09 March 2016:-AUSTRALIA & NZ :- Perth >>>Darwin

4th Day  : 09.03.2016 from Perth to Darwin

I woke up early this morning. I haven ‘t slept well last night. There is still some jetlag I am suffering, I think. Around 02:00 o’clock, when my sleep was interrupted I read several pages of my book related to the life of Tevfik Fikret, a well known Ottoman poet lived at the end of 19^thand beginning of 20^th century. Thanks to my son; I had borrowed this book from him.

I took my standardized breakfast at the Hotel: Egg, cheese, mushroom, café, etc.

While finishing the check-out procedure at the reception I gave the adaptor plug back and I received my 50.-AUD deposit. The Chinese receptionist, Mr Chen Lieuw was friendly.

(For those who travel to Australia and NZ, a plug adaptor is highly recommended. Otherwise no chance to charge telephones and computers). The Hotel did not charge anything even the extra breakfasts. Most probably they will charge from my credit card data. We will see soon.

At 06:54, I was ready for departure. Taxi had been called yesterday night by the reception and is now ready in front of the hotel. We headed to the Perth Airport Terminal 4 where the Qantas Flights are departing. The traffic was good enough and we haven‘t got stuck on the way. I thought that the driver is an immigrant and we started to chat. Yes. He had immigrated to Australia in 1974. And from Bosnia. His name is Ahmet. He is around early sixties and likes very much to be in Istanbul when he is travelling time to time to his origin. He mentioned proudly his boat tours on the Bosporus and nice fish he had used to eat at the Bosporus.

Ahmet is happy that he was not involved within the war in Bosnia and mentioned that “the Bosnian people trusted” a lot to the Yugoslavian Armed Forces at that time but they were disappointed when the Armed Forces suddenly changed and switched to opponent forces for them. This is what Ahmet explained.

At 07:34 we reached to the Perth Airport Terminal 4. I paid 33.-AUD to the taxi driver and things have been finalized easily at the check-in. One Qantas guy accompanied me on the kiosk where from I got my boarding card and luggage drop off card. Just a few meters away there were the drop-off conveyors equipped with bar code readers. I left my luggage on the conveyor and the system accepted it properly (No worry, I received my luggage in Darwin).

I proceeded to the gate No.18 where the passengers for the Darwin flight was waiting the Qantas-Emirates Flight EK5792 at 08:35. I bought a café Latte Machiato small. I paid 4,5 AUD. I also bought a plug adaptor at the Terminal Shop for 12.95 AUD, which is very essential for visitors to Australia.

There is a time difference of 1,5 hours between Perth and Darwin. The flight took 3,5 hours. Qantas crew and service was appreciable. The flight attendants where shiny appearing ladies and gentlemen and in average aged around mid-fifties.

I took a few pictures of the earth. The ground is mostly dry in the 2/3 of the route. There are man-made geometrical shapes on the surface. Lines like were forming grids.

Picture taken from 8000 meter on the flight from Perth to Darwin.

In my opinion it is a work done for the mining study. There are a lot of mines in the Western Australia. Some of them are visible from the air plane but most of them are under the ground. I saw a lot of drain flood on the open surface and I think these are the purging water and mud of the mines and ores. I will check.

From 8000 m on the flight from Perth to Darwin:- Probably purged mine sludge.

Coming closer to Darwin:- Rivers from sky

Flying in the direction Nord to Darwin:- Rivers' funny curves on land

From sky:- Flying in the direction Nord to Darwin:- Rivers

Coming closer to the Northern Territory (=one of the states of Australia) the ground changed into green. The surface is mostly wet and a few rivers are irrigating this part of the country.

It was 13:30 with the local time when we landed at the Darwin Airport. Outside it is hot and humid. Same experience I had got also in Zanzibar, East Africa. Hot and humid was it there, too. At the exit of the airport I had got some hassle with the car rental company. I had agreed on the internet with www.airportrentals.com . They are a worldwide agency for various real car rental companies especially of the local ones. They offer less prices with max. discounts. In this case, they have offered me car from the local “Bargain Car Rentals”. This one does not have any office at the airport and I should have been picked up by their shuttle. There was no shuttle to get me to their office and to the car.

I called them and the lady said that I need to take a cab and go to their address in Darwin City. I took a taxi and go to the office of “Bargain Car Rentals”. They are well prepared and organized but they were not aware about the shuttle pick-up service.

I took my Hyundai Accent and drove to my Hotel Palms City Resort. Nice and clean hotel and friendly people. 

Darwin-Hotel Palms City Resort

Darwin-Hotel Palms City Resort- Nice and beautiful yard.

Darwin- Refreshing in the swimming pool of the Hotel Palms City Resort

Big parking place but very slow Wi-Fi connection. After having been fresher in the swimming pool I decided to make a walk in the down town. Darwin is a city named after Charles Darwin.  There are roughly 115-120 thousand of people living. It is located at the sea side and is strategically important as well: the closest part of Australia to Asia and Japan. In the World War II they had suffered some because of the Japanese attacks.

Darwin:- Birds in the Esplanade Park

Darwin:- Birds in the Esplanade Park

There is a big park in front of the hotel and goes on the left side up to the center of Darwin.

It is the so-called Esplanade. There was a big cruise ship trying to depart from the pier. I used the route through the Government House, Parliament House, Supreme Court and some other official buildings of the North Territory. Darwin is the capital city. From the security point of view, the buildings are even not comparable with ours in Turkey. It is obvious that they do not have any risk for being attacked. The fences are very low.

After a while I came to a calm and nice area where there are restaurants, bars at the sea.

The Convention Centre and a big park was also within this area at the coast. I enjoyed the sunset here and walked on the long jetty up to the end where there is the Wharf-3.

It was also the best time for taking pictures of the sun set.

There were also a few people training boxing on the promenade. It was a nice and peaceful scene even they were boxing.

Darwin:- People training boxing on the promenade

Darwin:- Ladies training boxing in the sunset

Darwin:- Boxing Coach is giving instructions

Darwin:- From the jetty 

Darwin inner harbour right after the sunset

Darwin:- A sea bird is trying to hunt

Then I sat in a restaurant (Wharf One Food Wine) there and have tried Barra Fillet with a glass of Pepper Jack Shiraz. After all I found the Crème Brule perfect with a ball of vanilla ice cream on it.

It was time to go to the Hotel and to get rest for the next day.