Darwin Day 2

This is the second of a eight parts series. Check out the others Day 1, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6,Day 7, Day 8. 

Day Two at Darwin started with a visit to World War II Oil Storage Tunnels. These were huge tubes through which we could take a walk, pausing here and there to take a look at the WWII related photographs tacked to the walls of the tunnels in the extremely dim light.
After this little traipse back in history, and after a little souvenir shopping, it was Ho! for Berry Springs Wildlife Park in the outskirts of Darwin. It was a lovely drive along the rain-drenched neat roads.

At the park, we came upon Wallabies (See note) which we were happy to see though a little disappointed that they were not Kangaroos.
After doing the usual touristy stuff at the park (taking a train around the park trails, catching a show on Birds of Prey and having the park guide proudly point out the buffaloes we see in our dear smelly Cooum as 'Water Buffaloes' ) we drove on to the actual Berry Springs.
But recent rains had left the spring swelling up so much that we were banned from swimming.
The river itself posed a pretty picture, running among rocks and greenery and reminding me of another river I had seen back home - the rock formation, trees in the banks and the approach path all reminded me of a summer spent at Mundanthurai, near Papanaasam, and the river bank on which I spent many moments happily woolgathering. I couldn't find much difference between the two!

'Oh not again', I chided myself. I've been noting that during foreign travels, I suddenly have these flashes of familiarity that irk me no end. I want to go visit a foreign land that is so completely foreign to me. But somehow or other, each place has something that reminds me of a similar place in my homeland! Now I know what my geography textbook was talking about when it told me "India is a diverse country".

Enough digressing. Lets get back on track. We did. Our flight was late at night and we had loads of time to kill. We started back to Darwin and I took whichever turn off the road that took my fancy! You know, that really is the best kind of drive! One such turn brought us to a deserted stretch and there we practised our Boomerang throw.

The poor thing that we had bought as a souvenir really knew what 'battered and bruised' means in a Boomerang's life, after our practice session. Taking pity on it, we stopped and continued our journey. I was happily cruising along - really cruising. Driving a Lancer for the first time and also a car with automatic transmission for the first time I was totally revelling in the new experience of never having to change gears - the one thing I used to hate in driving. As an added delight, the car also had a cruise control! So there I was, pressing neither the accelerator nor the clutch save the occasional brakes!

Well, not only was the driving experience new, there was another new experience waiting for me around the corner - literally. After one of our impulse turns, while coming back to the main road, I took the turn too fast and (not too) narrowly missed another car travelling at about twice my speed. What happened next maybe expected in a book but I certainly didn't. The guy actually gave me a finger!!! For the first time in life! No, No, I'm not proud of that. I was totally in the wrong so I didn't get too angry or resent it too much. It was just another experience to be added to my 'New' list, though a slightly bitter one at that!

After a few more drives around the area, we drove on to the airport and boarded our flight to Melbourne. What happened next is, of course, another story!

Note 1: Wallabies

They look, jump and behave just like Kangaroos. But are called wallabies 'coz they're smaller! Google them to know the technical difference.