Weather

We have been extremely lucky with the weather. We are in the Northern Territory at the start of the rainy season and have watched some very exciting rain storms swirl their way round the harbour.

We decided to do a trial walk this morning to the jetty where the sunset dinner cruise was due to depart from, partly to make sure we knew where it was but also to check how long it took. (15 minutes, since you ask). As we approached the jetty we saw a huge, big, black rainstorm heading our way. A huge,huge, very black rainstorm. We took cover in amongst the cafes and restaurants, which weren't open yet but which were sitting inside an enclosed area. No getting saturated for us :-D

The rainstorm observed this and headed off in search of other victims. We walked back into town - and incidentally found a whole, watery complex complete with wave pool, swimming pool, life guards and fish pools with barramundi and trevally in them. All protected from the estuarine crocodiles which roam the harbour!

Later in the afternoon, I watched a foggy, misty entity sneaking up on us from behind the apartment block. It seemed odd, fog when it was hot and humid outside. It brought a bit of rain but not much and then went away. We decided to have a short nap before our evening adventure and woke up half an hour later to find that you could see absolutely nothing from our windows except thick cloud and torrential rain. No city centre, no parks and gardens, no drowning people. Nothing. This was a worry. We were supposed to be leaving in 45 minutes and neither of us wanted to go out in that. Then it started to lift, gradually, almost imperceptibly. And by the time we were due to go it had all gone away and was merely drizzling gently.

The cruise itself was lovely. We were taken around the harbour for about half an hour and told about the buildings we could see on land and the history of the harbour and all sorts of things.  Then it was time to eat. We were supposed to be dining spread out over two levels but the air condoning on the lower deck had failed. While we were cruising around, the crew had relocated everything to the upper deck, which meant we were all much closer to our neighbours than we would have been. Which meant that we all talked to each other. It was great. The food wasn't too shabby either. Lots of local produce and very tastily cooked.

The rain held off until well after we got back at about 9.00. Now we are being entertained by the usual nightly thunderstorms. But we must go to bed soon. We have a spectacularly early start tomorrow!