One of the things we love about Viking cruises is the opportunity to have some free time to explore places on our own.
Today the Viking Orion remained in the Darwin port so after breakfast we struck out to find the historic center of Darwin.
Once there, we checked out the Christchurch Anglican Cathedral. As was the case of many historic buildings in Darwin, a terrible cyclone in 1974 destroyed parts of the cathedral. All that remains of the original building is the main entrance, which you will see in the photo. The modern structure was built after the cyclone. We also saw the skeletal remains of the old city hall, a rebuilt stone warehouse now converted into a theater, and the offices of the territorial legislature.
The historic section merges smoothly into the heart of the city including a pedestrian mall. There we saw the streets decorated for Christmas, without a bit of snow to be seen. Walking further up and down the mall, we saw banks, pharmacies, clothing stores and restaurants - with no names we recognized. The one exception is Woolworths - long gone from the US, but going strong in Australia.
The rest of the day was the usual pattern of lunch, a mid-afternoon lecture by the Resident Astronomer on the stars that make up the constellation of Orion, and dinner. The Viking Orion left Darwin at 1 pm to travel through the night and all day tomorrow through the Arafura Sea in order to reach our next port of Thursday Island. More to come...
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