Darwin has 2 seasons - The Wet and The Dry. I cannot comment on the whole gamut of temperatures and humidity but The Dry is pretty good. Warm 30 degrees during the day and cooling to about 15 at night. Perfect.
2. Food.
Darwin has amazing food. Great coffee shops, great coffee. A whole raft of good restaurants. A pity we couldn't try more, but heartily recommend Moorish, Four Birds, Mindil Beach markets, Rapid Creek markets, cafe in Nightcliff, coffee cart at Nightcliff beach.
3. Bike riding.
Darwin's size and its dearth of hills makes it a cyclists heaven. There are bike paths from way out along the Stuart Highway into town and up and down the coast.
4. Markets.
Mindil Beach market is legendary, and rightly so. It is in a superb location. It runs 2 nights a week, to catch the amazing sunsets. It has a bazzilion food stalls, and a few OK craft stalls, and some of the usual junky stalls, but hey, you go for the food, watching the sunset from the beach and the vibe.
We also caught Rapid Creek sunday market which is full of produce stalls - but not just any old produce - a lot of asian stuff - freshly-made tofu, asian veggies, mangoes, and lots of food stalls.
5. Sunsets
The sun sets over the sea - every day!
6. Deckchair cinema
A must-do for us. It was great. We saw Rolf de Heers new film with David Gulpilil - Charlie's Country. Rolf was there and partook of a Q & A session afterwards. It was full house.
The location is great, so you can watch the sunset before the movie (see #5). There is food there - so you can dine. And a pretty good bar, so you can drink as well. The deckchairs may not be the most comfortable thing in the world, but there are some cushions and the locals-who-know bring pillows and blankets.
7. Museum and Art Gallery.
A beautifully curated little museum and gallery with something for everyone.
And a great little cafe (see #2 and #8).
8. Coffee.
9. It survived!
WW2 and Cyclone Tracey. You just have to love how Darwin has bounced back after 2 catastrophic events. Imagine living through both of them!
Darwin and part of the Northern Territory was bombed by the Japanese in World War 2.
There was a mass evacuation of civilians southwards and there are remnants of military operations everywhere, including at the East Point reserve.
Then on Christmas Eve 1974 Darwin was hit by cyclone Tracy, which flattened 80% of Darwin.
But undaunted it was rebuilt, so that it seems like a very new city as most of the buildings are new, and the few that survived seem like a miracle.
10. Melting pot.
Being so close to Asia its inhabitants come from a range of cultural backgrounds - Chinese from goldrush days, a variety of Asian peoples lured by the pearling industry, Timorese and Papauans who are close neighbours.
You can certainly see the asian influences at the markets - it took me right back to South East Asia!
No comments:
Post a Comment