travelling allrite

The Darwin Aviation Museum is a childhood dream come true. I used to be a huge military aircraft buff and the museum has a real BUFF on display, the Boeing B-52G bomber. This huge eight engine beast dominates the museum hanger. Beneath it are a range of other combat and civil aircraft, including American and Japanese World War 2 wrecks and other more modern gems like a CAC Sabre, Mirage fighter jet, AH-1 Cobra, Wessex chopper and the incredible F-111.  There are also highly informative displays about the bombing of Darwin, women in aviation and the 1919 England to Australia Air Race. The winner took 28 days to complete a trip with 25 stops along the way. In contrast, before COVID-19 struck, Qantas had scheduled non-stop flights between London and Perth of 19 hours. It's very hot outside, but after a brief rest we head back to the Arnhem highway and the Adelaide River to join a jumping croc tours we booked earlier in the day. Along the way we stop for lunch at the new and underpopul...

When we step out on to the balcony of our apartment early in the morning it feels like the middle of a hot summer's day. It is like an oven inside and we know we will need to seek airconditioned sights to visit today. Near the end of the Stokes Hill Wharf is the Royal Flying Doctor Service Darwin Tourist Facility. We'd visited the RFDS Experience in Dubbo back in January, but the Darwin version combines it with multimedia displays about the bombing of Darwin. After a short flashing light and computer generated graphic video of the bombing, we are let into the theatre to watch a video about the creator of the RFDS, the Reverend John Flynn, with a shouty actor standing in for him. Another, much more interesting, video about the commanding officer of the flying boat tender USS William B Preston, Rear Admiral Etheridge Grant follows, describing the actions of the ship leading up to the attack. There are some further static information about the bombing and about the Qantas flying b...