Monday 9th – Sunday 15th August. This week we kept heading north through the Northern Territory, all the way up to Darwin for a week of city living after a long, hot stint in the bush and rural towns. See all our Darwin adventures in our Week 18 OzLap video.
Monday 9th August Croc spotting on the Daly
We stopped off at Daly River (the home of Barramundi fishing) on the way up to Darwin for a night at the Daly River Mango Farm which was super peaceful but also incredibly hot. Too hot to venture far (too many croc warnings as well with the Daly River regularly in the news for saltwater croc attacks). We took a short walk to the lagoon, cooled off in their little pool and had a look at the tiny Daly River Inn on our way out (and was a little shocked to see so many intoxication and drinking warning signs).
Three things to tick in Daly River area are 1. Barramundi fishing (there’s a tagged Barra that if you catch it pays $1M! 2. A peaceful night at the Mango Farm and 3. Croc spotting along the big green Daly River.
Tuesday 10th – Sunday 15th August Devouring Darwin
We made it to Darwin Tuesday afternoon and spent the rest of the week tucking into some great food (Laneway in Parap for best coffee and brunch, De La Plage at the lifesaving club for best breakfast with a view, Frying Nemo for delish fish and Cucina Sotto La Stelle fod van at Nightcliffe for woodfired pizzas under the festoon lights in the park to die for), explored the Darwin museum and galleries, went to a couple of markets (Mindl Thursday night, Parap Sat morning), saw our first play in two years at the Darwin Festival and chilled at the Festival Hub afterwards, rode along the endless bike paths along the west shore, swam in all the lovely 50m outdoor pools, took a long ferry ride out for a short visit to the Tiwi islands (see separate post on this below) and saw the sun set from every place we could (ski club, sailing club, trailer boat club, sunset park, Mindl beach – night market).
Three things to tick on a trip to Darwin are: 1. The sunsets from all along Nightcliff, Fannie Bay, Mindl etc. foreshore, 2.The Markets: Mindl Thursday night, Parap Saturday morning 3. Ride or walk along the foreshore between Cullen Bay and Nightcliffe, stopping off at the Nightcliffe pool, Lifesaving club on Casuarina beach for nosh at café de la plage, and the MAGNT Museum.
Tiwi Islands Treats
Bathurst and Melville Islands (the main two Tiwi islands, there’s 9 small others) lie 100 km north of Darwin where the Arafura sea meets the Timor sea. It was a 21/2 hr ferry ride from Cullen Bay to Wurrumiyanga on Bathurst Island. Our first glimpse of the Tiwi’s was stunning as the rich red clay soil, stirred up by the ferry’s arrival created a lava lamp like blend of teal, ochre, rust and white all blending together at the shoreline. 90% of the approx.. 2000 inhabitants of the islands are Tiwi, and they are distinct Australian aboriginal people with their own language and culture. They are remounted for their art and love of football, both of which we saw proudly displayed in the little museum. There’s a couple of art galleries around the island but only one was open on our visit: Tiwi Art and they sold a good collection of the distinctive Tiwi bird carvings, totem poles and paintings. We walked up to the shops (a supermarket and a takeaway and a post office) and all the women sitting on picnic rugs under the shady trees playing cards waved and called out greetings.
