Darwin beach day, Australia

The day after Christmas we were invited by Kenita and Speech, two lovely Aussies, to take a day trip up the Mandorah beach. It was an incredible day - driving off road on the beach, hanging out with wonderful people and three lovely dogs, and seeing all the highlights of Mandorah!

This tree is incredibly old, not sure exactly how old, but worth photographing!

The Mandorah lighthouse and weather station - eagles have set up a nest at the top, notice the bird taking flight at the top of the picture! He was not happy with our presence.

Speech, Kenita, Caryl, and Kadar.

One of Kenita's dogs - we were joking (I think it was joking?) that you send the dogs in first in case of crocodiles. You cannot swim around Darwin - either the box jellyfish or crocodiles will get you.

Lovely beach!

From rocks to sand and back again.

Giant friendly spider - apparently everything in Australia either can kill you or if it doesn't, you'd wish it had.

Kadar enjoying the ride.

B24-J aircraft crash - on the morning of January 17, 1945 six Americans were carrying out a practice bombing operation over Quail Island. Either the aircraft got damaged by the blast effect of dropping the bombs, or the pilot tried to fly too low along the coastline and lost control of the aircraft. Either way, all six men on board perished in the crash. The site is now maintained by the Northern Territory Government to commemorate the loss of the airmen aboard the "Milady".

Body of the plane, exactly where they fell from the sky.

Another view of the crash site.

The next attraction was viewing the Magnetic Termite Mounds - called magnetic because the termites know to position their mounds from north to south in order to control the temperature inside the mounds. All the mounds are positioned in the same direction - an amazing site. Of course, this one has fallen prey to mischievous Darwinites - notice the bullet holes. Thankfully, the ants are good at rebuilding!