never be able to get a good shot of this behemoth of a plane, so I photographed a photo of one!

I stood under one of the wings and looked up....



An idea of the size of the plane with those 2 people standing under a wing...



There were other bombers and fighter planes too of course...

And displays of military uniforms...



Because of the bombings of the city during WW2, there was apparently a lot of wreckage in the Harbour which has been salvaged over the years...and some is on display at this centre...



And some more recent airline paraphernalia...

Well maybe not that recent! After all we've had 'airbridges' at most airports for quite a while and secondly Ansett Airlines is long gone!



And an old plane 'tow truck' now obviously discarded by Qantas!



 I loved this museum and I loved the gift shop even more, as I found and bought a number of Australian picture books for the little people in our life.