The Minister of Finance announced that she wanted to go on a short break over the school holidays.  “Nothing much” she said, “maybe drive up the coast to Merimbula or Bermagui for a few days” she says. Imagine my surprise when she tells me she’s booked a week in Darwin!  I hadn’t been there before, so I was quite looking forward to it.  Darwin has two seasons, the wet and the dry and each has its’ own attractions.  We went on the tail end of the dry season,which means that there isn’t as much water around, but we miss out on the flies, the mozzies and the HUMIDITY! 

We left Melbourne early on a cool Saturday morning and arrived early afternoon to 33 degs, so straight to our hotel to strip-off some
layers, then out for a stroll and lunch. Back to the hotel for a swim before catching up with a mate (who’s doing the FI/FO thing) for several beers, some dinner and a few more beers.

Early rise the following morning to do a bus tour of the Lichfield National Park.  An hour and a half trip from town gets us into some spectacular country, with the opportunity to swim in some gorgeous waterholes and marvel at sites such as the Florence
Falls and the Buley Holes.  A 10 hour day had us feeling knackered, so it was a quick dinner and a relatively early
night.

The next day we had a slow morning (we were on holiday after all) and we picked up a hire car to drive out to Kakadu.  It’s a 3 hour drive to the heritage listed National Park, but there are things to see and do along the way, including the novelty of driving (legally) at 130ks!

We checked into the Crocodile Hotel (so called because it’s shaped like a croc), then went to the visitors’ center to plan a few outings.  There are 2 main ways to see Kakadu; hard-core (4WD, camp, hike) to get to the more remote places, or the soft option of staying in a comfy hotel and seeing the sites available in short day trips and limited walks.  We chose option 2!  So, one night we did a walk out in Ubirr, along an amazing sand-stone escarpment, past Aboriginal rock paintings and special sites, to a rocky plateau where we watched two wedge-tail eagles hunt and stayed to view one of many spectacular (may I say, spiritual) NT sunsets. 

We also did a sunset cruise on the Yellow Water Billabong, which teemed with birdlife (and crocs).  We also visited the Nourlangie Rock Art Site, tasted some of the local delicacies and watched in awe, the chaos that is Cahill’s Crossing at high tide.   

Cahill’s is a causeway that fords the East Alligator River into Arnhem Land.  It is the most heavily populated (of crocs) river in Australia, with most living up-stream of the crossing.  At certain times of the year, the high tide is so big, that it pushes the tidal flow up-stream and floods the crossing to the point where crocs from down-stream swim over the crossing and fish up-stream.  The tides also bring shoals of barramundi and diamond-back mullet, which the crocs feast on, simply by floating at the edge of the causeway and snapping at them as they go past.  It was an amazing site.  David Attenborough actually came here to witness this spectacle.  I have no affinity with crocs, but to see them in this natural environment, acting naturally was certainly worth the effort. 

A little known fact: there are actually 7 species of barramundi, there’sbarramundi, barratuesdi, barrawensdi……….

Leaving Kakadu, we went back to Darwin proper for a couple more nights.  We walked around the Waterfront a lot, as well as some of the Government buildings (Courthouses, Parliament House etc).  We drove to the ‘Defense Darwin’museum to view some memorabilia of the Darwin attacks during WW2, including a very moving AV presentation of the attacks, done with original photographs and some clever CGI.  We went to the Darwin Art Gallery and Museum and checked out the Cyclone Tracey exhibit, along with other displays.  We went to the legendary Mindil Markets and beach (to watch yet another sunset) and we swam.

Darwin is a very pretty town, clean, neat and ordered fully of beautifully maintained (public) gardens and walkways.  The Waterfront area is vibrant and manicured,with a wave-pool and safe billabong for swimming.  There are abundant eateries (and drinkeries )and plenty to see and do.  I’d recommend avisit to Darwin, but you need to do your homework and pick your time.  Dry season is hot, wet season is hot and wet and muggy, but as I said earlier, each season has its advantages (from a tourist point of view). But perhaps most of all, you have to experience a Northern Territory sunset!

That looks like an awesome trip Serge....great photos.  You sound like you have been very busy up there. Enjoy 

Wow Serge, thanks for the photos, we have been to the same places and loved em too, it's a great bit of country up there, Enjoy.

Nice..

Great report Serge, was there 10 years ago and would love to go back, kids were 5 and 7 back then and they still talk about it all the time as one of the best places we ever visited. Mindil night market... there was a guy there playing 7 didgeredoos (one at a time!) on a huge hands free holder, but he switched between them, as well as playing guitar, and drums (with his feet).... we stood and watched him for ages, the kids just standing there with there mouths open.