It's Thurssday and we're back in Darwin. But before I get there, let's talk about the 2 days at sea it took to get here. On the first day we sailed around the northern tip of Australia.
As we sailed through the Torres Strait, we were treated to a great sunset.
The highlight of the second sea day was the cooking class we took in the Culinary Center - Wok and Roll. First we made Chicken Lettuce Wraps for which they substituted tofu for us.
Next up were Asian Salmon Wraps.
The final dish we made was Shrimp Pad Thai which we both thought (with all due modesty)
was better than the Pad Thai that they serve in the Red Ginger Restaurant on the ship!
Chef Leah is an excellent instructor and the emphasis is always placed on mis en place, which we try to practice when we are cooking at home.
We were docked in Darwin at 1:00 pm today, and we headed off the ship for lunch - barramundi fish and chips of course. We first stopped at the restaurant, Oyster Bar, where we ate lunch when we here in April on the world cruise. But they were only offering grilled barramundi today, not breaded. So we walked over to another restaurant, Wharf One, where they at least showed a crispy skin barramundi on the menu. When we sat down at the table the waitress informed us that the crispy skin barramundi was only offered at dinner. We expressed our disappointment and she said she would go ask the chef if he would make it for us. When she returned, she said that he would make it just for us! And it was good, as was the arancini.
Can you tell that we enjoyed it?
After lunch we walked over to the Larrakia Cultural Center, which we somehow missed when we were here in April. Actually, the somehow is easy to explain - the cultural center just opened last month. The outside of the building is beautiful, designed to reflect the shape of the tawny frogmouth bird.
Inside, it tells the story of the original occupants of Garrmalang, now called Darwin. It struck us that there is so much similarity between their story and the stories of the indigenous Native Amerians. They use different media to tell the story and I won't attempt to retell it. I'll just put up a sampling of photos.
I found it interesting that they have 7 seasons as opposed to our 4.
I also found the terms for family relationships interesting. I guess I'm going to have to insist that my grandkids call me Nadla or Ngawaw!
And, of course, there was some nice artwork.
After concluding our inside visit we walked around outside before heading back to the ship.
Darwin has a very large tidal variation. When we arrived, it was close to low tide.
This evening, the high tide will be 20 feet higher!
Tomorrow, our plan is to visit an art gallery and, of course, have barramundi for lunch as it will be our last opportunity.
Till then, peace and blessings,
Linda and Larry
How should they pronounce Ngawaw?
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