Darwin Day 2

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Since we spent a day in Darwin while cruising, this is our 2nd day here. We slept in this morning as we had no specific plans for the day. It had cooled to about 75F in the room overnight and the fan helped. The AC fan blows continuously been without cooling. Fingers crossed that will get fixed today while we find something to do out. In other bad news, I had a very cold shower this morning. I thought maybe it just takes a long time for hot water to get to the 5th floor but 15 minutes later both taps were still cold. I asked Clay if he had a cold shower last night assuming that since we were so hot and sweaty that he did and he said no, he had warm water. Geez. If they get the AC fixed and I have to take another cold shower. Grrr. We have never had good luck with any Hilton brand hotel anywhere. They usually have great locations but little else to recommend them. This outfit has been more polite about than most have been with Hilton problems in the past. So, there's that. BTW, this Double Tree by Hilton has a guest laundry but no self service ice machine. Go figure.

We went to what will be our only breakfast during this 2 night stay since they open at 6am and we have to be outside boarding a bus tomorrow at 6:15am. They had a pancake dispensing machine and a waffle iron but maple flavored syrup. That won't do. They did have American style bacon on the plus side. They had a nice self service cappuccino machine. During breakfast, I suggested that we take the Big Red Darwin Explorer HOHO Bus. I wanted to go to the free Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. We did that. The 2nd stop on the route was convenient to our hotel. Per the recommendation of the driver, we rode the entire route once first without getting off. It was a good day for it. It was hot and humid but overcast and there was a nice breeze riding in the open air upper deck. There were no cruise ships in town today so most of the tourists we saw today came in on the Ghan yesterday. That meant lots of empty seats and we got to ride a couple of circuits in the front row or the back row as suited us. We saw a selfdriving bus on the Stokes Hill Wharf. That was fascinating and I'm sorry we didn't get off when we saw it. We did get to make one of the 90-minute afternoon circuits and got to see the wallabies in the East Point Reserve. We also used the HOHO bus to return to Clay's beloved Oyster Bar. It was even better than he remembered it, I think. He had a pint of Little Creatures beer and a dozen oysters. I had a glass of Riesling and a garlic cheese flatbread. It was all very good and served with a tall bottle of cold water. We finished riding on the next to the last circuit, so before 4pm. We walked away from our hotel to scout a dinner place. I wasn't impressed with anything. We ate on Mitchell Street last night and today could see and hear that it is a bar strip. Last night being ANZAC Day we could see on the bus ride through town that a lot of eating places were closed and the bars were packed. So we didn't have much choice with being too hot and tired to go far. We ate in a noisy bar on Mitchell Street. I wasn't eager to repeat the experience. Clay had it in his mind to go to Cole's and get me a carton of yogurt to be sure I had coffee and breakfast in the room before we have to leave at 6am tomorrow. We got in there and immediately walked upon a display of hot rotisserie chickens ready for takeout. There was a $5 half chicken and we agreed we'd like to eat that rather than in another bar.  We got the yogurt for tomorrow, and a bag of Nacho Doritos as a side dish. It was good. Plus we found a note from the AC tech telling us he had fixed our thermostat and it should be cooling. According to the thermometer dangling on my backpack it was 75F this afternoon. In other good news, I had hot water for a shower this evening. Things are looking up.

I will post this now. Remember that the next 2 days and a night are in Kakadu National Park so we are unlikely to have either Internet or a phone signal again. Just sayin'. Don't worry. I'll be back and post when I can. We are leaving our rolling duffel bags stored here while we're gone since we'll be back for one more night as the last item on our GSR The Territory Complete Itinerary. So, while the room doesn't come with complimentary Internet Clay has had phone data service here and hopefully still will when we return. Otherwise, I'll update the blog when I can. Good night.

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