- And we’re off — let’s go explore the Australian outback!
- Katherine, Northern Territory
- Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory
- A day in Darwin, Northern Territory
- Kununurra, Western Australia and the Bungle Bungles
- Broome, Western Australia
- Uluru (Ayers Rock)
- Alice Springs, Northern Territory
- Birdsville, Queensland and return to Sydney
After spending some time in the outback, it was a bit of a culture shock arriving in Darwin, the capital city of the Northern Territory. Darwin has a completely different feel than the other Australian state capitals — it’s tropical and much more laid back. It’s set upon a natural harbor that opens out onto the jewel-like waters of the Arafura Sea. Given its geographic position, Darwin serves as a principal gateway to Southeast Asia, especially Indonesia and East Timor. Sometimes that positioning has cost them, however, from a natural and defense perspective. Darwin looks relatively new — that’s because it has been entirely rebuilt three times from tropical cyclones, the latest of which was in 1974 when the population fell from 47,000 people to 12,000 and many didn’t return. The city was also destroyed by multiple Japanese raids on the city during World War II, as was the northern defense for Australia with 10,000 Australian and Allied troops being stationed there.
This was a “free” day for us so we took the opportunity to walk around and see the sights. While there are many beautiful beaches in the Darwin area, and it would be refreshing to cool off the heat, the combination of the saltwater crocodiles (Salties) and jellyfish are enough to keep people out of the water. In fact, we were told that if you wanted to swim in the ocean, it’s best to hire a boat to take you about 2 miles out to sea as that appears to be the Salties’ range! Of course you could try the rivers, but then there’s those fresh water crocodiles to contend with. Instead, we visited the Northern Territory Museum and Art Gallery. It had some really excellent exhibits there, including the city’s mascot, Sweetheart, a nearly 17 foot long, 1,700 pound saltwater crocodile that lived in a nearby billabong and attacked small outboard dinghies and fishing boats. While he never killed any people, it was decided he needed to be captured and killed. Sadly, after trapping Sweetheart, he drowned as they were trying to haul him from the river. There’s no question that he definitely has a presence there at the museum! We also wandered Mitchell Street which is regarded as Darwin’s entertainment center with a variety of restaurants, bars, movie theaters, etc. We stopped at one of the open air restaurants for lunch where we experienced one of the sad aspects of Darwin — heavily intoxicated Aborigines. We had been heartened in both Katherine and Kakadu that the Aboriginal population was doing very well, fully integrated into business and the community, and taking pride in their families and heritage. That success doesn’t appear to have made it to Darwin. We saw over a dozen indigenous people passed on sidewalks and one inebriated woman was working her way through our restaurant, trying to proposition guys for money. When we asked our server about all of this, he just shrugged his shoulders and moved on. So terribly sad…
Luckily, we enjoyed dinner on a sunset cruise in the beautiful Darwin Harbor, which ended the day on a positive note.
I am a traveler and sometimes clay sculptor, following a long career working in consulting. My work allowed me to travel the world extensively and I was hooked. Today, I travel with my wife/best friend to explore new places, meet new people, and learn new things.
