Day 48 – March 4, 2011 – Darwin, Australia

Another gorgeous day in Australia awaited us.  We arrive right on time about 10:00am into Darwin.  Fred and Jan remembered the great fish and chips they had when they were in Darwin in 2006 so decided to take the shuttle into town and see if they could remember where it was.  We also wanted to find the post office and mail two packages back to granddaughter Susan and grandson Zach.

We were successful in finding the post office and with the help of a very friendly Aussie, we mailed our packages back.  Then we were off to try and find a restaurant we had visited 5 year before and of course, we didn’t know its name.  We walked down the mall and around several streets close to the government buildings set in a lovely little park.

After a couple of blocks, something looked familiar to us and we turned down a street and found it.  We remembered the blue awnings but the great tree was gone.   In the court year was a huge tree stump.  When we mentioned that we had been in the restaurant in 2006 and it was a beautifully shaded court yard, they told us that the tree had been blown down just three weeks earlier in one of the storms that has battered northern Australia this year.

The barramundi fish and chips was as good as we remembered.   After lunch we walked back and found a nice souvenir shop where we needed to pick up a magnet for Rajib, our butler, since he could not get off the ship today and he collects magnets from all the ports.  We also picked several other Australian souvenirs as this is our last stop in Australia.

Tonight we had reservations in Signatures at 8:00pm at a shared table.  We arrived first and when the other couple came in, we were surprised to find ourselves having dinner with Jan’s bridge partner, Ann and her friend Tom.   We enjoyed a good dinner with good conversation.