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Published: August 13th 2012
Darwin
The Esplanade, facing Darwin harbour and where all the motels are.Darwin
12
th August 2012
Leaving Daly River was not all that hard as we were headed to one of our all-time favourite places in Australia, Darwin. We had decided to stay just out of Darwin at a caravan park called Tumbling Waters at Berry Springs. I would prefer not to say too much about Tumbling Waters, because once I started everyone would be staying there in the future and we may not get in next time, but that would not be fair on Jenny and Darren and their fabulous staff. This park was a home away from home and just the best place to stay. With special ‘themed’ dinner nights and the famous Sunday Roast as well as Sushi Saturday and happy hour each day the café was the centre of the social hub of the park. Then there are the open- air movie nights, feeding the crocs, the visit from the NT Wildlife Park with ‘an animal/reptile’ along with the market on Saturday mornings etc etc, this was a spot you did not want to leave! Like many other places we have stayed you meet new friends like Tom and Barb from the central coast of NSW who
Darwin
South end of the Mall we went to the Tiwi Islands and Kakadu with and Don and Karen from Parramatta in Sydney who we met through doggie day care with their two little terriers, Marvin and Roxy. We loved this park, our home for 5 weeks, anyway back to Darwin.
Darwin’s proximity to Asia and its immersion in Aboriginal culture makes this ‘town’ to us the most interesting city in the country and one of my favourite places in the world. It still has a tropical, colonial feel, despite being virtually rebuilt after its devastation by Cyclone Tracy over 30 years ago.
The Aboriginal people of the Larrakia language group are the traditional owners of the greater Darwin area, they had trading routes with Southeast Asia and imported goods from as far afield as South and Western Australia.
The Dutch visited Australia's northern coastline in the 1600s, and created the first European maps of the area which accounts for the Dutch names in the area, such as Groote Eylandt. HMS Beagle sailed into Darwin Harbour on the 9th September 1839. Commander John Clements Wickham, Captain of the Beagle, named the port after Charles Darwin, the British naturalist who had sailed with them
Darwin
Darwin from East Point Nature Reserve overlooking Fannie Bay on an earlier expedition of the Beagle. In the early 1870s Darwin felt the effects of the gold rush at Pine Creek after employees of the Australian Overland Telegraph Line found gold while digging holes for telegraph poles (see Daly River Blog).
Around 10,000 Allied troops arrived in Darwin in the early 1940s at the outset of World War II, in order to defend Australia's northern coastline. On 19 February 1942 at 0957, 188 Japanese warplanes attacked Darwin in two waves (see Tiwi Islands Blog). It was the same fleet that had bombed Pearl Harbor, though a considerably larger number of bombs were dropped on Darwin than on Pearl Harbor. The attack killed at least 243 people, (Indigenous fatalities were not counted!), and caused immense damage to the town. This was by far the most serious attack on Australia in time of war, in terms of fatalities and damage. They were the first of many bombing raids on Darwin. You can still see around Darwin many sites relating to the war in ‘The Top End’. On the stretch of road between Berry Springs and the CBD you pass two old airstrips where Spitfires amongst other aircraft were based. Around
Darwin
Taken overlooking Fishermans Wharf the harbour is evidence of fortifications and in town you can visit the WWII Oil Storage Tunnels. The storage tanks were built underground after the above-ground tanks were bombed in early raids on Darwin. One of these tunnels has been opened to the public and I was staggered when we visited them at just how big they were and how far they extended under the city. Tunnel 5 which is the one open to the public is 171m long, 4.5m wide and 5m high. This tunnel had a capacity of 38475 million litres !!!
On 25 December 1974, Darwin was struck by Cyclone Tracy, which killed 71 people and destroyed over 70% of the town's buildings, which could not withstand the lateral forces generated by the strong winds. After the disaster, 30,000 people of a then population of 43,000 were evacuated, in what turned out to be the biggest airlift in Australia's history. The town was subsequently rebuilt with newer materials and techniques during the late 1970s and forms the basis of the Darwin we visit today.
We were joined in Darwin for a week by very good friends Mal and Wendy from Melbourne and it was great
Darwin
Northern end of the Mall to do some of the ‘touristy things’ with them, some of which we had visited before, but felt privileged to share with them. The Museum with the Cyclone Tracy exhibit was a ‘must do’ as was Stokes Hill Wharf and the new waterfront precinct with the wave pool and beach area where we enjoyed a great lunch at the Fiddlers Green pub. Strolling the mall in the CBD is great value and only bettered by a night stroll down ‘Backpacker Alley’ (as I call it, but really it’s Mitchell Street). The lights, sounds and the smell emanating from the myriad of restaurants is amazing, but to top it off an ice-cream from Ice Rock at the top end of the street will offer you more choices than you can imagine (what happened to just asking for a scoop in a cone!), Mal’s sweet tooth was in its element here!
One of our favourites and probably everyone elses’ when they come to Darwin is the Mindil Beach Markets. They are held twice a week, on Sunday and Thursday nights, (the sunset markets). We were lucky to see the famous Beer Can Regatta one Sunday coinciding with the market. Trish entered
Darwin
The Mall the Women’s Tug of War but her team was disqualified without a pull!!! The Beer can regatta itself is for craft made up predominantly from only beer cans and was a great event, some people really take this stuff seriously! We all enjoyed the Sunset Market, this has become a massive weekly event during the dry season with many people arriving with tables and chairs, tablecloths, candles etc to enjoy a meal and drink on the beach watching the sunset. The market provides all the choices in food you could ever want, with tastes from 5 continents from over 50 food stalls is available. The markets themselves come alive in a festival of lights and colour at night and the throngs of people make it ‘the place to be’ every Thursday night. The non-food stalls sell such things as clothing, jewellery,paintings,beautiful silk sarongs & the colours are all so vibrant.
What else did we do and can you do, well there is the Parap markets and Nightcliff markets also, and then there is Cullen Bay and the magical setting of Buzz café for coffee or a meal. Cullen Bay is a popular dining and recreational area that was reclaimed
Darwin
Darwin Waterfront Precinct with swimming beach in foreground from the Mangroves in the early 70’s to create a marina complex and residential area. The Botanical Gardens should also be on your itinerary for a visit as it gives you a great insight into the tropical plants of the Top End.
Again we were lucky during our time in Darwin, we were invited to morning tea at Government House! I can hear you all now laughing and saying discourteous things, well we were invited, (along with everyone else who wanted to go to the open day morning tea in an invitation published in the local paper!). The Residency or The House of the Seven Gables, as it is known locally, is an 1883 replacement in stone of a timber structure that was ‘eaten by white ants’. A beautiful building with a ‘thoroughly colonial look’ situated on a point overlooking Stokes Wharf and Darwin Harbour, the scones tasted even better with the silver service and Army band playing in the courtyard.
It would not have been a trip to the Top End for Mal and Wendy without a trip out to the Adelaide River to join a jumping croc tour, so off we set. Trish and I are
Darwin
Darwin Waterfront Precinct wavepool not keen on the big commercial operations that run many of these tours and had once before found a cruise that was smaller and more personal (you get to smell the breathe on the croc!) and so headed back to Adelaide River Cruises to join their tour. These are small tours with a max seating of around 20 people in boats where you are only a metre above the waterline – much more fun! You get to see crocs swimming alongside you and fed at ‘eye level’, quite memorable and great for photos if you remember to click the thing, (you don’t need a long distance lens on either!). We also saw lots of bird life and learnt something about this great river, highly recommended by us and say Hi to Morgan for us.
Litchfield National Park is just an hour-and-a-half drive from Darwin This 1,500 square kilometre park was the original home of the Wagait Aboriginal people. The Finniss exploration was the first European connection to the area and the Park was named after Frederick Henry Litchfield, a member of the expedition. The park has a number of things to see and do, but our main aim was
Darwin
Darwin Waterfront Precinct to swim at the Buley Water Holes a series of cascading waterfalls and rockholes with crystal clear water and great fun to swim in or just sit in. We left early to get to Buley as it can get quite crowded. We also visited the magnetic termite mounds. Hundreds of two metre high mounds reveal the architectural feats of these intriguing insects that build their mounds aligned north and south to minimise exposure to the sun and maximise temperature control, clever little blighters. The Lost City is somewhere we had not been to before and is a collection of impressive freestanding sandstone blocks and pillar formations. Florence falls and Wangi falls are also popular swimming spots and were very busy on the day.
Berry Springs Nature Reserve is just down the Cox Peninsular Road from where we are staying at Tumbling Waters and this place is just the best swimming spot you could wish for. A spring fed series of pools that are surrounded by natural rainforest vegetation, safe, and although it can get busy here, not to crowded, as the pools are quite big. A great swimming spot that we frequented often, don’t miss this one!
I
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Wavepool is in front of the Darwin Exhibition Building could go on and on about this wonderful city and its surrounding regions but I will have to draw a line in the sand and just tell you to get here yourselves and experience it for yourself, ( I also need to go to happy hour at Tom’s place across the road!).
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kiwi ben
non-member comment
warmth
I'm in the cold on houseboat in Midura wish i was up there with you xxx