Nothing like Sitting in The Buff Watching a Movie

Darwin, NT, Australia
Sunday, June 12th, 2011

Get your mind out of the gutter.....I'm talking about a B52 Bomber, nick named The Buff (Big Ugly Fat Fellow).

I've probably mentioned one or two times in the past but there are not a lot of museums to entertain me in Darwin and the few there are I have already visited. However, I did leave one of them until now. That would be the Australian Aviation Heritage Centre. I probably haven't made it there yet because it is a little way out of town and I would need to take the bus. The weekend is the only time I could make it and since the weekend is normally reserved for Debi, Scott and Julie time and since they decided to visit the place while I was in Queensland, I waited until they were in Canada and I had the vehicle to visit. I managed to pick up an extra shift at the hospital on Saturday but Sunday was all about checking out the Aviation Centre.

It costs $12 to get in (still pretty low by museum standards) and was a pretty good place to visit for a few hours even if you don't like the military or planes or history of any kind. Being able to see just how big a B-52 bomber really is.......totally worth taking a peek.

Housed in a hanger......that was purpose built to hold the bomber. It was actually mostly built around the plane itself.

A little look at a gigantic plane. Darwin's Pride (that's its name) managed to avoid the bone yard to become one of the few B-52's on display outside the United States. Darwin always played an important role in the life of the B-52s. The Darwin airport allowed them to take off at their maximum weight (up to 217 tonnes.....although now it has been strip down and only weighs about 67 tones). As well it's location allowed circumnavigation of the globe without flying over large areas of land.

This plane first went into service in 1960 and made it's way to Darwin in 1990. A few little facts about Darwin's Pride. It's wing span: 56 metres (183.7 feet), maximum speed: 1030 kph (640 mph), height: 14.5 metres (47.5 feet), length: 52 metres (170.6 feet), maximum range without midair refuelling: 13,200 kilometres (8,202 miles) and longest continuous flight time: 32 hours.

A look at the massive wing span. Many of the features seen in the bombers have been used and adapted to modern jumbo jets.

Of course what the B-52 bombers were carrying while in service was never confirmed by the US Government, it was always believed that they were carrying nuclear weapons during the cold war. Now you can just sit inside it and enjoy a movie telling you all about the history of the plane.

Although Darwin's Pride is the highlight of the aviation centre there is more to it than that.

A few of the items on display. Sorry I can't tell you much about them. The Museum has been moving stuff around and I couldn't match up display plates with these 2.

The big plane tail belongs to Darwin's Pride. That little plane is an old passenger jet that would have moved people to and from East Timor.

Yes, some of you will correctly identify this as a Spitfire, however this is only a replica. The Spitfire first flew in 1936 and entered service with the Royal Air Force in 1938. They flew to prominence during the Battle of Britain in 1940 and eventually served on every front in World War II. I can't claim to know a lot about planes but I'm pretty sure I can pick one of these out of any crowd.

You can find so many things under the wings of Darwin's Pride. Almost gives the impression that even now, he is still protecting them.

A Bell Huey Cobra Model 209. First flew in 1965 and entered service in Vietnam in 1968. This particular Huey was built in 1971. A great improvement on the original Huey, this aircraft offered improved manoeuvrability, almost double the speed, greatly improved armaments and a narrower better protected fuselage.

A couple old seats. There do not look very comfortable at all. The largest of the 2 is a Canberra ejection seat from the 1950's.

This is the remains of a Dassault Mirage 111D which crashed during a training flight April 26th, 1984. When the 2 crew members aboard ejected they were travelling at a height of 900 metres (2952 feet) and travelling at a speed of 350 kilometres per hour (217 mph). They received minor injuries only.

And that was my tour of the Australian Aviation Heritage Centre. I would highly.....highly recommend you make a visit if you ever find yourself in Darwin.

Julie

The Arafura Games

Darwin, NT, Australia
Saturday May 7th to Friday May 13th, 2011

Now that I'm back in Darwin and the wet season is pretty much over and I'm back working I had to find some new ways to entertain myself. Lucky for me not long after I returned from my holidays the Arafura Games started. The Arafura Games are a multi-sport, multi country event that is held in Darwin every 2 years. They have some familiar sports like swimming and track and field and volleyball and boxing (and so on) but I also got to check out a few new sports that I had never seen before.

The Games started in a familiar way with the opening ceremonies. Not sure how Debi and Scott ended up coming with me. Not sure they really knew was was included in the opening ceremony of an event such as this. I am all too familiar with the parade of athletes and the speeches and the oaths of the athletes and officials. But I was super surprised with everything else that was also on display on opening night.

A look at the RAAF Roulettes who were flying over head before the start of the ceremony.

A pretty elaborate stage set up. I really was not expecting all this.

One of the LED thunder sticks that were given to every one who attended. Yes Debi and Scott were irritated with them within minutes. I thought they were fun. As you can see, the Arafura games also included the Oceania Paralympic Games, which is qualifying event for the World Championships. It meant I got to see some great Paralympic action at the track all week long.

A member of the Larrakia nation welcoming everyone to their land. She actually sang Waltzing Matilda (an Australian classic) in her traditional aboriginal language.


A short video I made of some of the show. Really so much more than I expected. If I remember correctly there were about 4,500 athletes competing from around 40 different countries.....mostly from Southeast Asia.

One of the highlights was a performance by Jessica Mauboy. She won one of those talent shows (Australia's Got Talent or Australian Idol) and now has a big record deal and has recorded songs with Snoop Dogg and people like that. She is from the Northern Territory so people are always excited when she comes back.

Jessica with her dancers. A little disappointed that she sang to a backing track and not a band but I guess I can't have it all. And just in case you are wondering...thanks to this show, I now know 3 Jessica Mauboy songs.

The rest of the week I spent watching as much as I could. They set it up really good so lots of events didn't start until after I got off work. I missed all the swimming (it was at a totally different venue) but I caught a bunch of other things. Here are some pictures and video.

A little sepak takraw action. Seriously the greatest sport ever.

Also known as foot volleyball, the rules are pretty similar. You're allowed to hit the ball on each side of the net 3 times (and from what I can tell the same person can hit it all 3 times) however they can only hit it with any body part.....other than their hands.

Look at that flexibility. I dragged Deb and Scott out to watch some of it and I think they enjoyed it......even Scott and he seems to hate anything organized sport related.

Yes, those guys are jumping higher than I am tall. It was so much fun to watch.

A little video I made of the action. If you ever see a sepak takraw tournament or game advertised.......totally go watch it......if only for a minute.

This was a great volleyball game between the boys from Papua New Guinea and the boys from East Timor. At first it appeared it was going to be a Papua blow out, but those East Timor boys stormed back. In the end I honestly can't tell you who won but it was some great volleyball.

The action was really fast paced so honestly I don't really care who won. In the end however, Papua New Guinea won the Gold Medal.

I loved these uniforms. These are the girls from The Torres Strait Islands (part of Queensland). They played a really good game.

Ahhhhh, steeplechase. My favourite. Yes I did in fact spend at least some part of every evening watching track and field action. If I had thought about it a little bit more I would have volunteered but this way I got to watch a whole lot of everything.

Some paralympic high jumping. This is Iliesa Delana from Fiji. He was a lot of fun to watch. Jumps higher than I ever did.

Debi is slowly working her way up to having a camera lens this big.

110 metre hurdles. Always one of my favourites. Sadly only 3 competitors in the race but these 2 were pretty good.

Some of the paralympic shot put. I don't remember watching as many paralympic events in the past but it was all really good. There was a large group from Fiji and also a large group from the Australian Defense Force (wounded sailors, soldiers and airmen) who competed in many events. Some of the forces guys had recently returned from California where they competed at the Wounded Warrior Games at Camp Pendleton.

This is the East Timor soccer team. I don't think I have watched an entire soccer game before but I met these young guys on the bus home from the games one night (they were staying at the hotel just down the street from our apartment). They were all 16 and 17 and just the nicest group of boys. So excited to be in Darwin and getting to play soccer and meeting new people. Reminded me what playing sports was all about.

I watched a bunch of the boxing as well. It was a great set up with an outdoor boxing ring. You could sit up on the hill and watch all the action. There was some pretty good action too.

Another new sport for me (well kind of) was Muay Thai kickboxing. I've never really been a fan of kick boxing but I liked the atmosphere of this. There was a whole show to put on.

A little video I made. I love the music that gets played while the guys kick the crap out of each other.

Eventually the games came to an end. The closing ceremonies were by invitation only so lucky for Scott and Deb they didn't have to check those out too. A great week of sports action though.

Julie

Another Bodden in Washington.....what are we to do

August 27 – August 29, 2008

Well as my days in Washington came to an end, Dad came to visit me (and help me pack) before we made the move back to Canada. Of course before we left we had to take a tour around and check out a few things.

Georgetown University and the hospital I just spent the last 3 months at. Very old and it looks very gothic.

Dad got to experience one of the things I have certainly noticed over the last year or so. As Dad said, it shouldn’t be a surprise but it is weird to be in an area like Virginia where black people are the majority not the minority. And trust me Alberta becomes whiter the longer you stay away. A person’s surroundings certainly affects their perceptions on things.

Anyway, the first night dad was in town he found out how I had no food and I still had a lot to pack. So Thursday we got up bright and early……at 11am (dad let me sleep in) and then went to run some errands. After that we decided to check out a couple of things. Believe it or not there actually was a monument I had not been to yet (although I drove by it every day on the way to Georgetown). We checked out The United States Marine Corps War Memorial (the Iwo Jima Memorial). Now there is not one picture or video or anything like that that would have given me an idea of its true size so you can imagine our surprise when we drove around the corner and got a first glimpse. I hope the picture with dad will give you an idea. It is almost 24 metres (78 feet) tall.

The Iwo Jima Memorial and dad with the memorial. He looks very, very little next to it.

Dad with the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument and the US Capitol. There are not many places where you can see all three of these sights but we found one.

Right next door is the Netherlands Carillon. It is a large bell tower that was a gift from the People of the Netherlands to the People of the United States in gratitude for American aid after World War 2. The stairs were locked so we could not walk up to the top (which I am sure dad was very happy about a few days later) but we did learn that every Saturday during the summer they give bell concerts. I wish I had known the early because I totally would have wandered over to hear that one weekend.

We then headed down to the Alexandria waterfront…...a place I had also never been. The water level was a little high, there was some flooding and as the tide came in the water flowed a little higher up the streets but we checked it out anyway. We also had some ice cream at an old ice cream shop. Old Town Alexandria is a very neat place. Most of the buildings have been there since the 1700’s when Alexandria was first founded. Most of the stores and homes have changed hands several times and their new tenants may not resemble the original tenants but still fun to hang out. Lots of little restaurants (including a Cod shop that sells good English style fish and chips and Cadbury chocolate products), antique store after antique store and lots of cute little clothing stores and other shops (which I cannot afford to shop in but I always like to take a look).

You can normally walk right up to this but the high water prevented me from seeing what it was a memorial for. I am guessing it had to do with ships and sailors though.

We were just walking down the street, eating ice cream and there he was.

The next day dad and I did get up nice and early and headed into Washington DC. Of course we stopped for breakfast since I had no food in my house and coffee since I don’t drink it and then we hopped aboard a Double Decker Bus to take a quick tour of the city. I learned very quickly (as did Dad) that I have spent too much time touring the city and that I should now get a part time job as a tour guide (seriously, I could give you a full commentary tour of the city and you know that if you have read this blog). If I ever decide to leave nursing I think I know what my next career will be. Anyway, the tour gave us a glimpse of most of the major memorials and let Dad decide what he wanted to see. Of course since I had already seen it all I just let him lead the way. The one thing that did suck was that the final clouds from tropical storm something- er –other were going through DC and I think the only rainy days I have seen all summer happened to fall when dad was in town. Good thing about DC though is that rain doesn’t actually drop the temperature…..it just makes things hotter.

Dad hanging out on the bus. These are some seriously old buses. Apparently some of the original double deckers. A great way to see the city.....even with a little rain.

Not sure how I never saw this before, but I didn't miss it this time.

Dad standing on the steps of the US Capitol. In the background you can see the Mall on Washington and the Washington Monument.

Hey look a black man with the White House. Just think in a few months there could be a black man living in the White House. We could be that lucky.

Me with the World War II Memorial. Not sure how Dad did not notice my eyes were closed but whatever.

The FBI is celebrating a big birthday. We celebrated with them a little bit.

So Dad and I made stops at the Capitol, the White House, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, the FBI Building, and the Air and Space Museum.

Dad walking up the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. He would be feeling all the walking a few days later.

I must say I am not use to being in museums with this many people but it was worth it. Of course I had visited the museum before but I know very little about planes so lots of things were lost to me but Dad does know some stuff so he could answer some of my random questions.

We topped our very long day off by hitting a Washington Nationals game. My friend John met us and the 3 of us enjoyed a great ball game. The rain held off all night and it turned out to be a great night for baseball. The Nationals won which was great as well.

Me with Teddy. He is one of the four racing Presidents (the others being Lincoln, Jefferson, and Washington). You can watch the video of the race later. Teddy has never won a race in the history of the Washington Nationals.

The Race of the Presidents.

Dad overlooking batting practice.

The line score. Even though both teams have no chance in making the playoffs, it was a great game.

Dad and John. I got them both to smile.

Dad and I waiting for the fireworks to start.

Through it all dad was very cooperative and allowed me to take a lot of pictures. He even smiled in most of them for me.

Saturday morning dad and I finished packing up the car and started our drive back to Canada. Day one would see us travel through 6 states to Chicago. A very long day but so worth it.

My very last night in DC ended like this.

Julie