L’Austral arrives back in Darwin around 7 am, with the first group of passengers from the Kimberley expedition due to disembark at 8:30 am. All continuing passengers (about 25 people) must be back on board by 3 pm to go through another immigration check at 3.30 pm, so I persuade the crew to let me off at 8:15 am to make the most of my day. The others seem to be either doing an arranged city tour or walking up to the centre of Darwin independently. Captain Marchesseau seems a little bemused by my rolling case given I’m returning to the ship, but it is just easier to wheel my cameras in the heat than carry them. It’s a short walk to Mitchell Street, particularly if you take the lift up to the covered walkway that deposits you neatly at the beginning of Smith Street.
Darwin city is tiny, so by 9 am I’ve had a coffee and arrived on the doorstep of Hertz to pick up my rental car. They give me a Nissan X-Trail again, which is a bit of a waste for 6 hours but confirms my suspicion that the previous rental had the tightest parking brake imaginable. I don’t have enough time to get to Corroboree Billabong again, but Fogg Dam is definitely achievable in the timeframe.
Fogg Dam is a conservation area, home to a tidal estuary, and also apparently home to 8,000 tonnes of Dusky Rats, and about 2500 water pythons, although I didn’t see a single one. It is a wetland popular with ducks, herons, egrets, geese, and the ever-present whistling kites. I spot some ducks with amazing swirls on their features on the way out.
I’m back on board L’Austral at 3:10 pm, in time to be rounded up for an immigration check back at Darwin cruise terminal. The staff is briskly efficient, and it’s quite painless.
Despite being a continuing passenger, the safety drill is still mandatory, and there seem to be more passengers than on the last leg, but I later learn that there are only 213 passengers, with a decidedly younger demographic than before. Fewer Australians, more Americans, and a small group of Taiwanese with a translator, although I notice that they have at least rudimentary English.
We are sailing out of Darwin harbour in time for another lovely Northern Territory sunset, with the next destination being the Kei Islands in 40 hours’ time, at the start of a 10-day expedition to Indonesia.
