Darwin City is interesting and we really liked it, apart from the humidity (which was the talk of the town; locals and tourists alike). It has the feel of a smaller town, like Newcastle, but is much more recent (thanks to cyclone Tracey) and clean and it is hard to believe it is a capital city when you compare it to Sydney or Melbourne. There are lots of things to do in Darwin and the suburbs are so close to each other and the centre of the city that it is easy to get around and to explore. The water is beautiful blue (turquoise almost) and so inviting. It seems so unfair to have such beautiful beaches that you can't swim at because of jelly fish and crocodiles. There is a real tropical vibe to the place, given the hundreds of palm trees that decorate almost every yard and park. Many of the houses are built up on stilts to allow air to flow underneath for cooling. It if wasn't for the heat and humidity I think I could live here.
We lived in the air conditioned shops, the pool or our air conditioned caravan. It is so humid and at night it hasn't been cooling down, so it is hot and sticky and so hard to sleep.
The main attractions for us were the two free waterparks. They were both a whole lot of fun, and being free, after some very expensive weeks, was a big plus. I can't imagine a local council at home providing such a great waterpark for free, but I guess they need to in Darwin given the lack of swimming options and they year round heat.
Mindil Markets
These are a tourist attraction in their own right. They are held every Thursday night and a slightly smaller one on Sunday afternoons, at Mindil Beach. There is a real mix of handmade items – shirts, jewellery, gems, whips, paintings, photos, clothes, goods made from crocodile skin (as you would expect) and a whole lot more handcrafted items - and a heap of different food vendors from all nationalities. We bought Tilda a necklace with her name written on a grain of rice. The lady making these was amazing... she writes so beautifully in such a small scale. Thousands of people flock to the markets, to buy handmade items, dinner and to watch the sun set over the water. It is a unique and interesting experience. Sitting on a beach with around a thousand other people to watch the sunset is an experience in itself. One thing that puzzled me was that a whole lot of people clapped when the sun went down... I'm pretty sure the sun doesn't need our approval for doing what it has done for hundreds of thousands of years!
We also visited Cullen Bay. This is a very picturesque marina with a beautiful view over the harbour. The water was so turquoise, and coupled with the green, green grass it was so lovely,
In some ways it would have been nice to stay longer in Darwin, as there were things I wanted to do that we never got to do. I would have liked to explore the underground Oil Tunnels, a remnant from WWII, but we weren't sure that Tilda would be OK with it, so we didn't do it. The other thing I would have really liked to do was a ferry trip to the Tiwi Islands. I hadn't even thought of it until I saw mention of it in a magazine and then I just really wanted to do it. We even went so far as to plan which day to go, but it was the day after we'd been to the Mindil Markets and everyone was very hot, bothered and tired. I decided that if we awoke in time to get to the wharf (by 7:30am) then we would go but of course, that was a morning we slept in until 8am. We could have stayed an extra day or two in Darwin and gone the following week, as it only runs Thurs and Fri, but by then everyone else in the family was over the heat and keen to get moving once more. I am pretty disappointed about that, but it's not the end of the world... and I'm not sure a 2.5 hour ferry ride (one way) with overtired kids would have been any fun anyway.
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