“The music they’re playing reminds me of when I used to live in Bourke”, I said to Sue. Jimmy Barnes’ “Working Class Man”. The Choirboys’ “Run To Paradise” and others took me back in spirit and mind to the late 1980s. The customers too had a 1980s “Aussie Bloke” feel about them. Most of them were aged between about 40 and 65, were dressed in t-shirts and stubbies, and many had a cigarette hanging out of their mouths.
They were customers at the Cox Country Club at Wagait Beach, about ninety minutes from Darwin. You can actually get to the venue in a shorter period of time, by using the ferry. But we had a hire car and were in the mood for an adventure. Also, we’d read online, you really need a car to properly explore the area, and that was good advice.
Wagait Beach is stunning. As you look out from the beach, you can see a hint of land in the distance, but the surroundings of a vast beach (with only a handful of people with us at the time), made you feel more like you were on an island, than being on the mainland.
Heading back to Darwin, we called in to visit the Botanic Gardens, which specialises in the plants of the Northern Territory. In the midst of the sea of green, there are some beautiful flowers.
